BRANDON, S.D. — Chase Randall, Zach Olivier and Brandon Bosma captured season-opening victories on Sunday evening during Spartan ER Night at Huset’s Speedway.
Randall made the most of his Huset’s Speedway sprint car debut by leading the final five laps of the 25-lap Cressman Sanitation 410 Outlaw Sprint Cars main event.
Randall, who started ninth, climbed to fifth after an opening-lap incident that involved approximately one third of the starting lineup. He advanced into second place at the midpoint and took the lead on lap 19 only to see the caution wave before the lap was completed.
Three laps later Randall made the race-winning pass with a slide job in turn two on Matt Juhl, who led the first 20 laps. Another wild caution occurred on lap 23 when Juhl bounced on the cushion in turn one. Christopher Thram and Tim Estenson, who were running third and fourth, respectively, collided with Juhl to set the stage for a three-lap shootout to end the race. Randall executed a great restart and pulled away to win by 3.113 seconds.
“Racing here at Huset’s a couple of years ago in a midget kind of helped out a little learning the track,” he said. “It was way different in a sprint car. Stuff happens so much faster and the cars are bigger so you kinda have some stuff to work out.
“We had a little bit of luck on our side with some stuff that happened. It was tough. Lapped traffic made it easier to get (Juhl). I knew in clean air with as many laps as there was it’d be tough to get him. I had to throw a few sliders at him and break his momentum up and luckily the last one I threw stuck and we held them off from there.”
Brooke Tatnell earned a second-place result after charging from the back of the pack. Tatnell started 14th, but had to go to the work area after being involved in the crash at the start of the race.
“I went to the work area early,” he said. “You have to be realistic. The three guys on this front straightaway were lucky tonight. We weren’t the fastest cars. The fastest cars got taken out, took themselves out, whatever it is, but that’s part of motor racing. We just had to come from the back and work our way through. You can never give up. That’s the biggest part of this game.”
Kaleb Johnson maneuvered from 11th to third with Garet Williamson hustling a damaged car from the early crash to place fourth. Justin Henderson rallied from 15th to fifth.
Olivier emerged victorious during a thrilling Nordstrom’s Automotive Late Model Street Stocks A Main that featured four different leaders throughout the 18-lap shootout.
“It was a great night,” he said. “These kind of rough and heavy tracks always make it exciting. I just thought I had to run the top to be fast. I actually felt better on the bottom. It was a really, really fun race. I’m just glad to be here. What a fun night.”
Dan Jensen paced the field for the first four laps before John Hoing took over the top spot on Lap 5. Olivier, who started sixth, drove into the lead on lap 10 before Matt Steuerwald powered to the front on lap 14. Olivier quickly regained the lead on the ensuing lap and held on to win by 1.015 seconds for his 19th career victory at the track.
Steuerwald was second with Hoing, Jensen and 18th-starting Cory Yeigh rounding out the top five, respectively.
Bosma led the distance of the 20-lap Wyffels Hybrids RaceSaver Sprint Car Series main event, winning by 1.018 seconds.
“That was awesome,” he said. “The cushion is really technical right now and I’m just flat worn out. I’m super pumped to get a win for this team right away.”
Four cautions during the feature allowed Sam Henderson early and Corbin Erickson in the second half of the race to close to the bumper of Bosma for the restart, but he hit his marks and held the point en route to his sixth career triumph at the track.
Erickson posted a runner-up result with Lee Goos Jr. hustling from 18th to third, including an impressive last-lap run from sixth to gain a trio of positions. Henderson finished fourth and Cole Vanderheiden was fifth.
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