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Falck & Gulbrandson Top Stock Car Nationals

Spring Valley, MN (September 19) - By: Todd Narveson

It was a beautiful night for the 2nd Annual Stock Car Nationals presented by Kids Dreams Come True, Altenburg Construction, Blake’s Auto and Podein’s Power Equipment. An outstanding field of 62-Mensink Racing Products USRA Hobby Stocks and 43-American Racer USRA Stock Cars built by Medieval Chassis were on hand for racing action.

The Hobby Stocks raced though seven heat races in which the top 12 in passing points were locked into the $1000 to win feature. Those that did not qualify ran in four B-features that took the top three finishers to the main event to comprise the 24-cat starting field.

The Hobby Stocks lined up three-wide for their 25-lap main event. Joshua Ludeking, Scott Spilde and Tracy Halouska sat in row one at the drop of the green flag. A yellow on the initial start gave the pack another shot at a three-wide start.

Ludeking jumped to the early lead with Halouska and Justin Lichty in pursuit, Dustin Gulbandson moved past Lichty for third on lap three and then closed in on Halouska. The top three were in tight formation at this point and then Gulbrandson drove past Halouska for third and then dove to the inside of Ludeking.

Gulbrandson snagged the lead on lap five, but now the driver on the move was Zack Smidt. Smidt started 13th and was up to fourth before a yellow flag came out on lap seven. On the restart, Smidt, Halouska and Austin Hoeft went three-wide for third. Smidt got to third before another caution came out on lap 10.

Gulbrandson was in command up front with Ludeking in second.  Smidt and Hoeft continued their battle for third and they ran door-to-door for several laps. Hoeft would take the spot and set after Ludeking, a caution on lap 20 helped Hoeft’s cause.

Gulbrandson went unchallenged the rest of the way for his 24th win of the season. Hoeft passed Ludeking for second with Ludeking third at the finish line. However, Ludeking was disqualified in post-race tech and that handed third to Smidt. Halouska would up fourth and Dylan Fitzpatrick was fifth after he started 14th. Scott Dobel collected the $250 hard charger money from Altenburg Construction when he advanced 14-spots.

The Stock Cars also lined up three-wide for their 40-lap, $2000 to win feature event. Patrick Graham, Chanse Hollatz and Myles Michehl sat in row one when the race went green. Graham jumped to the lead while second row starter Kyle Falck darted to second. Mitch Hovden moved quickly to third and used the high groove to run past Falck and Graham to the lead on lap three.

Falck spun in turn two on the fourth lap and went to the rear of the 26-car field. Elijah Zevenbegen charged from 11th to fifth before a yellow for a slowing Dillon Anderson slowed the race on lap six. On the restart, Zevenbergen continued his run to the front when he took third before another caution impacted the race. Zevenbegen then challenged Graham for second with Hollatz close. Another caution on lap 11 would erase Hovden’s lead. Hollatz went after Zevenbergen for third, but Zevenbergen had other ideas and slid in front of Graham for second. Graham repaid the pass, but Zevenbergen passed him back for second.

Then Graham, Hollatz and Matt Jones locked themselves into battle for third. Meanwhile eyes watched as Kyle Falck ran the low groove and worked his way from the back and was up to sixth. Falck then took fifth from Hollatz and also got by Graham for fourth on lap 23. Falck then reeled in Jones and made the pass for third on lap 27.

At this point, Hovden had a big lead and Zevenbergen was all alone in second. Falck was a distant third and needed a caution to catch the lead duo. That glimmer of hope happened on lap 31 when the caution came out for a spun car. This set up a wild and crazy nine lap dash to the finish.

The green came out and Zevenbergen threw a slide job at Hovden in turn two to take the lead. Zevenbergen’s momentum slid him up the track to graze the wall in turn two. Hovden got by with Falk right there. Falck held the low line and Hovden was up on the top side. They were pretty much dead even to complete lap 33.

Falck edged out front to complete lap 34 and also barely held the lead on lap 35. Hovden rallied back out front to lead lap 36. From there Hovden and Falck exchanged the lead until the white flag came out. Hovden held a small advantage out of turn two but Falck edged out front going into turn three.

Falck held that low line while Hovden contacted the wall in turn four and sent out a shower of sparks of his car. Falck came across the line first to complete his incredible run for the win. Hovden held on to second with Zevenbergen a close third. Blake Adams finished in the fourth spot and Graham was fifth. Dylan Suhr collected a hefty $500 hard charger award from Altenburg Construction when has passed 13-cars.

USRA Hobby Stocks

Feature—Dustin Gulbrandson, Austin Hoeft, Zack Smidt, Tracy Halouska, Dylan Fitzpatrick, Scott Dobel, Zac Smith, Levi Sand, Cory Roe, Eric Stanton, Justin Lichty, Dylan Clinton, Jay Mensink, Rick Vander Weide, Landon Krohn, Jeremy Crimmins, Jonathan Hansen, Chris Dahl, Scott Spilde, Caydn Wessels, Chris Hovden, Billy Rhoades, Josh Sidles, Joshua Ludeking

B-Feature #1—Stanton, Crimmins, Clinton, Kyle Sidles, Travis Christensen, Derek Willert, Blake Luinenberg, Jay Sidles, Shawn Krousey, Arthur Schott, Josh Bradley, Brian Scholl, Andy Wieczorek

B-Feature #2—Smidt, Roe, Dobel, Tyler Schlumbohm, Levi Vander Weide, Steve Jones, Roger Haupt, Kevin Hager, Logan Fitzpatrick, Gavin Bartel, Don Brady, Jason Bradley, Justin Van Otterloo

B-Feature #3—Fitzpatrick, Smith, Hansen, Nick Bready, Michael Minnier, Justin Hanson, Jake James, Randy Swatek, Caylee Kjos, Hunter Johnson, Devin Holthaus, Shawn Kraft

B-Feature #4—Wessels, Mensink, Krohn, Nick Schwebach, Cody Rollinger, Ryan Happel, Kerry Swanson, Nate Parkhill, Steve Holthaus, Jason Borsheim, Steve Larson, B.J. Dahl

First Heat—J. Sidles, Crimmins, Jones, Roe, Dobel, L. Fitzpatrick, Johnson, D. Holthaus, Willert

Second Heat—Sand, Ludeking, Smith, D. Fitzpatrick, Haupt, Parkhill, Bradley, L. Vander Weide, Happel

Third Heat—Gulbrandson, S. Holthaus, Clinton, Larson, Rollinger, Bradley, Scholl, Swatek, Schwebach

Fourth Heat—R. Vander Weide, C. Dahl, Mensink, Bartel, Kjos, B, Dahl, Van Otterloo, Hager, Krousey

Fifth Heat—Lichty, Smidt, Stanton, K. Sidles, Krohn, Schott, Wieczorek, Schlumbohm, Kraft

Sixth Heat—Spilde, Hansen, Rhoades, Luinenberg, Minnier, Borsheim, Wessels, Swanson, J. Hanson

Seventh Heat—Hoeft, Halouska, Hovden, James, Christensen, N. Brady, D, Brady, J. Sidles

 

USRA Stock Cars

Feature—Kyle Falck, Mitch Hovden, Elijan Zevenbergen, Blake Adams, Patrick Graham, Lynn Panos, Chanse Hollatz, Kevin Donlan, Josh Zieman, Matt Jones, Danny Cole, Andy Altenburg, Dylan Suhr, Justin Luinenberg, Dillon Anderson, Myles Michehl, Coy VanHauen, Troy Hansmeier, Todd Staley, Jason Fisher, Derek Dettman, Jesse Brown, Jake Masters, Jesse Olson, Travis Shipman, Darrin Korthals

B-Feature #1—Anderson, Adams, Korthals, Fisher, Olson, VanHauen, Jake Lampert, Stefan Sybesma, Brandon Dietrich, Joe Brenner, Andy Jones, Xander Treichel, Dan Hovden, Phil Wernert, Brennan Welsh, Wyatt Medlin

B-Feature #2—Zieman, Staley, Masters, Dettman, Altenburg, Hansmeier, Suhr, Bill Crimmins, Abe Huls, Chris Roney, Jesse Brown, Brayten Boyer, Aaron Stettnichs, Brian Webb, Rich Gregoire

First Heat—Hollatz, M. Hovden, Medlin, Adams, Korthals, Boyer, VanHauen, Sybesma, Webb

Second Heat—M. Jones, Donlan, Anderson, Shipman, Treichel, Altenburg, Stettnichs, Dietrich, Crimmins,

Third Heat—Luinenberg, Cole, Dettman, Gregoire, Brown, Brenner, Huls, Roney, Welsh

Fourth Heat—Falck, Michehl, Panos, Zieman, Hansmeier, Suhr, Wernert, Masters

Fifth Heat—Graham, Zevenbergen, Staley, Olson, Fisher, D. Hovden, A. Jones, Lampert

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