Drivers flock to HC Speedway for season opener
Osage driver Jim Chisholm powers his 24C machine around the clay oval at the Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City on Saturday. He claimed the checkers in the Stein Heating & Cooling USRA B-Mod feature race. Photo by Jodie Casey
WEBSTER CITY — In front of an empty grandstand due to government restrictions imposed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, a huge field of competitors and their crew members flocked to the Hamilton County Speedway driven by Spangler Automotive on Saturday night for the first race of the year at the historic half-mile clay oval.
And while spectators were forced to bypass the flavors and aromas of the racetrack and watch the action online at RacinDirt.TV, they were able to see incredible wheel-to-wheel racing while avoiding the chilly springtime air and two lengthy rain delays.
In the end, just six of the more than 150 entrants left the fairgrounds past the midnight hour with a winner’s paycheck in their pocket.
The Super Late Models powered by Jerry Goebel State Farm saw a stout field on hand for the first race of the year with Decorah’s Tyler Bruening besting Casey Skyberg of Rapid City, South Dakota, for the victory.
Jason Hahne of Webster City was able to claim the third spot while multi-time national champions Todd Cooney of Des Moines and Jeff Aikey of Cedar Falls took the final two spots in the top-five of the 20-lapper.
Tyler Bruening (top) of Decorah won the Super Late Model powered by Jerry Goebel State Farm feature on the opening night of the season Saturday at the Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City. Photo by Jodie Casey
Summit USRA Weekly Racing Series action was packed with everything a fan could want, including a last-lap pass for the win in the Olsen Family USRA Modified main event.
First-time visitor Kollin Hibdon of Pahrump, Nevada, took the lead near the halfway mark of the 20-lap feature race and led all remaining laps except the last one.
With the white flag in their rearview mirror, 16-year-old Hibdon and second-place Lucas Schott of Chatfield, Minnesota, exited turn 2 with Schott pulling alongside as they raced down the back-stretch, eventually pulling away in the final set of turns and stealing the win.
Hibdon was impressive in his debut with a runner-up result while another Chatfield resident, Jacob Bleess, crossed the finish line third ahead of Alex Williamson of Rushford, Minnesota. Jaxon Saathoff, who started 21st after making the long two from Beatrice, Nebraska, to compete where his father, Johnny ‘The Jet’ Saathoff won the Fall Jamboree nearly 20 years ago, was fifth.
Lynn Panos of Calmar collected the top prize in the 20-lap Seneca Foundry USRA Stock Car feature with a determined Todd Staley of Webster City coming to the checkered flag in hot pursuit from his 12th starting spot.
Defending track champion Reid Keller of Webster City nabbed the third spot with Andrew Borchardt of Plymouth and Bill Crimmins of Fort Dodge rounding out the top five.
Fresh off a runner-up finish the night before at the Sports Park Raceway in Fort Dodge, Jim Chisholm of Osage parlayed his pole position into a victory in the Stein Heating & Cooling USRA B-Mod nightcap.
Ty Griffith of Webster City started next to Chisholm for the start of the race and finished right behind him 20 laps later with Doug Smith of Lake City, Cory Pestotnik of Boone and Joe Chisholm of Osage completing the top five.
Diamond in the Rough USRA Hobby Stocks once again saw a driver from Carlisle take the checkers first, but this time it was Tyson Overton instead of defending track champ Eric Stanton, who struggled to an eighth-place finish.
Five-time USRA Hobby Stock national champion Dustin Gulbrandson of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, gave it all he had from his 10th starting spot, but had to settle for second at the end of the 16-lap main event.
Slater’s Eric Knutson, 12th-starting Jeremy Crimmins of Fort Dodge and 19th-starting Roger Haupt of Webster City were third, fourth and fifth, respectively.
Despite his view from the outside of the fifth row on the MyRacePass USRA Tuner starting grid, Joshua Uhl of Luverne, Minnesota, drove a strong race to take the win over Jade Lange of Humboldt.
Polesitter Ryan Bryant of Mason City, who was the 2018 USRA Tuner national champion, wound up third with Marshalltown’s John Gill fourth and Matt Oberhelman of Fort Dodge finishing fifth.
Racing will resume on Saturday with the Salute to the Troops presented by Casey’s General Store.
Feature Results
Super Late Models
powered by Jerry Goebel State Farm
1. (3) 16 Tyler Bruening, Decorah
2. (1) 6 Casey Skyberg, Rapid City, S.D.
3. (7) 76 Jason Hahne, Webster City
4. (2) 30 Todd Cooney, Des Moines
5. (8) 77 Jeff Aikey, Cedar Falls
6. (6) 22 Charlie McKenna, Ames
7. (4) 40 Joel Callahan, Dubuque
8. (5) 32C Chad Holladay, Muscatine
9. (10) 11 Lyle Klein, Sherrill
10. (12) 32 Curtis Glover, Knoxville
11. (9) 5 Rusty Patterson, Mason City
12. (11) 301 Shawn Cooney, Des Moines
13. (14) 22G Jill George, Cedar Falls
14. (13) 15X Ryan Griffith, Webster City
Stein Heating & Cooling
USRA B-Mods
1. (1) 24C Jim Chisholm, Osage
2. (2) 56 Ty Griffith, Webster City
3. (7) 12 Doug Smith, Lake City
4. (4) 62 Cory Pestotnik, Boone
5. (6) 25 Joe Chisholm, Osage
6. (14) 10T Trevor Fecht, Allison
7. (11) 85T Brandon Toftee, Otho
8. (5) 99 Rocky Caudle, Elsworth
9. (20) 2 Andrew Bleess, Chatfield, Minn.
10. (3) 65J Josh Appel, Mason City
11. (24) 1 Doug McCollough, Webster City
12. (9) 49 Nate Whitehurst, Mason City
13. (18) 56H Brandon Hare, Elma
14. (22) 0 Jamie Anderson, Mason City
15. (16) 27F Jason Schlangen, Cresco
16. (15) 02K Hunter Kennedy, St. Ansgar
17. (17) 97 Damien Vandenberg, Renner, S.D.
18. (13) 28 Autum Anderson, Mason City
19. (23) JD1 Justin DeBoer, Granada, Minn.
20. (21) 54 Jett Sorensen, Rochester, Minn.
21. (12) 16 Dan Hovden, Decorah
22. (19) 15 John Rebstock, Morton, Minn.
23. (8) 6 Danny Sacquitne, Decorah
24. (10) 4 Jason Bass, Fort Dodge
Diamond in the Rough
USRA Hobby Stock
1. (2) 42T Tyson Overton, Carlisle
2. (10) 6 Dustin Gulbrandson, Sioux Falls, S.D.
3. (6) 12K Eric Knutson, Slater
4. (12) 15 Jeremy Crimmins, Fort Dodge
5. (19) 24R Roger Haupt, Webster City
6. (16) 83 Scott Dobel, Manly
7. (13) X Tyler Schlumbohm, Sioux Falls, S.D.
8. (8) 7B Eric Stanton, Carlisle
9. (3) 8R Cory Roe, Webster City
10. (7) T8 Brandon Nielsen, Spencer
11. (1) 18Z Zac Smith, Manly
12. (4) 10 John Ades, Rippey
13. (20) 39R John Rebstock, Morton, Minn.
14. (25) 35 Riley Crimmins, Fort Dodge
15. (5) 24W Doug Wickman, Algona
16. (22) 14 Brady Williamson, Rushford, Minn.
17. (18) 34 Lincoln Miller, Eagle Grove
18. (14) 27H Austin Hoeft, Charles City
19. (24) 16C Dave Crimmins, Dubuque
20. (15) 8T Adam Tiernan, Granger
21. (21) 4D Daniel Ayers, Webster City
22. (23) 11X Seth Scholl, Holmen, Wis.
23. (11) 8 Levi Vander Weide, Sioux Falls, S.D.
24. (17) 47P Parker Anderson, Welcome, Minn.
25. (9) S1X Rick VanderWeide, Sioux Falls, S.D.
Olsen Family USRA Modified
1. (10) 69 Lucas Schott, Chatfield, Minn.
2. (5) 48K Kollin Hibdon, Pahrump, Nev.
3. (12) 21 Jacob Bleess, Chatfield, Minn.
4. (9) 15W Alex Williamson, Rushford, Minn.
5. (21) 96 Jaxon Saathoff, Beatrice, Neb.
6. (22) 42 Paul Niznik, Medford, Wis.
7. (2) 3F Cole Ferguson, Dexter
8. (13) 6 Casey Skyberg, Rapid City, S.D.
9. (7) 5D Devon Havlik, Iowa Falls
10. (17) 82 Jake McBirnie, Boone
11. (6) 14M Brian Mahlstedt, Ionia
12. (14) 45H Jason Hickingbottom, Duncombe
13. (1) 23 Adam Kates, Tonganoxie, Kan.
14. (16) 71 Jeff James, Stanton
15. (20) 57 Duke Erickson, Sioux Falls, S.D.
16. (24) 8X Scott Olson, Blairsburg
17. (15) 73 Ryan Nelson, Madison, Minn.
18. (3) 07 Cory Crapser, Chippewa Falls, Wis.
19. (4) 29H Joe Horgdal, Kasson, Minn.
20. (23) 51 Blake Arndt, Browndale, Minn.
21. (8) 23K Darwyn Karau, Kasson, Minn.
22. (19) 41 Nate Hughes, Humboldt
23. (18) 138 Jon Peed, Webster City
24. (11) 00J J.D. Auringer, Waterloo
Seneca Foundry USRA Stock Car
1. (2) 97 Lynn Panos, Calmar
2. (12) 14 Todd Staley, Webster City
3. (4) 19 Reid Keller, Webster City
4. (10) 21 Andrew Borchardt, Plymouth
5. (3) 35 Bill Crimmins, Fort Dodge
6. (16) 46 Colton Arends, Luverne, Minn.
7. (22) AK46 Gary Pesicka, Burt
8. (19) 7H Philip Holtz, Manchester
9. (15) 10 Justin Ades, Webster City
10. (13) 43 Calvin Lange, Humboldt
11. (9) 21M Myles Michehl, Fort Dodge
12. (14) 87 Dylan Suhr, Waterloo
13. (7) 47 Parker Slagle, Eagle Grove
14. (18) 11 Jake Lampert, Caledonia, Minn.
15. (21) 14A Blake Adams, McIntire
16. (17) 5A Tyler Pickett, Boxholm
17. (20) 77M Jeff Mueller, Albion
18. (11) 44 Dillon Anderson, Decorah
19. (23) 7C Chad Legere, Ankeny
20. (8) 74C Cole Mather, Oelwein
21. (6) 33 Kevin Donlan, Decorah
22. (1) 25 Dan Jones, Waukon
23. (5) 87T Travis Shipman, Mason City
MyRacePass USRA Tuner
1. (10) 24J Joshua Uhl, Luverne, Minn.
2. (3) 43 Jade Lange, Humboldt
3. (1) 37 Ryan Bryant, Mason City
4. (4) 02 John Gill, Marshalltown
5. (6) 41 Matt Oberhelman, Fort Dodge
6. (7) NO7 Brad Mayland, Britt
7. (2) 92 Justin Anderson, Holmen, Wis.
8. (12) 24S Shaye Betz, Tama
9. (11) 16X Carter Magedanz, Faribault, Minn.
10. (13) 24G Dale Gatton, Fairmont, Minn.
11. (8) 230 Michael Heun, Manson
12. (9) 18X Austin Friedrich, St. James, Minn.
13. (5) 29 Tommie Tesch, Waseca, Minn.
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- Osage driver Jim Chisholm powers his 24C machine around the clay oval at the Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City on Saturday. He claimed the checkers in the Stein Heating & Cooling USRA B-Mod feature race. Photo by Jodie Casey
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- Tyler Bruening (top) of Decorah won the Super Late Model powered by Jerry Goebel State Farm feature on the opening night of the season Saturday at the Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City. Photo by Jodie Casey
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