On an evening where past and present military members, first responders, law enforcement, medical professionals and more were honored at the track, and a large amount of food items were collected in the annual "Horsepower for Hunger" food drive, a big crowd witnessed plenty of action on the track Friday night at Wagner Speedway.

The festivities began with opening ceremonies that featured an ontrack dedication. Representatives from the United States Military branches and Guard Units, Wagner Police Department, Yankton Sioux Tribal Police, Charles Mix County Sheriffs, South Dakota Highway Patrol, Wagner Fire Department, Tyndall Ambulance and MedStar Race Rescue were saluted by the crowd and praised for their heroism. Once the program was completed and all the evening's heat race were run, it was feature time.

In the Roth Custom Farming Hobby Stocks, the adage "Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good" played out for Joey Jaton (Wagner). After starting in the fifth position, Jordan Vosika (Gregory) made quick work of the field and took the lead early. But bad luck would strike a few laps later when contact with a slower car caused body damage to his car, leaving debris on the front straightaway and causing the caution flag to fly, sending him to the back of the field on the restart. Once the action resumed, Bill Soles (Gregory) inherited the lead and had a sizable advantage on second place driver Jaton, but with 2 laps remaining, mechanical failure in Soles car caused him to slow on the track. That is the "break" Jaton needed to secure his third feature event of the season. In the post race interview, Jaton knew he was in the right place at the right time and was thankful. "It was hard coming through there, but we made it. The race went better than the last couple weeks with a lot less accidents. These guys are fun to race against. This takes a lot of work, it's a 24/7 deal. Every night after work we work on the car to keep it goin'. I want to thank my wife Brenda and all my sponsors for letting me do this." Following Jaton across the stripe were Tori Wendell (Naper, NE) who started sixth, Brenden Rassel (Woonsocket) who started seventh, Nate DeSive (O'Neill, NE) who started 11th and Dustin Jackson (O'Neill, NE) who started ninth rounded out the top five. Heat races were won by Jordan Vosika, Reese Powers (Avon) and Tori Wendell.

When the Butte Implement B-Mods took the green, it was a couple familiar faces that worked their way forward. After starting fourth, Camden Myers (Ethan) was able to get by Logan Kafka (Wagner) with a bold move in turn four to take the lead and drove away to his second feature win of the season. The move was an early key to the victory. "I knew I was going to have to make a pretty good move early," Myers said in victory lane. "Logan kind of went in a little higher, so I went on the bottom. I think I cleared him pretty good. It felt like it anyway." Following the lap 1 charge to the front, the next 13 laps were smooth sailing. But since there are 15 laps in the event, lap 15 was a little nerve wracking for the leader. "About the last lap, the thing about died on me and coming around to the checkered flag, my oil pressure gauge read zero. I had it to the floor for the whole last lap, I was able to hang on but it wasn't running very good." Tyler Myers closed to within 2 car lengths at the finish line to settle for second, Kyle Pecena (O'Neill, NE) would take third from his seventh starting position, as Wade Wright (Ravinia) and Logan Kafka would round out the top five. The heat race was won by Wade Wright.

It's been a dominating season so far for Connor Brown (Yankton) in the Manthey Farms Sport Compact division, as he now has three wins in three starts at the speedway. Brown started in seventh and had the lead in the first five laps of the event and drove away from the rest of the field. Cody Feenstra (Corsica) would take second, Ethan Knoll (Avon) would settle for third, Taylor Brown (Yankton) and Tom Koster (Mitchell) would complete the top five. Heat races were won by Connor Brown and Cody Feenstra.

The Ponca Valley Seeds Sport Mods saw excitement from start to finish. The first four laps would see Jerry Pfeifer (Spencer, NE) show the way, but young son was bearing down. Josh Pfeifer (St. Paul, NE) worked his way up from fifth to challenge his elder. As they raced side by side on the front straightway, Josh would take over. As the Pfeifer boys were battling, Dudley Schroeder, Jr (Armour) was making his move. Schroeder, Jr started eighth and was putting the heat on the leader when the caution came out with three laps to go. Jerry Pfeifer made hard contact with the outside wall and another car, ending his night but the driver was okay. The ensuing restart would see the younger Pfeifer leading, with a very fast Schroeder, Jr on his back bumper. The remaining three laps were nail biters, but in the end, Pfeifer was able to hold on for his second feature win of the season. When the caution flag came out with three laps to go, Pfeifer has a lot on his mind. "I saw the caution was for my Dad and I hoped he was all right," said Pfeifer during the post-race interview. "I was hoping he was following me around so we can race against each other more. I knew Dudley was behind me, we always race each other clean. I just knew I had to keep my line and do what I did before, and I would be okay." Dudley Schroeder, Jr would settle for the runner up spot, followed by Kendell McCarthy (Naper, NE), Wes Hochstein (Randolph, NE) and Kevin McCarthy (Naper, NE). The heats were won by Kendell McCarthy and Kevin McCarthy.

The third appearance of the season for the Brad Fox Grinding and Namminga Hay Grinding Late Model Street Stocks was next with a few special guests from the Wissota Super Stock class and a new face in victory lane saw Billy Prouty (Alexandria) bring home the checkers. Prouty led the entire 15 lap main event and showed the entire field how to work the track. The line he held, and the speed of the car made him untouchable on this night. For Prouty, it's a long time coming. "This was great. It's been a rough year, so this is good. It felt good, this thing was really working. Thanks to my wife, the Myers family and a lot of friends helping out, sometimes late into the night to get this thing going and I appreciate them all." Following Prouty were Ron Howe (Wentworth), Brylee Gough (Sioux Falls), Mike Cheney (Sioux Falls) and John Hoing (Hartford) Heat wins were secured by Ron Howe and Billy Prouty.

The final race of the evening would be the C & B Operations of Wagner Late Models and Doug Tomka (Stanton, NE) took advantage of the misfortunes of then leader Jared Hoerle (Chambers, NE). Once Hoerle took the point from Mike Babcock (Creighton, NE), he was on a rocket ship. Unfortunately, that rocket ship decided to take a different route than the driver wanted it to. Upon exiting turn two, the car got too high, slid off the racetrack and crashed hard into a large pile of tires. Those tires saved a lot of pain for the driver and a lot of dollars in repair work as the impact was not what it could have been. Following a brief stoppage to make sure Hoerle and his car were okay, action resumed and Hoerle was able to join the field again with no damage to the car. Once the green flew for the restart, Tomka would keep his distance from the battle for second that was being waged by Gale Vogt (Yankton) and Lane Brenden (Mitchell), who was making his first appearance at the track. Tomka would go on to win his second feature of 2020, followed by Lane Brenden, Gale Vogt, Mike Babcock and Brad Vogt (Pierce, NE). In victory lane, Tomka knew he needed a little luck on HIS side. "I didn't even see him go over," he explained. "I just saw him bouncing up top and I didn't see him go over. I might have caught him but I don't think I could have passed him." Heat races were won by Jared Hoerle and Mike Babcock.

Racing will continue this Friday night, when Wagner Speedway presents a “StockTacular” special THIS FRIDAY, JULY 24th sponsored by Rog's Auto of Wagner and LG Seeds and your local LG Seeds dealers. Drivers that compete in the Stock Car class at tracks like Park Jefferson International Speedway and Raceway Park in South Dakota, Off Road Speedway and Stuart Raceway in Nebraska, along with many others, will be running featured in a special, NON-SANCTIONED event. Joining the Stock Car class will be the T & R Contracting Late Model Street Stocks for their touring series points race, the C & B Operations of Wagner Late Models, The Ponca Valley Seeds Sport Mods, the Butte Implement B-Mods and the Roth Custom Farming Hobby Stocks.

For more information, complete results and more, watch the track's Facebook page or their website at wagnerspeedway.com