Week three of the 2020 racing season saw history made and more first-time winners this past Friday night at Wagner Speedway. With 17 features events over three weeks of racing, there have been 16 different winners.

The Manthey Farms Sport Compacts took to the track first and it didn't take long for Shannon George (Bagley, MN) to drive to the front. After starting eighth on the grid, it only took two laps to rocket to the front of the field. It was a dominating performance as he kept Connor Brown (Yankton) behind him for the entire event. George finished the race in front but was soon after disqualified for not passing technical inspection, allowing Brown to claim the victory. Ironically, with Brown being declared the winner, he is the only driver to have more than one feature win to his credit in 2020. Lonnie Lester, Jr (Valentine, NE) came from seventh to finish second, Daniel Vanerveen (Sioux City, IA) settled for third, while Taylor Brown (Yankton) charged from 12th to fourth and Tom Koster (Mitchell) started ninth and rounded out the top five. Heat races were won by Lonnie Lenser, Jr and Shannon George.

The Roth Custom Farming Hobby Stocks were up next, and this feature would be a historical one and was decided in a two-lap shootout. When the green flag waved, it marked the first time in the 30-year history of the track that a father-daughter duo would take the green flag in the same main event. Veteran driver Dennis Powers (Avon) would start in the same grid as his daughter Reese Powers (Avon), making it a piece of history. The start saw Craig Clift (Sioux City, IA) on the pole and looked impressive as last week's winner Joey Jaton (Wagner), Tori Wendell (Naper, NE), who was driving Kevin Manthey's #99 car, and Jordan Vosika (Gregory) were giving chase. The action was really starting to heat up when the red flag waved over the speedway for a serious mishap in turns one and two. When the dust settled, three cars were involved, including Reese Powers, Cassy Cooper (Mitchell) and Kaleb Brunssen (LeMars, IA). Following a lengthy stoppage, Powers and Brunssen were transported to a local health care facility for further observation. Both drivers checked out okay, but both stated they were a little sore, but their race cars were not as fortunate. Once the racing resumed, a "green, white, checkered" finish would determine the victor and Clift held off multiple challenges from Jaton to take his first win at Wagner. Jaton would finish second for the second time this season to go along with a feature win, Tori Wendell would take third, Lowell Janssen (Yankton) would settle for fourth and Dennis Powers would round out the top five. Heat races were won by Tori Wendell and Jordan Vosika.

The Ponca Valley Seeds Sport Mods rumbled to the ring next and Josh Pfeifer (St. Paul, NE) would battle fellow front-row starter Kevin McCarthy (Naper, NE) for the first few laps, but the second-generation driver would impress his Dad, Jerry, and the rest of the field in a dominating performance, driving away from the pack. For Josh to have success on this night, it took a lot of work. Upon arrival to the track, many repairs had to be made so the car to be a contender. "I think we changed everything but the air cleaner under it I guess, then we finally changed carburetors. I have a spare carb back home, but we didn't bring it, but (Wes Hochstein) lent me one of his, so I guess I owe him," said Pfeifer in the post-race interview. In Pfeifer's rear-view mirror were Dudley Schroeder, Jr (Armour), Kevin McCarthy (Naper, NE), Wes Hochstein (Randolph, NE) and Brian Schutt (Atkinson, NE). Josh Pfeifer also won the heat race.

The Butte Implement B-Mods followed up the Sport Mods and family reunion would break out atop the leader board. Tyler Myers (Alexandria) would drive away from his second starting position to lead the entire event, while younger brother Camden Myers (Ethan) would charge up from sixth to second. Once Tyler got to the front, he knew he was in a good position. "That's what I wanted! We have a bunch more cars hopefully coming down next week to race." Rounding out the top five were Kyle Pecena (O'Neill, NE), Wade Wright (Ravinia) and Logan Kafka (Wagner). The heat race was won by Tyler Myers.

A small, but exciting, field of cars would put on the next show in the Brad Fox Grinding/Namminga Hay Grinding Late Model Street Stocks. Front row starter Darwin Iedema (Geddes), led the first four laps before giving way to John Hoing (Hartford) on lap 4. Hoing would continue to lead the remaining laps, but not without a race long challenge from last week's feature winner Brylee Gough (Sioux Falls). Gough kept the pressure on, but Hoing would be too much to handle and drove away with top honors. Hoing said it felt good to get the car going again. "We've just been battling, trying to get a little speed out of this car all year and I think we finally hit a set up and got the motor running good. It was fun, being patient and getting it done." John Hoing also won the heat race.

To round out the action for the night, the C & B Operations of Wagner Late Models would set sail in search of the checkered flag. When the cars hit the fun button, three Husker State Hot Shoes would be the story. Mike Babcock (Creighton, NE) and Terry McCarthy (Springview, NE) would start on the front row, to be quickly joined by Doug Tomka (Stanton, NE). Once Tomka was able to get by McCarthy, he set his sights on the leader. As Babcock and Tomka rolled through turn four, Tomka dove to the bottom of the track and just squeezed underneath McCarthy to gain the point and he would never look back and won the event in convincing fashion. Tomka said he used some familiar territory to make his move. "We used to run the bottom, so I guess it worked. After I got by the 83 (Babcock), I didn't know where everybody was, but the track was fast, and it all worked out." Following Tomka were Terry McCarthy, Mike Babcock, Gale Vogt (Yankton) and Eric Vanosdall (Hoskins, NE). Heat races were won by Doug Tomka and Jared Hoerle (Chambers, NE).

Fans will get twice the action this coming weekend, as the Repairable Vehicles Tri-State Late Model Series comes to Wagner for a two-night show, Friday and Saturday, July 3rd and 4th. Joining the Tri-State Late Models on Friday night will be 305 Sprint Cars, B-Mods, Sport Mods and Hobby Stocks. Then the Tri-State Late Models will be sharing Saturday night with the Good Ol' Time Racing Association Vintage Racing series, along with B-Mods, Sport Mods and Hobby Stocks. Pit gates open at 4pm, grandstand gates open at 5pm. Hot laps are scheduled for 7:15pm with racing to follow. Admission is $17 for ages 18 and up, under 18 tickets are $10 and admission for kids under 10 years old is FREE with a paid adult.

There will be more details on the weekend's events throughout the week, so keep watching the tracks Facebook page at The All New Wagner Speedway, or the track's website at wagnerspeedway.com

6/26/2020 Wagner Speedway B Modifieds

A Feature 1: 1. 27-Tyler Myers[2]; 2. 1-Camden Myers[6]; 3. 54K-Kyle Pecena[3]; 4. 88-Wade Wright[4]; 5. 6K-Logan Kafka[5]; 6. 6-Matt Esterling[1]; 7. 81-Tanner James[7]; 8. 11-Raymond Bigge[8]

Heat 1: 1. 27-Tyler Myers[3]; 2. 54K-Kyle Pecena[6]; 3. 6-Matt Esterling[1]; 4. 88-Wade Wright[8]; 5. 6K-Logan Kafka[5]; 6. 1-Camden Myers[7]; 7. 81-Tanner James[2]; 8. 11-Raymond Bigge[4]

Dirt Late Models

A Feature 1: 1. 3-Doug Tomka[4]; 2. 95-Terry McCarthy[2]; 3. 83-Mike Babcock[1]; 4. 1V-Gale Vogt[3]; 5. 9V-Eric Vanosdall[8]; 6. 21X-Jared Hoerle[5]; 7. 34-Seth Fischer[6]; 8. 88-Justin Havranek[7]; 9. 9-Jared Jelsma[9]; 10. (DNF) 11-Brad Vogt[10]

Heat 1: 1. 3-Doug Tomka[3]; 2. 83-Mike Babcock[2]; 3. 1V-Gale Vogt[4]; 4. 88-Justin Havranek[5]; 5. 9-Jared Jelsma[1]

Heat 2: 1. 21X-Jared Hoerle[2]; 2. 34-Seth Fischer[4]; 3. 9V-Eric Vanosdall[5]; 4. 95-Terry McCarthy[3]; 5. 11-Brad Vogt[1]

Hobby Stocks

A Feature 1: 1. 77-Craig Clift[1]; 2. 7-Joey Jaton[5]; 3. 99-Kevin Manthey[2]; 4. 40-Lowell Janssen[4]; 5. 1X-Dennis Powers[7]; 6. 48-Scott Beckman[9]; 7. 98-Shawn Sucha[10]; 8. 77R-Derik Rolston[11]; 9. 2-Aaron Holan[13]; 10. 24-Jordan Vosika[6]; 11. (DNF) 1-Reese Powers[12]; 12. (DNF) 3-Cassy Cooper[8]; 13. (DNF) 00K-Kaylb Brunssen[15]; 14. (DNF) 16J-Joe Namminga[14]; 15. (DNF) 29-Derrick Scott[3]; 16. (DNS) 20-Bill Soles

Heat 1: 1. 99-Kevin Manthey[3]; 2. 7-Joey Jaton[6]; 3. 40-Lowell Janssen[4]; 4. 3-Cassy Cooper[7]; 5. 48-Scott Beckman[5]; 6. 98-Shawn Sucha[1]; 7. 16J-Joe Namminga[8]; 8. 1-Reese Powers[2]

Heat 2: 1. 24-Jordan Vosika[5]; 2. 1X-Dennis Powers[6]; 3. 77-Craig Clift[3]; 4. 29-Derrick Scott[2]; 5. 00K-Kaylb Brunssen[8]; 6. 20-Bill Soles[7]; 7. 77R-Derik Rolston[4]; 8. 2-Aaron Holan[1]

Sport Compact

A Feature 1: 1. 35X-Conner Brown[6]; 2. L2-Lonnie Lenser Jr[7]; 3. 69V-Daniel Vanerveen[4]; 4. 35JR-Taylor Brown[12]; 5. 13-Tom Koster[9]; 6. 48-Kevin Andersh[11]; 7. 11-Matthew Andersh[1]; 8. 6M-Matt Mulder[14]; 9. (DNF) 4R-Cody Feenstra[5]; 10. (DNF) 17J-Jason Johnson[13]; 11. (DNF) 3A-Auston Honeycutt[2]; 12. (DNF) 7K-Ethan Knoll[10]; 13. (DNF) 6-Shawn McKnelly[3]; 14. (DQ) 87-Shannon George[8]

Heat 1: 1. L2-Lonnie Lenser Jr[3]; 2. 4R-Cody Feenstra[2]; 3. 6-Shawn McKnelly[4]; 4. 11-Matthew Andersh[5]; 5. 13-Tom Koster[6]; 6. 48-Kevin Andersh[1]

Heat 2: 1. 87-Shannon George[3]; 2. 35X-Conner Brown[4]; 3. 69V-Daniel Vanerveen[7]; 4. 3A-Auston Honeycutt[2]; 5. 7K-Ethan Knoll[1]; 6. 35JR-Taylor Brown[5]; 7. 17J-Jason Johnson[8]; 8. 6M-Matt Mulder[6]

Street Stocks

A Feature 1: 1. 55-John Hoing[3]; 2. 83X-Brylee Gough[4]; 3. 24-Darwin Iedema[1]; 4. 13-Brian Hoing[2]

Heat 1: 1. 55-John Hoing[1]; 2. 24-Darwin Iedema[2]; 3. 13-Brian Hoing[3]; 4. 83X-Brylee Gough[4]

Limited Modified

A Feature 1: 1. 33J-Josh Pfeifer[2]; 2. 23JR-Dudley Schroeder Jr[3]; 3. 66M-Kevin McCarthy[1]; 4. 21B-Wes Hochstein[4]; 5. 75S-Brian Shutt[6]; 6. 11M-Kendell McCarthy[5]

Heat 1: 1. 33J-Josh Pfeifer[4]; 2. 23JR-Dudley Schroeder Jr[2]; 3. 21B-Wes Hochstein[3]; 4. 66M-Kevin McCarthy[1]; 5. 75S-Brian Shutt[6]; 6. 11M-Kendell McCarthy[5]