Hot and muggy night that saw 61 cars enter the pit area, fans saw great finishes, a sprint car driver pick up his third win in a row and a streak broken in the Sport Compact division.

The evening’s feature events began with the Roth Custom Farming Hobby Stock division, as a rookie was able to hold off a veteran for his second win of the season and of his career. Kaylb Brunssen (LeMars, IA), in his first season in a race car, was able to hold off challenges from Joel McGee (Palm Beach Gardens, FL) to pick up the victory. McGee is a five-time champion at Raceway Park at Jefferson and had been out of racing for more than 20 years. But in July, he decided to get back into the sport and has been flying back and forth from his home in Florida to compete. After Brunssen inherited the lead on a restart with six laps remaining, McGee was ready to make his move, but Brunssen would be up the to challenge. In victory lane, Brunssen explained how nervous he was for the last half of the race. “The last couple of laps I pushed on my steering wheel and I bent it. I need a new steering wheel now,” he chuckled. “Those restarts late in the race were kicking my butt!” Following Brunssen and McGee across the line were Joey Jaton (Wagner), Reese Powers (Avon) and Chris Lindquist (driving Jordan Vosika’s car). Joel McGee and Carl Monroe (Sheldon, IA) were the hard chargers, each moving up nine spots, and heat race winners were Joey Jaton, Tori Wendell (Naper, NE) and Tucker Hawley (Armour).

The Ponca Valley Seeds Sport Mods saw a dominating performance from second generation driver Josh Pfeifer (St. Paul, NE). Pfeifer took the lead on lap three and withstood challenges from points leader Dudley Schroeder, Jr (Armour) to pick up his fourth victory of the season. A calculated move on a restart was key to parking in victory lane, Pfeifer explains. “My raceceiver quit working so I didn’t know who was behind me. There was just a little bump down there, so I was trying to lead them into that on the restart and take off right after that and make them go through it. It worked.” Following Pfeifer and Schroeder, Jr were Kevin McCarthy (Naper, NE), Kendell McCarthy (Naper, NE) and Jerry Pfeifer (Spencer, NE). Kevin McCarthy would be the hard charger, moving from 10th to third and heats were won by Kendell McCarthy and Josh Pfeifer.

The Manthey Farms Sport Compacts would roll out next and for the first time in 2020, a driver that was NOT named Connor Brown (Yankton) would be in victory lane. Auston Honeycutt (Sioux City, IA) made the trip to Wagner for just the second time, but he made his mark and picked up the win. Even though Honeycutt has raced against Brown many times, he took care of this own business and did not worry about who was behind him. “This is my second time here. I race against him weekly, but I just ran my line and now I’m up here.” Taylor Brown (Yankton) would pick up third, followed by Ethan Knoll (Avon) and Cody Feenstra (Corsica). Connor Brown moved up four spots to take hard charger honors and heats were won by Auston Honeycutt and Taylor Brown.

The Butte Implement B-Mods saw Camden Myers (Ethan) take over the lead on lap three and cruise to his second victory in a row and his fourth of the season. Couple that with older brother Tyler Myers (Alexandria) finishing third, that puts the brothers in a tie for the points lead with three races remaining. Wade Wright (Ravinia) would settle for a strong second, followed by Tyler Myers, Kyle Pecena (O’Neill, NE) and Logan Kafka (Wagner). Kyle Pecena would take hard charger honors by moving up from eighth to fourth and heats were won by Logan Kafka and Wade Wright.

Late race drama would be the story in the C & B Operations of Wagner Late Model division. Jared Hoerle (Chambers, NE) would rocket to the lead from his outside front row start and he would show the way for the first 14 laps, until turns three and four on the last lap. Fellow front row starter Mike Babcock (Creighton, NE) was in hot pursuit when both cars got into heavy traffic. One of those cars checked up, causing both Hoerle and Babcock to spin to a stop in the turns as they were coming to the checkered flag. Once the incident was sorted out, both Hoerle and Babcock were given their spots back because the slower car had caused the caution. On the restart, Hoerle was able to keep his distance and pick up his first win of the season at Wagner, Gale Vogt (Yankton) was able to sneak by Mike Babcock to pick up the runner-up spot. Babcock would have to settle for third, followed by Doug Tomka (Stanton, NE) and Brad Vogt (Pierce, NE). The heat race was won by Brad Vogt.

The finale of the night would be the DK Flooring and Custom 305 Sprint Cars, and Jared Jansen would waste no time getting to the point. Jansen started on the outside of row two and had the lead going into turn three on the opening lap. Jansen was out for a casual Friday night drive on a Charles Mix County dirt road, but things got interesting late. Daniel Nekolite (O’Neill, NE) was making up ground and became somewhat of a factor late in the event, but Jansen was just too tough on this night. Following Jansen’s third consecutive victory, he wants to come back more often. “We need to have a few more races down here next year and hopefully keep this little streak we got goin’ here.” Jansen continued to explain how he was able to pick up number three. “Once we get spread out here, it’s tough to make up any ground a lot of times, you ya kinda got to make moves right away. I tried following my brother (Jesse Lindberg, Sioux Falls) into one and two and there was another car coming up, so I cut down and was able to get by both of them and it worked out.” After Jansen and Nekolite, Tony Drueke (Naper, NE) settled for third with Jesse Lindberg and Bob Dvorak (Stuart, NE) completing the top five. Jared Jansen and Daniel Nekolite both moved up four spots to take hard charger honors and heats were won by Bob Dvorak and Jared Jansen.

That will set up the biggest show of the season next Friday night. Tracy’s Paint and Body of Parkston, along with Valley Pump and Casino and Ultimate Shine Car Wash of Wagner will present the Property Solutions of America MSTS 360 Sprint Cars on Friday night, August 28th, along with Late Models, B-Mods, Sport Mods and Hobby Stocks. More details on that show, along with complete results, point standing and more can be found at wagnerspeedway.com or on the tracks Facebook page.