By Greg Grabianowski
ALGONA, Iowa (July 21) – It was hard not to see the smile on the face of Chanse Hollatz after winning the Water Connection IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock special Thursday at Kossuth County Speedway in Algona.
Hollatz picked a great time to earn his first feature win at the oval since May 5, coming from outside of row two to accomplish the feat.
Hollatz grabbed the lead immediately in the race and saw the caution flag fly on lap number when Jacob Kofoot touched the wall. The ugly yellow flag returned two laps later when Gary Pesicka spun out coming out of turn two.
But only four lapped cars with six laps to go in the race, slowed down Hollatz’s trip into victory lane as he topped the 24-car field to take the first place prize money.
Shannon Anderson finished second followed by Cody Nielsen, Brandon Nielsen and Jeff Anderson.
The stock car also had big money on the line as the feature winner took home $1,000 on the warm, humid evening where the thermometer topped the 90-degree mark.
Heath Tulp and Craig Berhow led the 17-car field to starting line to take the green flag as Berhow grabbed the early lead. The two went door-to-door for three straight laps battling for the lead before Tulp wrestled away the top spot on lap number five.
Only the yellow flag that waved three laps later delayed Tulp’s first feature win of the season at the track and his biggest payday of the year so far.
Tulp’s car was bellowing smoke for the final three laps as he held off a fast-closing Derek Green, who took second place. Elijah Zevenbergen placed third with Luke Sathoff taking fourth and Kevin Opheim rounding out the top five finishers.
Jeremy Mills was the Xtreme Motor Sports IMCA Modified winner and earned a spot in the Dash at the Clash at Hamilton County Speedway next month. Nick Meyer was the Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod winner and Hunter Benson scored his first local Mach-1 Sport Compact checkers.