Photo finish highlights action at Wagner Speedway

WAGNER, S.D. (May 28) – Memorial Day is for remembering our fellow countrymen and countrywomen for the sacrifices they made for our freedoms. It’s also a time to gather with family and friends to remember days gone by and a photo finish highlighted the pre-holiday evening’s activities Friday at Wagner Speedway 

Once the green flag flew for the final time in the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock feature, it would be a two-lap dash to the finish. Toby Ives led the first lap of the two and all but six inches of the final lap, being edged out by Jordan Vosika. According to the electronic timing and scoring, the margin of victory was .02 seconds.

A dejected Ives settled for second, followed by Mike Hanson in third, Tony Fetterman fourth and Lowell Janssen rounding out the top five. 

The Karl Kustoms Northern SportMods took to the track next and a driver who has had terrible luck to open the season looked strong early. Raymond Bigge showed the way, until finally succumbing to eventual winner Josh Pfeifer.

The second-generation driver used his second row starting spot to easily outdistance four other drivers who were putting on quite a show for positions two through five. Luke Jackson won that battle to finish second, followed by Dudley Schroeder Jr.  Two guests from the Black Hills area would settle for the final top five positions. With ties to Wagner, family and friends witnessed Shawn Pudwill and his nephew Brett Pudwill finish fourth and fifth respectfully.

The Brown brothers returned to their dominant ways in the Mach-1 Sport Compact division. Defending champion Conner Brown advanced six positions to claim the victory, followed by his brother Taylor Brown. Auston Honeycutt settled for third while Lowell Janssen took fourth. 

The IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars found a familiar face in victory lane.  For the third time in four races, Greg Taylor took care of business in capturing the checkers. Taylor distanced himself from Brady Wenzlaff, who came across in the runner-up spot. Last week’s winner Todd Gereau finished third with Tyler Steckelberg and Darwin Ledema completing the top five.

For a complete list of drivers and their starting and finishing positions, see wagnerspeedway.com and click on “Results.”