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410s (20 Cars)

Welcome Mat
T-Mac is back after a week hiatus. Some more Aussies invade Huset's as Matthew Reed and Todd Wanless both make their first appearances of the year as well.

MIA
Bronson Maeschen, Wade Nygaard

VIP
A couple of new visitors coming and going in the usual spot with LDA_24 and his family.

Time Trials (1 lap each)
Terry McCarl (11^th car out) set the quick time for the 3^rd time on the year with a lap of 10.889. That barely squeaked out Johnn Cressman (18^th car out) who had a lap at 10.892. The rest of the field hitting the invert for the heats: Wanless, Jake Peters, Gregg Bakker, Clint Garner, Troy Meyer, Marlon Jones, Chad Meyer, Mark Dobmeier, Reed, Jody Rosenboom, John Lambertz, Dusty Ballenger, Ryan Bickett, and Greg Hall.

Time Trials Grade: B; it was best to go out later as the track looked to be too heavy in the early timing drivers which caused slower laps on the sloppy track

Heats (Top 8 Inverted from TT, All to the A, Top 5 Hit Feature Invert)
Heat 1 Starting Order: 10 Laps

Heat 1 Finish: 12L 17B 11x 1 24/ 2AU 101 V92(DNF) 4 23w

Heat 1 Notes: Lambertz took off with the early lead as McCarl was stuck further back in the field outside of an invert spot. C. Meyer had pulled into 2^nd at the halfway mark of the heat, but pulled in a lap later. Then Reed also pulled in on the same lap, which put McCarl into the crucial 5^th position. Lambertz checked out on the field to pick up his 2^nd heat win of the year and the 24 was very lucky to finish in 5^th. He later said a spark plug came off resulting in the poor showing in the heat. Reed and Winters were done for the night after the heat with motor issues.

Heat 2 Starting Order: 10 Laps

Heat 2 Finish: 13 16 33 6 40/ 9M 15 1A 56 (DNF) 4WA

Heat 2 Notes: Ballenger took the initial lead as Garner pushed up to 4^th as Dobmeier went by the Hall machine for 2^nd. Hall would spin on lap 2 in turn 3 which resulted in Garner clipping the accident. Hall was done but Garner had to go to the back on the restart. Dobmeier took the lead on the restart coming out of turn 2 as Cressman moved into 5^th at this point, too. He would pull in a few laps later giving Garner a spot into the top 5. Peters moved up to 2^nd but Dobmeier won his 2^nd heat of the year by a full straightaway.

Heat Grades: B+; The track wasn't the greatest for the heats as it was still a little narrow and rough, but there was plenty of action going on in both heats, mostly from guys dropping out with big hitters getting reluctant in getting into the top five.

B Feature (Top Tag the A, Laps)

B Feature Grade/Notes: No B Feature as all 20 cars would be eligible to start the A.

Baete Forseth Back Row Challenge
Well, we got an interview for the ages as McCarl was asked first if he would take the $5,000 bonus to start at the back. He quickly denied the challenge, but asked Mark Tassler to ask the fans which ones boo and which ones cheer him. After that hilarious stunt, McCarl said "We're going to the back just for the guy that called me a coward (for previously turning down the challenge)." Classic T-Mac on the microphone.

A Feature (25 Laps)
Starting Order: 10 pill drawn by Lambertz

Finish: 13 24 11x 40 16 4 17B 33 1A 101/ 15 12L 1 9M 6 4WA 2AU (DNF) 23w (DNS) 56 V92

A Feature Notes: As we know now, T-Mac starts 17^th in the 9^th and final row for a chance at the $5,000 bonus from Baete Forseth. The initial start was negated as Rosenboom spun on the start at the top of turn 1. Instead of McCarl getting to move up a row since Rosenboom stopped, he was placed on the last row as Rosenboom still was able to start ahead of him. Nice rule, but more on this later.

So on the second start, Ballenger took the lead as McCarl tried splitting the field at the start coming out of turn 4. Bakker was coming in a hurry and was quickly up to 2^nd after starting 8^th on the grid, and had Ballenger in his sights. Bakker was able to take the lead from "The Combine" on lap 5 coming off of turn 4. Dobmeier was able to follow Bakker a lap later and "Dynamite" was now in 2^nd coming after Bakker's 11x. A lap 7 spin for Lambertz at the bottom of turn 4 stopped the action. McCarl had just gotten past Riedel and Wolfgang who were having a hellacious 2-wide battle infront of T-Mac, but he was put behind them on the upcoming restart.

The restart had Bakker ahead of Dobmeier, Ballenger, and Peters and saw Dobmeier quickly take the lead on the bottom on the restart coming off of turn 2. Bakker hung with him and barely missed a slider a lap later in the same spot where Dobs had taken the lead. McCarl was stuck behind Riedel and Wolfgang for a few more laps but was finally able to dispose of them and was finally starting to haul some ass from the back at about the halfway point. The last caution of the night came with 11 to go when Wanless stopped on the track.

This last restart saw Dobmeier ahead of Bakker, Peters, and Garner as McCarl had moved up to 8^th. Dobmeier checked out from the field in the open track as McCarl quickly moved into the top 5 with 8 laps to go. This is the point of the race where he was drilling his marks and making up a ton of time on the bottom of the track as the rest of the leaders were up on the cushion. He moved up to 3^rd with 4 to go, and into 2^nd with 2 to go, but he just ran out of laps as Dobmeier held on in traffic to win by a couple of seconds of McCarl who held on for 2^nd. The win was Dobmeier's 3^rd of the year at the track and 33^rd of his career that paid $2,500. Lap leaders were Ballenger 1-4, Bakker 5-6, Dobmeier 7-25.

A Feature Grade: A-; Great racing action all over the track on a very racy, and again, smooth track. Would have been great to see McCarl bring home the big loot of cash, but it just wasn't to be as he was stuck in the back for too many laps. Hopefully the track is this good for next week with the two night All-Star show!

360s (16 Cars)
Dusty Ballenger took the lead after an early caution for Danielle Ossenfoort after she climbed the turn 1 wall on the start, but landed on all fours. Wolfgang quickly moved into 2^nd and was able to maintain the same speed as Ballenger at the early going. A lap 7 red was waved for Eric Lutz after Rosenboom pinched him into the backstretch wall coming off of turn 2. Once again, Jody shows us that if you can't beat the competition, take them out. Nice job taking out the 2^nd fastest guy on the year, but I bet it was just a "racing deal" for the "Super team" of the 360 class at Huset's.

Ballenger had a lot of Wolfgang on his tail until a caution with 5 to go for Brock Dump saved him from losing the lead. He pulled away on the last restart as both him and Wolfgang left Rosenboom in their dust after the restart. Ballenger led all 18 laps in picking up his first 360 win of the year, and his 12^th career win in the class.

360 Finish: 2D 1A 27 19 5x 17v 4 24 1 12/ 99 11 42 5 9M 10

FOAW: We'll give it to Dobmeier after his dominating performance in the heat, and then in the feature. Looks like the team is finally getting it together at Huset's and hopefully they can get it going down in Knoxville just in time for the Nationals.

Crowd Pleasing Moment #1: T-Mac on the microphone during intermission was vintage McCarl. And then of course, getting to watch him pick his way through the field after being held up in the early going was well worth the price of admission for the thousands in attendance.

Crowd Pleasing Moment #2: Guess who sung the anthem... that's right, it was the lottery guy! He was uber-pumped during and after singing the anthem. We were able to get the stopwatch out just in time, and he sung the thing in 51.52 seconds! I love this guy! He has to sing the anthem every other week to keep us on our toes!

WTF: McCarl giving Wolfgang a brake check after the feature which resulted in Robby stalling his car. Wolfgang did no wrong while T-Mac was stuck behind him and Riedel. If there was anyone who did any wrong in that battle, it was Riedel for being off the bottom a couple of times. Its things like this that turn away so many people from being McCarl fans, and is completely unnecessary. Being a huge McCarl fan, it was sad to see him result to this action when he could have easily talked it over with Robby and Doug following the races.

"Home of the Professionals" Moment of the Night: For atleast the 2^nd week in a row, the anthem wasn't sung until 7:15 PM. Luckily for the track, the lottery guy was able to save a minute with his quick rendition of, "the most beautiful song in all the world."

Mulligan Moment: Rosenboom punting Lutz's car into a wreck down the backstretch. How many times are people going to give him a free pass for taking guys out? That is atleast three times in my memory in the last year and a half at Huset's where he has taken guys out. We get it, you have a fast car, but it would be nice to see a clean pass every once in awhile as well. Let the excuses fly from good 'ol Jake as he tries to spin this another way. The team only has 2 wins on the year, both coming at Huset's of course, so frustration is starting to mount it looks like. Welcome back to reality back at Huset's, because its plain as day this team isn't that great outside of Huset's' walls.

Head Scratcher: 8 car invert for the 410 heats when the top 5 were going to hit the invert for the feature. I'm all for making guys pass in the heats, but that is asking too much of the fast guys in the back if the track is narrow like it was in the heats. If it wasn't for 2 guys dropping out infront of McCarl, then the crowd would not have been treated to his show in the feature. Something needs to be tweaked with the system when there are only 2 heats on the night.

Thumbs Up: Track conditions improved after they were somewhat narrow and rough in the heats. Thanks for the "Beer Grader" coming out for its weekly appearance to make the track smooth again. Great racing in the 360s and in the 410 features on a very smooth track.

Thumbs Down: I know it is called the Back Row Challenge, but after Rosenboom stopped on the track, there is no way he should still be allowed to start ahead of the guy taking the challenge. The same thing happened before the green when Marlon Jones stopped on the warm-up lap. The rules clearly state if you stop on the track after starting, you go to the back, but I guess that doesn't apply to the Back Row Challenge. The initial start needs to have that guy on the back row, but after that, he should be able to move up if cars stop on the track.

Prime Mover: McCarl going 17^th to 2^nd was by far the best mover. Chad Meyer also came 15^th to 6^th in the feature.

Trophy Queen Grade: N/A as they were not Borrowed Bucks girls. Lets just hope they are just saving the best for this upcoming weekend for the two big shows.

Closing Stat of the Night: 16 days until the best four days in all of motorsports. The days are clicking away, and a quick trip down to the finale of the 360s might be in store as well.

Final Thought: 3 nights of 410 racing coming up in the area for next week with a Friday show paying $2,500 to win and $400 to start at Rock Rapids. That is followed by the double-dip with the All-Stars at Huset's. Should be a great prelude to the Nationals, and it might bring the first ever 3-faced Big J Report in a weekend.

BIG J

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."

Big J, did McCarl motion Rosy to go back in front of him at all? He may have as to leave no excuses if he did get the cash................

Now, I will commend you for your dead-on comments about McCarl. That probably is the biggest reason I cannot stand him. He gets all pissed off if someone races him or just doesn't move over for him. Well, that and some of his overly rabid backers that probably would laugh this off as 'oh that wascuwwy T-Mac.'

It would have been interesting to see what would have happened had he thrown a punch at Doug Wolfgang after the races last night during his idiotic tirade against Robby. I have a feeling he would not have gotten out of there fully intact. After all, D. Wolfgang is Sioux Falls Racing Royalty.

With Rosy and Lutz, I saw it from about 20 to 25 yards away from where I was standing.....bad show all around. But it's happened before in sprint car racing and it will happen again. Also, look how many cars Flowers or a few others have wrecked this year.

I'm done on this now...............

I thought Dobmier did an excellent job of sandbagging again in the Time Trials.

I agree with you about the heats, with 10 cars and 8 inverted why not make them longer? The MLRA late models did 12 lap heats at Park Jefferson last Friday, why can't the Husets 410's do the same thing? Not a perfect solution by any means but an improvement.

you obviously don't know much about dobs if you think he's sandbags in TT. dobby rarely quals well, look at his knoxville qualifying--rarely does he break the top 8-10 with a 20-25 car count. he can't even qualify that well at his home track. the outlaw show at RCS in June saw him qualify 20-something out of 30ish cars. i guarantee he wasn't sandbagging then, especially since there's no reason to. plus there's no decisions to be made at any of these venues if you make the top 2 like at Huset's! he just plain old has a tough time with qualifying--and that's a big reason he's struggling this year at Knox-'cause qual is huge there. what he needs to do is take notes from B. Maeschen, that guy can qualify. but Maeschen has the opposite problem as Mark--Bronson isn't as fast in traffic, which is why the #13 usually beats him in Knox (exception this week). if Mark can figure out his qualifying in Knox, he'll be visiting victory lane there 4-5x per year rather than 1-2--and he'll win a championship.