SOUTH DAKOTA NATIONALS/BILL KIRK MEMORIAL 9-20-08
LeRoy Beck
(09/20/08)
With over twenty thousand dollars in prize money on the line KPTH Fox 44 presented the Bill Kirk Memorial South Dakota Nationals at Park Jefferson Speedway. From the fireworks during the national anthem, to the fireworks on the track, the 2008 season came to an exciting finish. Drivers picking up the win include: Jay Noteboom, Rich Hesse, Mike Scharn, Rusty Montagne, and Daniel Loggins.
The fireworks display prior to the IMCA modified feature would be the perfect precursor to the events that were about to occur. With two thousand dollars going to the winner, as well as an invitation to the 2009 All Star race during the Boone Supernationals, the best modified drivers in the Midwest were on hand for this event. Reese Coffee and Jay Noteboom would bring the field to the green and would have the crowd on their feet. Door to door racing would be the standard as neither Coffee or Noteboom would gain more than a two car length advantage. Quickly the two leaders would encounter lapped traffic, and Coffees season of hard luck would continue. A lapped car would spin in front of Coffee and third running Bob Moore would be collected as well. Noteboom would then be challenged by Dirk Kirk who would, racing in the event named after his father, take the lead with five laps to go. Noteboom would mount a vicious comeback and get back past Kirk coming to the white flag. Noteboom would pick up the win with Kirk, Ricky Stephan, Mike Hansen, and Jim Thies in tow.
By picking up the preliminary night feature win, Rich Hesse let the field know he was the dominant car in the SportMod division. As twenty five cars took the green, Hesse would hold steady as various drivers would try to use the high line to work around him. Dan Van Bruggen, Harvey Vande Weerd, Mick King, and Luke Wanninger would all try, and ultimately fail in their attempts to get to the front. Heese stayed strong and picked up the fifteen hundred dollar check. Following Hesse to the line would be Wanninger, King, Mark Neal, and Van Bruggen.
Mike Scharn has been one of the most dominant drivers at Park Jefferson Speedway all season long in the stock car division. He clinched the 2008 season championship early on, and racked up seven feature wins. With the biggest payday of the year on the line, most were calling Scharn the favorite, even after his brother Matt picked up the preliminary feature win. Mike Scharn would not disappoint as he would jump to the lead at the drop of the green. A car on the move all night long was Max Hofer. Hofer would work his way into the battle for the top spot with both Scharns and Jason Ward. On the white flag lap Hofer was holding onto the third spot. Hofer would drive his car as deep as possible into turn three and try to slide past Mike Scharn. Hofer would not be able to hold his line and Mike Scharn would get the win with Ward sliding into second. Hofer would be third followed by Matt Scharn and Jeff Larson.
The most exciting finish of the night unequivocally was in the hobby stock division. Josh Ruschmann would take advantage of his outside front row starting spot and would lead almost the entire race with Rusty Montagne trying to find away around him. Montagne continuously tried the low groove, middle groove, any line he could find. Going into turn three Montagne would try a line that was quite simply an all or nothing move. Going to the top side of the speedway, Montagne found some traction and was able to hold the line and complete the pass coming to the white flag. Ruschmann would not be able to challenge on the final lap and Montagne would pick up another win. Following the top two would be Paul Menard, John Cain, and Dustin Larson.
Two drivers won more features than any other at Park Jefferson Speedway. Daniel Loggins would pick up endless wins in the feature hornet division, and Dane Martindale dominated the novice hornets. On this night they would race together. Feature Hornet Point Champion Marlis Boggs would battle with the boys for the first few laps until mechanical woes would sideline her. Martindale was never able to put up a serious challenge to Loggins as they would cross the line nose to tail. Jeff Girard, Tim Cass and Zach Ankrum would round out the top five.
With the 2008 season in the books, the staff and management of Park Jefferson Speedway would like to thank all of the fans and sponsors for an incredible season. During the off season, visit http://www.parkjeffersonspeedway.com for information on upcoming events and for banquet information. We look forward to another exciting season in 2009 at Park Jefferson Speedway.
