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I got to see the first-ever feature win in the Late Models for Shane Sabraski, a tough affair that he had to work hard to claim. It was the first half of two wins for Sabraski on the night, matching his total from Friday night. The Late Model feature went nonstop for 20 laps and traffic played a part in this race, as the leaders had to negotiate plenty of slower traffic.
Grosz fought with Sabraski early, but it was Shane Edginton who gave Sabraski the most heat. Shane was under Shane many times in the corners and after Sabraski built up a good lead, the traffic gave him problems and suddenly the top five drivers were running as a unit. There were several times when they came screaming off turn four and I swore a huge pileup was coming. However, these guys are just so skilled they make it look easy and continue on as if nothing had happened. Edginton gave it everything he had but came up short, while Cole Schill made a last-lap charge into third. Apparently it didn't take Sabraski long to figure out how to drive a Late Model!
Larry Samuelson was the winner of the Gen X event, which I mention because he does much of the track maintenance repair work and helps out the track in so many ways. He was definitely the most popular winner of the night. Many of the track workers raced to victory lane to congratulate him and he got several liquid baths and was carried around the victory lane area on the shoulders of his fellow track workers.
A powerful performance was put on in the Modified main by Brady Gerdes. Travis Saurer led the early going but Gerdes, who had slipped back a few car lengths, then made a determined run to get back under Saurer and once in front, he drove away from the pack. Twenty-nine drivers started this race and there was only one yellow flag, but that cost Brandon Copp. He was judged (again, easy to question from my grandstand seat) to be at fault and he opted to call it a night.
Don Eischens has put in several strong runs already this season and he drove to second but really had nothing for Gerdes.
Sabraski's second win of the night was in the Super Stocks and he caught a big break to win this event. He had built up a big lead but Dexton Koch had figured out a fast line and reeled in the leader after starting ninth. He made what would have been the winning move, only to have the yellow wave for a car in the wall. Sabraski did not allow that slip-up to happen twice, as he adjusted his line and took away Koch’s fast line. Sabraski held on over the final three laps for the win.
The biggest crash of the night involved about five Supers on the back chute with just a couple of laps to go. South Dakota racer Nathan Grehl appeared to have a really damaged car, even before his home tracks even open. That particularly hurts.
The Hornets wrapped up the evening's racing and Jeff Rohner showed good speed, as he took the lead early and then held off Payson Patrin and Matthew Dittman for the win. Dittman was turned sideways on the final corner by some aggressive driving, and he appeared none too pleased with the last-lap activities.
Wow, what a night of racing. There was more than enough racing to please just about any fan and a 32 event show is even at about my max.
As usual, thanks go out to the whole staff at I-94 emr from Don Shaw on down for their hard work at making this program go so smoothly. Of course, they get plenty of practice with the number of big races put on at this facility every year.