McDonald wins Advantage RV Modified Tour event at DSFS

HURON — David McDonald of Huron had an eventful day on Saturday. After becoming a grandfather to a set of twins, he capped the day by earning his first-ever WISSOTA modified feature win during the Advantage RV Modified Tour event at Dakota State Fair Speedway.
“We’ve got family down in Sioux Falls with the new twins and they were watching on their phones, so we had a good night,” said McDonald. “It can’t get much better than that.”
Despite this being his rookie season in the modified division, McDonald has seen his share of success at his hometown track. He won his first track championship at DSFS in the street stock division in 2000, claimed super stock track titles in 2002 and 2003, before making the move into the late model division, where he won the 2007 track championship.
“I skipped this class and I kind of wish I wouldn’t have now, because these cars are just a riot,” McDonald said of the modifieds.
“With my son, Tyler, and son-in-law, Alex Guthmiller, racing mods for so long, we had so many spare parts that we literally built this thing out of the spare parts we have,” McDonald said of the car he used to claim the $1,500 top prize on Saturday. “It’s just a riot and so much fun to drive. I wish my late model raced as well as this car right now.”
After winning his heat race on Saturday, McDonald selected the No. 2 starting position on the re-draw for the 30-lap feature race, which put him on the outside of the front row, alongside Landon Atkinson of Little Falls, Minn., who was sitting second in the tour’s point standings after the first seven races.
McDonald snagged the lead on the opening lap and held the top spot until the race was slowed on lap six for the only caution flag of the event.
When the race resumed, McDonald was able to use the top of the track to maintain his stronghold on the top spot. However, things got quite interesting at the midpoint of the feature race as the leaders reached slower traffic on lap 16.
McDonald’s comfortable advantage eroded in quick fashion.
“I was getting signals that they were on me and there were lap guys or just guys racing really hard, doing their thing in front of me,” McDonald said. “There were guys two wide and three wide and I knew I had to go, so I started sticking my nose in there.
“At one point I saw a flash outside of me and I knew that that guy was way too aggressive for a lapper,” he said.
That guy on the outside was Atkinson, who was able to close the gap considerably on lap 18 and reached the flagstand first to lead lap 19. It would turn out to be the only lap not led by McDonald, however, as he battled back to regain the lead in turn No. 2 on the following lap.
“I don’t know how I did it, but I just kept digging,” McDonald said of moving back to the front. “I don’t know how many lapped guys we passed all in one big wad there. We had to work through them and then when we did I just took off.”
While the slower traffic was a definite help to Atkinson, it also paid big dividends for a handful of drivers, who were chasing the top duo.
McDonald was able to stretch his lead back to a bit more comfortable margin on lap 21, with Atkinson in tow. Tyler McDonald, who was the 2015 modified track champion at DSFS, would catch the leaders on lap 25 and use the low groove in turn two to make the pass for the second spot on lap 27 before setting his sights on catching his father.
The elder McDonald would hold on to collect feature win No. 36 of his career at DSFS.

“It was pretty wild there for a little bit, so I am glad we were able to hold on,” McDonald said. “They said Tyler came on a ton at the end. His car got really good and mine was just starting to fade, so I’m glad it worked out.
“This is the first time I’ve won in a modified at this race track with all the years that I’ve raced here,” he said. “I’m pretty pumped that it was this show. It was a good show to win.”
Atkinson would finish in the third spot, followed by Dave Cain of Corcoran, Minn., and Kent Arment of Aberdeen, who was the Advantage RV Modified Tour winner on Friday at Brown County Speedway.
Also winning modified heat races on Saturday were Cain and Dan Ebert of Lake Shore, Minn.
Lorin Johnson of Miller earned his second straight win in the WISSOTA Midwest modified division on Saturday at DSFS. The victory moved him to within four of reaching the century mark for career wins at the Huron oval.
Johnson needed 13 of the 15 laps to work his way to the front of the 15-car field from the eighth starting spot. He used the high side on the back straightaway to snag the lead from Scott Hansen of Garden City as they came to the white flag and held on for the win.
Hansen was second, followed by Kyle Knouse of Huron, James Reiner of Wessington Springs, who led the first five laps, and defending track champion Brock Hess of Sioux Falls.
Hansen and Hess were the heat race winners in the Midwest modified division.
Blayne Baloun of St. Lawrence led the final seven laps of the 12-lap main event to earn his third feature win of the season and ninth victory overall in the WISSOTA street stock division.
Baloun, who started eighth, was able to capitalize when two of the top cars, which started a row in front of him, tangled on the fourth lap. Michael Bogh of Huron found himself upside down after making contact with the outside retaining wall and rolling in turn one. Broc Stout of Winner received the call for being responsible for the incident and was disqualified from the race for rough driving.
When the race restarted, Baloun moved to third  and snagged the second spot the following lap. He was able to pass Dave Brooker of Tulare for the lead on lap six.
Andy Rossow of Florence would claim the second spot, followed by Brooker, who led the first five laps, Scott Borstad of Volga and Cole Phillips of Winner.
Stout and Rossow were the winners in the street stock heat races.
After taking a week off, racing will resume at Dakota State Fair Speedway on July 29 with all five classes back in action.

Summary
WISSOTA Street Stock
Heat 1: 1, Broc Stout, Winner; 2, Blayne Baloun, St. Lawrence; 3, Michael Bogh, Huron; 4, Cole Phillips, Winner; 5, Scott Borstad, Volga; 6, Walter Cable, Geddes.
Heat 2: 1, Andy Rossow, Florence; 2, Mathew Goth, Madison; 3, Dave Brooker, Tulare; 4, Clifford Houser, Kimball; 5, Travis Oxandaburu, Huron.
Main event: 1, Baloun; 2, Rossow; 3, Brooker; 4, Borstad; 5, Phillips; 6, Houser; 7, Goth; 8, Oxandaburu; 9, Cable; (did not finish) 10, Bogh; (disqualified) Stout.
WISSOTA Midwest Modified
Heat 1:1, Scott Hansen, Garden City; 2, Lorin Johnson, Miller; 3, Brian Bachmann, Pierre; 4, Brad Kopecky, Miller; 5, Jayme Peterson, Highmore; 6, Blake Meyer, Huron; 7, Nathan Grehl, Hitchcock; 8, Colby Jensen, Pierre.
Heat 2: 1, Brock Hess, Sioux Falls; 2, Kyle Knouse, Huron; 3, Britt Williams, Ft. Pierre; 4, James Reiner, Wessington Springs; 5, Shaun Cooper, Pierre; 6, Tanner Grohs, Wessington Springs; (disqualified) Todd Meek, Miller.
Main event: 1, Johnson; 2, Hansen; 3, Knouse; 4, Reiner; 5, Hess; 6, Kopecky; 8, Williams; 9, Peterson; 10, Meyer; 11, Grehl; 12, Grohs; (did not finish) 13, Jensen; 14, Cooper; 15, Meek.
WISSOTA Modifieds
Heat 1: 1, David McDonald, Huron; 2, Tyler McDonald, Huron; 3, Chad Olsen, Hendriccks, Minn.; 4, Nick Grehl, Huron; 5, Andy Jones, Princeton, Minn.; 6, Justin Boomsma, Hitchcock; 7, Ken Hron, Nashwauk, Minn.
Heat 2: 1, Dave Cain, Corcoran, Minn.; 2, Kent Arment, Aberdeen; 3, Landon Atkinson, Little Falls, Minn.; 4, Jordan Foster, Henry; 5, Jeremy Nelson, Alexandria, Minn.; 6, David Carlson, Huron.
Heat 3: 1, Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.; 2, Jay Triplett, Brookings; 3, Dale Ames, Huron; 4, Duke Erickson, Sioux Falls; 5, Chris Prussman, Brookings; (did not finish) 6, Matt Gilbertson, Montevideo, Minn.

Photo:

David McDonald of Huron (52X) leads his son, Tyler (5M), through turns one and two during a heat race in the Advantage RV Modified Tour event at Dakota State Fair Speedway on Saturday. PHOTO BY MIKE CARROLL/PLAINSMAN