Praus shines at Speedway

The Southwest Speedway track belonged to Jerry Praus on Saturday night.

The Pure Stocks racer from South Heart simply dominated his class, sweeping the night with wins in his heat, the trophy dash and feature races. However, it was the trophy dash Praus found most interesting.

Starting in the back of the pack, Praus seized a hole on the first lap and drove to the win.

"I didn't expect to win in the trophy dash," said Praus, racing for the first time this season. "I was like, 'I'll take the hole. It looks good to me.' "

Praus led all but the first and second lap of the feature as Dickinson's Jeremey Binstock held him at bay. Praus passed Binstock and cruised to the win from there, lapping as many as five cars en route to the win.

"It's been a while since I've been in a car and it felt good to be in it again here at the Southwest Speedway," Praus said.

The IMCA Modifieds became a marathon after two complete restarts due to cautions in the first lap. Two cars wrecked on lap five of the 25-lap race, causing a lengthy caution.

Crafty veteran Marlyn Seidler took the lead prior to the lap five caution and held off the likes of Darrell Bauer, Josh Jones, Fran Martin and Kirk Wojahn, who was black flagged in the eight lap for rough driving.

Martin and Jones both headed into the pits on the lap. Neither of their drivers was hindered by Wojahn prior to pulling out of the race. There were no cautions after that point.

"There's so much attrition in a race like that," Seidler said.

Seidler held off Bauer after the eighth lap with the greatly reduced field of cars cut from 15 to seven after just eight laps. Bauer grabbed a short-lived lead on lap 12 but couldn't hold off Seidler, who quickly regained the lead.

Bauer continued to chase Seidler in the final laps, but couldn't catch the Underwood driver. Seidler held on down the stretch to win his second consecutive feature at the Southwest Speedway.

"The track was tough, they did a good job with what they had to work with," said Seidler, referring to the muddy track.

In the WISSOTA Street Stocks feature, John Feist of Bismarck took the lead away from Dickinson's Travis Ulmer on turn 2 of lap five and never looked back, building a large lead and holding off lead-chasers T.C. Shelhamer, Bill Miller and Barrett Berg.

Much like Praus did in his feature, Feist bided his time and seized a golden opportunity to take the lead on a turn.

Notes: Because races were rained out in Jamestown, several racers from that area made the trip. The 200-mile trek paid off for Scott Bintz of Jamestown. He won the first heat in the Street Stocks. ... They'll race next Saturday at the Speedway, the second of three consecutive weekends of racing. Normally, the Southwest Speedway holds races every other weekend.