HUSTLE AND BUSTLE BEGINS: SOUTH DAKOTA WAS BUZZING WITH ENERGY AND EXCITEMENT AS THE PRELIMINARY NIGHT OF THE HUSET’S HUSTLE STARTED THE BIG MONEY STRETCH OF FOUR RACES AT HUSET’S SPEEDWAY

BRANDON, SOUTH DAKOTA (June 18, 2025) – There was so much energy and excitement circulating around Huset’s Speedway on Wednesday as the best in the sport of sprint car racers were in South Dakota to entertain over the next four consecutive nights. The parking lots were filling up with enthusiastic fans as the cars, campers, and RVs found and then settled into their spaces for the next four nights. The race teams haulers pulled into the pit area off the back stretch to find their parking spaces for the mega event at Huset’s Speedway. It was the opening night of the Huset’s Hustle, which was the first of four nights of intense competition with not one but two six-figure paydays – the $100,000-to-win Huset’s Hustle on Thursday and the pinnacle payday of the week on Saturday night in the $250,000-to-win BillionAuto.com Huset’s High Bank Nationals. There were 60 of the toughest winged sprint car race teams in the country licking their chops as they prepared their speed machines for their drivers to pursue the trophies and purse money this week.

Last year there was the same level of anticipation and excitement before Mother Nature moved in and brutally forced the postponement of the event to a later date due to severe and destructive flooding. The postponed event was rescheduled and eventually run later in the season but the format and field certainly was scaled back significantly. Tod Quiring and his operations team at Huset’s Speedway never wavered and they committed to put this special four days of money paying races back on the World of Outlaws schedule in 2025.

The first two nights of racing, dubbed the Huset’s Hustle, had $20K going to the winner on Wednesday night with a $100,000 payday up for grabs for the winner on Thursday night. This evening it would be all about points during Wednesday’s preliminary night of action. The top ten in combined qualifying and heat race points in each group would lock into the A-Main. The energy was bubbling to a boil, it was now time to get the calculators out to go racing at Huset’s Speedway in the opening night of the Huset’s Hustle!

With a stout field of cars, the drivers split equally into qualifying groups based on of the random pill draw for Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying. For Carson Macedo that position the Tarlton and Son/High Performance Lubricants/Wilwood Racing #41 Maxim as the tenth car out in Flight 2. Numbers were an important part of the game in this format. There were those on the rolling stopwatch that mattered because the lower the number the more qualifying points a driver earned. When Ian Madsen #2KS completed his two-timed laps, it was Carson’s turn to wheel the Albaugh – Your Alternative #41 up to speed. When his Kistler Engines powerplant fired, he quickly went to work. Carson was trucking when he took the green flag and was “all-out” around the three-eighths mile South Dakota dirt oval racetrack. The Californian completed his first lap in 11.439 seconds and followed it up the second time around with lap two recorded in 11.762 seconds. The quicker of his multiple attempts was fourth quick overall in Flight 2 earning him 97 points. The fastest driver his time trial session, earning the 100 maximum points available, was Michael “Buddy” Kofoid in the Roth Motorsports #83 with a quick lap in 11.230 seconds. The quickest driver in the other time trial session, Flight 1, was Rico Abreu in the Kubota #24 who circled Huset’s in 11.062 seconds to earn 100 points too, as well as the Simpson Quick Time Award honors.

The starting lineups for the six 10-lap Heat races were compiled based off each group’s time trial results with an inversion of six. Base on his fourth-place qualifying effort that put Carson Macedo in the Greatest Store on Dirt Heat Race #4 where he would get the Mesilla Valley Transportation (MVT)/Smiley’s Racing Products/Smith TI #41 started from the fifth starting position in row three alongside fellow Californian Buddy Kofoid. Time Kaeding #3 and Koby Werkmeister #31 were together on the front row with Garet Williamson #23 and Kerry Madsen #55V behind in the second row. Jacob Peterson #80P and Mark Dobmeier #13 were side-by-side in row four with Skylar Gee #99 and Landon Crawley sharing row five.

There were more points up for grabs with each of the Heat race winners getting 100 points with a three-point drop for second and third place followed by another five-point drop for the field from fourth on back. The top ten-point earners out of each qualifying group for the night locked into the $20,000-to-win feature.

The racing was about to get serious – quickly. When the front row starters entered turn three there was a moment of nervous foot twitching on their way over to the chalk line in turn four before everyone’s engine roared to life as the green flag waved.

Tim Kaeding powered up and led the opening lap as Garet Williamson blasted into the runner-up position with Koby Werkmeister and Kerry Madsen close behind. Buddy Kofoid used the outside lane to move into fifth with Carson racing from the sixth spot aboard the Albaugh – Your Alternative #41.

Buddy Kofoid was digging and would move by Madsen into fourth at the halfway point of the race with Carson right there too. That allowed Mark Dobmeier to enter the mix with Madsen fending off Macedo. Dobmeier used the tight racing to drive by Macedo into sixth place with four laps to go.

Tim Kaeding led wire-to-wire to collect the win and a hundred more points as he was followed across the finish line by Williamson (97 Points), Kofoid (94 Points), and Werkmeister (89 Points) with Madsen (84 Points) coming home fifth. Mark Dobmeier (79 Points) finished sixth with Carson coming home seventh to earn 74 points.

With his time trial qualifying points and points secured in the Heat race, Carson’s accumulated point total was 171mpoints, which was good enough for 14th best overall for his qualifying group.

There was no Toyota Dash as part of this format, so the top eight overall point earners redrew for their A-Main starting positions. Since he was not in the top ten in points in his group Carson would start eighth in the 12-lap Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown. With no provisional starting spots up for grabs he would have to tough it out to gain one of the four transfer positions up for grabs. When the green flag waved polesitter Brad Sweet drove his NAPA Auto Parts #49 to the front to claim the number one position with Sheldon Haudenschild behind in his NOS Energy Drink #17. Carson moved up one spot on the start. With three laps in the books, he was up to fourth racing with Kerry Madsen. They swapped positions with Macedo securing fourth but getting shuffled back to sixth again with five laps to go. He had his elbows up and reclaimed the final transfer position with two laps to go. Brad Sweet took the win over Sheldon Haudenschild with Kaleb Johnson and Carson Macedo locking down the final two transfer positions out of the LCS.

The completed twenty-four car A-Main field was extraordinarily impressive when scanning the starting lineup. They lined up and were ready to go in the 35-lap Huset’s Hustle preliminary feature event. Each one of the drivers in the twelve rows were side-by-side with another proven speed athlete with immense talent and proven sprint car racing skills. There was a lot on the line ranging from a big payday to those coveted event points that would carry over to Thursday.

After the redraw for the eight highest point earners from each of the qualifying groups, Ashton Torgerson #1A and Spencer Bayston #14 paced the field and joined in the four-wide salute to the fans by row two starts Bill Balog #17B and Kyle Larson #57. Jy Corbet #25 and David Gravel #2 were in row three with Garet Williamson #23 and Buddy Kofoid #83 in row four. Carson would get his journey started from the very last position on the grid, starting twenty-fourth aboard the Albaugh – Your Alternative/Prime Composite Innovations/Fuel Safe Racing Cells #41 Maxim.

There was a $20,000 check and 250 more event points waiting for the feature winner in victory lane. With the excitement and anticipation elevating to a new level, the fans in the stands stood up as the green flag unfurled over the field of cars. That was short-lived though as the yellow was thrown for a slowing Donny Schatz #15. After some time in the work area, he rejoined the field.

Back to green again before the red flag flew for Andy Pake #64 who flipped before a lap could be completed. The third time was a charm as Spencer Bayston #14 got the early jump and held the edge over Torgerson, Balog, and Larson when the first circuit was completed. Carson was scored twenty second at the end of lap one.

Carson was focused and willing to put in the work needed to move forward. Lap after lap he was mired in a battle for a better spot in the running order. Spencer Bayston was still out front, but he now had Kyle Larson and David Gravel pressuring him from behind.

On lap 15, the red flag was thrown for 12th running Jy Corbet who hooked the cushion in turn one with his right rear and bicycled before flipping hard to end his night. Spencer Bayston would lead Larson, Gravel, Williamson, and Kofoid back to the green flag with Carson restarting from the 18th position.

Kyle Larson used the restart to his advantage as he hustled into the lead on lap 16. He would not look back as he raced to the win ahead of Spencer Bayston and Buddy Kofoid to complete the podium. Carson salvaged another challenging night to come home with a 16th place finish, earning another 205 points. His total points earned on night one was 376 which was 19th overall.

The top ten in points after the preliminary night were: (1) Spencer Bayston #14 (442 Points); (2) Kyle Larson #57 (438 Points); (3) Michael “Buddy” Kofoid #83 (438 Points); (4) David Gravel #2 (432 Points); (5) Garet Williamson #23 (426 Points); (6) Anthony Macri #39M (419 Points); (7) Bill Balog #17B (419 Points); (8) Tanner Thorson #88T (411 Points); (9)Giovanni Scelzi #18 (411 Points); and, (10) Tim Kaeding #3 (408 Points).

Standing on the Throttle to Open the Huset’s Hustle in Flickertail State of South Dakota! Photo Credit: Trent Gower Photography

JJR’s Valued Sponsorship Partners for 2025: Albaugh, LLC; Mesilla Valley Transportation (MVT); Border International; Scott Boyd Family; Saich Family; Tarlton and Son Inc.; Complete Parts & Equipment Solutions; Durst Inc.; High Performance Lubricants, LLC; Kistler Racing Engines; Maxim Racing; Sander Engineering; Bandy & Associates Accountancy Corporation; Boltz Family; Pro Powder Coating (PPC); RaceDiecast.com; Team Jack Foundation; Mark Burch Motorsports; T-FAB Custom Metal Fabrication; Xtreme Body and Paint; All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads; AutoMeter; Bell Helmets; Ben Cook Race Car Products; BlackBeard LTD; BMRS (Brown & Miller Racing Solutions); BR Motorsports; CASM Safety Products; C&R Racing; Crow Enterprizes; CS Productions; Engler Machine & Tool, Inc.; Factory Kahne (FK Shocks); Fibreworks Composites; FK Rod Ends; Fuel Safe Racing Cells; Greber Racing Components; Hoosier Racing Tire; ISC Racers Tape; Jansen Transportation; K1 Race Gear; KSE Racing Products; LogoDaddy; Motor State Distributing; Mr. Jim’s Racing; Prime Composite Innovations; Saldana Racing Products; Sam I Am; Schoenfeld Headers; Smiley’s Racing Products; Smith TI; Vortex Racing Products; Walker Performance Filtration; Wilwood Racing; and Winters Performance Products.

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