Knoxville, IA - Omaha Teen, Dakota Hendrickson, completed another weekend of racing that saw him garner two more top 5 finishes. He ran 5th at Bloomfield Speedway on Thursday night July 12th at the Davis County Fair and finished 3rd at the historic Knoxville Raceway on Saturday's HyVee Night.
Dakota won his heat race after a multi-lap dual with Illinois sprint car veteran, Kevin Hetrick. Hendrickson held off Hetrick's charges and pulled away a lap before Hetrick's engine expired. In the feature the youngster started on the inside of the second row and was gunning for his first feature win. Unfortunately, he made a rookie mistake and spun the car in turn 2 on the initial start.
After going to the tail, Hendrickson worked his way back to 10th when a caution flew with 3 laps remaining. On the restart, the youngster set sail for the front passing five cars in the process, including veterans Bob Weuve and Mitchell Alexander, before nipping Mike Mayberry at the checkered flag. "I was really, really fortunate to get by those guys at the end. They are all great drivers, but the track went away and we were able to get a hold of just a little something on the bottom to squeak by" Dakota said.
Saturday night at Knoxville Raceway was a different story. Dakota started on the second row outside in the feature and was running 4th on the first lap. Hendrickson nearly lost it coming off of turn 4 on the initial circuit and lost five places. "I hit a slick spot and basically overcorrected the car. The next thing I knew I was headed toward the fence," Dakota offered. "I'm not sure if who was more scared for a second, me or my mom" the youngster continued.
Once he gathered it up he began working his way back toward the front. by the end he had posted his second podium finish of the year at Knoxville, running third behind the winning Mike Van Hafeten and runner-up, fellow Omahan, Matthew Selzer.