Sargent Goes Back-to-Back With Hawkeye Downs Win

2025-06-09

Randy Sargent continued to be on a roll Friday night at Hawkeye Downs (Cedar Rapids, IA) when he pulled off his second win of the season. Although it wasn't a completely dominant performance, once he got out front he was impossible to catch. 

QUALIFYING

Brandon Laing was absent in time trials after an engine failure in hot laps ended his day prematurely. It was no surprise that Griffin McGrath picked up fast time for the 7th time at his home track. McGrath set a time of 19.707 with Michael Weber 2nd fastest with a 19.736. Touring stars rounded out the top-5:

3. Grant Brown 19.771
4. Randy Sargent 19.789
5. Carson Phillips 19.879

HEATS

In the first heat race, Jacob Gille controlled from the start. Grant Brown took over 2nd and stalked Gille for two laps before peaking to the inside going into turn three. The two made contact which spun the #14 of Brown around, luckily without further contact. Gille would be uncontested for the rest of the heat and score the win with Carson Phillips in 2nd.

Heat two was lead early on by Jon Reynolds Jr while Randy Sargent made his way past Danny Lehmkuhl for the runner-up position. Sargent quickly pounced on the outside of Reynolds Jr and on the backstretch with 5 laps remaining the two had a scary moment where they made contact but were able to keep the cars pointed in the right direction. One lap later, Sargent cleared Reynolds Jr on the outside, and went on to the heat win. 

FEATURE

Local late model driver Kacey Korsmo led the field to the green of the 48-lap feature with Reynolds Jr to his outside. Korsmo cleared out of turn two and went on to lead the opening eight laps. 

Just three laps in, Griffin McGrath went sliding up into the outside wall in turn three, receiving some body damage. He would take his car to the pits and would return, but only for a short time before pulling it back in. 

On the restart, Korsmo got away once again while Gille jumped on the chance to take away 2nd. A lap later, Sargent powered around Reynolds Jr to take away the third spot. 

With 41 to go, Gille slipped inside of Korsmo heading into turn three. Korsmo held onto the outside for a couple laps, though Gille finally got clear with 36 to go. He brought Sargent with him and suddenly Korsmo found himself back to 3rd. 

A lap later, Reynolds Jr moved inside of Korsmo and simultanously Sargent jumped to the outside of Gille for the lead. The battle was quickly over as Sargent cleared a corner later.

Korsmo was then stuck on the outside as he was passed by Grant Brown, Michael Weber, and Carson Phillips. Once Brown and Weber got away from the other two drivers, Weber began to work Brown over. It took several looks but Weber got to the inside at the halfway point. 

As the laps clicked off, Sargent continued to build the gap while Weber continued to move forward. With 18 to go, he arrived at the bumper of Reynolds Jr for 3rd and quickly took over that position. Four laps later Weber was peaking to the inside of Gille and he quickly took 2nd, leaving Gille to deal with Reynolds Jr.

Sargent continued to match pace or be just faster than Weber in the final 15 laps, giving Sargent his third career Big 8 Series win. Renolds Jr would get passed Gille with 3 to go, finishing on the podium. 

Sargent became the newest winner at Hawkeye Downs in the Big 8 Series, as nobody has been able to get multiple wins at the track. 

Our next race takes place at Grundy County Speedway (IL) on Saturday, June 28th.