Petrzelka wins first title at Hawkeye Downs

Matt Petrzelka just bought his first house, and now he has something he can display on his mantle.

The country home outside Amana will house his new trophy.

The 20-year-old race car driver claimed his first season points championship, winning the hobby stocks division at Hawkeye Downs Speedway. He was one of four first-time champions at the asphalt track.

Petrzelka, originally from Norway, won eight feature races in just his second full season racing hobby stocks. He ran a groove unused by other drivers and had his car dialed in to handle better than the rest.

"The outside lane was the most dominant," Petrzelka said. "I had my car set up tight because everybody got loose getting out of the corners. I had more of an advantage because I wasn't sliding coming out of the turn."

Constant adjustments meant a lot of time in the garage, tweaking springs and tire pressures to get things just right. Petrzelka purchased his car from veteran driver Tim Dains, who Petrzelka credited for helping his team.

"Just working on the car every night helped out a lot," said Petrzelka, who competed in demolition derby before racing at Hawkeye Downs."About halfway through the season I figured everything out and more practice makes perfect."

In the late models, Brad Osborn won his first season title since winning consecutive crowns in 2004 and 2005. The 31-year-old from Janesville reversed his fortunes by speeding forward this year. After his last championship season, he managed only one feature victory (2007) before this summer. He raced to five wins, topping Andy Edwards by 33 points in the final standings.

Kyle Hinrichs, Jay Jaspers and Chad Siems rounded out the top five.

Brad Chandler's quest for a season points championship finally came to a close. Chandler, who had contended for a title in recent years only to be thwarted by engine trouble or wrecks late in the season, won the hornets title to match his brothers, Dallas and Nathan Chandler won nine features, which was the most by any driver in all six divisions, and finished 17 points better than Dallas Chandler. The Chandlers dominated the hornets division, winning 13 of 14 features. Derek Parrott was the only driver to win a feature and he finished third in final points.

He said in July he felt it was his year to win.

"To me, it would be like I finally accomplished the highest goal racing there," Chandler said about winning a points championship earlier this season. "That's the main reason why I keep going back every year."

Ryan Luedke snapped Tim Plummer's seven-year championship streak in the modified division. Luedke raced to three feature wins, and despite wrecking and placing fifth the final night, won by 86 points over Brian Gibson. Plummer, who had a division-high seven victories, was fourth one spot behind Jason Beauregard.

Cory Houdek of Cedar Rapids captured the season points title in the Sportsman division, which was restructured creating a hybrid division between last year's sportsman and stock cars for this season. Houdek won eight features en route to his second season championship. He won the stock car division in 2009.

Matt Blake began racing cars at the start of the season, purchasing a Legends car. A season points title came with it. Blake earned two victories to win the legend cars season title as a rookie, finishing 84 points ahead of Dennis Diercks.