RAPID CITY-Mud, mud and more mud. Mud everywhere.

A brief shower drenched Black Hills Speedway just as Friday's races were set to begin, leaving much of the grounds a quagmire and forcing a more than two-and-a-half hour delay in the first night of an Independence Day auto racing double-header.

Once racing finally took the green flag just after 10 p.m., sticky clay choked radiators and collected inside body panels, adding hundreds of pounds of unwanted ballast to race cars.

"I don't think anyone's going to have to worry about making weight tonight." said Wissota inspector Joe Jackmovich, of Rapid City.

The extra moisture also left the track surface leaden, making horsepower a premium for the night.

Gillette's Eddie Kirchoff showed his No. E5K had plenty of oomph under the hood, powering past early leader Lynn Amick, then holding off a determined charge from John Bey for the Wissota Late Model feature win.

Eric Mass, of Rapid City, survived a broken left front suspension for third.

"Once I finally got past Lynn Amick, I thought I could pace myself," said Kirchoff. "But then I saw John come up beside me and I had to get after it again."

Matt Heinzerling charged into the lead at the start of the 360 Sprint Car feature and held serve against veteran Randi Miller for his third win of the season.

A late caution, for Kevin Ingle's flat tire, bunched the field and put Miller in striking distance of the lead, but Heinzerling was not to be denied.

"This feels real good. I've always looked up to Randi Miller. A lot of people really aren't fans of his, but I always thought he drove clean," Heinzerling said.

"I had nothing for him," Miller said after climbing out of his No. 4M afterwards. "I guess we need a bigger horse."

Shawn Pudwill of Piedmont swept into the lead when pole-sitter Terry Harris slid into the muck inside of turn 2 during the Wissota Super Stock main event.

Pudwill was able to eke out a multi-car-length cushion, while John Lefler Jr., and James Hughes duked it our for second place, a spot Lefler eventually claimed.

For Pudwill, the win was some vindication for a disqualification last week that cost him a third-place finish. He was tagged for cutting to the inside of a passing cone used to regulate a restart. The orange traffic cone is placed in the middle of the front straightway to keep cars in single-file formation coming off a caution period. Pudwill said he had no choice but to dive under the cone to avoid hitting another car when the race resumed.

"After that bad DQ call last week, I had something to prove tonight," he said.

Troy Leiker, of Gillette, swept both Wissota Modified divisions, driving his own No. 17 to a wide-margin victory in the A-Modified finale, and out-dueling Mark Brave through lapped traffic to claim the Midwest Modified feature.

Troy Murner, of Rapid City, continued his stranglehold on the Grand National stock car division with his seventh straight main event triumph.

Racing continues tonight at 7:30 p.m., with a fireworks display to follow.