Garner, Rickert, and Blomstrom win
Jackson
Spring
Nationals
By: Tom Svoboda/Jackson
Speedway
On a cool and
partly cloudy night the Jackson Speedway kicked off its 2008
racing season with the first annual Folkens Brothers
Trucking/Van Wyhe Livestock Spring Sprint Car Nationals. A
total of 72 Sprint cars in three classes checked in for the
nights racing action which saw Clint Garner, Sioux Falls SD,
take the Jackson Speedway Touring Series 360 Sprint feature; Jay
Rickert, Glencoe MN, Jackpot Junction IMCA Touring Series
Sprints; and Mike Blomstrom, Ft. Dodge IA, taking the Double
Barrel Sprint feature race.
The 20-lap
JSTS Sprint feature race saw three different leaders and also
four red flags fly. At the start of the race it was Jake
Peters,
Sioux Falls
SD
getting the early lead from his inside pole starting position.
Peters would lead through the races first three laps when the
red flag came out when Mike Sitzman, Jr.,
Tappen
ND
made contact with the front stretch wall and catch fence sending
him flipping several times. In the process of trying to
avoid the wreck, Chad Meyer,
Sioux Falls
SD,
also ended up flipping. Meyer would actually flip over the
top of Sitzman and come to a rest further off the track.
Meyer was ok, but Sitzman was taken the hospital to be checked
out. On the restart Gregg Bakker,
Sioux Falls
SD,
would challenge Peters, but he would hold him off. On lap
seven Bakker would once again look for the lead and on the
eighth lap he would get by Peters and move into the number one
spot coming out of turn four. The next lap Peters would
get by him and once again take over the lead. Peters would
loose the lead on lap ten when he made contact with a lap car
and spun in turn two. That handed the restart lead to
Bakker, who maintained that spot for the next two laps when
Clint Garner got by Bakker coming out of turn two. The red
flag when then fly three times in the next three laps. On
lap fourteen when Chuck Swenson,
Watertown
SD,
got upside down in turn two. On lap fifteen, Bryan Dobesh,
Sioux Falls
SD,
made contact with the wall in turn four and on lap sixteen when
Shane Liebig,
Rapid City
SD,
got upside down off the back straightaway. All drivers
were ok but out of the event. Through the several
restarts, Garner would maintain the lead with Brook Tatnell, San
Souci, NSW, AUST, closing fast. At one point on lap
eighteen Tatnell made the pass for the lead but it was all for
nothing when the caution flag came out. That set up a
green, white, checkered finish. Garner would hold off
Tatnell and go on to take the $2500 first place prize payday.
Brook Tatnell took second followed by Brian Brown,
Higginsville
MO,
Ryan Anderson, Charter Oak IA, and Gregg Bakker,
Sioux Falls
SD.
The B Features were won by Scott Winters,
Butterfield
MN,
and Jody Rosenboom, Rock Rapids IA with the dash won by Jake
Peters. Heat races went to Travis Whitney,
Minneapolis
MN,
Brian Brown, Ryan Anderson, Clint Garner, and Chuck Swenson.
Two different
drivers led in the 20-lap Jackpot Junction IMCA Sprint Car
feature. At the start it was Jennifer Eriksen,
Burnsville
MN,
getting the early lead from her pole starting position. Shannon
Eriksen,
Lakeville
MN,
would get the second spot with Donovan Peterson,
Brookings
SD
the third spot. On the next lap Jay Rickert would get
around Peterson as he would slip back in the field. As the
race went on Jennifer Eriksen would maintain the lead as her
brother
Shannon
would run the second spot. On lap seven
Shannon
would lose the second spot to Rickert, and while working on the
twelfth lap Rickert got by Jennifer Eriksen and took the lead.
Jennifer Eriksen raced in the second spot for one lap as Jason
Tostenson,
Gaylord
MN,
got by her for the spot on lap fourteen. As the race began
to wind down Bill Johnson, St. Peter MN, would get by Tostenson,
for second only to lose his left front wheel on the white flag
lap. That forced Johnson to the work area. On the
restart Jay Rickert would keep the field behind him and go on to
pick up the win. Curt Lund,
Redwood Falls
MN,
got by Jason Tostenson, for second. Tostenson had to
settle for third followed by Jennifer Eriksen and Neil Stevens,
Bingham
Lake
MN.
Heat race wins went to Curt Lund, Jason Tostenson, and Sidney
Denzer, Le Sueur MN.
The fifteen
lap Double Barrel Sprint Car feature race saw two different
leaders. At the start it was Steve Yarns, Jackson MN,
getting the early lead. Mike Blomstrom would get the
second spot with Bruce Anderson,
Trimont
MN,
the third spot. The leaders raced in this order for the
first six laps when Blomstrom was able to get by Yarns for the
lead coming out of turn four. Blomstrom would then start
to pull away from the field as
Anderson
got by Yarns for the second spot. As the race began to
wind down Yarns would fall back in the field as Casey
Friedrichsen, Arthur IA and Nate Eakin,
Milford
IA,
both got by him. When the checkered flag flew it was Mike
Blomstrom taking the win followed by Bruce Anderson, Casey
Friedrichsen, Nate Eakin, and Steve Yarns. The Heat race
win went to Steve Yarns.
The Jackson
Speedway Point Season for the five regular classes of cars kicks
off on Saturday, May 17th. The 360 Sprints
along with the Double Barrel Sprints, IMCA Stocks Cars, Hobby
Stocks and Sportsman will be in action. Hot laps at
7:00 p.m.
with racing to follow.
Jackson Speedway Touring Series 360 Sprints (44 Cars)
A Feature
(20 laps) – 1. 40 Clint Garner,
Sioux Falls
SD,
2. 34 Brook Tatnell, San Souci, NSW, AUST., 3. 21 Brian Brown,
Higginsville
MO,
4. 71R Ryan Anderson, Charter Oak IA, 5. 11x Gregg Bakker,
Sioux Falls
SD,
6. 87 Curt
Lund,
Redwood Falls
MN,
7. 5T Mark Toews,
Spirit
Lake
IA,
8. 28 Mitch Runge,
Sioux Falls
SD,
9. 99v Gordy Vogelaar,
Worthington
MN,
10. 4J Lee Grosz,
Harwood
ND,
11. 57 Jake Peters,
Sioux Falls
SD,
12. 6 Jody Rosenboom, Rock Rapids IA, 13. 17B Ryan Bickett,
Ramona SD, 14. 9 Jesse Smith,
Mankato
MN,
15. 75c Casey Heser,
Jackson
MN, 16. 10 Justin Jacobsma,
Hull
IA,
17. 8K Butch Hanssen,
Sioux Falls
SD
(DNF) 18. 12 Shane Liebig,
Rapid City
SD
(DNF), 19. 2
Bryan
Dobesh,
Sioux Falls
SD
(DNF), 20. 23W Scott Winters,
Butterfield
MN
(DNF), 21. 27 Travis Whitney,
Minneapolis
MN
(DNF), 22. X Chuck Swenson,
Watertown
SD
(DNF), 23. 7
Chad
Meyer,
Sioux Falls
SD
(DNF), 24. 92 Mike Sitzman,
Tappen
ND
(DNF)
B Feature 1
(10 laps) – 1. Winters, 2. Toews, 3. Bickett, 4.
Lund,
5. 05 Bill Boles, Harris IA, 6. 20G Chris Graf,
Glencoe
MN,
7. 99 Shawn Van Wyhe, Rock Rapids IA, 8. 1HD Jake Leighty,
Worthington
MN,
9. 51 Matt Hasara,
Lakefield
MN,
10. 13
Jordan
Martens,
Harrisburg
SD
(DNF), 11. 62 Jerry Richert, Jr,
Forest
Lake
MN
(DNF), 12. 2D Dusty Ballenger,
Sioux Falls
SD
(DNF), Did Not Start – 39 Greg Gunderson,
Sioux Falls
SD
& 24x Randy Droescher,
Larchwood
IA
B Feature 2 – 1.
Rosenboom, 2. Liebig 3. Smith, 4. Meyer, 5. 26M Brad Mandery,
Sioux Falls
SD,
6. 1B Brett Geldner,
St.
Peter MN, 7. K9 Tim Sernett,
Minneapolis
MN,
8. 18 Rusell Wiese,
Lake Park
IA,
9. 12x Brock Dump,
Sioux Falls
SD,
10. 34TW Brad Barickman,
Richfield
MN,
11. 2H Jason Eckard,
Okoboji
IA,
12. 97 Roger Rager, Pequot Lakes MN (DNF), Did Not Start – 5M
Troy Manteufel, St. Peter MN & 71 Tige Jensen, Lincoln NE
Dash
(6 laps) – 1. Peters, 2. Bakker, 3. Swenson, 4. Dobesh, 5.
Garner, 6. Tatnell, 7. Brown, 8.
Anderson,
9. Runge, 10. Whitney
Heat 1 (8 laps) –
1. Whitney, 2. Runge, 3. Jacobsma, 4. Heser, 5. Toews
Heat 2 – 1. Brown,
2. Grosz, 3. Winters, 4. Richert, 5. Liebig
Heat 3 – 1.
Anderson,
2. Hanssen, 3. Tatnell, 4. Bakker, 5. Smith
Heat 4 – 1.
Garner, 2. Peters, 3. Dobesh, 4. Rager, 5. Graf
Heat 5 – 1.
Swenson, 2. Vogelaar, 3. Sitzman, 4. Boles, 5. Rosenboom
Jackpot Junction IMCA Sprints (20 Cars)
A Feature
(20 laps) – 1. 43 Jay Rickert,
Glencoe
MN,
2. 87 Curt
Lund,
Redwood Falls
MN,
3. 66 Jason Tostenson,
Gaylord
MN,
4. 10 Jennifer Eriksen,
Burnsville
MN,
5. 7 AJ Stevens,
Bingham
Lake
MN,
6. 2 Neil Stevens,
Bingham
Lake
MN,
7. 10E Shannon Eriksen,
Lakeville
MN,
7. 18 Nate Laugen,
Lake Mills
IA,
9. 77 Brandon Allen,
St.
Peter MN, 10. 1st John Greenwood,
Woodward
IA,
11. 9s Richard Smith, Jr.,
Mankato
MN,
12. 3 Donovan Peterson,
Brookings
SD,
13. 56 Bill Johnson,
St.
Peter MN (DNF), 14. 29 Keith Beckler,
Litchfield
MN
(DNF), 15. 8 Tony Hargrave,
Maplewood
MN
(DNF), 16. 55 Bruce Allen,
Mankato
MN
(DNF), 17. 00 Brett Allen,
Kasota
MN
(DNF), 18. 43x
Sidney
Denzer, Le Sueur MN (DNF) Did Not Start – 91 Mike Sargent,
Cleveland
MN
& 21 Dwain Wilmes,
Kasota
MN
Heat 1
(8 laps) – 1.
Lund,
2. AJ Stevens, 3. Peterson, 4. Jennifer Eriksen, 5. Beckler
Heat 2 – 1.
Tostenson, 2. Rickert, 3. Johnson, 4.
Greenwood,
5. Bruce Allen
Heat 3 – 1. Denzer,
2. Brandon Allen, 3. Laugen, 4. Shannon Eriksen, 5. Hargrave
Double Barrel Sprints (8 Cars)
A Feature
(15 laps) – 1. 70 Mike Blomstrom,
Ft. Dodge
IA,
2. 11A Bruce Anderson,
Trimont
MN,
3. 20 Casey Friedrichsen, Arthur IA, 4. 1N Nate Eakin,
Milford
IA,
5. 98 Steve Yarns,
Jackson
MN, 6. 14K Scott Knudson,
Elkton
SD,
7. 13 Jake Nicosen,
Ringsted
IA,
8. 21 Devin Friedrichsen, Arthur IA
Heat (6 laps) – 1.
Yarns, 2.
Anderson,
3. Knudson, 4. Blomstrom, 5. Eakin
