Three Claim First Victories of Year at Jackson

By Stephanie Isaacson/ Jackson Speedway

Mother Nature helped prepare a challenging track for racing on Saturday night with action sponsored by NAPA of Windom and Rectory Bed and Breakfast.  Dan Strandberg was able to tame the half-mile claiming a back to back feature wins in the hobby class.  Frank Phipps topped the double barrel action.  Trent Schroeder led the IMCA Stock cars under the checkers.  The 360 sprint feature was won by Bill Boles.

A total of twelve hobbies pulled to the speedway for action Saturday night.  After one restart on the initial go of it, the field of drivers ran their twelve-lap feature without caution.  At the drop of the green, it was Adam Ecker jumping to the lead from the outside pole starting position.  Jerry Groenwald and Dan Strandberg chased Ecker from their third row starts.  Ecker held his line until the seventh circuit when Strandberg moved inside of him and look the lead.  For the second half of the race, Strandberg continued to pull away from the field, claiming his second victory in two weeks and completing the sweep as he also won his heat race.  The other heat winner was Ecker. 

Ten double barrel sprint drivers took the green on their fifteen-lap feature event.  Jeff Edgington used his pole position to take the lead while Frank Phipps slid into second ahead of Bruce Anderson.  Steve Yarns had a good start, moving around the top of the track into fourth from his sixth starting place.  The race was slowed on lap two when Brandon Stevenson brought out the yellow and was retired from the event along with Yarns.  Edgington maintained his top position on the restart with Phipps giving a strong challenge by pulling alongside through the corners, but Edgington would get the better drive off the turn, keeping him out front.  On lap eight, Phipps got the line he needed and took the lead out of turn two, handing Edgington second with Mike Bloomstrom in third.  Bloomstrom took advantage of Edgington stumbling in the corner and moved into second on lap eleven.  The caution flew once more as Casey Fredrichsen and Edgington got together on the backstretch while running in the top five.  The final green-white-checkered finish saw Phipps hold off the challenges from Bloomstrom who settled for runner up ahead of Nate Eakin and Anderson.  The heat wins went to Phipps and Bloomstrom. 

The IMCA Stock cars did not disappoint as the eleven-car field bumped and banged their way for position throughout the fifteen-lap feature.  Gary Bannister was the beneficiary of the pole position and used that advantage to jump into the early lead.  Trent Schroeder moved into second after starting sixth by some good moves through the corners.  Jeff Senne brought out the only caution when he abruptly slowed while running third going through turn four.  The field avoided the slowing car. On the restart, Bannister held off Schroeder and Roger Tripp until the ninth lap when the field was three wide out or turn four with Bannister running in the inside of the track, but losing the lead.  The next lap saw Schroeder pulling away from the action behind him as Brice Bodle got alongside Bannister; after some rubbing, Bodle took the position.  Bannister would fight back but would come up short when they ran out of laps and Schroeder took the checkers ahead of Bodle, Bannister, and Tripp. Senne and Bodle were victorious in the heat races. 

The challenging track conditions were a big factor in the sprint car twenty-lap feature.  It took three attempts before the first lap was recorded with Bill Boles leading the field.  The run was short as Curt Lund rolled his car in turn four to bring out the red.  Lund was fine, and although his car was injured, he continued on tagging the back of the field on the restart.  Boles was able to get five car lengths on Vogelaar with Mitch Runge and Jesse Drost in chase.  Scott Winters found a fast line above the soft spots and quickly moved from his sixteenth starting position up to third by lap five.  The Winters machine looked to be gaining on the top two before his car came to a stop when a part broke, ending his night.  As the race continued, Boles maintained his lead over Vogelaar and took home his first victory at Jackson this season.  Vogelaar claimed second ahead of Drost, Shawn VanWyhe, and Chad Meyer.  Heat winners were Brett Geldner, Drost, and Jake Leighty. 

The upcoming weekend will be a double night of racing for the Jackson sprint cars as they take the Jackson Sprint Touring Series on the road to Worthington for a sprint car spectacular on Friday night to tackle the quarter-mile bullring.  All four classes will again be in action on Saturday at the big half-mile at the Jackson Speedway.