The Jackson Motorplex in Jackson Minnesota opened up for their seventieth year of dirt track racing on Tuesday night, May 23th with a two class special for IMCA Stock Cars and Hobby Stocks and on a night when just about anything could and would happen, Wisconsin's Jared Siefert was the beneficiary of some late race antics that saw him inherit the lead in the Stock Car feature, hold on for the win and take five grand back to the Badger state. Doug Wickman would win seven hundred and fifty bucks for topping a much more staid and cleanly raced Hobby Stock main.
In 2015 Todd Quiring, of Big Game Tree Stands fame, bought the fairgrounds facility in Jackson and through the next few yeas, performed one of the most stunning turn arounds done to any dirt track in the entire country. What they have now doesn't even resemble the old flat half mile and except for being on the same property, nothing even hints at what the old track looked like.
The new four tenth mile oval is one of the sharpest facilities in the country and I would say that the grandstands, with their steep pitch offer some of the best sight lines for the fans of any track around. It is a pleasure visiting this track which seems to be strangely under used in my opinion. The total schedule for this track for 2023 is booked at just ten nights of racing, all being specials while the main focus of the ownership group remains the Huset's Speedway to the West across the border in South Dakota. And make no bones about it, this whole place as well as Huset's is focused on Sprint Car racing and any other form of racing is strictly in the back seat, even including the Silver Dollar Nationals that will move to Huset's in 2023 from its former home at the late I-80 Speedway in Greenwood Nebraska.
Among the ten races on the schedule for this year are three Tuesday night specials for the IMCA cars which proliferate at a number of tracks around this area but seldom get the opportunity to race at Jackson. Tonight's event was sponsored by Andy Altenburg and Altenburg Construction, a long time racer in the Stock Car class. Somewhat strangely, this event would be just a two class program with only Stock Cars and Hobby Stocks on the schedule tonight with fans actually surprised when they arrived to find out that there would be just the two classes in action, having assumed incorrectly that all the Tuesday night shows would feature all five of the IMCA classes which is the norm here.
However, on this night it would be just the two, a formula for a quick night of racing on a May midweek night with school, work and likely for many, graduations upcoming. Big money would be on the line with the Stock Cars racing for five grand to win and the Hobby Stocks also having a nice pay night. Especially tied in with the big race just concluded at Spencer, one would assume that a large field of cars would be on hand. And while there were a number of traveling high powered Stock Car teams, I'm thinking that both tracks were disappointed in the total car count they got as there were thirty one Stock Cars here and less than fifty at Spencer, with a format obviously designed with many more expected.
Now that we have established what a fine facility this is and all the great things about a visit here, let's be honest and say that while it might be a multi million dollar facility, it was operated in a two dollar and fifty cent manner on this night. Just about everything that could be done negatively and in a way to enrage both the drivers and fans was done tonight. To say that they weren't on their "A" game would be to tread lightly on what happened on this night.
They got everyone upset right off the bat when they went nuts watering the race track and made the last pass of the night before the cars hit the track a deluge of epic proportions and turned the track into a mud hole with just a couple vehicles to pack. It was clear that with a small pit area of cars to help that racing wasn't going to be starting on time. As it turned out, the 8 pm scheduled start time, which was much too late to begin with, was exceeded by nearly a full hour and it was just a few minutes short of 9 pm before the first race hit the track.
As you might guess, this did not go over big with either the drivers, who were asked to come out and pack the mud and then race on less than great conditions for most of the night, or the fans patiently waiting for racing to begin and then not so patiently. This got everyone on edge before the first green flag was dropped and I think that was reflected on some of the racing action we saw later.
In fact, the track conditions saw several drivers load up and not race, even for the big bucks with fan favorite and likely challenger Kelly Shryock load up and barrel out of the grounds on his way back home. This was an unfortunate way to start the racing season.
To compound the late starting issue, for some reason this race was using a format that I had never seen before for determining the lineups as for the first time in memory, the Stock Cars qualified with their time trial results lining up the heat races. Supposedly, they were using a method that compiled points for time trials and heats and that determined the starting positions for the main events. But there was confusion on that too. First of all, the time trials used up valuable time on a night when they were starting much too late to begin with as Matt Olson set quick time with an hour glass slow lap of 20.402 seconds.
More confusion reigned as the first Stock Car heat came to the track and started with the front two rows inverted. The second heat was nearly started in this manner also until a quick change was made and this heat and the other two were started straight up so I don't know how they adjusted things with heats not all running under the same format. A B Feature was run to fill out the twenty four car starting field but then it looked like the top eight for the main were redrawn so it was very confusing and far more tedious than it needed to be which likely just got the drivers more riled up.
And that's the way they drove when the twenty five lap main started as there was slamming and banging galore. The groove was narrow and passing was hard which just made matters worse and with the drivers already ticked off, it was an explosive situation that saw much take place during those twenty five laps.
A race starting Dallon Murty on the pole would normally be over as he would be expected to lead from start to finish but on this crazy night, that was not the case. He did get the early lead but only three laps into the race, Jared Siefert drove past him to take over the top spot with Matt Olson, Murty, Dusty Vis and Derek Green all in contention.
And who would expect Murty, of all people, to loop it in turn one in heavy traffic but that's what happened with the grinding collision eliminating Murty, Olson and Jesse Sobbing. That would give the lead to Siefert but Green was on the move as he clearly was the fastest car on the track, having started eighth and one of the few able to pass. On lap nine he blew past Siefert to take over the lead and then marched away from the field as the race remained under green for an extended period. Green would build up nearly a full straightaway lead over the field as he cruised. Behind him, Siefert, Vis, Justin Luinenburg and Chanse Hollatz battled for position. Everything looked like money in the bank for Green until a slowing Damon Murty brought out the yellow with just three laps to go.
The double file restart saw Green with Vis on his inside and Siefert to the outside. As they came through turn three, Green properly held back firing until he hit the white chalk line on the track, signaling the fire zone. However, Vis, apparently trying to time his start perfectly and get a big run, misfired and took off way too soon, smashing into the back of Green and jumping up on the back of his car as the other drivers scrambled in various directions to avoid the mess.
It was bad news for Green who got a flat rear tire and had to duck into the infield for a replacement. You almost knew what was going to happen next as under yellow, while the field was circling the track slowly, Green found Vis on the back chute, made a right turn and slammed into his car and shoved it into the wall. This earned Green a DQ for the event as well as a second flat tire but his efforts weren't enough as Vis was able to continue racing.
Siefert would again inherit the lead and he would hold off a charging Jeffrey Larson to get the win. Trevor Holm would also charge forward to get third as Vis was shuffled back to sixth at the checkered. It was a crazy race from start to finish and certainly one that will be talked about for quite some time. By the time the final checkered waved, the track was just coming into the shape it should have been to start the program.
On the other hand, the Hobby Stocks behaved themselves quite well in their main which proceeded the Stock Cars. There were seventeen of them and their two heat races were wild affairs with much slamming and banging and their main seemed to be set up for more of the same. However, the drivers decided to behave instead and their finale saw just two yellow flags and only four cars that didn't finish as opposed to the Stock Car feature where more didn't finish than those that crossed the line.
A first lap crash did take care of the front row drivers and for the restart, Doug Wickman would move into the lead, an advantage that he would maintain for all fifteen laps. However, he was stalked the whole race by Malik Sampson who would repeatedly try both high and low to get past Wickman but Wickman is a veteran and knew to anticipate the moves and was there to block any efforts for a lead change.
Sampson would continue to try right to the checkered but he didn't pull any shenanigans and Wickman would keep his car in front and drive on for the win. And as much as Wickman should be congratulated for the win, Sampson deserves equal praise for racing his clean on a night when there was very little of that form of racing taking place. Chad Volk would finish up third.
Track officials proved that once they got going, they could run off a very fast program as they repeatedly screamed to the drivers to stage as they tried to make off for their earlier shortcomings. In fact, the whole actual race program took just ninety minutes to run with the final checkered waving at 10:30 pm.
The Mayor stayed home on Tuesday as he made this a "recliner" race but the rest of the traveling experts were on hand for one more night before everyone splits on their various racing adventures.
Thanks to all the folks at the pit gate for their help on this night. Let's face it, everyone has their bad nights, especially so some times on opening night when perhaps new people are working or the old veteran workers have forgotten their routine. Jackson Motorplex remains a very nice facility. Let's just take the keys out of the water truck a bit sooner next time, OK?
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