Wednesday, June 14, 2023

Jordan Rogotzke Tops Jackson IMCA Special

 The first of the season's IMCA five division special events at the Jackson Motorplex was held on Tuesday night, June 13th and Jordan Rogotzke would highlight the evening's action with his first ever Modified feature win. Other winners would include Luke Sathoff, Jared Boumeester, Cory Probst and Oliver Monson. 

This event was the first of the season's series of IMCA races sponsored by Bank Midwest which gives many of the local and regional racers a chance to race at the spectacular Jackson Motorplex which otherwise pretty much hosts Sprint Car racing. The drivers that participate in this event are totally different than those that race at the other highlighted races here and so also, for the vast majority, are the fans also. 

It was another spectacular weather night in early June here in southern Minnesota and an almost perfect night to be outdoors. This Jackson event falls right during a busy time for racers in southern Minnesota and northern Iowa with races for most classes being held every night this week and then on into next week also. As a gung ho fan who could go to the races seven nights a week and twice on Sunday, I'm not complaining that there are races virtually every night for the next two weeks in this area, but for the racers and the typical fans, it might be a bit much. What ends up happening is that both fans and drivers have to pick and choose and what we've seen so far this week is Luke warm car counts and spectator turnouts as most people have to make some choices. 

On Tuesday, Jackson management offered to boost the purse to a grand to win if there were twenty fou ror more cars on hand in any classes but that offer wasn't even pushed as the biggest turnout was fourteen in the Stock Cars. Its still just pushing mid June but both fans and drivers are getting burned out already with the high number of races going on. I wish I had a good answer to this but every track wants to make money but right now none are making what they could with half full (or less) grandstands and vacant pit parking spaces. 

As an example, there was some good racing on this night as at least three of the five feature races contested saw nose to tail finishes with another providing a late race pass for the win but with only sixty cars in the pits in five classes and not enough Modifieds for two heats, this is not the image that you want to offer your fans and the tv audience watching from Nome or some such far away place. Again, it's easier to identify the problem and much tougher to solve it, but I'm thinking something must be done soon. And where do all these midweek races leave the weekly shows? In most cases, even worst off than they were before and I still believe that damaging weekly racing leaves the whole sport in a tenuous place. 

Track management at Jackson learned from their mistake last month with the Stock Car and Hobby Stock special when they soaked the track so badly that racing was delayed nearly an hour and the quality of the racing suffered greatly. On Tuesday the track was in excellent shape and was ready to hot lap on as soon as the race cars hit the track. It was still tacky and didn't have dust but there was no mud and the racing was good so congrats to them for taking care of their previous miscue. 

Two heats were the order of the night in all but the Modifieds and they quickly tore through that part of the program with this show being a draw/redraw program. It took only thirty one minutes to run off the heat races and then after a very  brief intermission, it was time to go feature racing as it appeared the management was set on showing everyone that they could indeed run off a very quick midweek show and do it the right way. 

And while the fields of cars were quite small in all classes, there were certainly enough strong running cars in each class to provide a good show. It was interesting to note that while we are only about twenty minutes from the Iowa border here, the vast majority of the racers on this night were from Minnesota, even though there is a huge number of available cars from Hawkeye land. 

The Hobby Stock feature would be first and would also be one of two mains to go nonstop, green to checkers. Chad Volk would start on the pole and lead the opening lap but he was moved out of the groove on lap two by his front row partner Blake Luinenberg who would take over the lead. Moving quickly up from his sixth starting spot was Cory Probst and he would drive into second by the halfwap point of the race. 

It then became an interesting two car battle for the lead with Probst trying both high and low to make a pass but Luinenberg intercepting each move with a counter move of his own. It was fascinating watching each work the track and try to out guess the other. 

Finally, with the low side successfully blocked by Luinenberg, Probst made an attempt to drive around on the high side. With the track tacky, this was quite the chore but inch by inch, Probst managed to gain on the leader while still holding his line and not sliding back on the high side. Finally, late in the race, Probst was able to clear his car and take the lead and he then would drive away from Luinenberg on the final couple of laps. It was an entertaining race with Volk holding off D.J. Clinton for third. 

The Sport Compact feature would play out much the same way in a chase and hunt manner. This race would see Kevin Bolte take the lead on lap one but Oliver Monson would drive under him and take over the top spot one lap later. Coming on fast was Nate Coopman who would move into second and set off after Monson. He was catching the leader but a blown motor by Bubba Brown brought out the yellow and set the stage for a two car war.

Monson would lead and Coopman would follow and they would pull away from the field while involved in their own war. It didn't get physical but Coopman did his best to nose under Monson and take over the lead. They remained glued to each other right up to the finish but Monson refused to slip up and Coopman would finish up second, his bumper nailed to that of the winner. 

Monson still apparently has a chip on his shoulder, thanking all his "haters" in victory lane. Does he not realize that the booing is a backwards complement to the fact that he wins so often? By the way, his win was his ninth of the season so far. However, he is still far behind Brayton Carter, who has fifteen at last count and does an interview with much more style and class.  

The Sport Mod feature was like an instant replay but this time the characters involved were Jared Boumeester and Matthew Looft. I suspect that these two were so close in performance that the result would have been just the opposite if their starting positions had been changed. As it was, Boumeester drew the lucky pill and started on the pole with Looft quickly moving into second and trying several moves to get past for the point. 

However, Boumeester is a veteran racer with a ton of feature wins to his credit too and he knows how to wheel a race car and he was not about to surrender the lead. A late race yellow for a stalled car bunched up the field, leading to a wild last two laps. Looft tried the high side on that last restart but the inside lane was just too fast on this night with Boumeester going on for the win while Looft barely held off Zach Davis for second with his gamble move at the end. It was Boumeester's third win of 2023. 

The Stock Car feature was shaping up as a good one early with  four cars battling for the top spot. Jake Bruns had taken the early lead but he had Roger Verdoorm inside him on every turn and trying to slip under him. Jeffrey Larson and Levi Feltman were also right in the mix while also moving forward after starting eleventh was Luke Sathoff. 

Larson was aggressively going for the lead but on lap six he and Verdoorm got together with both drivers suffering flat tires on their cars. Both pitted for changes and this would see Bruns facing new challenges. Sathoff was clearly on the move and one lap later he would duck under the higher running Bruns but he would take over the lead where others just weren't able to pass Jake. 

However, Sathoff was not out of the woods as suddenly he had Curt Lund all over him in a challenge for the lead. Lund tried several times to cut turn two and get under Sathoff but Luke was up to the pressure and he maintained his lead. Late in the race Lund started to fade and Sathoff was home free for the win. Bruns would hold on for third. 

The Modified feature would have only eight cars in it and be the second main of the night to go nonstop and it would provide a surprise finish with Jordan Rogotzke earning what I believe to be his first ever feature win. Rogotzke, one of three brothers racing cars with variations of the "X" on them, would start on the pole and lead from start to finish. 

His lead was big early but after Kelly Shryock broke into second, Shryock would gradually cut that lead down. Jordan got to a lapped car that slowed him too, and with five laps to go, Kelly was on his rear bumper. Shryock tried several times to nose under Rogotzke but Jordan didn't get flustered or make a big mistake which is what Shryock was looking for. And as you might expect from a driver of Shryock's stature, he didn't try to "dirty" the leader, preferring to either make a clean pass or settle for second. 

Rogotzke would hold on for the win while Shryock actually had to fight off a late challenge from Clint Hattlestad to hold on for second with only one car not finishing the event. 

So even though the car count was small, the races were entertaining and certainly worth attending. The show ran off remarkably smoothly with a total of only four yellow flags waved in fourteen races as the flagman got off easy on this night. So along with the smooth racing, the track management also pushed the show along and the entire program was completed in one hour and fifty minutes! There was still time to race to Spirit Lake and take a plunge before the beach closed but I opted out on this night. 

Thanks to Doug Olson, the staff and workers at the Jackson Motorplex for a nice night of racing as they prepare for a huge Sprint Car show this coming weekend, one you might want to attend at this beautiful facility if you are a winged fan. 



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