Tuesday night, June 8th was round number two of the Bank Midwest IMCA Series at the Jackson Motorplex in Jackson Minnesota. This would be the second of three appearances in Jackson this year for the five division IMCA program and the way the schedules worked out, they would be running rounds one and two on back to back Tuesday nights.
The heat still raged on with race time temperature at 90 degrees under a blazing hot June Southern Minnesota sky but the hearty racers and fans were on hand to catch the racing action in all five divisions.
The race on this night would not be the huge endeavor that opening night was last Tuesday for a couple of reasons. There is always an extra "kick" for the first time for everything as there was last week for the first midweek show at a great facility that the IMCA cars don't get the opportunity to race at very often. There has been an awful lot of racing going on over the last couple of weeks with not many tracks getting rained out and thus able to get all their shows in and even this week, it is only Tuesday night and already the drivers have had one opportunity to race this week and it looks like there will be racing every night of the week this week for those that wish to partake. However, that does put a strain on the available racers to run on any one given night and eventually everyone needs to take a night off and getting to midweek races does make it difficult for some.
And it can't be underestimated what factor the heat wave plays in both competitor and fan participation. It is tough to work all day, especially if your job involves being out in the heat and then going back out in it all night too. Sometimes folks, whether racers or fans, just need to take a night off.
So, last week's large field of about one hundred and thirty race cars was just around ninety on this night and the large grandstand crowd was somewhat more modest on this night but racing would still take place, there were still plenty of good cars to put on a show and as the night played out, four of the five contested main events saw either late race passed for the wins or other lead changes right at the end.
This week the special emphasis was put on the Stock Car class as the featured division. Above and beyond the basis purse, a number of businesses contributed money in a "Back Row" bonus fund for this class with anyone making the redraw, which on this night would be the top twelve in heat races, would be eligible for the "Back Row" bonus. No up to $2,100 , there were still no takers on this night as the fund continues to grow with hopefully someone to try it for the last Summer Series race to be held next month.
Sport Compacts ran one heat race, Hobby Stocks three , Sport Mods and Mods two heats and the Stock Cars ran off four qualifying events. With one event taking the green almost before the previous one could leave the track and only four yellows in total, the sixteen qualifying races would be run off in sixty two minutes flat. After a very brief break to work on the track, the first feature race of the night would take to the oval.
One wonders why they even bother racing the Sport Compacts in this area. Just about every track that I go to in this general area, whether either North of South of the Minnesota Iowa border has just a hanful of cars and never it seems even enough for more than one heat race. The cars that do race seem like they run eight nights per week but there never seem to be any new additions or the number never seems to grow so whatever the basis for having this class seems to have gotten lost long ago.
On this night there were seven of them with Kaytee DeVries taking the lead at the start and staying up front throughout the event. However, a lost wheel in turn four by Jaedon Erickson brought out the yellow and even though all the cars had taken the white flag and were coming around for the checkered, the race was restarted and two more laps would be run. Frankly, I think the checkered flag should have been waved and there are a number of tracks that would have done just that.
The restart proved fatal for Kaytee as she got a very poor start and fell back to third as Marschall Robinson took over the lead and would take the win. DeVries fought her way back up to second but couldn't catch the leader and Nate Coopman made a last lap charge up to third.
Eighteen Hobby Stocks would take the green for their main event with Keeran Sampson coming right off the pole to take the early lead. However, at least the top five and perhaps more were running in a wild clump of cars and going three or more wide as they battled for the lead. Blake Arends, running strongly for the second straight night, would take over the lead at this point but all eyes were on Cory Probst who had started tenth but was moving up quickly.
A spin on lap four bunched up the field and when Josh Sidles jumped the start and triggered another yellow that saw him moved back a row for the restart, this moved Probst up to the second row where he would ride the rear bumper of Arends. Lap after lap he would make a passing attempt, only to see Arends fight him off.
Finally, coming off turn four on lap eleven, Probst would move to the outside of the leader and make a great power move as he passed on the high side and once out in front, pulled away the last couple of laps. Probst would drive on for the win with Arends finishing second and Sidles clawing his way back up to third at the finish.
Seventeen Sport Mods would take the green flag for their feature with Jacob Tacheny taking the early lead. As he continued to show the way, there was some mad scrambling going on behind him with Matt Looft finding the openings to move up from the third row to second by lap five when the first yellow flew for a minor spin. Looft would then put the pressure on and two laps later he would drive into the lead. Once in front, he pulled away and this race seemed to be settled.
However, things turn suddenly on a race track and on lap twelve, with a seemingly comfortable lead, suddenly Looft saw a bright red light on his dashboard, he lost all power and he was dead in the water coming down the front chute. There were several near misses but everyone was able to avoid the slowing leader as the yellow flew once again.
Colby Fett, who had put on his own drive from seventh up to second, inherited the lead at this point as Looft was done and he would go on to take the win, leading the last four laps and holding off Christian Sylvester and Nick Johansen for the win.
The only feature race to not either see a late race pass or exchange of the top spot was the Modified class. However, with Brandon Beckendorf on the outside pole, this race would end predictably with the Danube racer comfortably out in front and no surprise change of positions late. Beckendorf would pull away early as Don Gerritsen, Dan Menk and Dalton Magers would fight hard for positions behind him. Bob Moore was also on the move as he pulled in to battle Zack Dockter for a top five spot too.
A late yellow for a Chris Abelsen spin bunched the field but the final three lap dash saw no great change of positions as Beckendorf would drive on for the win with Gerritsen, Moore, Magers and Dockter rounding out the top five.
The Stock Car feature was billed as the main event and they would battle it out all the way for the win, although this race was riddled with twice the yellow flags as any of the other mains and even included a red flag when Kevin Luebben went for a flip in turn three on lap seventeen. Fortunately he was OK but three cars were pretty torn up in this incident.
Jeff Larson would lead the opening lap and indeed, would also be leading when the checkered flag flew but a lot happened during those twenty laps that made the win much harder than it would appear. In the early going he was receiving heavy pressure from McCain Jennings, Ryan Bjerkset, Austin Jahnz and Kelly Shryock. Colton Arends slowed early with a flat tire and that bunched the field.
Larson would still lead as he guarded the low groove but coming up was Shryock until the crowd's interest was redirected to Derek Green as the Granada driver moved to the cushion and really started to gain ground. The one two corner was excellent for gaining speed while the other end of the track was just for maintaining but Green was making it work as he drove forward.
He was particularly scintillating when he dove under Shryock, crossed him over and then went high into turn one to attack Larson. On lap eleven he completed his charge as he drove past Larson to take over the lead and got the biggest cheers of the night from the crowd after his hard work and daring was rewarded.
However, the outside line was tenuous and between that groove starting to wear out and perhaps Green overheating his tires, his lead lasted only one lap before Larson made a strong push on the inside again and edged back into the lead.
The Luebben flip set up a three lap sprint to the finish and surprisingly, Green opted to follow Larson on the inside of the track, trying to sneak under him but Larson had the lower line nailed. Finally, on the final lap Green would again shoot to the outside but the magic wouldn't be there a second time and Larson would continue to drive on for the win with Green settling for second and Shryock third. With a few less yellows to break the momentum this race would have been a classic but was very good nevertheless.
With no dust and a raceable track, this was a good night of racing despite the very warm temperatures. They do not have a great sense of urgency to start the programs here, I have noticed. They take their time waiting to run in the track and then hot lap all classes which probably could be done without , particularly when keeping the track in shape is a challenge for sure. However, when they start racing there are few tracks that can say they run off a quicker program than here at Jackson. Tonight the final checkered flag flew before 10:30 pm and would have been even earlier if not for a rather lengthy Stock Car feature caused by the red flag.
Thanks to event promoter Jon McCorkell, the Jackson Motorplex staff and all the officials and a special "shout out" to starter Nate Peterson who does an admirable job waving the flags and directing the show.
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