6/1/2017
Dover Does It On Opening Night At Jackson Nationals
Jackson Nationals 360 Sprint Cars Presented By:
Upper Midwest Sprint Car Series (UMSS)
Midwest Sprint Touring Series (MSTS)
Nebraska 360 Sprints
Score one for the Nebraska 360 Sprints, as Jack Dover of Springfield, NE chalked up the victory on the opening night of the Jackson Nationals when he passed race leader Lee Grosz on lap four of the twenty lap feature and had to hold off a late bid by Thomas Kennedy to secure the win. Dover started ninth in the main event and stormed to second down the back stretch on the opening lap of the race before making the winning pass a few laps later. The win paid Dover $1,000 and earned him valuable points in the two-night point scheme being utilized at the Jackson Nationals in order to lock in the top six cars to the Saturday night championship feature race.
A very strong field of (39) 360 winged sprints signed into the pits with the Nebraska 360 Sprints, MSTS & UMSS providing sanctioning. Adding to the car count in the World of Outlaws and IMCA Racesaver 305 sprints, 102 sprint cars were on hand at Jackson to kick off the 39th Annual AGCO Jackson Nationals on a warm early June evening.
Four 8-lap heat races were run and won by Derrik Lusk, Jamie Ball, Cody Ledger and Kennedy. Kennedy came from fifth in the fourth heat, passing Wade Nygaard with two laps to go for the win. The other three heat race winners came from front row starting spots. Two 8-lap B Mains with the top two finishers earning transfer spots to the A Main would be necessary. Seth Brahmer and T J Artz were the winners, setting the 20 car starting grid for the opening night feature.
The initial attempt to start the A Main saw Jody Rosenboom roll to a stop on the back stretch on the opening lap, requiring a complete restart with Rosenboom tagging the tail. Grosz moved up to the outside front row on the restart and blasted to an early lead. Dover benefited some from a jumble of cars in turn two on the opening lap when Nate VanHaaften got high. Dover passed several cars running the bottom lane and vaulted up into second by the time he hit turn three. A few laps later the battle for the lead heated up. Coming out of turn four, Dover ducked under Grosz and edged past him at the start/finish line to complete lap four. A caution with eight laps scored for debris bunched the field up, but Dover continued to lead when the green replaced the yellow. Kennedy worked past Grosz and slowly began closing on Dover as the laps clicked off. With lapped traffic in play, Kennedy made a bid in turn two on the final lap, but Dover was masterful in lapped traffic and turned away the Kennedy challenge.
Dover picked up the opening night win ahead of Kennedy, Grosz, Ledger and 13th starter Scott Winters. Rounding out the top ten finishers was Nygaard, Lusk, Brooke Tatnell, Kelly Miller and Gregg Bakker. Nineteen of the twenty starters were still running at the end with Jamie Ball the only car not to finish. Dover and Winters each advanced eight positions from their original starting spots in what turned out to be an entertaining 20 lap feature following track maintenance prior to the final two events of the evening.
We'll do it all over again on Friday night, as the Jackson Nationals continues with another evening of preliminary racing action with drivers continuing to earn points in an attempt to garner one of the top six starting spots in the Saturday night championship feature. The highest finishing UMSS car was the 63 sprinter owned by Jerry Richert, Jr. and driven by leading UMSS feature winner Brooke Tatnell.
Results:
A Feature (20 laps): 1. 53-Jack Dover (9); 2. 21K-Thomas Kennedy (5); 3. 4J-Lee Grosz (4); 4. 35L-Cody Ledger (8); 5. 75-Scott Winters (13); 6. 9N-Wade Nygaard (6); 7. 2-Derrik Lusk (3); 8. 63-Brooke Tatnell (11); 9. 2JR-Kelly Miller (10); 10. 11X-Gregg Bakker (19); 11. 35-Skyler Prochaska (12); 12. 2D-Dusty Ballenger (15); 13. 75B-Tommy Barber (14); 14. 25-Dylan Peterson (20); 15. 13B-Seth Brahmer (17); 16. 14R-Jody Rosenboom (2); 17. 32-Nate VanHaaften (1); 18. 3P-Sawyer Phillips (16); 19. 57-TJ Artz (18); 20. (DNF) 5J-Jamie Ball (7).
Lap Leaders: Grosz 1-3, Dover 4-20.
Cautions: (2). Yellow on opening lap for 14R stopped on back stretch. Yellow with 8 laps scored for debris.
B Feature 1 (8 laps): 1. 13B-Seth Brahmer (1); 2. 11X-Gregg Bakker (2); 3. 7-Kaley Gharst (4); 4. 44-Chris Martin (5); 5. 18-Ryan Roberts (6); 6. 17B-Ryan Bickett (3); 7. 2K-Kevin Ingle (7); 8. 03-Shayle Bade (9); 9. 07-Derek Anderson (10); 10. 14-Ben Holmberg (8); (DNS) 42-Kevin Flowers; (DNS) 6-Carson McCarl.
Lap Leader: Brahmer 1-8.
No cautions.
B Feature 2 (8 laps): 1. 57-TJ Artz (2); 2. 25-Dylan Peterson (3); 3. 22-Kaleb Johnson (11); 4. 12L-John Lambertz (5); 5. 77-John Klabunde (7); 6. 14K-Tori Knutson (4); 7. 1A-John Anderson (6); 8. 77M-Nate Maxwell (9); 9. (DNF) 85-Adam Tough (8); (DNS) 13MJ-Brandon Halverson; (DNS) 2H-Bill Boles.
Lap Leader: Artz 1-8.
Cautions: (1)
Heat 1 (8 laps): 1. 2-Derrik Lusk (2); 2. 14R-Jody Rosenboom (1); 3. 53-Jack Dover (3); 4. 75-Scott Winters (9); 5. 13B-Seth Brahmer (6); 6. 17B-Ryan Bickett (4); 7. 44-Chris Martin (8); 8. 2K-Kevin Ingle (5); 9. 03-Shayle Bade (7); 10. 07-Derek Anderson (10).
Lap Leader: Lusk 1-8.
No cautions.
Heat 2 (8 laps): 1. 5J-Jamie Ball (1); 2. 32-Nate VanHaaften (3); 3. 2JR-Kelly Miller (10); 4. 75B-Tommy Barber (7); 5. 13MJ-Brandon Halverson (4); 6. 25-Dylan Peterson (8); 7. 12L-John Lambertz (5); 8. 77-John Klabunde (9); (DNS) 42-Kevin Flowers; (DNS) 22-Kaleb Johnson.
Lap Leader: Ball 1-8.
No cautions.
Heat 3 (8 laps): 1. 35L-Cody Ledger (1); 2. 4J-Lee Grosz (3); 3. 63-Brooke Tatnell (4); 4. 2D-Dusty Ballenger (5); 5. 11X-Gregg Bakker (7); 6. 7-Kaley Gharst (9); 7. 18-Ryan Roberts (10); 8. 14-Ben Holmberg (6); 9. 77M-Nate Maxwell (2); 10. (DNF) 2H-Bill Boles (8).
Lap Leader: Ledger 1-8.
Cautions: (1)
Heat 4 (8 laps): 1. 21K-Thomas Kennedy (5); 2. 9N-Wade Nygaard (2); 3. 35-Skyler Prochaska (9); 4. 3P-Sawyer Phillips (7); 5. 57-TJ Artz (3); 6. 14K-Tori Knutson (1); 7. 1A-John Anderson (8); 8. 85-Adam Tough (4); (DNS) 6-Carson McCarl.
Lap Leaders: Nygaard 1-6, Kennedy 7-8.
Cautions: (1)
Victory Lane photo courtesy of Mark Meeks at Meeks Video.
Article Credit: Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director
