6/3/2017
Dover Dominates Final 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
Jack Dover repeated his performance from the opening night, as the Springfield, Nebraska driver dominated the final night to earn his first Jackson Nationals title. Dover put the same setup in his car as he had when he won on Thursday night, and it proved to be a good decision. Rain showers during the afternoon made for a very fast track. The weather cooperated during the evening to cap off a successful three day run for the 39th Annual AGCO Jackson Nationals. A large crowd was on hand for the championship night on Saturday. Dover earned $2,000 for his second victory in three nights.
Friday night winner Thomas Kennedy executed a series of wild-looking flips in turn two on the third lap of the 20 lap championship feature, requiring a trip by ambulance to the hospital. He returned to the track well after racing action had concluded and reported he had a concussion and definitely would be plenty stiff and sore from the violet crash. It was good to see the young, talented Winnipeg driver was walking around looking at his heavily damaged car and talking with family members and friends about the accident.
On the final night, another strong field of (31) 360 winged sprints were on hand. The field had been pared down by a few cars after two nights of racing action in the Nebraska 360 Sprints, MSTS & UMSS sanctioned division. With the World of Outlaws and IMCA Racesaver 305 sprints also drawing quality fields again, 96 sprint cars competed for a spot in their championship feature races on Saturday evening.
With the top six drivers in points from the first two qualifying nights locked into the championship feature, three 8 lap heat races were run for the rest of the field. Kelly Miller, Wade Nygaard and Tommy Barber were the winners. Seth Brahmer won the 12 lap B Main with the top four finishers earning the final transfer spots to the A Main.
Following a caution on the opening lap of the feature when Barber stopped in turn two after getting over the berm, the field roared to life again on the complete restart. Cody Ledger narrowly led the opening lap over Dover. Dover slipped by at the line the next time around. As the field completed two laps, Kennedy's hard crash brought out the red flag. When green flag racing got back underway, it was Dover all the way after that. The race ran the final 18 laps caution-free to the checkers. Following Dover was Ledger, Lee Grosz, 12th starter Gregg Bakker and Nygaard in the top five. Rounding out the top ten finishers was Brooke Tatnell, Skylar Prochaska, Derrik Lusk, 17th starter Jody Rosenboom and Ryan Roberts. Seventeen of the twenty starters were still running at the end of the race. For the third night in a row, the highest finishing UMSS car was the 63 sprinter owned by Jerry Richert, Jr. and driven by his brother-in-law Brooke Tatnell. Tatnell and a few other drivers did double-duty throughout the three nights.
Jackson Motorplex General Manager Doug Johnson announced during the evening that plans are underway already for the 40th Annual AGCO Jackson Nationals to be held in early June of 2018. With three tremendous nights of sprint car racing action in three divisions, racers and fans will certainly want to make plans to attend the 2018 edition of the this long-running event at the state-of-the-art Jackson Motorplex.
Results:
A Feature (20 laps): 1. 53-Jack Dover (3); 2. 35L-Cody Ledger (1); 3. 4J-Lee Grosz (6); 4. 11X-Gregg Bakker (12); 5. 9N-Wade Nygaard (8); 6. 63-Brooke Tatnell (9); 7. 35-Skyler Prochaska (5); 8. 2-Derrik Lusk (2); 9. 14R-Jody Rosenboom (17); 10. 18-Ryan Roberts (13); 11. 13V-Seth Brahmer (16); 12. 2JR-Kelly Miller (7); 13. 25-Dylan Peterson (20); 14. 17B-Ryan Bickett (19); 15. 75B-Tommy Barber (10); 16. 75-Scott Winters (18); 17. 42-Kevin Flowers (14); 18. (DNF) 07-Derek Anderson (15); 19. (DNF) 2D-Dusty Ballenger (11); 20. (DNF) 21K-Thomas Kennedy (4).
Lap Leaders: Ledger 1, Dover 2-20.
Cautions (1) yellow & (1) red.
B Feature (12 laps): 1. 13V-Seth Brahmer (2); 2. 14R-Jody Rosenboom (1); 3. 75-Scott Winters (3); 4. 17B-Ryan Bickett (6); 5. 25-Dylan Peterson (5); 6. 57-TJ Artz (9); 7. 1A-John Anderson (4); 8. 2K-Kevin Ingle (12); 9. 14-Ben Holmberg (8); 10. 77M-Nate Maxwell (10); 11. (DNF) 91A-Reed Allex (13); 12. (DNF) 14K-Tori Knutson (7); 13. (DNF) 77-John Klabunde (16); (DNS) 7-Kaley Gharst; (DNS) 85-Adam Tough; (DNS) 12L-John Lambertz.
Lap Leader: Brahmer 1-12.
Cautions (1) yellow.
Heat 1 (8 laps): 1. 2JR-Kelly Miller (1); 2. 63-Brooke Tatnell (3); 3. 18-Ryan Roberts (6); 4. 14R-Jody Rosenboom (2); 5. 75-Scott Winters (9); 6. 17B-Ryan Bickett (5); 7. 57-TJ Artz (7); 8. 2K-Kevin Ingle (4); 9. (DNF) 12L-John Lambertz (8).
Lap Leader: Miller 1-8.
No cautions.
Heat 2 (8 laps): 1. 9N-Wade Nygaard (1); 2. 2D-Dusty Ballenger (2); 3. 07-Derek Anderson (5); 4. 1A-John Anderson (4); 5. 14K-Tori Knutson (7); 6. 77M-Nate Maxwell (8); 7. 91A-Reed Allex (6); (DQ) 77-John Klabunde (3).
Lap Leader: Nygaard 1-8.
No cautions.
Heat 3 (8 laps): 1. 75B-Tommy Barber (2); 2. 11X-Gregg Bakker (5); 3. 42-Kevin Flowers (4); 4. 13V-Seth Brahmer (6); 5. 25-Dylan Peterson (8); 6. 14-Ben Holmberg (3); 7. 85-Adam Tough (1); 8. (DNF) 7-Kaley Gharst (7).
Lap Leader: Barber 1-8.
No cautions.
Victory Lane photo courtesy of Mark Meeks at Meeks Video.
Article Credit: Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director
