5/5/2018
RacinBoys
Martin prevails in Nebraska 360 Sprints at I-80 Speedway
By Travis Johnson (Greenwood, NE) -- The annual Bobby Parker Memorial at i-80 Speedway has become a staple to the 4/10 mile facility located between Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska. The race honors not only our series president’s late father, but a man who won more than 300 features in midgets throughout the midwest as well as the first modified stock car championship at Sunset Speedway in 1957 and 1958. Parker was also inducted into the Nebraska Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2000.
PHOTO CREDIT: Travis Johnson
Two heat races made up the evening with Jake Bubac and Ryan Roberts taking the win in those. But it was the first heat race that saw Frank Galusha take a nasty tumble in turn four, with a broken shock, that left his brand new machine in pieces. A special 6 lap dash took the top 6 in passing points and allowed them to battle for a $750 purse in a 6 lap shootout. Drama played a large part of the dash as Ryan Roberts lost a rear end and Cody Ledger’s night came to an end as he lost a motor. Lincoln, Nebraska’s, Jason Martin, drew the top spot not only for the dash but also drew the top spot in the A feature. That allowed him to take control of the dash and take home $300 for the top honors. In the end, it was Jason Martin, who had a night of everything going his way, that ended up in victory lane.
“I just have to say thank you to the sponsors, the car owner and the people that get me to the racetrack and allow me to have a race car to drive. The last few years I have trying to drive as much race cars as i can, just to get experience. It’s been a whole new world being able to drive for different people and jumping in different race cars. I’ve learned a lot and I feel like it’s really boosted my confidence. I’ve been trying to win here at I-80 since I moved here 5 years ago. We’ve been good but haven’t been able to get the job done. I knew the time was coming and I was just hoping we could get getting wins to rack up.
Jason Martin and Jack Dover made up the front row and it was Jason Martin who blasted to the lead in turn one as Jake Bubak over took Dover to take 2nd. The battle was for 3rd as Thomas Kennedy overtook Dover on lap 5. It only took to lap 9 when Jason Martin caught the end of the field and his pursuit through lap traffic allowed Bubak to trail by 2 cars. Dover and Kennedy battled back and forth for the third spot repeatedly trading positions over several laps. On lap 12, Bubak got along side Martin but couldn’t make it stick going into turn three. Martin extended his lead with 10 to go by four-tenths over Bubak. Bubak began to close the gap on Kennedy with 4 togo but a yellow flew for debris in turn 2. Martin, Bubak Dover Kennedy and Ryan Roberts were the top 5.
On the restart, Dover stuck his nose low on Bubak going for the second spot but he couldn’t make it stick. Thomas Kennedy got around Dover with 3 togo and set his eyes on Bubak. Bubak ran low and Kennedy high and it was Kennedy who took over second with 2 togo but the distance was to great to real in Martin. In the end, nobody could catch Jason Martin as he took the checkers and a $2500 payday!
Heat Race 1 (Results) 10 Laps
Ryan Roberts
Jack Dover
Thomas Kennedy
Don Droud Jr.
Jason Martin
Shayle Bade
Stuart Snyder
Toby Chapman
Heat Race 2 (Results) 10 Laps
Jake Bubak
Cody Ledger
John Klabunde
Joey Danley
Seth Brahmer
Tadd Holliman
Frank Galusha
Dash (Results) 6 Laps
Jason Martin
Jack Dover
Jake Bubak
Thomas Kennedy
Cody Ledger
Ryan Roberts
A Main (Results) 25 Laps
Jason Martin
Jake Bubak
Thomas Kennedy
Jack Dover
Shayle Bade
Ryan Roberts
Don Droud Jr
John Klabunde
Tadd Holliman
Seth Brahmer
Toby Chapman
Joey Danley
Cody Ledger
Frank Galusha
Stuart Snyder
Contingency Awards
Saldana Racing Products Pole Award- Jason Martin
Keizer Race Wheels Certificate- Jason Martin
Speedway Motors Hard Charger $500- Shayle Bade
Electrical Systems Inc Podium Draw $300- Shayle Bade
We had over a $15,000 purse and we can’t thank those who contributed to this event:
The Parker Family
Pearce Investment Services
Jeff Griffis - CMET Inc
Craig and Linda Cormack
Pro-Tec Electric
C&H Construction
Alan & Vicki Dehaai
Cori Eckley
Sam & Donna Buscher
David Goodman
Points
Pos Driver Points Gap
1 Jason Martin 408 -
2 Jack Dover 387 21
3 Seth Brahmer 348 60
4 Shayle Bade 343 65
5 Stuart Snyder 311 97
6 Cody Ledger 298 110
7 Thomas Kennedy 265 143
8 Don Droud Jr 249 159
9 Ryan Roberts 247 161
10 Jordan Boston 231 177
The series will take a 15 day break and return on May 19, at the beautiful Junction Motor Speedway in McCool Junction, Nebraska. This is a co-sanctioned event with the NCRA Sprint Series that will pay $1200 to win and $350 to start the A feature.
To stay up to date on current results, please visit us on Facebook and visit our website to catch all of the latest news from the series!
Submitted By: Kirk Elliott
