JUNCTION MOTOR SPEEDWAY KICK OFF 2009 SEASON
http://www.junctionmotorspeedway.com/
(03/26/09)
Junction Motor Speedway and the USMTS series kicked off the 2009 racing season Friday night with lots of great racing. Fifty four Mods and twenty four Stocks (by my unofficial count) were on hand to provide good fields for both classes. The USMTS drivers were joined by NASCAR regular Kenny Schrader who showed he still knows how to get around the dirt joints.
Weather threatened the show with falling temps and clouds that produced a few sprinkles near the end of the evening. The rain held off and the cold didnt seem to bother the fans as most of them stayed around to see exciting racing in both the USMTS and Open Stock feature events.
The heats set the tone for what was, for the most part, clean, fast, racing all night. In the third Mod heat, Kenny Schrader, starting on the pole, seemed to be cruising to an easy win until local hero Jason Friesen came up from his 9th place start to get around Schrader for the win. Other heat winners were Dean Mahlstedt, Corey Dripps, Mike Steensma, Scott Green, and Ronnie Wallace.
The racing in the Open Stock heats was, if anything, even closer than the Mod heats had been with all three heats hotly contested right up to the checkers. Heat winners were Shawn Primrose, Jeff Joldersma, and Ross Dixon.
The cautions did come out during the twin B features as drivers went all out to make the main as only five drivers advanced out of each B. On the start of the 1st B, Al Hejna, winner of both nights of the 2007 Spring Thaw, was forced into the turn four wall. He restarted but was never a factor after that. After two more quick yellows, Omahas Jake Neal really got hooked up and flew to an impressive win with Dereck Ramirez in 2nd.
The 2nd B went a little better with Kenny Schrader sailing to the win from the pole followed by Zack VanderBeek who had been closing in late in the race.
The Stock A feature had four drivers battling for the lead for almost the entire race. Ross Dixon of Ramona S.D. pulled out to an early lead, but Jeff Joldersma, Matt Greiner, and Mike Van Genderen soon closed the gap and swapped positions several times each lap as they tried to get by the leader. Greiner finally grabbed second and got his nose in front of Dixon a few times, but Dixon won the drag race out of turn four to take the win. Joldersma later said that a setup change made after the heats had wound up hurting his handling and he ended up in 4th place.
