Justin Zoch's Upper Midwest Ramblings, Part One
Monday, July 18, 2005
The car count, 13, in the 410 division at the Jackson Nationals was disappointing to many but it probably would not have mattered who attended as Wayne Johnson was simply dominating. Johnson stretched his lead to over a half a lap en route to his first career victory at Jackson. He now has seven wins in 2005, which matches his totals for 2003 and 2004 combined. He is scheduled to driver Brian Ridge’s 360 at the Sprint Invaders show in Memphis, Missouri on Tuesday night. Earlier this year, he drove Steve Wares’ 10 car to second at CJ Raceway in Invader action…At Knoxville the next night, Johnson chased Kerry Madsen to the line as the former scored his fourth victory of the season at Knoxville. Madsen maintains his slim lead over Johnson in the standings. It seems as though it will continue this way until the finale in September and one of these teams is going to lose a heartbreaking chance at their first title. Aside from his turn two flip two weeks back, Madsen has not missed the top-four in his other ten starts. This week’s win came with an Ostrich powerplant.
Bronson Maeschen was one of the racers who was picked in early season pools as a strong candidate to get his first win in 2005 and he delivered on that promise Saturday night, streaking past Eric Jobe to take a comfortable win. It was his third career win in Sprint Cars. The first came during the inaugural non-winged 305 event at Southern Iowa Speedway in April of 2003, his first race in a Sprint Car, and the other came during a winged 305 special at Knoxville in August of last year. His best finish in the 360s prior to Saturday was a seventh…Eddie Leavitt Jr. returned following his frontstretch high flier two weeks ago. Danny Hutchens’ Avenger Chassis was completely destroyed in the accident and the team is using an antiquated Eagle from the Leavitt grove…Ricky Stenhouse Jr. made his first 2005 appearance at Knoxville a worthwhile venture, despite tagging the tail of the heat. He passed several cars in the waning laps and finished sixth. The Mississippi teenager is returning with the 410 for next week’s Summer Classic and he’s eagerly awaiting the 360 Nationals…Jesse Giannetto took Friday night off to build a brand new car and drove it to his best 410 finish of the season at Knoxville behind Madsen and Johnson. Heading into Tuesday’s Invader race, he leads the points in that club and has finished no worse than sixth in ten races.
Danny Wood was hoping to get some laps prior to next week’s Summer Classic but popped the motor in Court Grandstaff’s 66 in hot laps and was finished…Billy Alley’s fast, but frustrating, year continued when he sputtered to a stop while challenging Brian Brown for the lead in the 410 A-main. Last year, Alley saved his season by winning the 360 Nationals in August. Perhaps he can pull another one off this year…With the Governors conference in Des Moines over the weekend, New York Governor George Pataki took in the night’s events at Knoxville…Jake Peters had an eventful weekend after bending his primary Knoxville car in 410 heat action at Jackson on Friday. Peters put his 360 in his Huset’s frame and ran third at Knoxville before reinserting the 410 to run fifth at Huset’s. Peters has only missed the top five once in 12 shows since getting upside down on opening night and leads the points over Johnny Anderson, who followed him to the stripe on Saturday. In the 360s on Friday, Peters was sent to the tail of the A-main after Mark Burch’s 1M failed inspection after the heat race. The team admitted their mistake and Peters charged from 24th to sixth…Nice to see Robert Bell back on the raceway after taking a few weeks off to secure a new powerplant. He finished 13th at Huset’s.
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