Jackson Merle Johnson Border Battle Results and Stories

Mark Dobmeier won the $10,000 Merle Johnson Memorial at Jackson Friday (Rob Kocak Photo) 6/16/23

Jackson Motorplex
Jackson, MN

Merle Johnson Memorial Border Battle

24 410’s
34 Racesaver 305’s

410’s

A large amount of donations gave bonuses throughout the night.  $3,000 was donated for the B main alone, and without a B, all drivers got to split that money.

Lachlan McHugh (7th car out to time) set quick time on the 3/8-mile oval at 12.887 seconds.  Justin Henderson (1st car out) was second quick, followed by Tim Kaeding (3rd), Riley Goodno (11th), Matt Juhl (12th), Brooke Tatnell (14th), Lynton Jeffrey (5th), Chase Randall (19th), Brendon Mullen (10th) and Kerry Madsen (20th).

Heat one (started): 1. Madsen 5 (1) 2. McHugh 25 (4) 3. Kaleb Johnson 22K (5) 4. Goodno 22 (3) 5. Jeffrey 7 (2) 6. Jade Hastings 8H (7) 7. Christopher Thram 24T (6) 8. Gage Pulkrabek G5 (8)

8-lap heats added points to the drivers’ qualifying points.  The top eight in points drew for their feature starting spot.  Madsen led early, while McHugh made an impressive move around Jeffrey on the high side to take second.  Johnson grabbed third from Goodno on the low side on lap three.

Heat two (started): 1. Austin McCarl 88 (1) 2. Henderson 83 (4) 3. Randall 2KS (2) 4. Aaron Reutzel 8 (6) 5. Juhl 09 (3) 6. Tim Estenson 14T (5) 7. Kevin Ingle 2K (8) 8. Matt Wasmund 4w (7)

McCarl led the distance.  Henderson took second from Randall on lap two.

Heat three (started): 1. Mark Dobmeier 13 (1) 2. Kaeding 3 (4) 3. Tatnell 16 (3) 4. Mullen 11m (2) 5. Skyler Prochaska 35 (5) 6. Scott Winters 23w (7) 7. Dusty Zomer 3J (6) 8. Collin Smith 05 (8)

Dobmeier led early, but Kaeding flew on the high side into second on lap one.  He dogged the leader the rest of the way, but fell short.  Tatnell won a good battle for third from Mullen on lap three.  Prochaska was strong and made a slider attempt on Mullen on the last lap that fell just short.

A main (started): 1. Dobmeier (1) 2. McHugh (6) 3. Madsen (7) 4. Kaeding (4) 5. McCarl (8) 6. Tatnell (3) 7. Goodno (2) 8. Henderson (5) 9. Johnson (13) 10. Jeffrey (12) 11. Hastings (16) 12. Juhl (10) 13. Estenson (14) 14. Randall (9) 15. Mullen (11) 16. Winters (18) 17. Prochaska (15) 18. Zomer (19) 19. Wasmund (21) 20. Pulkrabek (22) 21. Ingle (20) 22. Smith (23) 23. Thram (17) DNS – Reutzel


The 25-lapper started tough when Thram tipped over in turns one and two.  He was uninjured.  Dobmeier led early over Tatnell, Kaeding, Goodno and McHugh.  McHugh worked by Goodno for fourth on lap three, and McCarl also moved behind him into fifth.  Dobmeier was into lapped traffic on lap six.  McHugh took third from Kaeding on lap eight in a goo battle.  Dobmeier slid in front of the lapper of Smith and dislodged his nose wing loose.  Smith’s nose wing would fly off 11 laps in, bringing caution and erasing a 3.2 second lead for Dobmeier.  McHugh restarted second, ahead of Tatnell, Kaeding and McCarl.  Kaeding quickly moved into third on the restart, and worked his way back by McHugh for second on lap 13.  Madsen and McCarl moved into fourth and fifth on lap 14.  Dobmeier was back in lapped traffic with nine to go.  McHugh slid in front of Kaeding to take second back over in heavy traffic with four to go.  Madsen got by Kaeding for third on the next lap.  Dobmeier had no challenge and went on to the $10,000 win.  Hastings was the hard-charger.

Brandon Buysse won the IMCA Racesaver feature at Jackson Friday (Rob Kocak Photo) 305’s

Heat one (started): 1. Koby Werkmeister 31 (2) 2. Blaine Stegenga 96 (1) 3. Brandon Buysse 24B (3) 4. Trevor Smith 33 (4) / 5. Jeremy Kerzman 3K (6) 6. Bill Johnson 56 (9) 7. Ryan Serrao 55R (5) 8. Austin Fox 11F (7) 9. Dan Griep 3D (8)

8-lap heats took the top four to the feature.  Griep flipped hard to start the night off.  He was unhurt, but the car was destroyed.  Fox suffered top wing damage, but continued.  Werkmeister led the distance.

Heat two (started): 1. Ben Crees 23c (1) 2. Chris Graf 24G (4) 3. John Lambertz 12L (5) 4. Eric Schulz 90 (2) / 5. Dusty Ballenger 2D (7) 6. Logan Domagala 4D (3) 7. Mike Stien 4s (6) 8. Dalton Domagala 18D (8) DNS – Gracyn Masur 28G

Crees led throughout.  Lambertz used the low side to move by L. Domagala for the fourth and final transfer on lap two and then passed Schulz for third a lap later.  The track was pretty tacky early, making it hard for drivers like D. Ballenger to make a charge.

Heat three (started): 1. Jacob Hughes 86 (2) 2. Nate Eakin 19 (6) 3. Luke Nellis 74N (1) 4. Matt Johnson 30 (5) / 5. Jeremy Schultz 33s (7) 6. Brett Allen 1300 (8) 7. Andrew Sullivan 91 (4) 8. Dominic Dobesh 9 (3)

Hughes led the distance.  Eakin moved up nicely and passed Nellis for second coming for the white flag.

Heat four (started): 1. Cole Vanderheiden 15V (1) 2. Brandon Bosma 23 (5) 3. Wade Hansen 17 (2) 4. Jacob Peterson 80P (4) / 5. Trevor Serbus 10 (6) 6. Bayley Ballenger 6B (8) 7. Michael Stien 54 (3) 8. Hannah Graf 26G (7)

Vanderheiden led the distance.  Bosma was the car on the move from row three.  He took second from Hansen on the low side coming for the white flag.

B main one (started): 1. D. Ballenger (2) 2. Kerzman  (1) / 3. Johnson (3) 4. L. Domagala (4) 5. Serrao (5) 6. Fox (6) DNS – M. Stien, D. Domagala, Griep

10-lap B’s took the top two to the A.  This one was mostly single-file.

B main two (started): 1. Serbus (2) 2. J. Schultz (1) / 3. Allen (3) 4. M. Stien (6) 5. B. Ballenger (4) 6. Dobesh (7) 7. G. Masur (9) 8. H. Graf (8) 9. Sullivan (5)

J. Schultz led early, but Serbus had the high side working.  He made the pass for the lead on lap three.

A main (started): 1. Buysse (2) 2. Bosma (3) 3. M. Johnson (15) 4. Stegenga (1) 5. Werkmeister (10) 6. Lambertz (6) 7. Serbus (18) 8. Hughes (7) 9. D. Ballenger (17) 10. Vanderheiden (9) 11. Eakin (11) 12. Nellis (12) 13. Crees (5) 14. J. Schultz (20) 15. Kerzman (19) 16. Peterson (16) 17. C. Graf (8) 18. T. Smith (13) 19. Hansen (4) 20. Schulz (14)


Buysse led Hansen, Stegenga and Bosma early in the 20-lapper.  Things stayed that way as Buysse worked the bottom up front.  Hansen slowly gained on the high side, reeling the leader in.  He passed him at the start/finish line on lap 13, but jumped the cushion and flipped hard in turn one.  The car was destroyed, but he was ok.  Buysse led the charge again, ahead of Stegenga, Bosma, C. Graf and M. Johnson.  A jumbled start saw Smith spin and flatten a left front tire, ending his night.  C. Graf’s night would end in fourth when he slowed with six to go.  Buysse maintained his lead, while Bosma and Stegenga battled for second.  Bosma would take the spot with four ot go.  Hard-charger M. Johnson would grab third coming for the white flag.