JACKSON, Minn. — Justin Henderson and Cam Schafer tied a bow on the racing season at Jackson Motorplex on Saturday evening by winning the C & B Operations Power Series Nationals opener.
The four-round event, which was divided between the first two nights of Labor Day Weekend at Jackson Motorplex and the final two nights at Huset’s Speedway got off to a wet start when round one rained out on Friday.
Nearly 50 Midwest Power Series and Midwest Sprint Touring Series teams as well as 18 Upper Midwest Sprint Car Series Non-Wing Sprint Cars drivers returned to the track on Saturday to put on an electric show during the season finale at Jackson Motorplex.
Henderson capped the night by dominating the $5,000-to-win Midwest Power Series/MSTS main event, which was only slowed by one caution with three laps remaining. Henderson had built a 2.989-second advantage prior to the late-race restart and that didn’t slow him much as he pulled away to win by 1.697 seconds.
“We love those $5,000 checks all day long,” he exclaimed. “Take it to the bank.
“It was a really technical race track. When you’re out front you’re always hearing someone out back of your car. I knew Kaleb (Johnson) had a really good car so when I saw him in second on that restart I was worried.”
While Henderson held onto a comfortable advantage throughout the race and the late restart, the battle to fill the top five ramped up as the race wore on. Kaleb Johnson maneuvered into the second position on lap nine and Brooke Tatnell took third place on lap 13. Jack Dover climbed to fourth on lap 21. He then powered around both Tatnell and Johnson on the top in turns three and four on the restart before Johnson regained second place on the ensuing lap.
“Going into the night with 49 cars, to come out with a second-place finish is nothing to hang our heads about,” Johnson said. “We’ve been fast all year. We’ll keep digging and luckily we get two nights at Huset’s Speedway coming up.”
Dover rounded out the podium.
“I was driving the wheels off of it,” he said. “We did some stuff before the feature to settle the car down in the bumps in the entry to the corners and it really helped. Congrats to Justin and congrats to Kaleb. We had a hell of a battle at the end. It’s one of those nights we live and learn and take the notes and come back next time stronger.”
Scott Winters used a late rally to secure a fourth-place result and Jake Bubak earned the Hard Charger Award for passing the most cars by hustling from 20th to fifth.
Schafer powered to the Upper Midwest Sprint Car Series Non-Wing Sprint Cars victory, consistently hitting the bottom lane en route to the victory.
“It’s pretty cool,” he said. “I like this place a lot. I screwed up here last year when we were out here. I got off the bottom and let everybody by when it took rubber. I wasn’t going to let that happen twice.”
Mike Mueller earned a runner-up result with Nick DaRonco placing third, Jake Kouba fourth and Brian Roach fifth.
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