JACKSON, Minn. — Ryan Timms and Brandon Bosma delivered winning performances on Friday night at Jackson Motorplex, which hosted the Hefty Seed Merle Johnson Memorial presented by DKW Transport.
On a night that opened with a storm narrowly missing the race track and concluded with an epic fireworks show, three different drivers led during the $10,000-to-win Cressman Sanitation Midwest Sprint Touring Series 410 Sprint Cars main event.
Ian Madsen paced the field for the first five laps before Christopher Thram used a slide job in turns three and four to take the top spot on Lap 6. Madsen returned the favor in turns one and two on the ensuing lap with Thram reclaiming the lead on Lap 8. Timms capitalized on the lead swapping by reeling the top two drivers in and maneuvering into first place on Lap 9. The final 23 laps of the 25-lap A Main was caution-free and Timms pulled away to win by 3.622 seconds.
“At the start I had to go where they weren’t,” he said. “I knew the bottom wasn’t going to be that good for very long. They went out and tilled it. It was actually a phenomenal track. I just was able to get the bottom going. I went where they weren’t. This thing was a rocketship.
“It’s pretty awesome. This race track was really awesome. This was the best I’ve ever seen this place. It’s really cool to see it and win here. It’s really cool to win the Merle Johnson Memorial. Shoutout to the whole Johnson Family.”
Madsen held off a hard-charging Kaleb Johnson for the runner-up position.
“It was a great race and a great race track,” Madsen said. “It was a really good battle there with top three. Congrats to Timms. We just keep battling away and I think we’ll be able to knock one off soon.”
Johnson advanced from 13th to third during the feature that honored his grandfather.
“Obviously I dug myself a hole starting 13th there,” he said. “We made up for it in the feature. The guys gave me a great race car and I could go wherever. I just tried to put on a decent show. Congrats to Ryan and the whole (Shane) Liebig team. Congrats to the No. 2ks team for getting second. Hopefully one of these days we can win it, but we’re happy with third.”
Thram finished fourth and Kerry Madsen rounded out the top five.
The 20-lap Heser Auto & Detailing RaceSaver Sprint Cars main event was a thriller as well with Bosma holding off 15th-starting Dominic White.
“It means a lot,” he said. “We won (Jackson) Nationals last year. We just keep rolling with the same setup here. It’s a great event that the Johnson’s put on for everyone here.”
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 10-Ryan Timms (5); 2. 2KS-Ian Madsen (2); 3. 6K-Kaleb Johnson (13); 4. 24T-Christopher Thram (4); 5. 55-Kerry Madsen (6); 6. 25-Jy Corbet (1); 7. 88-Austin McCarl (3); 8. 13-Mark Dobmeier (8); 9. 4-Cameron Martin (10); 10. 16-Riley Goodno (9); 11. 44-Chris Martin (15); 12. 09-Matt Juhl (7); 13. 80P-Jacob Peterson (14); 14. 31-Koby Werkmeister (12); 15. 45X-Landon Crawley (17); 16. 53-Jack Dover (21); 17. 95-Tyler Drueke (18); 18. 35-Skylar Prochaska (22); 19. G5-Gage Pulkrabek (16); 20. 74N-Luke Nellis (20); 21. (DNF) 33-Scott Broty (23); 22. (DNF) 9-Dominic Dobesh (24); 23. (DNF) 23W-Scott Winters (19); 24. (DNF) 4W-Matt Wasmund (11).
