(Photo by Tylan Porath Photography)
Inside Line Promotions – JACKSON, Minn. (July 28, 2023) – Skylar Prochaska and Nate Eakin produced long-awaited victories at Jackson Motorplex on Friday when the track hosted the New Fashion Pork 360 Challenge presented by Best Western Fairmont.
Prochaska captured his first triumph at the track since July 2016 by leading all 25 laps of the Barb and Dean Wieskus Memorial featuring the Gunderson Racing Inc. Midwest Sprint Touring Series and QualityFreightRate.com Midwest Power Series 360 sprint cars.
“It seems like that long, too,” he said. “It’s just good to be back here. I was on a streak for a while and then went on a lull.”
Five cautions bunched the field up behind Prochaska, who faced his toughest challenge on the final restart with five laps to go when Kaleb Johnson threw a slide job attempt in turns one and two. The duo was nearly side by side, but Prochaska powered away on the top groove. The momentum pushed his lead to nearly one second and he held onto that advantage the final handful of circuits to win by 0.850 seconds.
“It would have been unfortunate to lose it,” he said. “I knew it was his one shot and he just didn’t complete it. He must have got a good start off the bottom. I seen him sliding across. I had a choice to stay in it or try to cross him back over. I stayed in it.”
Johnson garnered a second-place showing to extend his top-five streak to six straight during 360 sprint car races at Jackson Motorplex.
“I kinda knew that was the only chance I had at it,” he said. “He was so good in clean air. I had to throw a Hail Mary at him. Congrats to Skylar and his team for the win.”
Christopher Thram posted a third-place result.
“It was a good night,” he said. “We’re happy with it and we’ll go to Knoxville (Raceway) tomorrow and try again.”
Riley Goodno finished fourth and Brooke Tatnell was fifth.
Tatnell was the quickest qualifier to open the night before Sam Henderson, Javen Ostermann and Prochaska posted heat race triumphs.
Eakin led the distance of the 20-lap Wyffels Hybrids RaceSaver Sprint Car Series main event, winning by 1.330 seconds to score his first victory at Jackson Motorplex since June 2018.
“It’s a lot of fun,” he said. “We’ve tried and tried and tried and just hadn’t been able to get up here this year. I can’t thank everyone enough. There’s definitely a team effort here.”
The first half of the feature was caution-free before there were four cautions between Lap 11 and Lap 14. Eighth-starting Lee Goos Jr. capitalized on the restarts. He drove into the top five and was part of a spirited battle for third place during the middle stage of the race until the final restart when he maneuvered into third place in turns one and two and into the runner-up position in turns three and four.
Jacob Peterson rounded out the podium with Andrew Sullivan charging from 12th to fourth. Dusty Ballenger placed fifth.
Goos Jr., Jeremy Schultz, Peterson and Ryan Navratil were the heat race winners and Trevor Smith captured the B Main.
The final Jackson Motorplex event of the season is the 45th annual AGCO Jackson Nationals powered by FENDT featuring the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series Aug. 17-19. The Wyffels Hybrids RaceSaver Sprint Car Series (on Aug. 17-18) and the Upper Midwest Renegades Sprint Car Series (on Aug. 19) will also compete during the marquee event.
NEW FASHION PORK 360 CHALLENGE PRESENTED BY BEST WESTERN FAIRMONT RACE RESULTS AT JACKSON MOTORPLEX (July 28, 2023) –
MSTS Series/Midwest Power Series 360 Sprint Cars
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 35-Skylar Prochaska (1); 2. 22-Kaleb Johnson (5); 3. 24T-Christopher Thram (2); 4. 14R-Riley Goodno (4); 5. 14-Brooke Tatnell (6); 6. 35L-Cody Ledger (10); 7. 4-Cameron Martin (9); 8. 20-Brant O'Banion (13); 9. 83-Sam Henderson (3); 10. 105-Cody Ihlen (17); 11. 8-Micah Slendy (15); 12. 5-Javen Ostermann (8); 13. 44-Chris Martin (11); 14. G5-Gage Pulkrabek (12); 15. 101-Chuck McGillivray (18); 16. (DNF) 54-Brett Wanner (14); 17. (DNF) 23W-Scott Winters (7); 18. (DNF) 10-Lincoln Drewis (16); 19. (DNF) 5W-Bill Wiese (19); 20. (DNF) 36-Cole Tostenson (20).
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 83-Sam Henderson (1); 2. 14-Brooke Tatnell (4); 3. 44-Chris Martin (2); 4. 4-Cameron Martin (3); 5. 20-Brant O'Banion (5); 6. 105-Cody Ihlen (6); 7. 5W-Bill Wiese (7).
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5-Javen Ostermann (1); 2. 23W-Scott Winters (2); 3. 14R-Riley Goodno (3); 4. 22-Kaleb Johnson (4); 5. 54-Brett Wanner (5); 6. 101-Chuck McGillivray (6); 7. 36-Cole Tostenson (7).
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 35-Skylar Prochaska (2); 2. 24T-Christopher Thram (4); 3. 35L-Cody Ledger (3); 4. G5-Gage Pulkrabek (1); 5. 10-Lincoln Drewis (6); 6. 8-Micah Slendy (5).
Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. 14-Brooke Tatnell, 00:13.690 (3); 2. 22-Kaleb Johnson, 00:13.762 (9); 3. 24T-Christopher Thram, 00:13.880 (18); 4. 4-Cameron Martin, 00:13.953 (17); 5. 14R-Riley Goodno, 00:13.989 (11); 6. 36-Cole Tostenson, 00:14.084 (5); 7. 35L-Cody Ledger, 00:14.126 (20); 8. 44-Chris Martin, 00:14.138 (14); 9. 23W-Scott Winters, 00:14.142 (10); 10. 35-Skylar Prochaska, 00:14.158 (19); 11. 83-Sam Henderson, 00:14.196 (4); 12. 5-Javen Ostermann, 00:14.282 (6); 13. G5-Gage Pulkrabek, 00:14.338 (2); 14. 20-Brant O'Banion, 00:14.353 (15); 15. 54-Brett Wanner, 00:14.388 (7); 16. 8-Micah Slendy, 00:14.467 (8); 17. 105-Cody Ihlen, 00:14.468 (13); 18. 101-Chuck McGillivray, 00:14.861 (16); 19. 10-Lincoln Drewis, 00:15.096 (1); 20. 5W-Bill Wiese, 00:15.582 (12).
Wyffels Hybrids RaceSaver Sprint Car Series
A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 19-Nate Eakin (1); 2. 17-Lee Goos Jr (8); 3. 80P-Jacob Peterson (4); 4. 91-Andrew Sullivan (12); 5. 2D-Dusty Ballenger (6); 6. 30-Matt Johnson (13); 7. 23-Brandon Bosma (14); 8. 12L-John Lambertz (15); 9. 56-Bill Johnson (10); 10. 33S-Jeremy Schultz (9); 11. 33-Trevor Smith (17); 12. 15-Zach Glaser (2); 13. 4S-Mike Stien (18); 14. 12P-Ryan Navratil (3); 15. 22-Justin Allen (5); 16. 11F-Austin Fox (16); 17. (DNF) 18D-Dalton Domagala (7); 18. (DNF) 81-Jared Jansen (19); 19. (DNF) 23C-Ben Crees (20); 20. (DNF) 31-Koby Werkmeister (11).
B Feature (10 Laps): 1. 33-Trevor Smith (2); 2. 4S-Mike Stien (1); 3. 81-Jared Jansen (3); 4. 23C-Ben Crees (4); 5. 10-Trevor Serbus (6); 6. 1300-Brett Allen (7); 7. 96-Blaine Stegenga (14); 8. 9X-Ramsie Shoenrock (5); 9. 6B-Bayley Ballenger (13); 10. 28G-Gracyn Masur (8); 11. 62J-Jay Masur (11); 12. 3D-Dan Griep (12); 13. 1B-Brayden Wiese (9); 14. (DNF) 12-Tyler Drueke (10).
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Lee Goos Jr (1); 2. 31-Koby Werkmeister (2); 3. 56-Bill Johnson (4); 4. 30-Matt Johnson (7); 5. 4S-Mike Stien (3); 6. 9X-Ramsie Shoenrock (8); 7. 1B-Brayden Wiese (6); 8. (DQ) 96-Blaine Stegenga (5).
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 33S-Jeremy Schultz (3); 2. 22-Justin Allen (1); 3. 19-Nate Eakin (6); 4. 23-Brandon Bosma (7); 5. 33-Trevor Smith (8); 6. 10-Trevor Serbus (4); 7. 12-Tyler Drueke (5); 8. 3D-Dan Griep (2).
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 80P-Jacob Peterson (2); 2. 18D-Dalton Domagala (1); 3. 91-Andrew Sullivan (3); 4. 12L-John Lambertz (5); 5. 81-Jared Jansen (7); 6. 1300-Brett Allen (6); 7. 62J-Jay Masur (4).
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 12P-Ryan Navratil (1); 2. 15-Zach Glaser (4); 3. 2D-Dusty Ballenger (7); 4. 11F-Austin Fox (5); 5. 23C-Ben Crees (2); 6. 28G-Gracyn Masur (6); 7. (DNS) 6B-Bayley Ballenger.
UP NEXT –
Aug. 17-19 for the 45th annual AGCO Jackson Nationals powered by FENDT featuring the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series, the Wyffels Hybrids RaceSaver Sprint Car Series (on Aug. 17-18) and the Upper Midwest Renegades Sprint Car Series (on Aug. 19)
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.JacksonMotorplex.com
Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/JacksonMotorplx
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JacksonSpeedway/?fref=ts
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacksonmotorplex/
JACKSON MOTORPLEX –
Jackson Motorplex is a 4/10-mile dirt oval located in Jackson, Minn. It hosts special events from May through September, including races with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series, Midwest Power Series, Midwest Sprint Touring Series and more. For more information, visit http://www.JacksonMotorplex.com.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.
To meet the media relations needs of your program by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.