Inside Line Promotions
JACKSON, Minn. (June 16, 2023) – Mark Dobmeier and Brandon Buysse both topped a stout field of competitors to earn hard-fought victories at Jackson Motorplex on Friday during the opening round of The Border Battle.
Dobmeier stayed in front throughout the 25-lap 410 Outlaw Sprint Cars A Main to capture the $10,000-to-win Merle Johnson Memorial.
“This is the whole reason I’m doing it here, just the feeling you get standing right here,” he said in Victory Lane. “We started off on the bottom for about the first lap. I had to slow down so much to stay down there. I knew that top was going to hold it. I just got up top and started ripping it.”
Brooke Tatnell, Lachlan McHugh and Tim Kaeding each spent time in the runner-up position with an eye on the big payout ahead of them. Tatnell ran second early before McHugh, who started sixth, climbed into second place on Lap 11. However, Kaeding quickly rallied from fourth to second after the second-and-final caution of the race occurred on Lap 12.
Dobmeier reached traffic in the waning laps and was efficient in his moves, slicing through traffic to win by 2.162 seconds while a handful of drivers waged war for a spot on the podium. McHugh pounced when Kaeding was hung up in traffic with only a couple of laps remaining to reclaim second for good.
“It was pretty fun,” he said. “It just makes it hard when you draw that six (in the feature redraw) trying to get to the front. I didn’t get off that last restart quite well enough otherwise might have had a shot at him in traffic.”
Kerry Madsen was quick to capitalize in traffic as well with a late move to garner the third finishing spot.
“It was fun,” he said. “We were just chugging around out there, trying to drive as hard as you can. You have to get your rhythm and your car and find what it does best and what it doesn’t. The car was quick in the A (Main).”
Kaeding finished fourth with Austin McCarl rounding out the top five.
McHugh kicked off the night by setting quick time during qualifying before Madsen, McCarl and Dobmeier garnered heat race victories.
The Border Battle continues on Saturday at Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa, and Sunday at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, S.D.
Buysse led all 20 laps of the Wyffels Hybrids RaceSaver Sprint Car Series main event. However, the second half of the feature was anything but easy for the leader.
Buysse built more than a two-second lead by cruising around the bottom groove throughout the first third of the race before Wade Hansen found a higher lane that allowed him to reel in Buysse. Hansen powered into the lead on Lap 13 while riding the cushion, but he got a little too high entering turn one and hit the wall to ignite a series of violent flips.
Buysse changed his line for the remainder of the race as he moved to the top groove, holding off a couple of attempts for the lead by Blaine Stegenga before Brandon Bosma chased in the runner-up position during the final five laps. Buysse’s margin of victory was 0.879 seconds.
“It feels good,” he said. “Man, what a change of events there. I was running the bottom and I could feel it getting slow, but I couldn’t hear nothing. The kid in the No. 17 just ripped it. I went high (on the restart). Blaine showed his nose a couple of times, but I figured if I could carry momentum around the top we’d be all right.
“If you win at Jackson that means you beat the best in the area. Tonight we did that.”
Bosma finished second with Matt Johnson charging from 15 th to third. Stegenga was fourth and Koby Werkmeister ended fifth.
Werkmeister, Ben Crees, Jacob Hughes and Cole Vanderheiden recorded heat race wins before Dusty Ballenger and Trevor Serbus posted B Main triumphs.
The next event at Jackson Motorplex is July 7 for the Bank Midwest 360 Challenge presented by Livewire Printing. The Gunderson Racing Inc. Midwest Sprint Touring Series and QualityFreightRate.com Midwest Power Series 360 sprint cars as well as the Wyffels Hybrids RaceSaver Sprint Car Series will be in action.
THE BORDER BATTLE FEATURING THE MERLE JOHNSON MEMORIAL RACE RESULTS AT JACKSON MOTORPLEX (June 16, 2023) –
410 Outlaw Sprint Cars
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 13-Mark Dobmeier (1); 2. 25-Lachlan McHugh (6); 3. 5-Kerry Madsen (7); 4. 3-Tim Kaeding (4); 5. 88-Austin McCarl (8); 6. 16-Brooke Tatnell (3); 7. 22-Riley Goodno (2); 8. 83-Justin Henderson (5); 9. 22K-Kaleb Johnson (13); 10. 7-Lynton Jeffrey (12); 11. 8H-Jade Hastings (18); 12. 09-Matt Juhl (10); 13. 14T-Tim Estenson (16); 14. 2KS-Chase Randall (9); 15. 11M-Brendan Mullen (11); 16. 23W-Scott Winters (20); 17. 35-Skylar Prochaska (15); 18. 3J-Dusty Zomer (19); 19. 4W-Matt Wasmund (21); 20. 5G-Gage Pulkrabek (24); 21. (DNF) 2K-Kevin Ingle (22); 22. (DNF) 05-Colin Smith (23); 23. (DNF) 24T-Christopher Thram (17); 24. (DNS) 8-Aaron Reutzel.
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5-Kerry Madsen (1); 2. 25-Lachlan McHugh (4); 3. 22K-Kaleb Johnson (5); 4. 22-Riley Goodno (3); 5. 7-Lynton Jeffrey (2); 6. 8H-Jade Hastings (7); 7. 24T-Christopher Thram (6); 8. (DNF) 5G-Gage Pulkrabek (8).
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Austin McCarl (1); 2. 83-Justin Henderson (4); 3. 2KS-Chase Randall (2); 4. 8-Aaron Reutzel (6); 5. 09-Matt Juhl (3); 6. 14T-Tim Estenson (5); 7. 2K-Kevin Ingle (8); 8. 4W-Matt Wasmund (7).
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 13-Mark Dobmeier (1); 2. 3-Tim Kaeding (4); 3. 16-Brooke Tatnell (3); 4. 11M-Brendan Mullen (2); 5. 35-Skylar Prochaska (5); 6. 23W-Scott Winters (7); 7. 3J-Dusty Zomer (6); 8. 05-Colin Smith (8).
Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. 25-Lachlan McHugh, 00:12.887 (7); 2. 83-Justin Henderson, 00:12.969 (1); 3. 3-Tim Kaeding, 00:13.056 (3); 4. 22-Riley Goodno, 00:13.171 (11); 5. 09-Matt Juhl, 00:13.237 (12); 6. 16-Brooke Tatnell, 00:13.247 (14); 7. 7-Lynton Jeffrey, 00:13.261 (5); 8. 2KS-Chase Randall, 00:13.301 (19); 9. 11M-Brendan Mullen, 00:13.321 (10); 10. 5-Kerry Madsen, 00:13.325 (20); 11. 88-Austin McCarl, 00:13.329 (18); 12. 13-Mark Dobmeier, 00:13.334 (6); 13. 22K-Kaleb Johnson, 00:13.361 (23); 14. 14T-Tim Estenson, 00:13.401 (17); 15. 35-Skylar Prochaska, 00:13.404 (21); 16. 24T-Christopher Thram, 00:13.409 (15); 17. 8-Aaron Reutzel, 00:13.409 (22); 18. 3J-Dusty Zomer, 00:13.417 (2); 19. 8H-Jade Hastings, 00:13.569 (16); 20. 4W-Matt Wasmund, 00:13.772 (13); 21. 23W-Scott Winters, 00:13.884 (9); 22. 5G-Gage Pulkrabek, 00:13.952 (4); 23. 2K-Kevin Ingle, 00:14.242 (24); 24. (DQ) 05-Colin Smith, 00:13.536 (8).
Wyffels Hybrids RaceSaver Sprint Car Series
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 24B-Brandon Buysse (2); 2. 23-Brandon Bosma (3); 3. 30-Matt Johnson (15); 4. 96-Blaine Stegenga (1); 5. 31-Koby Werkmeister (10); 6. 12L-John Lambertz (6); 7. 10-Trevor Serbus (18); 8. 86-Jacob Hughes (7); 9. 2D-Dusty Ballenger (17); 10. 15V-Cole Vanderheiden (9); 11. 19-Nate Eakin (11); 12. 74N-Luke Nellis (12); 13. 23C-Ben Crees (5); 14. 33S-Jeremy Schultz (20); 15. 3K-Jeremy Kerzman (19); 16. 80P-Jacob Peterson (16); 17. (DNF) 24G-Chris Graf (8); 18. (DNF) 33-Trevor Smith (13); 19. (DNF) 17-Wade Hansen (4); 20. (DNF) 90-Eric Schulz (14).
B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 2D-Dusty Ballenger (2); 2. 3K-Jeremy Kerzman (1); 3. 56-Bill Johnson (3); 4. 4D-Logan Domagala (4); 5. 55R-Ryan Serrao (5); 6. 11F-Austin Fox (7); 7. (DNS) 4S-Mike Stien; 8. (DNS) 18D-Dalton Domagala; 9. (DNS) 3D-Dan Griep.
B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 10-Trevor Serbus (2); 2. 33S-Jeremy Schultz (1); 3. 1300-Brett Allen (3); 4. 54-Michael Stien (6); 5. 6B-Bayley Ballenger (4); 6. 9-Dominic Dobesh (7); 7. 28G-Gracyn Masur (9); 8. (DNF) 26G-Hannah Graf (8); 9. (DNF) 91-Andrew Sullivan (5).
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 31-Koby Werkmeister (2); 2. 96-Blaine Stegenga (1); 3. 24B-Brandon Buysse (3); 4. 33-Trevor Smith (4); 5. 3K-Jeremy Kerzman (6); 6. 56-Bill Johnson (9); 7. 55R-Ryan Serrao (5); 8. 11F-Austin Fox (7); 9. (DNF) 3D-Dan Griep (8).
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 23C-Ben Crees (1); 2. 24G-Chris Graf (4); 3. 12L-John Lambertz (5); 4. 90-Eric Schulz (2); 5. 2D-Dusty Ballenger (7); 6. 4D-Logan Domagala (3); 7. 4S-Mike Stien (6); 8. 18D-Dalton Domagala (8); 9. (DNS) 28G-Gracyn Masur.
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 86-Jacob Hughes (2); 2. 19-Nate Eakin (6); 3. 74N-Luke Nellis (1); 4. 30-Matt Johnson (5); 5. 33S-Jeremy Schultz (7); 6. 1300-Brett Allen (8); 7. 91-Andrew Sullivan (4); 8. 9-Dominic Dobesh (3).
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 15V-Cole Vanderheiden (1); 2. 23-Brandon Bosma (5); 3. 17-Wade Hansen (2); 4. 80P-Jacob Peterson (4); 5. 10-Trevor Serbus (6); 6. 6B-Bayley Ballenger (8); 7. 54-Michael Stien (3); 8. 26G-Hannah Graf (7).