The 4th of July saw Team 1HD and driver Jake Leighty back at the Jackson Speedway for a double feature race-nite. What greeted the team was a full moon, mud, and lots of it after a 1.5 inch rainfall on Friday night and Saturday morning. The night started out with Jake starting 5th in the make-up feature from 6-27-09. Jake managed to hold his position for 18 laps on a one lane tacky track until 2 laps from the end. Coming through 3 and 4 the car, simply put, shattered the rear end gears which caused immediate loss of power and 6th place running Casey Heser had absolutely no place to go except right into the back of the car. This destroyed the fuel cell and took out Casey's front-end. Sorry guys!! From there things got interesting.
Car owner Steve Staerk had pretty much resigned to putting it on the trailer. However Lyle "The axle specialist" Haburn happened to be in the pits on this night. He came and checked out the rear-end and determined that it was still fine and all it needed was a new rear-cover, which the team had. Next came looking for a fuel cell, as the one on the car was completely destroyed. Nick Lusk let us borrow one of his and even drove across town to get it. From there the team thrashed to get it back together.
Starting Dead last in the nights feature finale, the team was very pleased when Jake brought it home in 9th place on a Fast and Heavy track that resembled something you would see after the Military dropped cluster bombs on it all night long. "It really felt good to not let this track kick our butts tonight. Just look around the pits tonight at all the carnage it took out on a lot of teams!!" was all car owner Steve Staerk had to say afterwards.
A very special thanks go out to Nick Lusk, and Lyle Haburn. Without them the track would have won the battle on this night! A special thanks goes out to all the crew also for all their hard work and Dedication!
U.S. Army 360 Sprints (18 Cars)
June 27th Make-up Feature (20 laps) – 1. 4J Lee Grosz, Harwood ND, 2. 05 Bill Boles, Harris IA, 3. 99JR Jake Peters Sioux Falls SD, 4. 99 Shawn Van Wyhe, Rock Rapids IA, 5. 15X Joe Riedel, Ramona SD, 6. 5X Dave Glennon, Casselton ND, 7. 1N Nate Eakin, Milford IA, 8. 1A Gordy Vogelaar, Worthington MN (DNF), 9. 75C Casey Heser, Jackson MN (DNF), 10. 1HD Jake Leighty, Worthington MN, 11. 2H Jason Eckard, Okoboji IA (DNF), 12. 26M Brad Mandery, Sioux Falls SD (DNF), 13. Mike Young, Hartford SD (DNF), 14. 9N Wade Nygaard, Fargo ND (DQ); DID NOT START: 63 Jerry Richert Jr., Forest Lake MN; 1WX Chad Meyer, Sioux Falls SD; 07 Derek Anderson, Estherville IA; 23W Scott Winters, Butterfield MN; 24 Jesse Drost, Rushmore MN; 6 Jody Rosenboom, Rock Rapids IA
A Feature (20 laps) – 1. 4J Lee Grosz, Harwood ND, 2. 9N Wade Nygaard, Fargo ND, 3. 1A Gordy Vogelaar, Worthington MN, 4. 05 Bill Boles, Harris IA, 5. 1WX Chad Meyer, Sioux Falls SD, 6. 75C Casey Heser, Jackson MN, 7. 1N Nate Eakin, Milford IA, 8. 5X Dave Glennon, Casselton ND, 9. 1HD Jake Leighty, Worthington MN, 10. 99JR Jake Peters, Sioux Falls SD (DNF), 11. 15X Joe Riedel, Ramona SD (DNF), 12. 23W Scott Winters, Butterfield MN (DNF), 13. 55 Mike Young, Harford SD (DNF), 14. 99 Shawn Van Wyhe, Rock Rapids IA (DNF), 15. 2H Jason Eckard, Okoboji IA (DNF), 16. 75 Brandon Geldner, Mankato MN (DNF), 17. 26M Brad Mandery, Sioux Falls SD; DID NOT START: 07 Derek Anderson, Estherville IA
Heat 1 (8 laps) – 1. Young, 2. Boles, 3. Heser, 4. Mandery
Heat 2 – 1. Meyer, 2. Glennon, 3. Van Wyhe, 4. Nygaard, 5. Eckard
Heat 3 – 1. Vogelaar, 2. Grosz, 3. Peters, 4. Winters, 5. Riedel
- Steve Staerk on Jul 08, 2009
- Article Date: 7/8/2009