September 25, 2020: It was a strange 2020 season to say the least. COVID and the effects of the pandemic took 11 dates from us this year. Six of those cancellations came at Jackson Motorplex, one at Knoxville, one at Princeton, one at Ogilvie, one at I-90, and one at Cedar Lake Speedway. When you lose 11 shows, the decision to either postpone the year or race on comes to the table, and here at the Midwest Power Series we wanted to race. We were able to add dates at Rock Rapids, Park Jefferson and Huset’s speedway to make a small, but still reasonable, nine race schedule happen in 2020.
The story all year long was Justin Henderson. Henderson competed in eight of our nine events, bringing home an astounding 5 wins in total. He won doubleheader weekends at Jackson Motorplex and Knoxville Raceway (coming in July) and at Rapid Speedway and Park Jefferson Speedway in August. He topped that with a victory at the Cedar Lake Speedway in September which was part of the 20th Jerry Richert Memorial race. When final points were tallied, Henderson won more features than the rest of the field combined. His five victories on the season matched his five previous wins to set the all time series wins record at 10. No one else has more than four. Henderson’s success allowed him to weather the storm of two DNF finishes to end the season at Huset’s Speedway and still win the points by a margin of 165. Officially his stat line reads 8 features with 5 wins, 5 top five finishes, and 6 top ten’s for a total of 1,085 points tallied. Congratulations to the Max Motorsports 83 team on a successful season.
The battle behind Henderson for spots 2-5 went right down to the wire. Jody Rosenboom came into the final night of racing at the Huset’s Speedway with a 30 point advantage over Jack Dover. Dover put his car on the podium on the front stretch, but it was not enough as Rosenboom was able to maintain his runner up spot by a mere 2 points! Current MSTS points leader Eric Lutz finished fourth in points, with Kaleb Johnson edging Gregg Bakker by six points for that fifth spot. Midwest Power Series pays out to the top 5 finishers in the points standings, so congratulations to all who were able to finish at the top of the standings. Bakker, Brooke Tatnell, Derrik Lusk, James Broty, and Justin Jacobsma rounded out the top 10.
Four other Drivers were able to pick up wins in 2020. Matt Juhl won opening night of the season at Jackson Motorplex to start things off. Jack Dover won in our lone trip to the I-90 Speedway. The two other winners both came at the Power Series Nationals at Huset’s Speedway to cap off the season. They were Shane Golobic and Tim Kaeding. We want to thank all 118 drivers and teams who ran with us this year. Without these races teams and their support, we all know we would not be doing this.
Beyond that, Midwest Power Series would like to recognize the sponsors and marketing partners who have been part of the series 2020. Dekalb/Asgrow seed, Midwest Power Equipment, GRP Motorsports, Broty Racing Engines, Donnohue Designs, Al Parker Engines, Gunderson Racing Inc, Saldana Racing Products, Engler Machine and Tool, P One Performance, Hoosier Racing Tires, Track Rat Photography, and the Minnesota Mafia. The partnership we have with MSTS expanded greatly this season, and we certainly appreciate Dale Furby and team for their work in sprint car racing. We plan to recognize our top 5 drivers and give out our awards at an awards banquet on November 14. This awards banquet will be held in partnership with the MSTS. More details regarding the awards banquet will be released soon, so keep an eye out for that. Best of luck also to all teams racing with MSTS this Saturday at Rapid Speedway.
We are already making plans to return in a big way in 2021. We will provide updates as we have them so keep an eye on http://midwestpowerseries.myracepass.com/ and our social media channels for more!
- Austin Lloyd on Sep 25, 2020
- Article Date: 9/25/2020 by Austin Lloyd