JACKSON, MN

 After a little too much rainfall and the promise of more on Friday evening, the 2014 Jackson Sprint Car Nationals, sponsored by the State Bank of Fairmont and Erickson Trucks and Parts of Jackson had to be postponed from Friday night and combined into a single night show on Saturday. The historic half -mile of the Jackson Speedway hosted the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series along with the Jackson Speedway Touring Series 360 winged sprints, along with the Minniakota MicroSprints, IMCA Sport Modifieds and IMCA Stock Cars. 

A total of 39 sprints turned out for the evening's heat races and the special Dick Valentine Memorial race for the feature non-qualifiers. An additional 31 cars turned out for the three support classes for the evening.  Winning the feature races for the evening in the Minnesota West Technical College Power Sports Technology Minniakota MicroSprints was Derek Steen of Lakefield, MN, while in the Golden Fenders IMCA Sport Modified feature, Jason Andrews of Estherville, IA earned the win. For the Golden Fenders IMCA Stock Car class, Trent Schroeder of Worthington, MN claimed the victory.  In the first B feature, Jason Johnson of Eunice, LA would take the checkers with Brad Loyett of Sunset Hills, MO., winning the second B Feature event.
For the Dick Valentine Memorial special feature for non-qualifiers, a scary moment on the first lap saw Dusty Ballenger rolled going into turn one after contact with another car, but Ballenger was uninjured in the mishap.  When the race resumed, Austin Johnson of Pleasantville, IA, earned the victory.  For the 2014 Jackson Nationals Sprint Feature, Matt Covington of Glenpool, OK collected first place money of $5,000 and the winner's trophy.

Thanks to Dan Voigt, Media Relations For The Speedway, for the story.