By Greg Soukup
EAGLE, Neb. (Aug. 30) – His Friday night qualifying feature win earned Jake Bubak $700 and the pole start for Sunday’s RaceSaver Nationals main event.
Eighty-nine IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car teams from 14 states saw action on opening night at Eagle Raceway.
Chasing Bubak to the stripe and joining him in the first three rows of the main event grid were Jason Martin, Kaleb Johnson, Trevor Grossenbacher, Anton Hernandez, Ethan Barrow, Jake Martens, Andy Shouse and Justin Clark.
Johnson led lap one of the qualifier with Bubak, Martin and Luke Cranston close behind.
Bubak took advantage of a lap two restart and snagged the lead while Martin passed Johnson the next time around. The track was lightning fast as the leaders jumped to the high side and began to pull away from the pack.
Bubak stretched his lead to six car lengths by lap 14 but he could not shake Martin completely. Martin managed to close on him in heavy lapped traffic as the race went the rest of the way caution free but could not catch him.
Bubak came home first, Martin second, Johnson third and Cranston fourth. Cranston was disqualified in post-race tech for illegal fuel, moving Grossenbacher up to fourth.
“I knew that there were some really good drivers starting up there. Jason was our biggest worry,” Bubak said. “Once I got to the lead the car was really good. I could move around and go wherever I wanted to. I just picked the line that I felt most comfortable with and it worked out.”
Cole Krichau was the Mach-1 Sport Compact winner.
Feature Results
RaceSaver Sprint Cars – 1. Jake Bubak Arvada, Colo.; 2. Jason Martin Lincoln; 3. Kaleb Johnson, Sioux Falls, S.D.; 4. Trevor Grossenbacher Bennet; 5. Anton Hernandez Arlington, Texas; 6. Ethan Barrow Bloomington, Ind.; 7. Jake Martens Fairview, Okla.; 8. Andy Shouse Oklahoma City, Okla.; 9. Justin Clark, Hamersville, Ohio; 10. Stuart Snyder Lincoln; 11. Kevin Ramey, Fort Worth, Texas’ 12. Dusty Ballenger, Harrisburg, S.D.; 13. Mike Boston Lincoln; 14. Ryan King Bennet; 15. Claud Estes III, Godley, Texas; 16. Tyler Drueke, Eagle; 17. Adam Gullion, Lincoln; 18. Joey Danley, Lincoln; 19. Cody Ledger, Omaha.
Sport Compacts – 1. Cole Krichau; 2. Brian Cronin; 3. Brad Gallagher; 4. Terry Tritt; 5. Shawn Hein; 6. Trenten Fugett; 7. Tim Horsham; 8. Dan Markham; 9. Kyle Owen; 10. Tyler Masek; 11. Michelle Nicholson; 12. Ray Harrington; 13. Drake Bohlmeyer; 14. R.J. Maas; 15. Steffen Oaks; 16. Bryce Walker.