McCOOL JUNCTION, Neb. -- Five days ago, Jon Tesch was enjoying a huge lead in the closing laps of the main event at the Dodge County Speedway when contact from a lapped car resulted in a flat tire on Tesch’s USMTS Modified and dashed all hope for his first win of the season.
The USMTS National Tour invaded the Junction Motor Speedway on Friday and Saturday for the 8th Annual Nebraska Spring Thaw, and this time there was no lapped traffic to keep the ‘Wizard of Watertown’ out of the winners circle.
While battling for the third spot Friday night, a flat tire wiped out a good run for Ryan Ruter but he got another shot Saturday night when he drew the outside front row starting spot for the 35-lap WIX Filters “A” Main.
Ruter disposed of polesitter Tommy Myer on the first lap, and then proceeded to build a full straight-away advantage over the field by the race’s halfway point.
Tesch, who started third on the grid, fell back as far as fifth in the early going but used the high side of the super-fast high-banked 3/8-mile oval to snare second place from Tommy Myer with 15 laps in the books.
Four laps later, the first and only caution of the contest occurred and erased Ruter’s advantage. While Ruter continued to use the extreme low side of the track, Tesch powered his way around the top side and snagged the lead from Ruter the next time around.
A few laps later, Ruter moved up to the high side but it was too late as Tesch had built an eight-car-length advantage and Ruter was unable to chip away at the difference during the final caution-free run.
Tesch sailed to a $3,000 payday and Ruter hung on for the runner-up paycheck – both season-best finishes for both drivers – while Ryan Gustin, Kelly Shryock and Zack VanderBeek finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively.
Kyle Berck nipped Myer on the final lap for the sixth spot, Chris Spieker came from 15th to finish eighth, Jason Grimes was ninth and Corey Dripps was the tenth driver to cross the finish line.
Dustin Boney won Friday night’s feature race, and can probably be thankful that it was only a 30-lapper as his USMTS Modified blew an engine on the first lap of his heat race and never a completed another lap Saturday night.
With the win and Boney’s misfortune, Tesch claimed the lead in the Great Plains Region points standings by one point over Shryock (183 to 182). Ruter is third with 168 markers, followed by Myer (162), VanderBeek (160), Boney (148), Jason Krohn (148), Grimes (146), Colt Mather (144) and Chase Junghans (142).
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