Swindell wins POWRi opener

Two household names, at least in houses where open-wheel racing fans hang their caps, finished in the top three of Tuesday’s POWRi Cornhusker Midget Challenge at Junction Motor Speedway.
First to the checkers was Kevin Swindell, the 19-year-old son of World of Outlaw sprint car legend Sammy Swindell. Running third in the evening’s 25-car, 30-lap main event was Chad Boat, son of Indianapolis 500 veteran Billy Boat. Chad Boat, only 16, led much of the race in his speedy No. 30 Midget.
Racing across the finish line between the two youngsters for second was Dave Darland out of Lincoln, Ill.
Boat looked unbeatable early as he held the field at bay with relative ease. A couple wrecks worked against the talented youngster, however, when yellow flag cautions brought him back to the field. Eventually, Swindell pulled off a slick pass and never looked back on his way to a $3,000 paycheck.
The JMS NASCAR Modifieds joined the POWRi Midget tour on the track for two heat races and their own 10-car, 20-lap feature race.
Matt Richards of Lincoln guided his No. 1R to the feature win ahead of Dave Hardesty out of Minneapolis, Kan. York’s Andy Wilkinson led early before ending up third in the No. 15.
Wilkinson started the A-feature outside row one. Another local driver, Jason Friesen of Sutton, sat third on the starting grid, inside row two. Wilkinson elbowed his way to the lead on the first of 20 laps, but when Jeremy Rasmussen nipped the wall the ensuing caution let the field catch up. Wilkinson regained the lead when the green waved. Later, when Friesen was spun out by Rasmussen, Wilkinson was out-jumped on the restart.
Area driver Matthew Kiner of Aurora sent a shower of sparks skyward when he made hard contact with the wall in turn one with 16 laps to go. Wilkinson dropped into third with 13 circles remaining and held that position to the end.
The No. 15 from York got caught up when Rasmussen, a Bentonville, Ark., Modified pilot, looped his 31J and made Wilkinson his third victim on the night. However, Wilkinson was awarded his former spot in third when the green waved. Friesen put heavy pressure on Wilkinson the final six laps but could not pass the Pro Auto Parts machine from York.
The second night of the POWRi Cornhusker Midget Challenge was to be run Wednesday night. Friday and Saturday the King of the Hill Late Model Shootout brings two major Midwest Late Model circuits to JMS where they will be joined by two of the track’s regular classes on Friday and three more Saturday.

Results for Tuesday, July 30
• Modifieds — 1) 1r Matt Richards, 2) 73 Dave Hardesty, 3) 15 Andy Wilkinson, 4) 1f Jason Friesen, 5) 17 Brett Behrends, 6) 22s Shane Stutzman, 7) 64 Dusty Blake, 8) 31j Jeremy Rasmussen, 9) 28n Daniel Neeman, 10) 14 Matthew Kiner.

• Cornhusker Midget Challenge — 1) 75 Kevin Swindell,  2) 9 Dave Darland, 3) 30 Chad Boat, 4) 07 Brad Kuhn, 5) 71x Davey Ray, 6) 13 Adam Clark, 7) 5* Gary Taylor,  8) 11 Brett Anderson, 9) 2 Luke Icke, 10) 14av Matt Smith, 11) 24d Daniel Robinson, 12) 73 Josh Ford, 13) 55 Donnie Ray Crawford, 14) 7 Austin Brown, 15) 67 Bubba Altig, 16) 85 Matt Johnson, 17) 11h Garrett Hood, 18) 9b Joe Boyles, 19) 35 Tyler Robbins, 20) 4 Bobby East, 21) 11w Jerry Coons, Jr, 22) 05 Brad Loyet, 23) 1s Scott Hatton, 24) 5d Zach Daum, 25) 19 Kody Swanson.

• Midgets — 1) 19 Kody Swanson, 2) 11 Brett Anderson, 3) 24d Daniel Robinson, 4) 73 Josh Ford, 5) 7 Austin Brown, 6) 35 Tyler Robbins, 7) 55 Donnie Ray Crawford, 8) 9b Joe Boyles, 9) 10 Will Pierce, 10) 67 Bubba Altig, 11) 2g Terry Goodwin, 12) 11r Ryan Cole, 13) 3 Julee Jamison, 14) 5 Rick Shuman.