Stock Car Racing: Johnson nabs 7th win at NCS

BARROWS — A mid-summer break and heavy rains have limited racing time in July at North Central Speedway as drivers turned laps for just the second time in four weeks Saturday, July 23, at NCS.

Modified Aaron Johnson and Jake Hagemann picked right up where they left off the last time cards ran Saturday, while Dave Johnson and Tim Gonska set up what will be a wild ride to the points championship in one month.

Aaron Johnson won his seventh feature in nine tries and is having a season for the ages, but remarkably he trails Shawn Fletcher by one point in the points race. It is because Fletcher has been a model of consistency. While he has not waived the checkered flag at the winners stand during the 2022 season, Fletcher has finished in the top five in all nine races. Johnson has also driven in all nine races and has finished in the top five eight times.

Johnson started from the fifth row in the 20-lap feature and Fletcher was positioned one row ahead of him, but the two drivers surged to the front of the field finishing in first and second place. Johnson won by a comfortable margin but Fletcher grabbed the second spot at the finishing line to hold on to the one-point lead.

Stock Car drivers Dave Johnson and Tim Gonska are separated by seven points.

Gonska and Johnson each started from the second row and Gonska was able to hold off Johnson for his third win of the season with Alex Dostal taking the third spot.

Hobby Stock driver Brandon Bombardo, nicknamed, "Mr. Excitement", leads the points race by 36 points over Ryan Kleinschmidt and has two wins to his credit this season and has used a patient aggressiveness. Running in second place behind Tyler Kunz late in the 15-lap feature, Bombardo was right on Kunz's bumper, searching for a moment to get the lead and he grabbed the lead on the last lap and crossed the finish line with what appeared to be his third win of the season.

However, the celebration was short-lived as he was docked two spots as track officials determined that he had been too aggressive in tapping Kunz's bumper, which resulted in Kunz being awarded the third place finish with Bombardo taking the third spot behind Scott Herron. Nathan Kohl also made his first appearance of the season in a Hobby Stock and finished in 14th place in the 17-car field.

Kohl was in very familiar territory in the Sport Compact feature. He has dominated the class in 2022 and he recorded his sixth win Saturday night which gives him a 20-point lead in the points race over Brandon Nyberg.

Two weeks ago Jake Hagemann won the belt at the NCS Knockout event and raced to his second win on Saturday, finishing in front of Tim Bergerson and David Siercks. It was the fourth win of the season for Hagemann and he is in the heat of the points race, trailing Craig Paul by just nine points and leader David Siercks by 22 points.

Twenty drivers made the field for the Mod Four feature event and put on a show for the fans with a 15-lap feature that was light on caution flags, which is not always the case. It was Skyler Smith posing for photos after a win over Josh Litzau and Gerrald Nohner. It was the second win of the season for Smith and he trails Nohner by 25 points in the points race.