BARROWS — The delay in the Minnesota spring has played havoc with the racing schedule at North Central Speedway as all three April races had to be canceled.
On a warm spring evening, the season got underway Saturday, May 7, with over 70 drivers making it for the heat races.
While the season start has been unknown, several things were known by the end of the night. First, the Hobby Stock class is going to be a battle each night. Second, Aaron Johnson is primed for a big year. Lastly, the Hobby Stock class continues to be strong in car count.
Dan Mackenthun made just three Stock Car feature races in 2021, but he finished in the top five in two of those races. In Saturday night’s 20-lap feature, Mackenthun ran his last lap in 19.198 seconds to finish out in front of Dave Johnson by 1.608 seconds and claim the checkered flag.
Tim Gonska, who finished in first place in 2021 was the third-place finisher, Dave Johnson, who was 10th overall in points in the Hobby Stock class last year, drove for the first time in a Stock Car.
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The Sport Compact has seen strong numbers at NCS through the years and it appears that will be the case again this year. An entry class that has drivers both young and old with varied experience, it normally draws the highest entry numbers of the evening and that was the case again as 20 drivers participated in the 15-lap feature event.
Nathan Kohl picked up right where left off in 2021 when he finished in second place with seven wins, earning a second-place points finish, just eight points behind his brother Greg, who is taking 2022 off.
Nathan started from the second row in the feature event and turned the fastest lap of the evening in the class at 20.043 seconds, which came on his last lap. He defeated Brandon Nyberg by a gap of .484 seconds to get the win. Jenna Hagemann made it into the top five with a fourth place finish. Travis Roush, a two-time winner last year, was in 13th place.
Of the 17 feature races in 2021, Expert Insulation Modified drivers Aaron Johnson and Shawn Fletcher won 12. Fletcher scored eight wins to our from Johnson, but Johnson finished in the top five in all 17 races and claimed the points championship by nine points over Fletcher.
Consistency was key for Johnson last year, but he dominated the feature race on Saturday night, winning by the largest margin in any of the seven feature races with a game over 7.417 seconds over second place finisher Devin Foquette. His fastest lap was at 17.794 seconds. No one else in the 12-car field was under 18 seconds for a lap time. Brandon Beckendorf notched the third place spot and Fletcher, who had a spinout on the first lap, recovered to finish in sixth place in the 20-lap feature.
Other winners on Saturday night were Scott Herron in the Hobby Stocks, Tommy Bawden in the Mod Fours, Jake Hagemann for the Northern Sport Mods and Dylan Nelson for the Super Stock class.
