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BARROWS — Aaron Johnson, Dylan Nelson, Gerrald Nohner, Tim Gonska, David Siercks and Nathan Kohl were all crowned track champions on the final night of points racing Saturday, Aug. 28, at North Central Speedway.
Nohner and Kohl were the only two champions to not have multiple NCS track titles.
Aaron Johnson finished one of the most dominating seasons in recent memory for any driver as he gathered 11 first-place trophies in 14 feature events in 2022. He was also going for his fourth straight points title and the one person standing in his way was Shawn Fletcher, the 2018 track champion. Fletcher grabbed his first win one week earlier as Johnson left the race early due to car trouble. With Fletcher's win, the two drivers were deadlocked in points heading to the last week of the season.
The two started from the front row and battled for the first couple of laps before Johnson gained the lead. Two caution flags tightened the field, but Johnson survived the restart each time to hold his spot on top and win by a comfortable margin over Fletcher.
Sport Compact driver Nathan Kohl had the second most wins of any driver in 2022 with eight in just his third year of racing. Two years ago, he placed sixth behind his brother Greg, a track champion in 2020 and 2021. In 2021 Greg had to hold off Nathan, defeating him by just eight points for the title.
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While Nathan was excited to win the title, which he did comfortably by a margin of 45 points, he capped off his Sport Compact career with his eighth feature win.
"I wanted to win the championship and I knew I probably could win the championship. That was my goal for the season," Kohl said. "In total, I have 13 wins this season and 20+ heat wins (at all tracks in 2022). I have kind of dominated this season. I am moving up to Hobby Stock. I like the feel of the car and think it is a lot more fun. I didn't want to be in the Sport Compacts forever. I wanted to move up eventually. I figured the third year in the class it is time to move up. At this time I don't get the same high from winning as I did the first time."
Kohl introduced his Hobby Stock car mid-way through the season. He’s finished in the back of the field, but thinks that will change in 2023 as he moves away from the Sport Compact class.
"I think I am progressing pretty well," Kohl said of his Hobby Stock car. "We changed a couple of things and the car seemed to hook up way better than the last few weeks. I think I took eighth out of 14 or 15 cars so I thought that was pretty good. I don't expect myself to be in the top five anytime soon but hopefully next year I can get some top 10s and top 5s. That is my goal."
Tim Gonska clinched his second straight Stock Car championship with a second-place finish in the feature behind Dave Johnson, Gonska edged Johnson by six points for the track championship. Gonska finished the season with three wins and counting his three championships in the Hobby Stock class from 2018 to 2020, Gonska now has a championship in five straight seasons of racing.
The Hobby Stock went to Brandon Bombardo, who defeated feature winner Ryan Kleinschmidt by 46 points to claim his second title in a row.
Super Stock driver Dylan Nelson won his fourth track championship in five years and David Siercks claimed his third championship in the last five years.
Gerrald Nohner won his first championship in the Mod Four class.
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The racing season will come to an end Labor Day weekend with the 21st Mighty Axe Nationals which Sept. 3-4.
