Thompson turns his season around

John Thompson is a name that people recognize in the Midwest Modified Class at North Central Speedway.

In a class that has grown with talented new drivers the past two seasons, Thompson has stayed in the pack and has been a driver that people, and other drivers, keep their eyes on every night..

While finishing first in heats, and placing high in feature events, a feature win avoided him in 2008 and into 2009. That ended two weeks ago as Thompson won the feature and he was happy to get that monkey off his back.

"We won our heat and our feature for a clean sweep so that was pretty cool," Thompson said. "The car was working really good.

"We have really struggled getting these new tires working, and I have been really struggling with that, but they are working good now. We had a bad miss in the heat race but hopefully we have that figured out."

In the heat race Saturday night Thompson still came away with a first-place finish. Thompson is one of many drivers who place a high importance on tire conditions and how they adhere to the track. It is one of the main items that has to be dialed in to have a successful race.

The early part of the season was a struggle for Thompson. He did not finish in the top three of a heat race until May 23. Since then he has three straight first-place finishes in heat races. He also two second-place finishes in features to go with his first-place finish two weeks ago.

Thompson points out that it's a combination of things that have turned his season around.

"It's the luck of racing," he said. "I started out with some bad draws during the early part of the season. We have been getting some better draws but also getting my driving together has helped."

After winning his heat race Saturday night, Thompson struggled in the feature and finished out of the top five. However, with his strong performance in the last month, Thompson finds himself sitting fifth in the season points standings.

Winning the points title is something Thompson does keep his eye on.

"Running only one night a week I am fortunate to be where I am at so it is a lot of fun," he said. "There is incredible competition right now. It is amazing how it has stepped up. It really is amazing."

Pure feature: Mike Smude captured another feature victory Saturday night and held his slim margin over Bill Nelson at 11 points. For Smude, it was his fifth feature victory of the season. Max Dondelinger moved up in the points chase from 10th to seventh with a second-place finish. Derek Olson made a rare appearance this season after winning the points championship last season.

Street feature: Tim Johnson and Dan Severson have battled all season for the top spot in the Street Stock class. On Saturday, it was Tim Johnson's turn again.

Starting from the second row, Johnson took the checkered flag for his second straight feature win. Devin Neske took second and Jack Peterson tightened his spot on third place in the points standings with a third-place finish in the feature. Just five points now separate Johnson and Severson with Peterson running in third place, just 24 points behind Johnson.

Midwest Modified feature: Dan Ebert scored one of the closest finishes of the season as he finished less then two seconds ahead of Mark Martini and took his second checkered flag of the season. Ryan Kriese followed in third place.

Kriese moved in front of Shane Sabraski and into first place for the class. Sabraski did not race Saturday. Ebert and Bill Matzdorf now sit second and third in the points chase in front of Sabraski.

Super Stock feature: Don Shaw started from row three in the Super Stock feature with Dan Gullickson, the points leader, just one row behind him on the fourth row. Shaw moved up in the field and held off Johnson and Gullickson for his first checkered flag finish of the season.

Johnson finished second and Gullickson third. Gullickson currently holds a 49-point lead over Derek Sweet in the points standings.

Pure Stock

Heat 1-1-Jacob Jordan, 2-Derek Olson, 3-Randy Buchite

Heat 2-1-Robert Mueller, 2-Daaron Johnson, 3-Max Dondelinger

Heat 3-1-Bill Nelson, 2-Craig Paul, 3-Bradley Nelson

B Feature-1-Tim Otterness, 2-Dale Boser, 3-Jamie Nelson

Feature-1-Mike Smude, 2-Max Dondelinger, 3-Derek Olson

Street Stock

Heat 1-1-Dan Severson, 2-Kevin Schmidt, 3-Scott Baaron

Feature-1-Tim Johnson, 2-Kevin Schmidt, 3-Dan Severson

Midwest Modified

Heat 1-1-John Thompson, 2-Bill Matzdorf, 3-Travis Wermter

Heat 2-1-Mark Martini, 2-Ryan Kriese, 3-Jeff Nelson

Heat 3-1-Dan Ebert, 2-Larry Menk, 3-Josh Fuhrer

B Feature-1-1-Justin Jones, 2-Brian Murphy, 3-Kent Winkelman

Feature-1-Dan Ebert, 2-Mark Martini, 3-Ryan Kriese

Super Stock

Heat 1-1-John Yilek, 2-Dave Read, 3-Jake Goetze

Heat 2-1-Dan Gullickson, 2-Derek Sweet, 3-Don Shaw

Feature-1-Don Shaw, 2-Tim Johnson, 3-Dan Gullickson