JACKSON, Minn. — Ryan Timms and Trevor Serbus each posted a victory on Friday evening at Jackson Motorplex, which hosted the opening night of The Border Battle presented by Trelleborg.
Timms showcased a flair for the dramatic throughout the 25-lap Buffalo Wild Wings Northern Outlaw Sprint Association main event. He started eighth and quickly climbed into the top five. Timms then maneuvered from fourth to second on lap 11. Several laps later a near spin was met with a veteran save in turns three and four.
Timms was within striking distance of polesitter Kaleb Johnson as traffic appeared with four laps remaining.
“We were kinda struggling in (turns) one and two,” Timms said. “We were really good in (turns) three and four. I knew we wouldn’t get him unless we got to lapped traffic. I just prayed to not have a caution and we caught him in lapped traffic.”
Timms executed a slide job on Johnson, who was in search of his first 410 winged sprint car win, in turns one and two on lap 24. Johnson ducked underneath Timms as the duo exited turn two, but momentum was with Timms in the outside groove.
Timms then threw a slide job to put a driver a lap down in turns three and four, narrowly clearing the racer and providing enough room to pull away from Johnson for the triumph.
“That was a blast,” he said. “Hats off to the track crew. They really gave us an amazing track. I’m just really in shock I won that from eighth, especially on this big of a track. Hopefully we can win the next two and get that bonus.”
Timms is eligible for the $10,000 Buffalo Wild Wings Triple Crown Bonus that will go to a driver who sweeps this weekend’s NOSA Series tripleheader running Friday and Saturday at Jackson Motorplex and Sunday at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, S.D.
“It means quite a bit because I felt like I struggled the last time I was here and I didn’t expect to do that good and we did really good,” he said. “It definitely gives me a lot of confidence going into tomorrow and Huset’s.”
Johnson’s second-place result was a career-best 410 outing.
“It does sting getting beat by Ryan like that, but at the end of the day he’s got more experience and he’s a damn good driver,” he said. “It’s fun racing against him. He races very clean. Hats off to my guys. We were so close. Sometimes it’s better to be in second than it is leading. Just with lapped traffic there I knew I was going to get in trouble. There wasn’t much on the bottom. I had to rip the top. It stings a little bit, but on the bright side there’s still two more days of racing.”
Lynton Jeffrey made a late-race pass on Jack Dover to round out the podium and Matt Juhl finished fifth.
Serbus charged from ninth and used a late-race pass to score the Wyffels Hybrids RaceSaver Sprint Car Series victory. He advanced into the top three within the first couple of laps. Serbus moved into the runner-up position a lap before the midpoint of the 20-lap feature and then tracked down Brandon Halverson, who led the first 16 laps.
Serbus pulled even for the lead as he and Halverson headed down the backstretch with seven laps remaining, but a driver about to be lapped was on the bottom lane and Halverson maintained the lead by using the outside groove. Three laps later Serbus stuck the bottom to gain the top spot and he pulled away during the final four laps to win by 1.433 seconds.
“Typically, I’m not the best in lapped traffic, but it was working to my advantage,” he said. “If I could keep it on the bottom and if I could get off on the bottom I was really good, but if I drifted out I lost some ground. I drove it to make it work.”
Halverson garnered a second-place finish with Brandon Bosma placing third. Jacob Hughes was fourth and Mike Stien rounded out the top five.
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