JACKSON, Minn. – Matt Juhl and Stu Snyder had a big reason to smile on Friday evening when they both captured a feature victory at Jackson Motorplex.
Juhl powered to his first career Midwest Sprint Touring Series triumph and second career DeKalb/Asgrow Midwest Power Series presented by GRP Motorsports win by besting 33 other competitors, while Snyder topped 22 racers to claim the Heartland Steel RaceSaver sprint cars presented by Wyffels Hybrids victory.
Traffic played a role in both main events at the four-tenths-mile oval, where Juhl pounced midway through the 360 sprint car feature. Lee Grosz led the first seven laps before Juhl took the top spot on the bottom exiting turn four as Grosz worked the top of the track in traffic.
However, Grosz reclaimed the lead on the ensuing lap and led for six more laps before a nearly identical situation occurred on Lap 15.
Juhl snuck underneath Grosz and edged him to the finish line before sliding in front of him entering turn one. Juhl then maintained the lead for the final 10 laps, while mostly running the middle groove as most of the traffic was fighting for the bottom of the track.
Grosz stayed within striking distance before finishing 1.312 seconds behind Juhl.
Eric Lutz rounded out the podium with Jack Dover finishing fourth and Chris Martin fifth. Justin Henderson was the Hard Charger after maneuvering from 24th to sixth.
Riley Goodno kicked off the night by setting quick time during qualifying before Dover, Elliot Amdahl, Brooke Tatnell and Grosz picked up heat race wins. James Broty was the B Main winner.
Snyder led the distance of the Heartland Steel RaceSaver sprint cars presented by Wyffels Hybrids main event, but Dusty Ballenger was within a few car lengths throughout much of the 20-lap race.
At one point Snyder missed the favored bottom lane while trying to lap another driver, which nearly allowed Ballenger to his inside.
A caution with two laps remaining set up a green-white-checkered finish, but the open track worked in Snyder’s favor and he won by 0.775 of a second.
Jacob Hughes placed third with Brandon Allen fourth and 13th-starting Javen Ostermann fifth.
Trevor Smith, Christopher Thram and John Lambertz were the heat race winners.
The finishes:
Midwest Power Series A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 09-Matt Juhl (1); 2. 4J-Lee Grosz (2); 3. 5-Eric Lutz (4); 4. 81-Jack Dover (7); 5. 44-Chris Martin (9); 6. 83-Justin Henderson (24); 7. 35-Skylar Prochaska (14); 8. 14P-Brooke Tatnell (8); 9. 4X-Terry McCarl (18); 10. 2-Derrik Lusk (10); 11. 51A-Elliot Amdahl (5); 12. 14-Jody Rosenboom (15); 13. 27-Carson McCarl (3); 14. 4-Cody Hansen (12); 15. 22X-Riley Goodno (13); 16. 20G-Chris Graf (17); 17. 23-Brandon Bosma (16); 18. 03-Shayle Bade (19); 19. 05-Colin Smith (6); 20. 11X-Gregg Bakker (23); 21. 17B-Ryan Bickett (22); 22. 15C-Carter Chevalier (20); 23. (DNF) 13JM-Jordan Martens (11); 24. (DNS) 33-James Broty.
Racesaver Sprints A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 5X-Stu Snyder (1); 2. 2D-Dusty Ballenger (2); 3. 8-Jacob Hughes (5); 4. 05-Brandon Allen (6); 5. 5-Javen Ostermann (13); 6. 10S-Trevor Serbus (18); 7. 24-Kade Higday (7); 8. 56-Bill Johnson (3); 9. 24T-Christopher (Chris) Thram (12); 10. 1S-Ryan Voss (8); 11. 1CC-Clayton Christensen (20); 12. 27-Rick Schroeder (15); 13. 12L-John Lambertz (11); 14. 4S-Michael Stien (9); 15. 33-Trevor Smith (10); 16. 8K-Micah Slendy (4); 17. 7-Johnny Sullivan (17); 18. (DNF) 10-Lincoln Drewis (19); 19. (DNF) 22W-Aaron Werner (21); 20. (DNF) 11-Dalyn Cody (22); 21. (DNF) 4SS-Jody Rosenboom (14); 22. (DNF) 7L-Jesse Lindberg (23); 23. (DNS) 33S-Jeremy Schultz.