Jody Rosenboom Racing hit the highbanks of I-44 Riverside Speedway, in Oklahoma City on Friday and Saturday night. The 5th Annual Turnpike Challenge was showcased with over 60 POWRi National Series/POWRi West Series Midget entries and the POWRi Speedway Motors 600cc Outlaw Micro League.
On Friday, Jody Rosenboom picked up some spots in his heat moving from 7th to 5th in the second heat of the night. After making some minor adjustments to the car and engine, Rosenboom was able to take a modest starting position in the B feature and make a run at the transfer position, and finished 7th in the Rosey's Raceland, Spike Chassis #14X. In the A main, Christopher Bell put on a show for the fans and moved from 10th to 1st to claim the $2000 payday and his 7th straight win at I-44 Riverside Speedway.
On Saturday, Jody Rosenboom Racing had their work cut out for them as the pill draw put the #14X machine in the back of the 2nd heat. Though the track was still narrow, Rosenboom moved past a couple cars to finish 6th. The effort was good enough to start 11th in the B. The JRR Automotive Services, Frontier Bank, Simpson Racing Products machine was hooked up and weaved it's way in and out of traffic while trading sliders with the #2 entry of Luke Icke. The race went flag to flag and Rosenboom settled for 7th after the top 6 cars were able to get away and battle it out for 5 transfer spots. In the A feature, Christopher Bell battled it out with Logan Seavey until the final laps to take the weekend sweep of the 5th Annual Turnpike Challenge.
The second JRR entry was piloted by Randy Brands, an accomplished stock car driver from Boyden, Iowa, making his Midget debut.. On the weekends opening night of racing, Randy was caught up in a tangle during the 6th heat. After the crew scrambled to put the car together for the C main, the Rosey's Raceland, Automated Waste Systems, BOSS Chassis #14R found success passing some cars and ended the night in 7th in the C feature.
The track time proved fruitful for Brands, with Saturday nights performance showing much improvement as he learned how to wrangle these 400 horsepower rockets. After electing to start in the rear of a stacked heat, Brands ran a smooth race and finished in 8th. In the C main, Brands found success passing cars and finished the weekend in 7th.
After a wild weekend of racing, the JRR team will head home for the Easter holiday and look forward to the upcoming MSTS 360 Sprint Car season, which gets underway April 14th, in Jefferson, South Dakota.