Kaleb Johnson Records Top Five During Stewart Alley Memorial - Speedway Digest

Kaleb Johnson garnered his 13 th top-five result of the season on Sunday during the Stewart Alley Memorial at Eagle Raceway.

Johnson, who was driving for Dennis Gainey, qualified second quickest in his group and advanced a pair of positions in a heat race to finish fourth. That performance and a fortunate redraw garnered the pole position for the Gunderson Racing Inc. Midwest Sprint Touring Series 360 Sprint Cars main event.

“It went pretty well,” he said. “We had speed right out of the box and I felt pretty good all night. We qualified solid and moved forward a couple of spots in the heat race. We lucked into a good redraw and led about seven laps or eight laps. I think I stayed on the bottom a lap or two too long. We fell to third and then got passed on a late-race restart to finish fourth. It’s good to have speed going into these next few weeks.”

Johnson kicked off the weekend on Saturday at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wis., during the 24 th annual Jerry Richert Memorial with the Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprint Series. He timed in ninth quickest and won a heat race to advance into a dash. Johnson gained a position to place third, lining him up on the outside of the third row in the A Main.

“I was running fifth on a restart with two to go when we ran out of fuel,” he said. “We came to the green and it started cutting out pretty bad. I coasted to the finish. It was good to have speed all night and be in contention, but it was a frustrating result to end the night.”

Johnson was credited with a 16th-place result.

Johnson plans to finish this season driving for Gainey in select 360ci and 410ci winged sprint car events. Next up is an ASCS National Tour race at Clay County Fair Speedway in Spencer, Iowa, this Tuesday followed by a Midwest Sprint Touring Series 410 Sprint Cars show on Saturday at Shelby County Speedway in Harlan, Iowa.

“I feel pretty confident as I have laps at both tracks where we’re racing this week,” he said. “I’m hoping to keep the momentum up with Dennis and the team. We’ve had some good runs and I hope to be contention to at least get some top fives this week.”

QUICK RESULTS –

Sept. 7 – Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wis. – Qualifying: 9; Heat race: 1 (2); Dash: 3 (4); Feature: 16 (6).

Sept. 8 – Eagle Raceway in Eagle, Neb. – Qualifying: 2; Heat race: 4 (6); Feature: 4 (1).

SEASON STATS –

46 races, 1 win, 13 top fives, 28 top 10s, 33 top 15s, 37 top 20s

UP NEXT –

Tuesday at Clay County Fair Speedway in Spencer, Iowa, with the ASCS National Tour and Saturday at Shelby County Speedway in Harlan, Iowa, with the Midwest Sprint Touring Series 410 Sprint Cars

ILP PR