Jordan Goldesberry and the Rockstar Energy Drink #65 team have been aiming to get back to their winning ways ever since a crash earlier in 2023 derailed their IRA Championship hopes.
It seems after this past Friday at the fearsome Dodge County Fairgrounds, the Springfield, IL based team is one step closer to finding victory lane once again.
The Harry Neitzel Tribute night began with Goldesberry setting a qualifying time good enough for 7th quick overall. After a 2nd place finish in his heat race, Goldesberry drew the 2nd starting spot in Dash #2. Rocketing to the lead on lap 1, Goldesberry never looked back over the 4 lap sprint and earned the outside pole starting spot for the night’s A Main.
“The car felt amazing early in the night, like it was on rails.” Goldesberry said. “I had reserved expectations about the feature just knowing the strong group of cars that were there, but I definitely felt like we had a good shot at a podium or maybe more.”
At the start of the Harry Neitzel Tribute feature, Goldesberry powered around the outside of pole-sitter and current IRA Point Leader Brenham Crouch and took a commanding lead at the front of the field. Utilizing clean air, Goldesberry quickly caught the tail of the field. While working past the #19 of Jett Mann, Goldesberry and Mann made slight contact causing Mann to slow momentarily which brought out the caution flag.
On the ensuing restart, Goldesberry once again shot out to the lead, this time with Scotty Thiel in tow. As the top 4 of Goldesberry, Thiel, Balog and Crouch pulled away from the rest of the field, the 2022 IRA Champion realized he had an issue.
“My throttle spring on the motor had broke, so I was pulling the pedal back up with my foot in order to feather it through the corner.” Goldesberry explained. “It threw off my timing a lot and I blew through the cushion a few times. I knew at that point Scotty [Thiel] would be right behind me as we got into traffic.”
Thiel was indeed right behind the Rockstar Energy Drink #65 and made his move through turns 3 and 4, but slid himself into turn 1 allowing Goldesberry to gain momentum on the #73 down the backstretch. Goldesberry threw a massive slide job at Thiel but the Sheboygan native was just too quick on the top side. The loss of momentum for Goldesberry allowed Balog and Crouch to close in and just like that the #65 had gone from 1st to 4th with just 2 laps remaining. Goldesberry attempted to come back at the top 3 but just ran out of laps and crossed the line to finish 4th.
“It’s definitely frustrating to lose one like that, but we have to be happy with the speed we had.” Goldesberry admitted. “We’re so close to getting back to winning these things, we just need a couple things to fall our way.”
The Rockstar Energy Drink #65 also competed at the Plymouth Dirt Track for their annual Fair Night show with the IRA Sprints. The team fell behind in qualifying but still brought home a solid 13th place finish against another strong field of 30 cars.
“Plymouth was tough with the changing track conditions in qualifying.” Goldesberry said. “Once you bury yourself in qualifying, it’s so hard to come back later in the night with how strong the IRA is now and how equal all the cars are. We’ve got another double-header weekend coming up and we’re excited to get back to the front!”
The Rockstar Energy Drink #65 has another two race weekend on tap, with the IRA’s return to the Northern Nationals at the Gondik Law Speedway in Superior, WI on Friday September 8th and the annual Jerry Richert Memorial at Cedar Lake Speedway on Saturday, September 9th. Both northern Wisconsin events will be broadcast live on FloRacing.
Jordan Goldesberry Racing thanks their 2023 partners for their support this season!
Rockstar Energy Drink
Modern Paving and Scrap
Rhine Auto-Plymouth, WI
FK Rod Ends
Wix Filters
Keizer Wheels
King Racing Products
Schure Built Suspensions
Collision Concepts
HRP-Hepfner Racing Products
Capital City Powder Coating
Box3 Media
FULL RESULTS: 9/1 w/IRA Sprints at Dodge County Fairgrounds
23 cars
Qualifying: 7th
Heat: S/2nd, F/2nd
Dash: S/2nd, F/1st
Feature: S/2nd, F/4th
9/2 w/IRA Sprints at Plymouth Dirt Track
30 cars
Qualifying: 13th
Heat: S/5th, F/5th
Feature: S/13th, F/13th
NEXT RACE: 9/8 w/IRA Sprints at Gondik Law Speedway
SEASON STATS
Races: 28
Feature Starts: 25
Top 10’s: 15
Top 5’s: 7
Feature Wins: 4
Dash/Re-Draw Appearances: 13
IRA POINT STANDINGS
1st-Brenham Crouch-3147
2nd-Jordan Goldesberry-2854
3rd-Travis Arenz-2812
4th-Russel Borland-2702
5th-Scotty Neitzel-2594
HW Designs Photo
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