Jack Vanderboom turned heads in his first two seasons with the Midwest Sprint Car Association, finishing runner-up in Rookie of the Year standings in 2019, then nearly winning multiple features in 2020 and coming home the bridesmaid more than once. This year, the teenager is looking to improve his consistency and average finish, to make a push for the championship. That quest got off to a good start this past Saturday at Beaver Dam Raceway, and Vanderboom will look to feed off the momentum into this weekend’s events at Gravity Park.
The night began with Vanderboom actually setting a blistering pace in group qualifying, only for everyone’s times to be deleted due to series officials losing group 1’s lap times. Thus, the entire field reverted to their pill draw for their starting positions in the night’s heat races. Vanderboom rolled out 3rd for his 10 lap heat race. After falling to 4th on the initial start behind fellow #TeamMAS driver Will Gerrits, a fierce battle ensued between Jack in his Bluemound Express U2 machine and Gerrits in the 21. After 2nd place running Doug Wondra’s engine expired, Gerrits and Vanderboom were now fighting for 2nd in the closing laps, with Vanderboom eventually yielding to Gerrits on the largely one-lane track, coming home in 3rd. The finish was enough to transfer “Fast Jack” into the night’s 25 lap main event.
Pushing off from the 13th position, Vanderboom immediately found the top side after the first lap, making quick work of Al Schlafer, Josh Tuennissen and Tyler Davis in the early stages of the feature. Settling into the 9th position, Vanderboom began running very consistent laps on the top side of the high banked Beaver Dam Raceway, stalking Justin Miller and Paul Pokorski for more positions. About halfway through the race, they yellow came out for a car spun in turn 4. On the ensuing restart, Vanderboom made slight contact with Gerrits fighting for 7th that sent Vanderboom grazing along the front stretch wall, causing extremely minor damage, but enough issues that the U2’s handling would be affected later in the race.
After the restart chaos that saw Kurt Davis spin in front of the field, taking out Gerrits, Justin Miller, and Jason Johnson, Vanderboom advanced to the 7th position and began closing on Adam Miller and Lance Fassbender for a possible top 5 finish. Unfortunately the laps ran out before Jack could make a decisive move, and the 17 year old was forced to settle for a 7th place run.
“We definitely made a good night out of nothing really.” Vanderboom said. “I didn’t really go anywhere in the heat and that screwed our passing points which set us back for the A Main lineup wise. I moved forward decently in the early laps, but the contact with Will on the restart really affected the car. I could actually see my left front shock was binding and the car was so tight after that, which isn’t super ideal for running the top. By the time I got the handle on it and started catching Adam, it was just too late. We’ll pick up and try again next week at Gravity. It’s such a bullring, and it should produce some awesome racing.”
The MSA circus heads to Gravity Park Speedway in Chilton, WI for their second ever trip to the extremely tight ¼ bullring. Vanderboom fared well there last season, coming home in 7th place. Tickets will be available at the track on Saturday.
You can follow along with Jack’s 2021 season on his Instagram, @fast_jack_u2, and with Midwest AutoSports PR on Facebook at MAS AutoSports, and on Twitter @mas_autosports.
Fast Jack Racing is supported by Bluemound Express Moving and Storage and Midwest AutoSports w/Sage Fruit.
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