Jake Finch Flashes to Spring Explosion 100 Victory at Montgomery

The Jake Finch-Ronnie Sanders Racing partnership remained unstoppable on Saturday night, winning the Spring Explosion 100 at Montgomery Motor Speedway.

Last week, Finch won the Allen Turner Pro Late Model Series opener at Five Flags Speedway in the famed Ronnie Sanders No. 18. Back in March, he won the Alabama 200 at Montgomery to kick off this year's Show Me the Money Series.

Finch also took the checkered flag in the Baby Rattler at South Alabama Speedway and a Pro Late Model feature at Cordele Motor Speedway during the month of March.

Finch set fast time in practice and qualifying on Saturday and led every circuit of the Spring Explosion 100-lap feature, continuing his dominant run to start the year.

"It's just a testament to everybody at Ronnie Sanders Racing," said Finch in victory lane. "Obviously, I have a really good race car and I just did my job. I'm super excited. Five straight is a pretty cool feat. Hopefully, we'll continue to do the stuff that we've been doing. We've got Mobile next weekend, so we'll see how it goes."

While it's been a remarkable start to the year, Finch is remaining humble and focused on moving forward, not taking any of the success for granted.

"It's been good so far, but we've got a few months left. Just try to keep one foot forward every day and just go one day at a time."

Stephen Chunn finished second, driving from sixth to second in the first half of the race. While he did not have enough speed to chase down Finch, the strong showing gave Chunn plenty of reason to celebrate.

After taking some time away from racing, Chunn has returned recently with a renewed spirit and speed to boot.

"I'm so blessed to be able to come out here and drive this thing," said Chunn "We missed it a little bit. We've still got to find something for the 18, but we're getting there, and I'm happy with it. I'll take it.

"I think the first thing was I took a break from racing. I reset myself, reset my mind and came at it with a different attitude. I ant to give a shout out to Lenny at DLP. We went and talked to him, and he taught us a bunch, and it helped a lot, and it showed. I think those two put together, we kind of just are starting to click away."

Presley Johnson rounded out the podium, giving him a pair of top five finishes to start the year at Montgomery Motor Speedway. Johnson has shown a vast improvement in the past year and now finds himself in the hunt for the Show Me the Money Series title after two races.

"I don't really know what to say," Johnson said. "We struggled last year, I sort of got in over my head, I'll admit it. I was just a Pro Truck, Saturday Night guy, a Huntsville Speedway guy. I didn't really have any business doing this. My buddy Mark, he got me hooked up with the Hilltop Ranch people in Missouri, the Massengill family. They asked me what I wanted to do, I wanted to go Pro Late Model racing. Six months later, Tony, Jr. called and said, I've got your car ready, so here we are.

"We struggled all last year. We're finally heading in the right direction. We are tickled to death. Gotta be a few better, we were fourth at the 200 and third tonight."

Bowen Mayhew finished fourth, with John Wilkinson rebounding from an early spin to finish fifth.

The Show Me the Money Series returns to action on June 6 for the Disturbing the Peace 100. Outlaws, Late Model Sportsmen and Street Stocks will also be part of the June 6 racing program at Montgomery.

-Photo credit: Montgomery Motor Speedway

Spring Explosion 100 Unofficial Results