Robbo’s Extreme Derby presents the Jason Bradburn Memorial Demolition Derby at the Logan County Fairground

 

[September 05, 2023] 

Saturday evening a very large turnout of vehicles made for a demolition derby at the Logan County Fairgrounds that lasted right at five hours.

As many fans will know, the Logan County Fair Demolition Derby that was to be held the last Sunday of the fair was postponed due to the condition of the track area after heavy rains had passed through the area the day of and the day prior to the derby.

Fair organizers had made the call to not hold the demo derby, but at the same time suggested to Robbo’s Extreme Derby that instead of cancelling all together, the event could be re-scheduled. This week, the announcer for Robb’s thanked the fair board for the suggestion of re-scheduling. He noted that the board had been very supportive of the notion of bringing the derby back at a later date and had contributed to the purse money that would be given out to the winners at this event.

The evening began with a driver meeting at the trailer that served as the stage area in front of the grandstand. Then there was a call for the National Anthem. The announcer asked if there was anyone in the audience who would want to sing the song down on the track. A roar came up from the crowd when Justin VanCleve volunteered.

VanCleve came down to the inside of the track and performed a dynamic rendition of the Anthem with occasional help from the crowd.

Immediately following the anthem, the Power Wheels class was called. This is an event for children who drove the Power Wheels motorized toy vehicles they had brought for the event. There were approximately 20 children who took to the track for a five-minute session of bumping and banging.

At the end of the timed session, all the Power Wheels lined up for a race. The winner of the race was Keagan VanCleve, who left the competition eating his dust as he forced toward the finish line well ahead of all the other competitors.

After the Power Wheels were pulled off the track, there was another special event before moving on to the engine operated vehicles.

Alaina Bradburn drove her dad, Jason’s car into the center of the track as it was announced that the evening would be dedicated in memory of the late Jason Blackburn who passed away in June of this year.

The event would be named the Jason Bradburn Memorial Demolition Derby in his honor. As the announcer spoke, he invited the audience to observe a moment of silence for Jason’s family in memory of their loved one.

He encouraged fellow drivers to come to the car and lay their hand on the vehicle as a prayer was said.

Youth Bonestock Compacts

The first class out on the track was the youth bonestock compacts. These were vehicles driven by youth too young to compete in the regular derby events. Each young driver had to be accompanied in the car by an adult who would serve as a navigator and advisor to the green drivers, many of whom were entering the derby for the first time.

The event was well populated with about 20 vehicles on the track. This was the longest feature of the night as understandably; it took the youngsters a little more time to traverse the track and work up the courage to make the hard hits that are required to put fellow drivers out of commission.

The shining star of the night was not the heat winner but did take home the bragging rights of being the “Maddog driver” of the class. That distinction went to McKynzi Thompson in the 726 who drove hard and hit hard all through her stint.

Open Wire Compacts

There were only three cars in the Open Wire Compact class. The event was short and not very intense from the viewer’s standpoint. But nonetheless two cars came out as the battlebots of the event.

In the end, Josh Gill was declared the winner with Tyler VanCleve taking second.

Bone Stock Compacts

In total, there were 48 cars entered in the Bone Stock Compact class. The track area was not large enough for that many cars so the group was broken into two heats of 24 cars each.

Even then, the track was crowded and there was a lot of difficulty in navigating end to end as the number of disabled vehicles grew in heat one and heat two both.

In heat one there was a point with there was a clear wall between a group of three cars on the south end of the track and a group of four on the north end. After some pushing and plowing the way was cleared for the moving vehicles to get to a point where all were in the hunt for the win.

One of the most exciting events of the first heat was the roll of the 95m car. After sustaining a side hit from a competitor, the car rolled onto its side on the inside edge of the track.

The City of Lincoln Fire Department and the Lincoln Rural Fire Protection District were both on hand at the event and were very fast to get to the car and get it rolled back on its side. The driver came out of the car unscathed to the applause of the audience.

In the first heat, the end came down to three vehicles that were the “Nine” group of J9, 9A, and 9z driven by three who were related including the Miller brothers Brandon and Zac.

In the end, it was Brandon who took the first place and brother Zac the second.

Heat two of the Bonestock Compacts did not bring on the same excitement as the first heat, though there were plenty of crashes and lots of steam and smoke throughout the event. Again the disabled cars were almost a bigger challenge than the moving competition.

Open Wire Minivans

The Open Wire Minivans was another small class with not a lot of excitement as a handful of vehicles crashed and banged until one by one all but one was dead on the track.

Open Wire Full Size

The Open Wire Full Size class featured driver Alaina Bradburn driving her dad Jason’s 111 car. Much like her dad, Alain drives to win, with a lot of speed and a ton of confidence. There were only seven cars in the field, and a few of them were put out of commission pretty early in the match.

There was one incident that brought the crowd to its feet. Though hard to see who was involved and what the income was, a hard hit to one car on the south end of the track brought out the Logan County Paramedics, the Lincoln Fire Departments, and the Logan County Sheriff’s deputies. Based on the cheers from the crowd that was hanging over the fencing of the grandstand and blocking the view, the person who was potentially injured came out of the car awake but was hustled into the LCPA ambulance to be checked out. The ambulance did leave the grounds, but there was no report as to who was inside or what the injuries might have been.

The rest of the event was a wild one, with the announcer often warning spectators to stay away from the fences and other track barriers because these were fast, powerful cars that were in it for the win all holds barred.

In the end it was the high speed, the hard hits and the tough Bradburn built car that brought Alaina to the finish as the winner of the heat as well as the Maddog trophy that dwarfed the heat first place trophy by a few feet.

In all, it was a great night of derby action and well worth the time invested in watching such a large event. The derby boasted nice sized purses for the winners and a large number of trophies were handed out as well.

[Nila Smith]