SPRING VALLEY, Minn. — Jake O’Neil saved his best for last Saturday night at the Deer Creek Speedway and took home his second straight Featherlite Fall Jamboree.
For his ninth victory of the season in Summit USMTS National Championship fueled by Casey’s competition, the 29-year-old from Tucson, Ariz., earned $10,500 and his 19th career USMTS triumph.
He’s now won five of the last seven USMTS contests at Deer Creek.
“Yeah, we’ve had a pretty decent car all weekend but this is crazy,” O’Neil said. “I didn’t expect this. We were in that B-Main and I was like ‘Man, when was the last time somebody won from a B-Main?’ so I thought we were screwed but you know we just threw some Hail Mary stuff out there.”
Starting 15th on the grid for the three-wide start of the 50-lapper, O’Neil had his work cut out for him with nothing but heavy-hitters in front of him and points leader Dereck Ramirez one spot ahead in the 14th starting slot.
Brooks Strength led the opening lap and proceeded to churn the cushion and set the pace for the field over the course of the first 17 laps after overcoming a flurry of slide-jobs with polesitter Tyler Wolff.
Seeking his third win in as many nights, Jake Timm was able to inch ahead of Strength to lead lap 18 as those two teamed up with Dustin Sorensen for a multi-lap three-car battle that had the fans holding their collective breath.
After taking the Tralo Challenge prior to the start of the race, Sorensen opted to start in the ninth position. That earned him $500 but a victory would be worth an additional $10,000 bonus on top of the posted $10,000 top prize.
The highly-motivated Sorensen came out on top of the three-way tussle for the top spot and took control of the race as the 19th lap clicked off.
Meanwhile, O’Neil was uncharacteristically creeping around the bottom of the Deer Creek Speedway and gaining ground on the leader, eventually stealing the lead away from Sorensen on the 33rd of 50 laps.
“We got too loose and I knew I wasn’t any good out there in that dirty stuff,” O’Neil revealed. “So I was like well I’ll just go to the bottom and start drag racing and you know we start picking off one or two there.”
A couple of cautions for mid-pack melees kept the action slowed down for three or four laps before the competitors settled in for the final stretch with O’Neil leading Sorensen, Strength, Rodney Sanders and Ramirez.
Ramirez got by Sorensen with 10 laps to go and set his sights on O’Neil, but O’Neil’s smooth line around the track’s shortest route was enough to keep Ramirez at bay and maintain his lead until the checkered flag waved.
“We just to go for the wins. I don’t know about the points — I’m not a mathematician — but you know he (Ramirez) is going to have to do really bad and they don’t do that,” O’Neil added. “I don’t wish that upon nobody. We’re just going to race it out and just try to win as many as we can.”
Ramirez was satisfied with second place and a $5,000 payday.
“I found a line up there just below the cushion and it was pretty good,” Ramirez said. “I thought it was kind of latched up a little bit but I think after all of them restarts everybody started throwing stuff back up there and it got a little crummy. I couldn’t get back to him but it’s good to come out of here with a second.”
Sorensen settled for third at the finish line.
“It’s kind of extra frustrating when that much more was on the line and I led for that long,” Sorensen admitted. “I didn’t really need any cautions there but can’t complain about losing to Dereck and Jake. They’re the best out here and that’s why they’re leaving the points, so I guess tomorrow maybe I’ll be happy.”
Following O’Neil and Ramirez to the front, Tanner Mullens wound up fourth, with Strength fifth.
The finish:
Jake O’Neil, Dereck Ramirez, Dustin Sorensen, Tanner Mullens, Brooks Strength, Rodney Sanders, Brandon Davis, Jason Cummins, Lucas Schott, Tyler Wolff, Jacob Bleess, Jason Hughes, Brady Gerdes, Alex Williamson, Ryan Gustin, Brandon Givens, Joe Duvall, Don Gerritsen Jr., Michael Truscott, Curt Myers, Charlie Steinberg, Zack VanderBeek, Darron Fuqua, Jake Timm, Joel Alberts, Landon Atkinson, Dan Ebert, Carlos Ahumada J