ROCK RAPIDS, Iowa — Jake O’Neil kicked off the Memorial Day Weekend with the Summit USMTS National Championship fueled by Casey’s by scoring a dominant victory at Rapid Speedway during the 13th Annual USMTS Rapid Rumble presented by Real Racing Wheels.
O’Neil said had no idea how big his lead was, but his competition and everybody watching the race knew he was in a class all by himself.
“I don’t know, man, I just was getting nervous and thought I kept seeing a nose below me every once in a while and I just I kept pushing harder and harder,” O’Neil said in victory lane after taking the checkered flag more than two seconds ahead of defending race winner Rodney Sanders.
Following an opening-lap caution when polesitter Trevor Anderson got turned around in the first turn, O’Neil assumed the point and proceeded to open a lead of nearly 10 seconds before the race’s second and final yellow flag waved with just seven laps to go.
The evaporated advantage offered no help to O’Neil’s pursuers as he rolled to his first USMTS victory of the 2021 campaign and a $10,000 paycheck.
“I tell you what, we accidentally found something and after the heat race… it turned out to make the car bad ass. I don’t know what else to say. The car was awesome and just I could run about anywhere I needed,” O’Neil added. I kind of struggled with lapped cars and I thought I was really starting to get kind of impatient and making mistakes and I just had to grab me handful of fuel over here and just hope for the best.”
With his 11th career USMTS triumph, O’Neil became yet another first-time winner at the 3/8-mile dirt oval located at the Lyons County Fairgrounds in Rock Rapids, Iowa.
Only Sanders has multiple wins but finished in the runner-up position Friday and came up short of notching his fourth win here.
Lucas Schott wound up third with Dan Ebert and 10th-starting Johnny Scott rounding out the top five.
Grant Junghans USMTS Rookie of the Year contender Will Krup turned in his best performance of the season with a sixth-place effort while Tyler Wolff advanced from 19th to seventh and earned the FK Rod Ends Hard Charger Award.
Terry Phillips held off Jason Hughes for eighth after a tussle between the two veterans. Behind them, Jesse Glenz recorded his first top-10 finish of the year.
The finish:
Jake O’Neil, Rodney Sanders, Lucas Schott, Dan Ebert, Johnny Scott, Will Krup, Tyler Wolff, Terry Phillips, Jason Hughes, Jesse Glenz, Tanner Mullens, Dereck Ramirez, Dustin Sorensen, Jacob Bleess, Landon Atkinson, Tyler Davis, Zack VanderBeek, Brooks Strength, Trevor Anderson, Lucas Lee, Jayson Good, Carlos Ahumada Jr., Chris Clark, Cory Mahder, Darron Fuqua, Lance Mari, Nathan Hagar.