NEW RICHMOND, Wis. — On the second night of the 23rd annual Masters at the Cedar Lake Speedway, Jake O’Neil raced side-by-side with Tanner Mullens for the better part of Friday night’s 40-lap feature and held on to claim the $5,000 top prize.
It was the sixth win for O’Neil in this year’s Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt and the fifth time Mullens has settled for the runner-up paycheck — four of them following O’Neil to the checkered flag.
O’Neil took the lead when the race started and he battled hard to fend off Terry Phillips for the first dozen laps, leading many of them by a mere bumper over the veteran.
Mullens eventually made his way in front of Phillips using the center of the high-banked three-eighths-mile oval, and then pulled even with O’Neil as they completed the 15th lap. From that moment on, the two were separated by less than a second every time they crossed beneath the flagstand.
Meanwhile, back-and-forth battles throughout the field left spectators wishing for a spare set of eyeballs. While O’Neil and Mullens crossed the stripe next to each other for the last 20 laps, Phillips and Dustin Sorensen mirrored that action in a race for third.
Mullens beat O’Neil to the strip by a nose to lead for the first time on lap 26, but it was the last time as a lapped car briefly slowed his momentum enough to let O’Neil powered back into the lead one lap later.
In the end, O’Neil captured his 26th career win with a half-second advantage over Mullens. It was worth $5,000 to the 30-year-old from Tucson, Ariz.
“It was awesome racing with them guys and I appreciate them giving me room,” O’Neil said. “He (Mullens) he could have taken it a couple times there and I was just holding on for dear life, honestly. I feel like them guys are probably a lot better than I was. I’d rather be lucky than good.”
O’Neil, Mullens and Phillips filled the podium steps while Clayton Wagamon got by Sorensen to earn a fourth-place check.
The finish:
Jake O’Neil, Tanner Mullens, Terry Phillips, Clayton Wagamon, Dustin Sorensen, Darrell Nelson, Zack VanderBeek, Rodney Sanders, Carlos Ahumada Jr., Dan Ebert, Cayden Carter, Shane Sabraski, Tyler Wolff, Jacob Bleess, Jake Timm, Lance Mari, Dereck Ramirez, Shane DeVolder, Tyler Davis, Kyle Brown, Chase Holland, Lucas Schott, Brandon Givens, Colton Horner, Daniel Bargender, Darron Fuqua, Jason Hughes, Dylan Thornton, Dave Cain, Jeremy Nelson.