OGILVIE, Minn. — After Friday night’s performance during opening night of Mod Wars at the Ogilvie Raceway, any argument that Jake O’Neil is not the hottest dirt modified racer on the planet is meritless.
After starting fourth in the 35-lap Summit USMTS National Championship fueled by Casey’s main event, the 29-year-old from Tucson, Ariz., tracked down Ryan Gierke by lap 11 and then grabbed the lead for good as they completed lap 12.
Searching for his career-first USMTS victory, Gierke churned the thin cushion around the track’s longest route and jumped out to a sizeable lead to kick off the $5,000-to-win contest.
Lapped traffic became a factor just seven laps into the race and that’s when O’Neil began to close the gap, eventually zipping past Gierke as they raced down the back-stretch in a swarm of back-markers.
Tanner Mullens started eighth and made a late charge, but even a caution with a handful of laps to go was no help as O’Neil pulled away to win by more than three seconds.
Behind O’Neil and Mullens, Rodney Sanders nipped Gierke on the final lap to steal the third spot while Lucas Schott raced his way into the final position inside the top five.
It was O’Neil’s third straight win and fifth overall during the 2021 campaign, bringing his winnings to $40,000 in just those five events.
The finish:
Jake O’Neil, Tanner Mullens, Rodney Sanders, Ryan Gierke, Lucas Schott, Dustin Sorensen, Dereck Ramirez, Jason Hughes, Tyler Wolff, Shane Sabraski, Dan Ebert, Landon Atkinson, Dave Cain, Jeremy Nelson, Terry Phillips, Jacob Bleess, Zack VanderBeek, Tyler Davis, Alex Williamson, Brandon Givens, Taton Hansen, Carlos Jr. Ahumada, Denis Czech, Clayton Wagamon, J.T. Johnson, Jody Bellefeuille, Brandon Dolman