ELDON, Mo. — Chad Simpson stayed true to the low line on Saturday night at Lake Ozark Speedway and made the right moves late in the going to capture the final night of the third annual Battle At The Beach at the Lake Ozark Speedway.
Jake Timm started off the night to perfection by locking up the fast time award and followed that up with a convincing heat race win. Timm, still in search of his first career MLRA victory, took the lead at the drop of the green from fellow front row starter and series point leader Chad Simpson.
Timm used a low line approach around turns one and two on the third-mile facility while he was fully committed to running the extreme top side on the opposite end of the speedway. Timm and Chad Simpson would put on a great dual for the top spot lap after lap off the exit of turn four, with Timm continuing to show the way each time by for the first twenty laps.
Seven cautions slowed the pace of the 40-lap race include a multiple-car incident at the halfway point involving Tony Jackson Jr., Trevor Gundaker, and Justin Duty, which kept the leaders from having to navigate lapped traffic.
A number of cautions plagued the next handful of laps with Timm continuing to lead the way over Chad Simpson.
On the events 27th lap, Simpson exited turn four and looked to clear Timm and take away his top line. The duo made contact, with Simpson driving away with the lead while Timm dropped back to fourth just as the nights next caution waved and slowed the pace of the event.
On the restart Chris Simpson would get his first opportunity of the night to chase down his brother along with Garrett Alberson who made his way to the top three for the first time on the night.
The night’s final caution waved on lap 30 as Payton Looney lost a driveshaft and came to a stop. Chad Simpson would go on to capture the $7,000 top prize.
The win allowed Simpson to extend his point lead over brother Chris Simpson who finished in second with Alberson in third. Tyler Stevens finished in fourth, his second consecutive top five, while Timm claimed the fifth spot.
“We come out tonight with something a little different,” noted Chad Simpson of his winning Longhorn Chassis. “We knew we weren’t good enough last night, so we come up with something a little bit different. We called Eric (Wells) and talked to him a little bit today and he kind of pointed us in the right direction to go and it was definitely a lot better.”
The finish:
Feature (40 laps): 1. 25-Chad Simpson[2]; 2. 32S-Chris Simpson[4]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson[8]; 4. 2-Tyler Stevens[14]; 5. 49T-Jake Timm[1]; 6. 1ST-Justin Reed[5]; 7. 14B-Morgan Bagley[11]; 8. 8-Dillon McCowan[6]; 9. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[18]; 10. 45-Cole Wells[9]; 11. 36-Logan Martin[13]; 12. 14G-Trevor Gundaker[20]; 13. 15-Justin Duty[10]; 14. 7D-Dusty Leonard[21]; 15. 11H-Jeff Herzog[19]; 16. 22H-Dustin Hodges[12]; 17. 78S-Steve Stultz[22]; 18. 19-Jamie Burford[15]; 19. (DNF) 15L-Payton Looney[3]; 20. (DNF) 93-Mason Oberkramer[17]; 21. (DNF) 29D-Spencer Diercks[7]; 22. (DNF) 3W-Brennon Willard[24]; 23. (DNF) 42-Johnathan Huston[23]; 24. (DNF) 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[16]