WHEATLAND, Mo. — For the 14th time in his Lucas Oil MLRA career, Tony Jackson Jr. topped the field at the Lucas Oil Speedway on Saturday night, capturing the win in the 8th Annual Ron Jenkins Memorial.
For the second night in a row, Jackson dominated the field early on winning back-to-back heat races along with DirtonDirt.com Fast Time Awards. This time around his overall fast lap of 15.302 netted him a $750 bonus in honor of the late Ron Jenkins, the builder of the original Wheatland Raceway.
One night ago, mechanical issues prevented Jackson from taking the green from the pole position, but on Saturday night the Capital Chassis driver was determined not to be denied. As the field took the green on the 40 lapper however, it was leading Sunoco Race Fuel Rookie driver Kolby Vandenbergh taking control of the main event.
Vandenbergh stretched the advantage early, but by lap ten Jackson was back on attack of the race leader as they raced side-by-side. Jackson would finally drive by for the lead as they crossed the stripe on lap 12, and just moments before the nights first of three cautions slowed the pace as 3rd running Billy Moyer Jr. slowed off the exit of turn two.
Jackson brought the field back to the green, and this time it was Logan Martin making the moves to slide into the runner up position with Mason Oberkramer working his way inside of the top three.
Lap 20 would spell disaster for Vandenbergh as he slowed at the top of turn three and forced officials to throw the second yellow flag of the night. The leading series rookie would rebound to finish in 12th, snagging rookie of the race honors.
The night’s final caution came out with just 13 laps to go for Brennon Willard, and would give Oberkramer one final shot at over taking Jackson for the victory on the restart. Jackson tip toed the fine line along the top side of the speedway and was able to hold on in the closing laps for a win by 1.535 seconds over Oberkramer. Jacksons third MLRA win of the season in his last five starts netted him a total payday of $8,500 thanks to a $1,500 winners bonus from Mary Jenkins.
Logan Martin recorded his best MLRA run of 2022 finishing in third, while Midwest Sheet Metal point leader Chad Simpson finished in fourth. Payton Looney rounded out the top five. Blair Nothdurft collected another $750 Ron Jenkins Memorial Bonus via his 13 position advancement to finish as the nights hard charger in the eighth position.
Jackson got his redemption from his disappointments the night prior at Lakeside Speedway, commenting in Cedar Creek Beef Jerky Victory Lane in saying, “We had a good race car last night and just couldn’t capitalize, and we had another good one tonight.”
Jackson’s dual with Oberkramer provided for a one-two Capital finish. “It’s always good to have one of your buddies behind you,” exclaimed Jackson. “Mason had come from a long way back so I was nervous also, and I knew he had a good car. I was a lot more comfortable there when I was leading, just rolling around the middle but I had to go back up there and do some more work in one and two.”
“I’m gonna count this as a win for us,” noted Oberkramer of his runner up finish. “Ever since we got this car from Marshall we just haven’t been able to hit it here. It’s like Lucas has been my nemesis and it used to be one of my favorite tracks and I was really good here. To finally land a good podium finish and be back up front where we belong feels reassuring.”
Martin ran in the runner-up position for eight laps, before settling for third in the end. “It was a solid effort by all of our guys. A lot of hard work goes into this, so to bring home a top three finish is always a good thing. I thought we had a good shot at it going there, when I found the top in one and two before Jackson did,” continued Martin. I was able to catch him but hind sights twenty-twenty, maybe I should have tried a slide down there in three and four, but you don’t want to make contact or anything like that.”
The final leg of the MLRA’s triple header weekend will take place on Sunday night September 4th, at the Randolph County Raceway in Moberly, Mo. The 2nd annual Weiner Nationals will mark the re-opening of the half-mile facility, which has sat idle thus far in 2022. There will be No entry fee for the event for late models, which will pay out $10,000 to the victor.
The Finish:
Feature (40 Laps): 1. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[1]; 2. 93-Mason Oberkramer[6]; 3. 36M-Logan Martin[5]; 4. 25-Chad Simpson[13]; 5. 15L-Payton Looney[10]; 6. 2S-Stormy Scott[17]; 7. 49-Justin Wells[3]; 8. 76-Blair Nothdurft[21]; 9. 62-Justin Zeitner[15]; 10. 7-Cole Wells[22]; 11. 7B-Mark Burgtorf[11]; 12. 15V-Kolby Vandenbergh[2]; 13. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[14]; 14. 10-Jacob Magee[19]; 15. 50-Kaeden Cornell[24]; 16. 0K-Dewayne Kiefer[9]; 17. 51-Larry Ferris[7]; 18. 78S-Steve Stultz[23]; 19. 96-Dalton Imhoff[12]; 20. (DNF) 1X-Aaron Marrant[20]; 21. (DNF) 2-Tyler Stevens[8]; 22. (DNF) 3-Brennon Willard[16]; 23. (DNF) 21-Billy Moyer Jr[4]; 24. (DNF) 29D-Spencer Diercks[18]