WHEATLAND, Mo. — Patience and persistence paid off Saturday night for Jake Timm at the 10th annual Summit USRA Nationals.
Timm of Winona, Minn., took command with 10 laps remaining and went on to claim the USRA Modified feature at Lucas Oil Speedway.
Timm, who started eighth, stalked Brandon Davis from the second position for 12 laps before making the winning pass on lap 40 of the 50-lap main event. He pulled away from there, sticking tight to the low groove, to capture the $4,000 victory.
Timm, a 26-year-old avid fan of the Minnesota Vikings, said staying calm and deliberate was a key from the drop of the green.
“I really had to be patient there at the beginning of the race,” Timm said. “I didn’t really feel like we were all that great, to be honest. I kind of started slowing down more and more to stay on the bottom. I went slower to go faster, I guess.
“Fortunately we had a few yellows there and that helped us out. But thanks to everybody that makes this possible for me.”
Timm was the fourth and final leader of the 50-lapper, which concluded the marathon week of racing that saw in excess of 240 cars in five divisions.
Kevin Stoa took the lead on lap two after Tyler Davis paced the opening lap. Davis reclaimed the top spot on lap seven as Stoa slipped to third behind Brandon Davis.
Brandon Davis captured the lead on the lap nine restart. He soon had a 1.6-second lead by lap 15 over Tyler Davis with Brandon Givens third and Terry Phillips moving into fourth and Timm fifth.
As the race reached lap 30, Brandon Davis continued to hold the lead over Timm with Tyler Davis and Phillips following. Caution came out on lap 31 with Davis’ margin at 1.3 seconds over Timm, who started eighth.
On the restart, Phillips was caught up in a multi-car incident in turn two and damage to his car ended his chances.
Timm dropped to the low groove on the next restart, pulling alongside Brandon Davis on the back stretch but was unable to make the pass. Those two opened a four-second gap over third-place Tyler Davis by lap 40 and that’s when Timm’s persistence finally paid off.
Timm edged into the lead coming out of turn four and he gradually pulled away from there. He kept hugging the extreme low line and went on to win by 2.8 seconds over Brandon Davis.
Gabe Hodges finished third with Tyler Davis fourth and and Rodney Sanders fifth.
Other USRA Nationals winners on the final of five nights of racing were Mitchell Franklin (B-Mods), Josh Cain (Stock Cars), Chris Hovden (Hobby Stocks) and Randy Martin (Tuners).
Feature Finish (50 Laps)
1. 49-Jake Timm[8]; 2. 50III-Brandon Davis[4]; 3. 7G-Gabe Hodges[12]; 4. 65-Tyler Davis[1]; 5. 20-Rodney Sanders[7]; 6. 83-Kylie Kath[10]; 7. 4W-Tyler Wolff[2]; 8. 10B-Brandon Givens[3]; 9. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr[6]; 10. 3B-Nic Bidinger[19]; 11. 777-Al Hejna[17]; 12. 21C-Chad Clancy[14]; 13. 98-Jeff Cutshaw[21]; 14. 98S-Kevin Stoa[5]; 15. 1X-Dillon McCowan[11]; 16. 97-Cole Anderson[18]; 17. 66-Tyler Worley[23]; 18. 9-Kenton Allen[32]; 19. 88-Sam Osman[31]; 20. 92-Tyler Grooms[29]; 21. 8L-Lyle Sathoff[28]; 22. (DNF) 65D-Dustin Brown[26]; 23. (DNF) 38C-Jason Pursley[15]; 24. (DNF) 127-Paden Phillips[22]; 25. (DNF) 75-Terry Phillips[9]; 26. (DNF) 712-Trevor Hughes[13]; 27. (DNF) 6-Jason Payton[27]; 28. (DNF) 73B-Shad Badder[24]; 29. (DNF) 97J-Houston Johnson[30]; 30. (DNF) 21M-Ryan Middaugh[20]; 31. (DNF) 15W-Alex Williamson[16]; 32. (DNF) 21N-Ben Nading[25]