WHEATLAND, Mo. — Jesse Brooks took command on lap 130 and held off Mike Parker to capture the twice-postponed-by-rain Easter Bowl Enduro 150 on Saturday night at Lucas Oil Speedway.
Brooks, of Batesville, Ark., earned $1,500 for the victory in a race that was dominated by Derek Lampe until his car struggled late. Lampe, who led 111 laps in the 39-car free-for-all, wound up 14th after losing the lead to Brooks with 28 to go.
Brooks has two Enduro wins and five Cruiser victories this season, racing mostly at Batesville Speedway. Patience had to be the name for the game in this marathon as Lampe dominated until finding mechanical misfortune.
“I had to kind of baby it a little, because it started getting hot on me,” Brooks said. “Once it cooled down and we had that red flag (lap 101), it got real cool then and I just took off. The leader had trouble. I probably couldn’t have passed him if he hadn’t pulled off. I don’t know what happened to (Lampe).
“This is my first time here and this track is awesome. It’s the nicest one I’ve ever been to.”
The early portion of the race saw Alex Thomas and Lampe swap the lead back and forth. Lampe opened a 4.1-second lead over Thomas by lap 23. Meanwhile, Brooks had charged from 17th to third, but was 11 seconds behind the leader.
Brooks moved into second on lap 29 with defending race champion Will Tattershall moving to third, with Lampe still cruising at the front with an eight-second gap over Brooks as early leader Thomas fell by the wayside.
Brooks began to cut into the leader’s margin and trailed by just two seconds by lap 38. Lampe’s lead was down to a five car lengths by lap 40, but he kept maintaining the top spot with Brooks just behind. At that point, Lampe began to open up again and was five seconds clear by lap 57 with Tattershall another 22 seconds in back of Brooks.
As the race reached the halfway mark on lap 75, Lampe had a commanding 18-second command – nearly a full lap in front of Brooks with Mike Parker third and Tattershall fourth. Lampe had the entire field lapped by lap 90 and was running 22.5-second laps consistently as the laps clicked past. Meanwhile, Parker got around Brooks on lap 97 for second.
The event’s only stoppage came on lap 101, with Lampe still holding a one-lap lead over Parker and Brooks with 25th-starting Dallas Butchee fourth as the first car two laps down. Twenty-two of the starters were still rolling at the time.
As green-flag action resumed, Brooks took over second and then uncapped himself but still trailed by 15 seconds on lap 105. Lampe’s lead continued to shrink, down to 12.3 seconds by lap 110. Lampe then regained his mojo, running a 21.3-second lap on lap 117 help him lead by 14 seconds.
Then just when Brooks seemed down and out, he rallied and cut his deficit to under 10 seconds in just two laps. Lampe continued to severely fall off the pace and Brooks shot to the lead on lap 122, ending Lampe’s reign of 108 consecutive laps in the lead.
Lampe had an electrical wire come through the dash and it started to catch fire and smoke, so he had to call it a night.
Parker was right behind Brooks as the only two cars on the lead lap with 25 to go. Parker grabbed the lead away on lap 127 with Brooks right on his bumper. Brooks regained the point on lap 130 as drama built for the final 20 circuits.
Brooks pushed his lead to one second by lap 135 and, after Parker cut the margin to .492 with 10 to go, dominated the rest of the way. Brooks prevailed by 1.7 seconds at the checkers.
“The last 20 laps, me and the 19 (Parker) had a pretty steady battle there for a while,” Brooks said. “It was pretty fun. I’m glad to come out on top. I could barely get him coming out of the corners.”
Butchee wound up third with Josh Birmingham coming from 21st to fourth and Darrin Moyers fifth after starting 32nd.
