An explosive night of money and memories were made Saturday during the finale of the inaugural Ed Gressel Memorial at the 81 Speedway featuring the Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt.
Before the start of the main event, racers lined up in their traditional four-wide salute to the fans but this night was extra special as the front row of cars was filled by Brandon Givens, Scott Green, Tanner Mullens and Jake O’Neil—all of whom have sat in the driver’s seat of a Gressel Racing USMTS Modified.
Dereck Ramirez bested Will Krup to take control of the feature race on the opening lap. Meanwhile, fourth-starting Jake Timm lost nearly 20 spots with an opening-lap miscue that saw him scoot through the infield, but found his way back into the top 10 by lap 10.
Ramirez and Krup raced side-by-side on laps five and six before Ramirez reached the back of field by lap 11 and began to distance himself from Krup as he navigated lapped traffic flawlessly.
Lap 24 saw Jason Hughes, running third, break just before the race’s midway point which resulted in the first caution of the contest. On the restart, Ramirez took the field back to green with Krup, 13th-starting Terry Phillips, Dan Ebert, Tom Berry Jr., Timm, O’Neil, Jacob Bleess, Gary Christian and Rodney Sanders filling the first 10 positions.
Phillips got by Krup on the restart while Berry followed T.P. into third the next time around. The next time around, Phillips screamed around the top and wrestled the lead away from Ramirez.
A second caution on lap 28 opened the door for O’Neil as he restarted fourth but became the new leader two laps later and proceeded to make his chasers get smaller and smaller in his rearview mirror (if USMTS allowed mirrors).
While O’Neil raced away, Timm continued his rebound with a pass of Ramirez for fifth with a dozen laps remaining. On lap 39, Darron Fuqua tagged the wall and then stopped to force the third yellow flag. Meanwhile, Phillips broke something under his Bloodline Race Cars machine and retired from the race under caution.
Back under green, O’Neil left the field in his wake. Timm passed Krup for second at the white flag and then narrowly lost the race for the runner-up paycheck to Berry at the checkered flag.
“Most people don’t know but (Ed Gressel) gave me my first chance out racing the tour and I really owe it to him and Cinde for being here. Honestly, if it wasn’t for them I probably wouldn’t be out here right now,” O’Neil revealed in his victory lane speech. “I would have never got that start to get going and I really got to thank them for everything they did for me.”
In picking up his first win of the year, O’Neil came alive midway through the race after tumbling as far back as 12th at one point. With 24 laps in the books he was 10th but seven laps later he was leading the main event.
“We’ve been down in the dumps lately because the car’s been so terrible–either the car is or I am, one or the other—but we talked to Jimmy (Owens) right before the feature and he pretty much said ‘You’re screwed’ but try this. We threw some crazy stuff at it just to try to do something and I was so tight at the beginning and so terrible I just gassed on it I don’t know what to tell you, I just I did everything I could,” O’Neil said. “I think the starts definitely helped me.
“I had way too much gear and I’d carry about 400 mph going into the corner and I couldn’t slow down so I just used that to my advantage.
“I couldn’t believe it, honestly. I was I was back there… I don’t know I felt like 150th or 10th but I was just fighting and digging everywhere I could to gain ground on somebody and then Jake Timm going out over here, then he passed me. I was like ‘Man, this ain’t good but I just entered wide open and I found a line that actually stuck,” O’Neil continued.
I slowed down a bunch (in turn 1) and quit blowing the tires off and that seemed to help. That’s kind of when I noticed I got Dereck there and I felt a little bit of grip and as long as I kept my car straight I was OK.”
In the end, O’Neil was OK to the tune of $10,000 as the 31-year-old from Tucson, Ariz., notched his 29th career USMTS victory and third at the 81 Speedway while taking over the series points lead to boot.
While O’Neil, Berry and Timm shared the podium, Krup was a solid fourth with 14th-starting Rodney Sanders completing the top five.
Feature Finish (50 Laps)
1. (8) 0 Jake O’Neil, Tucson, Ariz., 50, $10,000, 2. (10) 11X Tom Berry Jr. (R), Des Moines, Iowa, 50, $5,000, 3. (3) 49 Jake Timm, Winona, Minn., 50, $3,000., 4. (2) K9 Will Krup (R), Mt. Carmel, Ill., 50, $2,000., 5. (14) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas, 50, $1,700., 6. (16) 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa, 50, $2,600., 7. (25) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark., 50, $1,300., 8. (4) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn., 50, $1,000., 9. (18) 4 Jeremy Nelson (R), Alexandria, Minn., 50, $900., 10. (11) 58X Gary Christian (R), Broken Bow, Okla., 50, $850., 11. (32) 15W Kale Westover, Altus, Okla., 50, $800., 12. (7) 21 Jacob Bleess, Chatfield, Minn., 50, $775., 13. (19) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa, 50, $750., 14. (22) 10B Brandon Givens, Wichita, Kan., 50, $740., 15. (6) 38T Dylan Thornton, Orcutt, Calif., 50, $735., 16. (15) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas, 50, $730., 17. (29) 65 Tyler Davis, Haysville, Kan., 50, $725., 18. (1) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla., 50, $720., 19. (12) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan., 50, $5,815., 20. (23) 24C Jim Chisholm, Osage, Iowa, 50, $710., 21. (31) 96 Taton Hansen (R), Spicer, Minn., 50, $705., 22. (26) 45 Chase Holland (R), Success, Miss., 50, $700., 23. (13) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo., 38, $700., 24. (20) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan., 38, $700., 25. (17) 44T Tanner Black (R), Otis, Kan., 32, $700., 26. (24) 01 Jacob Hobscheidt (R), Plattsmouth, Neb., 28, $700., 27. (21) 25C Cody Thompson (R), Sioux City, Iowa, 27, $700., 28. (9) 127 Paden Phillips, Chanute, Kan., 25, $700., 29. (5) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla., 24, $700., 30. (30) 55 Chris Kratzer, Lyons, Kan., 23, $700., 31. (28) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa, 22, $700., 32. (27) 91 Joe Duvall, Claremore, Okla., 18, $700.