WATERTOWN, S.D. — Continuing where he left off before the summer break, Jake O’Neil captured his second straight victory with the Summit USMTS National Championship fueled by Casey’s and fourth of the season Wednesday with a $5,000 triumph at the Casino Speedway.
Twenty-five days after his victory at the 22nd annual Masters, O’Neil didn’t miss a beat in collecting his 14th career USMTS win and narrowing the gap in the standings.
While surpassing Sanders for second, he now sits just three markers behind Ramirez just shy of the halfway point in the campaign.
Dan Ebert beat Tyler Davis to the flagstand after the first of 40 laps and then proceeded to pace the next 14 circuits before O’Neil snuck past on the high side of the high-banked quarter-mile dirt oval.
With plenty of action behind them, O’Neil and Ebert sailed off to settle it between themselves. Ebert pulled even in the corner with three laps to go but O’Neil appeared to discover another gear and drove away over the final pair of laps.
Ebert’s runner-up paycheck was his best of the year while local veteran Scott Ward of Watertown placed third. Ward was the winner of this event in 2007.
With fourth-place finisher Dustin Strand unable to pass post-race technical inspections, Dustin Sorensen moved up to the fourth spot while Davis remained inside the top five the entire distance and cashed a fifth-place check.
The finish:
Jake O’Neil, Dan Ebert, Scott Ward, Dustin Sorensen, Tyler Davis, Rodney Sanders, Zack VanderBeek, Tyler Peterson, Darron Fuqua, Terry Phillips, Lucas Schott, Tyler Wolff, Dereck Ramirez, Landon Atkinson, Jacob Bleess, Jayson Good, Jason Hughes, Brooks Strength, Tony Konold, Tanner Mullens, Curt Myers, Duke Erickson, Mike Stearns, Travis Saurer, Dustin Strand.
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