FOUNTAIN CITY, Wis. — For the second consecutive night Tony Jackson Jr. dominated the competition and cruised to his biggest career Lucas Oil MLRA victory to date.Â
The 2013 MLRA champion has been so close to knocking off a series crown jewel event in recent years and was finally able to seal the deal on Friday night, cashing in on the $10,000 win in the 13th annual RiverCity Rumble at Mississippi Thunder Speedway.
The MLRA’s first stop at the third-mile facility showcased 28 of the Midwest best Late Model drivers.
Jimmy Mars captured the nights Illini Racing & Supply Fast Time Award with a time of 13.733 seconds and started on the outside front row alongside of pole sitter Tony Jackson Jr. Jackson assumed the lead at the drop of the green flag and laid claim to the lower line on the speedway with third starting Mason Oberkramer moving into the second spot.
The 50-lap main event got off to a good start, until the first of four StopTech Brakescautions waved on lap twenty-one when tenth running Chad Mader spun in turn two. The field would struggle to gain rhythm after that with another immediate caution coming out when Earl Pearson Jr. slowed on the speedway with a flat tire, retiring his Lucas Oil Products Black Diamond chassis from the feature event.
With Jackson still showing the way on the restart, the pace would again slow on lap twenty-six as Chad Simpson brought his ride to a stop on the speedway. As the field navigated past the mid-point of the feature event a number of new faces began to contend for the win including the likes of Mars, and A.J. Diemel who restarted second and third.
With Jackson again working lapped traffic, the night’s final caution would wave with just eleven laps remaining when lady luck struck second place running Jimmy Mars. The veteran driver drifted up the track and came to a stop off the exit of turn four while trying to chase down the race leader using a high line approach.
The final 11 laps went caution free with Jackson cruising to his third MLRA win of the season and second win in as many nights.
Jackson’s margin of victory in his Cornett powered XR-1 Rocket chassis was 1.076 seconds over Jeremiah Hurst who grabbed his second consecutive podium finish on the weekend.
Diemel scored his highest career MLRA finish in third, while Jake Timm charged from his 23rd starting spot to fourth at the line. Mason Oberkramer rounded out the top five.
The finish:
Feature (50 laps): 1. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[1]; 2. 41-Jeremiah Hurst[5]; 3. 58D-AJ Diemel[7]; 4. 49T-Jake Timm[23]; 5. 93-Mason Oberkramer[3]; 6. 74-Mitch McGrath[8]; 7. 32S-Chris Simpson[16]; 8. 90-Lance Matthees[17]; 9. 15-Justin Duty[22]; 10. 91P-Jason Papich[14]; 11. 77Y-Jordan Yaggy[15]; 12. 59-Garrett Alberson[4]; 13. 51F-Matt Furman[11]; 14. 76-Blair Nothdurft[21]; 15. (DNF) 28M-Jimmy Mars[2]; 16. (DNF) 55C-Chad Mahder[9]; 17. (DNF) 10S-Taylor Scheffler[20]; 18. (DNF) 28S-Sam Mars[19]; 19. (DNF) 3W-Brennon Willard[13]; 20. (DNF) 25-Chad Simpson[6]; 21. (DNF) 1P-Earl Pearson Jr[10]; 22. (DNF) 98-Jason Rauen[12]; 23. (DNF) 24-Brad Waits[18]; 24. (DNF) F15-Jeremy Conaway[24]