JACKSONVILLE, Ill. — Jacob Denney would prove tough enough to tame the bullring of Jacksonville Speedway to earn his second career feature win with the POWRi National Midget League in the second night of the 11th Annual POWRi Illinois SPEEDWeek presented by Start2Finish TV after leading 26 of the 30-lap feature.
Early on-track excitement with 23 talented entries in the POWRi National Midgets would find Denney start the action off with quick-time in hot laps of 12.161-second lap as Gavin Miller, Cannon McIntosh and Karter Sarff would notch the heat racing wins.
Starting the feature field would find the high-point qualifier Thomas Meseraull and Mike Hess, lead the field as the green flag flew with Meseraull gaining the initial advantage with Miller, Denney, McDermand and Sarff rounding out the opening laps top five.
Overshooting the cushion in turn four while leading on lap four would find Meseraull going into defensive driving with Miller overtaking for the prized position on the field with Denney shooting into second as McDermand filed into third with a recovering Meseraull and McIntosh battling closely for fourth and fifth positions.
Flying into the lead on the following lap would find Denney use the high side to drive past the low-running Miller with precision on the tricky track as McDermand flew into a podium placement dash with Meseraull, Kale Drake and McIntosh.
Holding steady for the remaining 26 revolutions with thrilling action aplenty would find Denney clinching his first feature win of the season over a quickly gaining and eighth-starting Drake, who finished runner-up for the second straight night, as Meseraull showed plenty of speed in his racing return in a solid third-place finish.
“It’s been over a year since our last National Midget win so this feels great to win with so much talent in this field,” said Denney in the Jacksonville Speedway winners circle.
“That choose cone can either help or hurt, I was able to get past a few guys under yellow by using the choice to my advantage and after that I knew we had a shot and it was time to go on a technical track.”
Feature Finish (30 Laps)
1. 25-Jacob Denney[5]; 2. 97K-Kale Drake[8]; 3. 7X-Thomas Meseraull[1]; 4. 17-Chase McDermand[6]; 5. 71K-Cannon McIntosh[7]; 6. 21K-Karter Sarff[4]; 7. 97-Gavin Miller[3]; 8. 3N-Jake Neuman[22]; 9. 91-Zach Daum[13]; 10. 56-Mitchell Davis[12]; 11. 7Z-Zoe Pearce[15]; 12. 43-Gunnar Setser[16]; 13. 16C-David Camfield Jr[17]; 14. 66-Jayden Clay[19]; 15. 06-Kevin Newton[9]; 16. 92-Mike Hess[2]; 17. 95-Chris Andrews[10]; 18. 10C-Dalton Camfield[14]; 19. 7-Shannon McQueen[20]; 20. 17C-Devin Camfield[18]; 21. 83-Will Armitage[21]; 22. 26-Corbin Rueschenberg[11]; 23. 14S-Tyler Edwards[23].