DEGRAFF, Ohio – Kyle Jones triumphed during the 75-lap second round of the Ohio 300 at Shady Bowl Speedway on Saturday night.
For Jones the race started strong as he came from sixth into the top five until a lap 17 restart saw him and Ryan Fleming get together, sending Jones spinning into the inside turn two concrete barrier. Jones came to his crew’s attention and he returned to the tail of the field. From there he worked his way forward and turned on the jets during last handful of laps to secure the victory.
Ironically, Fleming would follow Jones to the checkers in second with Jimmy Lewis Jr. third, Bud Perry fourth and Don Mahaffey Jr. fifth.
“We had a pretty good run at the beginning, actually making my way from sixth to second,” said Jones. “But, then on that restart I was trying to get down and me and Ryan Fleming got together I spun and hit the inside wall in turn two. It was enough to scrub the nose up, so came to the pits and they taped everything back together. So, I went back down there jumped on the tail and slowly worked my way up.”
Kenny George would lead the first 17 markers from his outside front row starting position when he and Jake Hinton got together while racing for the top spot and both spun.
Bud Perry would take command for the next several laps as the field marched on putting down the laps. By lap 60 Perry was under direst from Brandon Oakley, who was turning up the heat.
As those two battled, Jones moved by Mahaffey into second. At lap 62 everything changed when Perry and Oakley both spun on the frontstretch. Oakley would retire from the event as Perry would go to the tail. Jones, now in charge at the front, would execute the restart flawlessly as he held a charging Fleming off and sailed under the checkered flag, now winner of the first two Ohio 300 legs with two left to go in August and September.
“I was a little surprised, with the front end messed up I thought the car would be tighter than it was, but the car was good,” noted Jones. “We will run the next two stops, but first will be the Dayton 100 at Kil Kare the end of this month with the JEGS/CRA series. Other than that I really don’t have a whole lot planned. My son races quarter midgets, so that kind of takes priority first. I will take these races anyway I can get them, I would rather be lucky than good any day of the week.”