Jake O’Neil turned his luck around, turned his season around and took a second Ed Gressel Memorial trophy back to Tucson, Ariz., after leading all 40 laps of Saturday’s finale for the Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt at the 81 Speedway.
Now the two-time defending event champion and winner of four of the last eight USMTS feature races at the 3/8-mile clay oval in Park City, Kan., O’Neil held off challenges by Dereck Ramirez and points leader Jake Timm in the last ten laps to garner the $10,000 winner’s share of the prize money.
“It’s been trying times—not just this year but last year too,” O’Neil said. “We’ve been digging hard. We’ve had good cars. We’ve just been shy on luck, sometimes shy on skill and shy on speed. Everybody’s gotten faster and it’s just hard to do.”
The last of four Gorsuch Performance Cautions happened with just three laps to go. A miscue by O’Neil on the restart almost opened the door for Timm to pounce, but the 32-year-old driver of the No. 0 LG Race Car sponsored by Red Eye Radiator held on for the win.
“These guys are fast and you can’t make any mistakes. I about gave it away there,” he added.
Timm held off New Mexico’s Mark Smith for second-place money and Rodney Sanders—who boasts a series best six career wins here—clawed his way from 21st on the starting grid to fourth at the finish line, picking up the FK Rod Ends Hard Charger Award.
In his last hurrah, Ramirez would up fifth with Jim Chisholm, Cayden Carter, Jason Hughes, Lance Mari and Tyler Davis completing the top ten.
The Gressel Racing “Brass Balls” Award took the accumulated points from each driver’s heat race passing points and total points, A-Main points (including lap leader bonus points), and three points per car passed in the A-Main from the original starting spot each night.
O’Neil wound up the winner, scoring the most points over two nights and taking home a one-of-a-kind trophy plus $5,000 cash on top of his $10,000 for winning the main event.
Joe Wright—a former crew member for Gressel Racing—put up $1,000 for long-distance travelers with $250 to the farthest from each direction. The winners were Dan Ebert (north), Chad Melton (south), Steve Lavasseur (east) and Nathan Smith (west). Mark Smith was awarded the overall MVT Long Tow Award.
Ogilvie’s Mod Wars awaits: The Ogilvie Raceway in Ogilvie, Minn., will host the 4th Annual Mod Wars featuring USMTS vs. Wissota Modifieds on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, July 11-13. The main events will pay $3,000 to win Thursday and $5,000 to win Friday with a $11,000 top prize for Saturday’s champion.
An open practice open to all classes is scheduled for Wednesday, July 10, from 6-9 p.m. at ‘The Big O.’
The Ogilvie Raceway is a high-banked 3/8-mile clay oval located less than one hour north of the twin cities on Hwy. 23, or 5 miles west of Hwy. 65, or 11 miles east from Hwy.169 in Milaca, or 1 mile east of Hwy. 47 to 1539 MN-23, Ogilvie, MN 56358.
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