Greenwood, NE (April 13, 2021) – While the temperatures may have been a bit on the chilly side for mid-April at the I-80 Speedway, the action at the first annual “Tuesday Tickler” made up for it with some hot action on the track. Proving to be the hottest of the night was Lebanon, Missouri’s Tony Jackson, Jr. who came away with the $5,000 win in a caution free 35 lap main event.
Arroyo Grande California’s Jason Papich Grabbed the Illini Racing Supply Fast time of the night with his 16.592 second lap followed by scoring victory in his respective heat race. Papich would roll from the DirtonDirt.com Pole alongside of Mason Oberkramer. Oberkramer use an aggressive move on the start to follow Papich into turn one on the bottom and make quick work in turn three in taking the top spot and leading the first four circuits.
Third starting Billy Moyer Sr. played it smooth early on, and found his way past Oberkramer to lead the fifth time by the stripe. It appeared that Moyer was going to pull away from the field in the early going stretching out a near 2 second advantage only to see if slowly fade nearing the midpoint of the race. Jackson Jr. who started in the fourth position battled for a good portion of the early going with Papich and Oberkramer before finally finding his way into the runner up position nearing lap ten.
Jackson Jr. used the lapped traffic to slowly real in Moyer Sr. setting up a battle between the duo. Jackson Jr. was able to roll his Rocket XR1 along the low line in turn three and four to catch the race leader. After a two lap back and forth battle with Moyer, Jackson Jr. was able to make the move to the top spot on the fifteenth lap of the race.
Jackson was able to pull away in the closing laps and cruised to his first MLRA win at I-80 and 8th all-time with the series. His move to maintain the lead off turn four also earned him the Swift Springs “Move of the Race” in the season opener. “These guys are awesome and this race track is great”, exclaimed Jackson, Jr following the race in Cedar Creek Beef Jerky Victory Lane. “You know when I saw it (I-80 Speedway) come out on the schedule, we were excited to come back here, it’s just always a multi groove race track.”
“We had a real good balance and we were just trying to be real patient. I’ve let some races get away just trying too hard at the start, so I was just trying to bid my time and keep a big enough lead at the end. Any time you race with him (Moyer Sr.) he kind of gauges your speed, so I knew that he had a pretty good pace going. I hope it was a good race for everybody else because it was a fun race inside the car.”
Chase Junghans charged through the field from his eight starting position to find the runner up spot late in the going but was unable to real in the 56 of Jackson. “I wish we could have gotten a caution there with a bout ten to go,” stated Junghans. About half way through there I looked up at the scoreboard and seen there was only about 15-17 laps left and I was like I’ve got to go. Sliding those guys down in one and two kind of hurt my tires. I did it about three laps in a row and after that I would have to maintain for about three laps and then they would take back off. It was a lot better result than we have been having so I think we are going in the right direction.”
Ashton Winger rounded out the MLRA podium, methodically working his way from twelfth to third in the caution free event. Winger’s efforts on the track garnered him the Casey’s Hard Charger of the race for his nine position jump.
Winger who hails from Senoia, Georgia made the best of the long haul commenting of his run, “We weren’t bad, I just started too deep. I think I was good the longer that I went, it just took little bit of getting used to. I get myself in trouble early at a lot of places that we go to but it’s good to have awesome people like I have to fall back on. This is awesome and I am glad to be able to go out and race with different people and series.”
Oberkramer finished his strong night in the fourth spot while Moyer Sr. rounded out the top five.
Racing action slides east to the ¼ mile Stuart International Speedway for another $5,000 to win event on Wednesday night, followed by Thursday nights ¼ mile showdown at the Davenport Speedway in Davenport, IA. The five-night swing will wrap-up on Friday and Saturday with back-to-back main events at the 34 Raceway in West Burlington, IA. Friday nights “Prelude to the Slocum” will pay $5K to win, leading up to Saturday nights $10,555 to win “Slocum 50”.
I-80 Speedway Contingencies 4/13/21
Casey’s “Hard Charger of the Race”-Ashton Winger
DirtonDirt.com “Pole Award” – Jason Papich
Dynamic Drivelines “Crew Chief of the Race” -Casey Mooneyham
Gorsuch Performance Solutions “10th Place Finisher” – Jake Timm
Hooker Harness “11th Place Finisher” – Garrett Alberson
Illini Racing Supply “Fast Time Award- Jason Papich
Midwest Sheet Metal “Points Leader Spoiler Challenge” – Tony Jackson Jr.
Performance Bodies “Performer of the Race” – Tony Jackson Jr.
StopTech Brakes “6th Place Finisher”- Justin Duty
“Rookie of the Race” – Jake Timm
Swift Springs “Move of the Race”- Tony Jackson Jr.
Wrisco Industries Inc. “Most Feature Wins”- Tony Jackson Jr.
Racing Junk Hard Luck: Chris Simpson
Lucas Oil Products A Feature (35 Laps): 1. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[4]; 2. 18-Chase Junghans[8]; 3. 12W-Ashton Winger[12]; 4. 93-Mason Oberkramer[2]; 5. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[3]; 6. 15-Justin Duty[6]; 7. 04-Tad Pospisil[10]; 8. 91P-Jason Papich[1]; 9. 53-Andrew Kosiski[5]; 10. 49T-Jake Timm[7]; 11. 59-Garrett Alberson[15]; 12. 1J-Jake Neal[16]; 13. 25-Chad Simpson[11]; 14. 75-Terry Phillips[13]; 15. 00-Jesse Stovall[17]; 16. 58-Jeremiah Hurst[9]; 17. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[18]; 18. 76-Blair Nothdurft[22]; 19. 91T-Tony Toste[23]; 20. 11R-Justin Reed[19]; 21. 3W-Brennon Willard[24]; 22. 77Y-Jordan Yaggy[20]; 23. 3C-Mike Collins[21]; 24. 14B-Kyle Berck[14]
Hoosier Tire B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1.Jesse Stovall 2.Daniel Hilsabeck 3.Justin Reed 4.Jordan Yaggy 5.Mike Collins 6.Blair Nothdurft 7.Brennon Willard 8.Corey Zeitner 9.Gary Brown Jr. 10.Tyler Smith 11.Reid Millard 12.Chris Simpso 13.Larry Clawson 14.Rodney Sanders 15.Todd Cooney 16.Brian Kosiski 17.Chris Kratzer 18.Tony Toste
Casey’s General Stores Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1.Jason Papich 2.Andrew Kosiski 3.Jeremiah Hurst 4.Terry Phillips 5.Mike Collins 6.Reid Millard 7.Justin Reed 8.Todd Cooney 9.Chris Simpson
Midwest Sheet Metal Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1.Billy Moyer Sr. 2.Jake Timm 3.Chad Simpson 4.Garrett Alberson 5.Corey Zeitner 6.Daniel Hilsabeck 7.Jordan Yaggy 8.Tyler Smith
MyRacePass Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1.Mason Oberkramer 2.Justin Duty 3.Tad Pospisil 4.Kyle Berck 5.Brennon Willard 6.Brian Kosiski 7.Gary Brown Jr. 8.Tony Toste 9.Chris Kratzer
Hooker Harness Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1.Tony Jackson Jr. 2.Chase Junghans 3.Ashton Winger 4.Jake Neal 5.Jesse Stovall 6.Larry Clawson 7.Rodney Sanders 8.Blair Nothdurft