---

Another Great Night of Racing Action Occurred at Wagamon's Ogilvie Raceway as Jake O'Neil Grabs the Win on Night 2 of Mod Wars

By: Tami Jo Kuehn

Ogilvie, MN (July 12) – Night two of the 4th Annual Mod Wars, featuring the USMTS Modifieds taking on the WISSOTA Modifieds kicked off Friday night with 89 drivers signing in to battle. It was a beautiful day for some WISSOTA Dirt Track Race Action, with Jake Smith, Dustin Holtquist and Jake O’Neil taking home hardware.

Jake Smith and Lucas Rodin brought the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds around the Big O for the first feature of the night, and after an early caution, Smith claimed the lead. Rodin charged to Smith’s door, however Smith held the point and pulled away from his competition. Joey Jensen then slid to Rodin’s side, but couldn’t complete the pass and remained in third. Laps cruised by with no change in the top drivers as the yellow flew for a driver spun in turn two. Smith brought the drivers back to green but Jensen and Rodin were on his rear. Rodin took second and chased after Smith as Jensen found himself in Jason VandeKamp’s company. VandeKamp, who started 13th, made his way to fourth and put pressure on Jensen for third with few laps to go. Jensen kept VandeKamp at bay, and as the white waved, Rodin gave one final shot to take the win. The margin of difference was 0.168 seconds, and Jake Smith took the checkers. Lucas Rodin settled for second with Joey Jensen, Jason VandeKamp and Ryan Savoy as top finishers.

The WISSOTA Mod Fours were next on the agenda, and their feature was plagued with cautions as drivers struggled to keep their cars straight. Dustin Holtquist claimed the early lead and continued to remain in charge through the assortment of cautions. Tyler Larson and Luke Erlandson ran in the second and third points a majority of the race until Tommy Bawden made his way through the field. Bawden started 18th on the grid and challenged the leaders in the final laps. Dustin Holtquist led the race in it’s entirety, and took the win with remaining top points going to Tommy Bawden, Tyler Larson, Luke Erlandson and Blake Hawker.

The USMTS and WISSOTA Modifieds rolled on the race surface in side-by-side formation to cap off the night with their 40-lap feature event. Dave Cain and Jeremy Nelson brought the drivers to the stand, and as the green waved, drivers raced door to door for positions. Nelson nosed out the lead with Cain and Jody Bellefeuille as the top three while Jake O’Neil was close behind. O’Neil took third and made his way to Cain’s door. After a short battle, O’Neil secured the point and chased after Nelson. The caution lights flickered on, and drivers were realigned with Nelson and O’Neil on the front row of the double file restart. Jake Timm joined the top two when the green waved, and they entered turn one three-wide. O’Neil exited the curve in first and immediately stretched his lead with Nelson, Cain, Timm and Matt Leer in the top five positions. Another caution reset the field, but there was no change in top drivers as the race resumed. Cars were three and nearly four-wide as they rounded the curves of the raceway with ten laps to go. O’Neil began to catch slower cars as Timm challenged Nelson for second. Timm and Nelson raced nose to nose for the point with a slower car in sight. They went three-wide with traffic as they fought for second until Timm broke away from the battle. Cars covered the entire race surface as leaders worked their way around slower cars, however, Jake O’Neil was unphased by the traffic as he took the checkers and won night two of Mod Wars. Jake Timm, Jeremy Nelson, Jim Chisholm and Zack VanderBeek rounded out the top finishers.

Night two of Mod Wars was in the books, and Night three was next up for the weekend. Racing will resume at 6:30pm on Saturday night, and we’ll see who wins the big payday and final night of the event, a USMTS driver or a WISSOTA Driver.

---

Back to News