6/4/2021
RacinBoys
Tony Jackon Jr. Tops Lucas Oil MLRA Field at Maquoketa
By Billy Rock (Maquoketa, IA) - Tony Jackson Jr. extended his Lucas Oil MLRA point lead on Thursday night in claiming his second series win of the season at the Maquoketa speedway. Jackson had to fight back after losing the lead early in the going to secureketa, IA0-- the $3,000 victory.
In qualifying action Jake Timm scored his first career Illini Racing Supply Fast Time Award with a quick lap of 13.851 seconds. Heat race victories went to Tony Jackson Jr. and Jeremiah Hurst.
PHOTO CREDIT: Mike Ruefer
Jackson rolled from the DirtonDirt.com pole with Hurst alongside on the front row for the thirty lap event. At the drop of the green Jackson jumped to the point but the advantage was short lived, as Hurst powered to the front using the high line in his Roberts Motorsports entry #41 on lap two. Hurst would hold the advantage, and began to stretch out the lead in search of his first career Lucas Oil MLRA victory.
As the field passed the mid-point of the race, Jackson used lapped traffic and a fast XR1 Rocket Chassis to chase down Hurst on the low line to re-take the top spot with just eleven laps remaining. The race would go without a single StopTech Brakes caution flag, as Jackson powered on for the win by a margin of 3.196 seconds.
Chris Simpson used a very fine line on the top side of the speedway to score runner-up honors late in the going from his sixth starting position. Simpson’s late move to by-pass Hurst for the second spot also earned him the Swift Springs Move of the Race. Hurst, the defending MLRA series champion held onto third while Garrett Alberson and Chad Simpson rounded out the top five at the line.
Following the victory Jackson commented in Cedar Creek Beef Jerky Victory Lane, “I told them (crew) before I got in that I hate starting from the pole because you’re a sitting duck. It was probably a blessing that he (Hurst) got out in front of me because it just kind of showed me the pace he was going to set and it gave me something to go off of.”
With drivers selecting differ tire options for the feature event Jackson continued, “I think he might have had a different tire on his right rear than me and he took off better than I did, but once we got going we were pretty good,” he concluded.
Although Simpson came up one spot shy of being able to repeat his Maquoketa win from a year ago the Oxford, Iowa driver was pleased with his teams performance to start off the weekend swing. “This is a win for us,” stated Simpson. “We have been struggling and my guys are actually up at MARS building a brand new car to race tomorrow night and Saturday night and then to go to Eldora with. This was definitely a confidence booster and I hate it they’re not here because they are a big part of what I do.”
“This is an up and down sport and you’re down a lot more than your up, so to come out of here with a second and knowing that we had a car capable of winning, we’ll take it,"
Hurst had his best run of 2021 and commented, “I was really trying to win in front of this hometown crew. I lost right rear grip and those guys were pretty good there, and the lapped cars kind of got me out of my rhythm there a bit. We will take it, this is a top three and I have been struggling.”
Friday/Saturday Preview: The Mississippi Thunder Speedway will play host to the 13th annual RiverCity Rumble on Friday night June, 4th with $10,000 going home to the winner. This will mark the MLRA’s first ever visit to the big 1/3 mile facility located in Fountain City, WI. Action will move north as the weekend wraps up on Saturday night June, 5th when the MLRA returns to Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, MN for a $5,000 to win main event.
Podium Finishers--Tony Jackson Jr. (left) claimed the $3,000 MLRA win while Chris Simpson (center) was second, followed by Jeremiah Hurst (right) in third. Photo Credit--Mike Ruefer Photo
Maquoketa Speedway Contingencies 6/3/21
Lap Leaders— T. Jackson Jr. (1), J. Hurst (2 - 18), T. Jackson Jr. (19-30)
Stop Tech Brakes Cautions— None
Casey’s “Hard Charger of the Race” – Jeremy Conaway(+6)
DirtonDirt.com “Pole Award” – Tony Jackson Jr.
Dynamic Drivelines Crew Chief of the Race – Tony Allen
Gorsuch Performance Solutions “10th Place Finisher” – Joel Callahan
Hooker Harness "11th Place Finisher"— Jeremy Conaway
Midwest Sheet Metal "Points Leader Spoiler Challenge" – Tony Jackson Jr.
Performance Bodies "Performer of the Race"-- Tony Jackson Jr.
Racing Junk “Hard Luck Award” – Justin Duty
StopTech Brakes “6th Place Finisher”- Mitch McGrath
Sunoco “Rookie of the Race” – Jake Timm
Swift Springs “Move of the Race”— Tony Jackson Jr.
Wrisco Feature Winner- Chris Simpson
?A Feature 1 30 Laps | 00:11:30.845 | Lucas Oil Products
- 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[1]; 2. 32S-Chris Simpson[6]; 3. 41-Jeremiah Hurst[2]; 4. 59-Garrett Alberson[8]; 5. 25-Chad Simpson[5]; 6. 74-Mitch McGrath[4]; 7. 1P-Earl Pearson Jr[3]; 8. 49T-Jake Timm[7]; 9. 91P-Jason Papich[9]; 10. 40C-Joel Callahan[10]; 11. F15-Jeremy Conaway[17]; 12. 51F-Matt Furman[12]; 13. 93-Mason Oberkramer[11]; 14. 17-Tim Simpson[16]; 15. 3W-Brennon Willard[13]; 16. (DNF) T22-Tegan Evans[14]; 17. (DNF) 15-Justin Duty[15]
Heat 1 10 Laps | 00:03:37.768 | Dynamic Drivelines
- 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[4]; 2. 1P-Earl Pearson Jr[3]; 3. 25-Chad Simpson[6]; 4. 49T-Jake Timm[1]; 5. 91P-Jason Papich[2]; 6. 93-Mason Oberkramer[5]; 7. 3W-Brennon Willard[7]; 8. (DNF) 15-Justin Duty[8]; 9. (DNS) F15-Jeremy Conaway
Heat 2 10 Laps | 00:10:41.957 | Midwest Sheet Metal
- 41-Jeremiah Hurst[2]; 2. 74-Mitch McGrath[4]; 3. 32S-Chris Simpson[1]; 4. 59-Garrett Alberson[6]; 5. 40C-Joel Callahan[3]; 6. 51F-Matt Furman[5]; 7. (DNF) T22-Tegan Evans[8]; 8. (DNF) 17-Tim Simpson[7]
Qualifying 1 | 00:09:19.210 | Illini Racing Supply
- 49T-Jake Timm, 00:13.851[1]; 2. 32S-Chris Simpson, 00:13.885[6]; 3. 91P-Jason Papich, 00:13.996[17]; 4. 41-Jeremiah Hurst, 00:14.038[11]; 5. 1P-Earl Pearson Jr, 00:14.061[4]; 6. 40C-Joel Callahan, 00:14.076[10]; 7. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr, 00:14.094[8]; 8. 74-Mitch McGrath, 00:14.101[7]; 9. 93-Mason Oberkramer, 00:14.137[14]; 10. 51F-Matt Furman, 00:14.219[5]; 11. 25-Chad Simpson, 00:14.307[9]; 12. 59-Garrett Alberson, 00:14.496[16]; 13. 3W-Brennon Willard, 00:14.523[13]; 14. 17-Tim Simpson, 00:15.040[15]; 15. 15-Justin Duty, 00:22.702[3]; 16. T22-Tegan Evans[2]; 17. F15-Jeremy Conaway[12]
For all of the latest news and information fans are encouraged to visit the series website:
Submitted By: Kirk Elliott
