10/11/2020
RacinBoys
Moyer Jr. captures MLRA Fall Nationals while Jackson Jr. takes Lucas Oil Speedway B-Mod Clash of Champions III
By Lyndal Scranton (Wheatland, MO) -- Billy Moyer Jr. turned a back-and-forth battle into a runaway, capturing the 7th annual Lucas Oil MLRA Fall Nationals on Saturday night at Lucas Oil Speedway.
In the other main event on the program, Tony Jackson Jr. outran his cousin Kris Jackson to win the B-Mod Clash of Champions III Presented by RacinDirt.com.
PHOTO CREDIT: Lloyd Collins/Fast Track Photos
The double-dose of action capped the oval-track season at Lucas Oil Speedway.
Moyer Jr., of Batesville, Arkansas, took home the $5,000 Lucas Oil MLRA prize with his first victory of the season. The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series regular beat runner-up Jason Papich, who charged from 20th at the start to second. Jeremiah Hurst was third and took over the series points lead.
"It's nice to finally win, man. We haven't won in a long, long time," Moyer Jr. said. "It gets real tiring to go up and down the road. To finally get into victory lane, it's nice for my guys. This is a phenomenal facility. Hopefully we put on a good show for the fans."
Moyer Jr. and Mason Oberkramer started on the front row and Moyer got the early jump, opening a two-second advantage by lap 10. But Oberkramer began to reel him in and took over the lead with a pass in turn three on lap 16, as the two sliced through lapped traffic.
The race's first caution, on lap 18, bunhed the field and following Oberkramer and Moyer on the restart were Hurst, Chad Simpson and Garrett Alberson.
Oberkramer and Moyer Jr. again broke away from the rest over the next few laps and traded the lead three times, with Moyer working the inside to go in front on lap 24, Oberkramer using the outside groove to take it back one lap later and Moyer again wrestling it away again on lap 27.
"We had a real good Capital Race Car," Moyer said. "(Oberkramer) ran me real clean. It was a heck of a race between us. Hopefully all the fans appreciated it."
At that point Ryan Gustin, the winner of Friday's feature, slowed on the front stretch to bring out the race's second caution. Hurst was running third with Alberson fourth and Billy Moyer Sr. in fifth.
It was all Moyer Jr. from there, as the race remained caution free over the final 23 laps. The 32-year-old pulled away and won by 5.7 seconds over Papich, who moved into second with three laps to go. Hurst wound up third with Moyer Sr. fourth and Alberson finishing fifth.
Oberkramer faded over the final few laps to finish sixth.
Moyer said his spotters did a good job of showing him the glow sticks, lap after lap to relay the margin of his lead. Realizing he had a comfortable margin made it easier to conserve his right rear tire.
"I couldn't figure out how to get off turn four," Moyer said. "If the sticks didn't close up any, I kind of felt like going into the middle high and turning down and being very patient on the throttle was the trick, I guess."
Papich, of Nipomo, California, was ecstatic with his charge through the field.
"Obviously the race track was racy and we have a good piece here," Papich said. "We qualified fourth overall and were light on the scale, didn't have enough fuel in it. We made a mistake. That's racing. We made up for it I guess."
Hurst's third-place finish was enough to vault him into the Lucas Oil MLRA points lead. Also the Sunoco Rookie of the Year leader, Hurst is eight points in front of Payton Looney for the series crown.
Looney started 11th and wound up 12th. Chad Simpson finished one position behind Looney and is 30 behind Hurst in the championship battle.
"We're clicking along here pretty good," Hurst said. "I just hope the rest of the season finishes out the way it's going. I can't thank all my guys. They bust their butt. I can't ask for a better crew."
The MLRA Series has three events remaining - Oct. 16-17 at Tri-City Speedway and Oct. 18 at Randolph County Raceway.
B-Mod Clash of Champions III: The Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mod Clash of Champions III Presented by RacinDirt.com went to Jackson - but not the Jackson many might have picked.
Tony Jackson Jr., who earlier finished 10th in the MLRA Late Model feature, made the most of a rare appearance behind the wheel of a B-Mod. Jackson rallied from his 10th starting position, took over the lead on lap 27 and beat Kris Jackson - the defending Clash of Champions winner - by 2.8 seconds. Both Jackson are from Lebanon, Missouri.
Dillon McCowan of Urbana charged from 13th at the start to finish third. Like the top two, McCowan was driving a Rage chassis.
"It's a lot of fun," Jackson Jr. said, holding an oversized check for $3,000 and a championship belt. "Kris does all the stuff to these cars. I don't touch this thing. It just shows you what kind of work he puts in. This thing drove itself."
A trio of current or past USRA B-Mod national champions set sail from the start with JC Morton leading Kris Jackson and Andy Bryant through the first four laps. Bryant got past Jackson and into second on lap four.
Morton opened a 1.3-second led when Jerry Ellis' spin on lap 14 brought out the first caution.
Before a lap could be completed after the restart, Bryant and fourth-running Mike Striegel spun in turn four to bring out another yellow and send those two contenders to the back of the pack.
Two ensuing attempts to restart were foiled, first by a single-car spin, then a multi-car pileup among cars running outside the top 10.
Once the race had a prolonged green-flag run, Morton opened up a commanding 2.9-second lead by lap 26 over Tony Jackson Jr. with Kris Jackson third and Dillon McCowan in fourth.
But that lead was wiped away when Wesley Briggs spun to bring out the event's fifth caution.
Heartbreak struck Morton after the restart as he slowed suddenly, smoke pouring from the motor, in turn two on the lap 27.
Jackson Jr. inherited the lead and held on from there with Kris Jackson second, Dillon McCowan third and Bryant, rallying from his early spin and another near spinout that set him back several positions, winding up fourth.
"Like I tell everybody - Late Models, B Mods, A Mods - everybody in the Midwest here, they're good race-car drivers," Jackson Jr. said. "We travel all over and the best is right here."
Kris Jackson, who's battling for a repeat USRA B-Mod national championship, said he was probably fortunate to finish as high as he did.
"He was much better than us in the center of the turn," Kris said of Tony. "He could get his traction coming off a little better than we could. We're pretty luck to be in second really. We kind of missed it tonight. We just weren't very good tonight.
"Second is pretty stellar with this field of cars. We'll take it. Congratulations to Tony."
McCowan, the 16-year-old up-and-comer, said he was happy with his improvement of 10 positions from his startong spot.
"It was a heck of a charge. The guys, they had the car on point for me," McCowan said. "There at the end me and Kris had a great battle. Congrats to Tony. It was a good track tonight."
Randy Zimmerman, like Bryant from Fort Scott, Kansas, wound up fifth.
LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY UNOFFICIAL RESULTS (October 10, 2020)
MLRA Fall Nationals Presented by Lucas Oil
A-Feature - 1. 21JR-Billy Moyer Jr[2]; 2. 91P-Jason Papich[20]; 3. 58-Jeremiah Hurst[3]; 4. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[5]; 5. 59-Garrett Alberson[10]; 6. 93-Mason Oberkramer[1]; 7. 86B-Kyle Beard[15]; 8. 43G-Jeremy Grady[7]; 9. 14J-Jake Neal[17]; 10. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[8]; 11. 19-Ryan Gustin[13]; 12. 15L-Payton Looney[11]; 13. 25-Chad Simpson[4]; 14. 1X-Aaron Marrant[9]; 15. 15-Justin Duty[14]; 16. 91T-Tony Toste[6]; 17. 21F-Johnny Fennewald[21]; 18. 5-Austin Vincent[16]; 19. (DNF) 62Z-Justin Zeitner[12]; 20. (DNF) 6N-NIck Whitehead[19]; 21. (DNF) 29B-Blonde Bomber Mitchell[22]; 22. (DNF) 99M-Cliff Morrow[24]; 23. (DNF) 13-Joey Smith[18]; 24. (DNF) 3X-Skip Frey[23]; 25. (DNF) F15-Jeremy Conaway[25]
Heat 1 - 1. 93-Mason Oberkramer[2]; 2. 25-Chad Simpson[4]; 3. 43G-Jeremy Grady[5]; 4. 59-Garrett Alberson[1]; 5. 19-Ryan Gustin[3]; 6. 5-Austin Vincent[7]; 7. 6N-NIck Whitehead[6]; 8. 29B-Blonde Bomber Mitchell[8]; 9. (DNF) F15-Jeremy Conaway[9]
Heat 2 - 1. 21JR-Billy Moyer Jr[3]; 2. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[1]; 3. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[6]; 4. 15L-Payton Looney[4]; 5. 15-Justin Duty[5]; 6. 14J-Jake Neal[2]; 7. 91P-Jason Papich[9]; 8. 3X-Skip Frey[7]; 9. 99M-Cliff Morrow[8]
Heat 3 - 1. 58-Jeremiah Hurst[1]; 2. 91T-Tony Toste[5]; 3. 1X-Aaron Marrant[2]; 4. 62Z-Justin Zeitner[3]; 5. 86B-Kyle Beard[4]; 6. 13-Joey Smith[7]; 7. 21F-Johnny Fennewald[6]; 8. (DNS) 49T-Jake Timm
Qualifying - 1. 59-Garrett Alberson, 00:14.752[3]; 2. 21-Billy Moyer Sr, 00:14.938[8]; 3. 58-Jeremiah Hurst, 00:14.979[16]; 4. 93-Mason Oberkramer, 00:14.991[24]; 5. 14J-Jake Neal, 00:14.995[14]; 6. 1X-Aaron Marrant, 00:15.001[15]; 7. 19-Ryan Gustin, 00:15.036[5]; 8. 21JR-Billy Moyer Jr, 00:15.049[17]; 9. 62Z-Justin Zeitner, 00:15.066[26]; 10. 25-Chad Simpson, 00:15.123[7]; 11. 15L-Payton Looney, 00:15.159[25]; 12. 86B-Kyle Beard, 00:15.165[21]; 13. 43G-Jeremy Grady, 00:15.183[4]; 14. 15-Justin Duty, 00:15.247[2]; 15. 91T-Tony Toste, 00:15.278[9]; 16. 6N-NIck Whitehead, 00:15.294[13]; 17. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr, 00:15.361[11]; 18. 21F-Johnny Fennewald, 00:15.370[19]; 19. 5-Austin Vincent, 00:15.505[1]; 20. 3X-Skip Frey, 00:15.703[10]; 21. 13-Joey Smith, 00:15.742[23]; 22. 29B-Blonde Bomber Mitchell, 00:15.981[18]; 23. 99M-Cliff Morrow, 00:16.029[12]; 24. 49T-Jake Timm, 00:17.838[22]; 25. (DNS) F15-Jeremy Conaway, 00:14.984; 26. (DQ) 91P-Jason Papich, 00:14.984[20]
B-Mod Clash of Champions III Presented by RacinDirt
A-Feature - 1. 56-Tony Jackson Jr[10]; 2. 65-Kris Jackson[1]; 3. 8D-Dillon McCowan[13]; 4. 28-Andy Bryant[4]; 5. 28ZEE-Randy Zimmerman[8]; 6. 7B-Terry Schultz[22]; 7. 7J-Jake Richards[9]; 8. 56H-Brandon Hare[12]; 9. 10P-Dayton Pursley[5]; 10. 32E-Robbe Ewing[14]; 11. 3W-BJ Deal[6]; 12. 54-Shawn Whitman[18]; 13. 29-Chris Spalding[16]; 14. 181-Luke Nieman[15]; 15. 83-Scott Campbell[24]; 16. 36K-Jayden Larson[19]; 17. 98K-Kenton Allen[21]; 18. 58M-Wesley Briggs[25]; 19. (DNF) 18-JC Morton[2]; 20. (DNF) 16M-Brian Myers[20]; 21. (DNF) 24-Jerry Ellis[11]; 22. (DNF) 510-Cody King[23]; 23. (DNF) 17X-Mike Striegel[3]; 24. (DNF) 17J-Jeremy Chambers[7]; 25. (DNF) 95X-Shaun Walski[17]
B-Feature - 1. 95X-Shaun Walski[12]; 2. 54-Shawn Whitman[1]; 3. 36K-Jayden Larson[2]; 4. 16M-Brian Myers[3]; 5. 98K-Kenton Allen[8]; 6. 7B-Terry Schultz[11]; 7. 510-Cody King[9]; 8. 83-Scott Campbell[4]; 9. 69ER-Tyler Cadwallader[13]; 10. 17T-Shadren Turner[14]; 11. 14T-Quentin Taylor[16]; 12. 24D-Donnie Fellers[10]; 13. 34-Donnie Aust[6]; 14. 134-Robert Heydenreich[7]; 15. (DNF) 46-Brantlee Gotschall[5]; 16. (DNF) 1BB-Matthew Kay[15]
C-Feature - 1. 7B-Terry Schultz[1]; 2. 95X-Shaun Walski[8]; 3. 69ER-Tyler Cadwallader[6]; 4. 17T-Shadren Turner[4]; 5. 1BB-Matthew Kay[2]; 6. 14T-Quentin Taylor[12]; 7. 58M-Jamie Mauk[3]; 8. 32-Taylor Skauge[9]; 9. 96-Cody Brill[13]; 10. 2-Hagen Stevenson[11]; 11. 11S-Scotty Bough[15]; 12. 47-Tyson Lanfermann[10]; 13. 22T-Tyler Tesch[5]; 14. 53H-Tye Hollingsworth[16]; 15. 33S-Dustin Steinbrink[14]; 16. (DNS) 42-Jerry Morgan
D-Feature - 1. 2-Hagen Stevenson[7]; 2. 14T-Quentin Taylor[5]; 3. 96-Cody Brill[12]; 4. 33S-Dustin Steinbrink[2]; 5. 11S-Scotty Bough[13]; 6. 53H-Tye Hollingsworth[16]; 7. 16-Paul Lanfermann[11]; 8. 8J-James Gates[1]; 9. 17R-Rylee Fuller[10]; 10. 122-Doug Scism[8]; 11. (DNF) 57J-John Fellers[14]; 12. (DNF) 42C-Casey Thomas[3]; 13. (DNF) 97-Damien Vandenberg[15]; 14. (DNF) 28B-Wesley Briggs[6]; 15. (DNF) 1*-Jason Pike[9]; 16. (DNS) 13-Cody Nivens
E-Feature - 1. 16-Paul Lanfermann[1]; 2. 96-Cody Brill[4]; 3. 11S-Scotty Bough[11]; 4. 57J-John Fellers[3]; 5. 97-Damien Vandenberg[2]; 6. 53H-Tye Hollingsworth[5]; 7. (DNF) 56W-Troy Whitt[9]; 8. (DNF) 21T-Trevor Tesch[6]; 9. (DNF) 3A-Aaron Speck[8]; 10. (DNF) 15-Nick Drew[7]; 11. (DNF) 13C-Sawyer Crigler[14]; 12. (DNS) 66-Ryan Gillmore; 13. (DNS) 20-Jeremy Lahey; 14. (DNS) 05-Jeremy Lile; 15. (DNS) 57-Tim Powell; 16. (DNS) 65T-Terry Taylor; 17. (DNS) 12-Eric Turner
Monster Trucks next: The O'Reilly Auto Parts Monster Trucks-Eve of Destruction is the final event of the season at Lucas Oil Speedway, coming up on October 24. Wear your favorite Halloween costume and come trick or treat with all the show performers at the Pit Party on the track. Gates open at 4 p.m. with the Pit Party from 5-6:30 and Showtime at 7.
For ticket questions or information for any event at Lucas Oil Speedway, contact Admissions Director Nichole McMillan at (417) 282-5984 or email her at nichole@lucasoilspeedway.com for more information.
Submitted By: Kirk Elliott
