WHEATLAND, MO. (Sept. 3, 2022) – The late-season hot streak continues for Tony Jackson Jr., this time with a victory on a track near home.

Jackson took the lead on lap 12 and rolled from there, capturing the 8th annual Lucas Oil MLRA Ron Jenkins Memorial on Saturday night at Lucas Oil Speedway.

The driver from Lebanon earned a total $9,250, including $1,500 in bonus money from Mary Jenkins for the win plus $750 for setting fast qualifying time.

A total of 108 cars, including 33 Late Models, checked into the pits in the annual Labor Day Weekend special which honors the builder of the original Wheatland Raceway, Ron Jenkins.

Other feature winners were Matt Johnson (Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modifieds), Kris Jackson (Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods Presented by the Titan B-Mod Series) and Bryan White (O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars).

The main event saw Jackson take command just past the quarter mark of the 40-lapper. The 2021 MLRA champ went on to capture third third series feature win in the last month in a new Capital Race Car.

Jackson said he was content to stalk the leader early after conferring with Capital owner Marshal Green prior to the action on chassis set-up.

“I knew he was going to be tough,” Jackson said of early leader Kolby Vandenbergh. “He runs really good here. When I went over it with Marshal tonight, that was just how we planned on it. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t.”

Vandenbergh beat Jackson to the lead at the start in a battle of front-row starters and those two sprinted away to set the early pace, with Billy Moyer Jr., running third and Logan Martin fourth.

Jackson dipped to the inside groove by lap seven and pulled alongside Vandenbergh over the next several laps, taking the lead at the start-finish line to complete lap 12.

The race’s first caution flew the next time around when Moyer, running third, slowed to a stop in turn one.

Martin slipped past Vandenbergh on the restart with Oberkramer taking over the third spot. Martin was right behind Jackson as those two opened a one-second lead over Oberkramer by the race’s midpoint of lap 20.

Vandenbergh slowed, then pulled off the track, to bring out a caution at that point and bunch the leaders that included MLRA points leader Chad Simpson in fourth and Payton Looney fifth.

Oberkramer used the restart to navigate around Martin to move into second. Jackson opened up a 1.2-second lead when the race’s third caution for a slowing Brennon Willard wiped out Jackson’s advantage with 13 to go.

“It’s always good to have one of your buddies behind you,” Jackson said of Oberkramer, who also drives a Capital and pits alongside Jackson. “But Mason had come from a long way back, so I was nervous also. I knew he has a good car.

“I was a lot more comfortable there when I was able to roll around the middle, but I had to go back up (to the cushion) and do some work.”

Jackson stretched his lead to 1.6 seconds by lap 35 and was able to get around lapped traffic the rest of the way to earn his third MLRA victory in the last five series events.

Jackson finished 1.53 seconds in front of Oberkramer for his 14th career MLRA feature win. Martin wound up third with Simpson fourth and Looney in fifth.

Oberkramer, from Broseley, Missouri, said he was pleased with the outcome after starting from the sixth position.

“I’m gonna count this as a win for us,” Oberkramer said. “Ever since we got this car from Marshal, we just haven’t been able to hit it here. It’s like Lucas has been my nemesis and it used to be one of my favorite tracks. To finally land a good podium finish and be back up, where we belong, it feels reassuring.”

Jackson began the night in fast fashion, setting the quickest qualifying lap at 15.302 seconds.

Blair Nothdurft drove from 21st to 8th to earn the Hard Charger Award, picking up an extra $750 award courtesy of Mary Jenkins.

The MLRA weekend swing concludes on Sunday night at the Randolph County Raceway in Moberly.

Johnson rolls to USRA Modified victory: Matt Johnson of Archie led all the way, beating two-time reigning track champion Dillon McCowan by 2.6 seconds, for the Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modified feature win.

“I knew that 7 (McCowan) was right there and I didn’t have time to mess around,” said Johnson, who earned $1,000 for his third victory of the season. “Dillon is a lot of fun to race with, as are these other guys.”

Johnson grabbed the early lead from his outside front-row starting position with McCowan moving from fifth to second by lap four. Those two soon pulled away to a 1.5-second gap over third-place Dustin Hodges.

The leaders encountered lapped traffic with Johnson’s lead over McCowan expanding to six car lengths by lap 15 and double that by lap 20.

Johnson remained solid the rest of the way as the action remained caution-free, pulling away to earn the victory.

Titan B-Mod win to Jackson: Lebanon’s Kris Jackson captured his seventh Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mod feature win of the Lucas Oil Speedway season, taking home $1,000 for the Titans B-Mod Series 25-lapper.

Jackson led all the way, but fought off Mitchell Franklin in the early stages before finally opening up a cushion over the final 10 laps. It was his 23rd overall feature win of 2022.

“I thought for a second me and Mitchell were going to be side-by-side for 20 laps,” Jackson said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for that young man and his father (Josh). They build their own race cars and do a whale of a job. Mitchell’s a smooth racer and we share an engine builder.

“I wanted to give him all the room that he would need. We had a nice, good race. I was just praying that if I could keep a nose in front of him and we could get a caution, I felt it would be the deal-breaker.”

Franklin pulled alongside Jackson on the outside several times during the opening 10 laps, but was unable to get by. Jackson kept hugging the low line to maintain his lead as a caution flew on lap 11 to slow the action.

Shadren Turner moved into second on the restart, but Franklin regained second by lap 14. As those two swapped position, Jackson took advantage and opened a 1.1-second lead.

Jackson kept stretching it out from there as the action remained under the green flag the rest of the way. He finished 2.2 seconds in front of Turner with Franklin third, Robbe Ewing fourth and Sheets taking fifth.

Bryan White scores USRA Stock Cars win: Bryan White patiently stalked the leader before finally taking over the top spot with five laps remaining and went on to take the O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars main event.

Front-row starters William Garner and White set the pace the first portion of the race, with Wille settling into third as the trio separated from the field by more than 15 car lengths.

White hugged the bottom groove to pull alongside Garner repeatedly, but was unable to nudge past as the two young Lebanon drivers dueled. A caution flew on lap 16 when fifth-place running Doug Keller spun in turn four.

As the race resumed, the battle up front resumed with Garner in the middle of the track and White inside. White finally edged past coming to the completion of lap 20 held on from there as he held off Garner by one car length. Wille was third, on Garner’s back bumper.

“It was real fun. Me and Will were racing side by side there for several laps and it was real fun,” said White, who earned $750 a week after wrapping up the regular-season championship.

The top three were separated by .679 seconds. Mason Beck, who started 11th, finished fourth and James McMillin came home fifth.

LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY UNOFFICIAL RESULTS (Sept. 3, 2022)

8th annual Ron Jenkins Memorial

Lucas Oil MLRA Late Models

A Feature – 1. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[1]; 2. 93-Mason Oberkramer[6]; 3. 36M-Logan Martin[5]; 4. 25-Chad Simpson[13]; 5. 15L-Payton Looney[10]; 6. 2S-Stormy Scott[17]; 7. 49-Justin Wells[3]; 8. 76-Blair Nothdurft[21]; 9. 62-Justin Zeitner[15]; 10. 7-Cole Wells[22]; 11. 7B-Mark Burgtorf[11]; 12. 15V-Kolby Vandenbergh[2]; 13. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[14]; 14. 10-Jacob Magee[19]; 15. 50-Kaeden Cornell[24]; 16. 0K-Dewayne Kiefer[9]; 17. 51-Larry Ferris[7]; 18. 78S-Steve Stultz[23]; 19. 96-Dalton Imhoff[12]; 20. (DNF) 1X-Aaron Marrant[20]; 21. (DNF) 2-Tyler Stevens[8]; 22. (DNF) 3-Brennon Willard[16]; 23. (DNF) 21-Billy Moyer Jr[4]; 24. (DNF) 29D-Spencer Diercks[18]

B Feature 1 – 1. 2S-Stormy Scott[1]; 2. 10-Jacob Magee[3]; 3. 76-Blair Nothdurft[2]; 4. 1G-Bryan Glaze[6]; 5. 7D-Dusty Leonard[4]; 6. 6C-Cale Osborn[8]; 7. 17W-Greg Williams[5]; 8. 2K-Richard Kimberling[9]; 9. (DNS) 14W-Dustin Walker

B Feature 2 – 1. 29D-Spencer Diercks[1]; 2. 1X-Aaron Marrant[2]; 3. 7-Cole Wells[4]; 4. 15T-David Turner[3]; 5. 78S-Steve Stultz[6]; 6. 50-Kaeden Cornell[7]; 7. 0X-Jason Sivils[8]; 8. (DNS) 6-Al Humphrey

Heat 1 – 1. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[1]; 2. 36M-Logan Martin[5]; 3. 0K-Dewayne Kiefer[2]; 4. 25-Chad Simpson[9]; 5. 2S-Stormy Scott[4]; 6. 10-Jacob Magee[3]; 7. 17W-Greg Williams[6]; 8. 6C-Cale Osborn[8]; 9. 14W-Dustin Walker[7]

Heat 2 – 1. 49-Justin Wells[1]; 2. 51-Larry Ferris[2]; 3. 7B-Mark Burgtorf[6]; 4. 62-Justin Zeitner[4]; 5. 76-Blair Nothdurft[5]; 6. 7D-Dusty Leonard[3]; 7. 1G-Bryan Glaze[7]; 8. 2K-Richard Kimberling[8]

Heat 3 – 1. 15V-Kolby Vandenbergh[1]; 2. 93-Mason Oberkramer[4]; 3. 15L-Payton Looney[3]; 4. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[6]; 5. 29D-Spencer Diercks[2]; 6. 15T-David Turner[8]; 7. 6-Al Humphrey[5]; 8. (DNF) 50-Kaeden Cornell[7]

Heat 4 – 1. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[4]; 2. 2-Tyler Stevens[3]; 3. 96-Dalton Imhoff[2]; 4. 3-Brennon Willard[1]; 5. 1X-Aaron Marrant[7]; 6. 7-Cole Wells[6]; 7. 78S-Steve Stultz[5]; 8. 0X-Jason Sivils[8]

Qualifying 1 – 1. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[3]; 2. 49-Justin Wells[4]; 3. 0K-Dewayne Kiefer[10]; 4. 51-Larry Ferris[17]; 5. 10-Jacob Magee[5]; 6. 7D-Dusty Leonard[16]; 7. 2S-Stormy Scott[12]; 8. 62-Justin Zeitner[2]; 9. 36M-Logan Martin[13]; 10. 76-Blair Nothdurft[11]; 11. 17W-Greg Williams[1]; 12. 7B-Mark Burgtorf[7]; 13. 14W-Dustin Walker[8]; 14. 1G-Bryan Glaze[9]; 15. 6C-Cale Osborn[6]; 16. 2K-Richard Kimberling[15]; 17. (DQ) 25-Chad Simpson[14]

Qualifying 2 – 1. 15V-Kolby Vandenbergh, 00:15.575[16]; 2. 3-Brennon Willard, 00:15.620[3]; 3. 29D-Spencer Diercks, 00:15.630[12]; 4. 96-Dalton Imhoff, 00:15.646[2]; 5. 15L-Payton Looney, 00:15.744[4]; 6. 2-Tyler Stevens, 00:15.762[14]; 7. 93-Mason Oberkramer, 00:15.775[10]; 8. 21-Billy Moyer Jr, 00:15.859[13]; 9. 6-Al Humphrey, 00:15.892[5]; 10. 78S-Steve Stultz, 00:15.952[6]; 11. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck, 00:15.988[15]; 12. 7-Cole Wells, 00:16.076[8]; 13. 50-Kaeden Cornell, 00:16.171[7]; 14. 1X-Aaron Marrant, 00:16.252[1]; 15. 15T-David Turner, 00:16.271[11]; 16. 0X-Jason Sivils, 00:17.012[9]

Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modifieds

A Feature – 1. 1X-Matt Johnson[2]; 2. 7X-Dillon McCowan[5]; 3. 7J-Justin Johnson[18]; 4. 16S-Eric Turner[4]; 5. 51-Lucas Gibbs[9]; 6. 3B-Nic Bidinger[13]; 7. 21M-Ryan Middaugh[11]; 8. 88-Jimmy Dowell[10]; 9. 68-Dean Wille[17]; 10. 29-Dennis Elliott[20]; 11. 38C-Jason Pursley[21]; 12. 3J-Lewis Jackson[12]; 13. 311-John Baker[15]; 14. 98-Jeff Cutshaw[7]; 15. 14-Kameron Grindstaff[1]; 16. 23-Lucas Dobbs[24]; 17. 24D-Donnie Fellers[14]; 18. 194-Scott Phillips[16]; 19. 24-Toby Lindell[22]; 20. 28C-Thomas Creech[19]; 21. 22H-Dustin Hodges[6]; 22. (DNF) 18-Casey Lindell[23]; 23. (DNF) 19-Dylan Hoover[3]; 24. (DNF) 21TW-Tracy Wolf[8]

Heat 1 – 1. 1X-Matt Johnson[2]; 2. 22H-Dustin Hodges[4]; 3. 16S-Eric Turner[8]; 4. 88-Jimmy Dowell[7]; 5. 311-John Baker[1]; 6. 68-Dean Wille[6]; 7. 28C-Thomas Creech[5]; 8. (DNF) 23-Lucas Dobbs[3]

Heat 2 – 1. 7X-Dillon McCowan[1]; 2. 98-Jeff Cutshaw[2]; 3. 21M-Ryan Middaugh[3]; 4. 3J-Lewis Jackson[5]; 5. 3B-Nic Bidinger[8]; 6. 7J-Justin Johnson[6]; 7. 38C-Jason Pursley[7]; 8. 18-Casey Lindell[4]

Heat 3 – 1. 19-Dylan Hoover[2]; 2. 14-Kameron Grindstaff[7]; 3. 51-Lucas Gibbs[4]; 4. 21TW-Tracy Wolf[8]; 5. 24D-Donnie Fellers[6]; 6. 194-Scott Phillips[1]; 7. 29-Dennis Elliott[5]; 8. 24-Toby Lindell[3]

O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars

A Feature – 1. 41-Bryan White[2]; 2. 7-William Garner[1]; 3. 68-Dean Wille[3]; 4. 0F-Mason Beck[11]; 5. 8M-James McMillin[12]; 6. 91J-Jaylen Wettengel[8]; 7. 5-Robert White[13]; 8. 110J-JD Jackson[10]; 9. 77-Zack Willis[15]; 10. 116-Zack Smith[14]; 11. 24-Craig Wright[6]; 12. 47-Ed Griggs[9]; 13. 83-James Ellis[18]; 14. 21P-Darren Phillips[16]; 15. 12-Christopher Sawyer[7]; 16. (DNF) 3C-Chad Staus[4]; 17. (DNF) 7D-Doug Keller[5]; 18. (DNF) 25BA-Gerry Vaughn[17]; 19. (DNS) 10-Stacy Hall

Bill Roberts Chevrolet Heat 1 – 1. 68-Dean Wille[1]; 2. 7-William Garner[6]; 3. 47-Ed Griggs[3]; 4. 110J-JD Jackson[5]; 5. 77-Zack Willis[4]; 6. 21P-Darren Phillips[2]

Bill Roberts Chevrolet Heat 2 – 1. 41-Bryan White[2]; 2. 12-Christopher Sawyer[1]; 3. 91J-Jaylen Wettengel[4]; 4. 8M-James McMillin[3]; 5. 5-Robert White[6]; 6. 83-James Ellis[5]

Bill Roberts Chevrolet Heat 3 – 1. 3C-Chad Staus[1]; 2. 24-Craig Wright[3]; 3. 7D-Doug Keller[7]; 4. 0F-Mason Beck[5]; 5. 116-Zack Smith[2]; 6. 25BA-Gerry Vaughn[4]; 7. (DNF) 10-Stacy Hall[6]

Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods Presented by Titan B-Mod Series

B Feature 1 – 1. 54-Tyler Kidwell[3]; 2. 6T-Michael Taylor III[8]; 3. 8-Jerry Morgan[1]; 4. 3A-Aaron Speck[2]; 5. 15H-Jeremy Hazel[7]; 6. 26-Derick Schlarb[4]; 7. (DNF) 24L-Dakota Lowe[5]; 8. (DNF) 10J-Caden Johnson[6]

B Feature 2 – 1. 49-Patrick Royalty[1]; 2. 39-Dwight Brown[2]; 3. 15S-Kody Bray[5]; 4. 42J-Donnie Jackson[3]; 5. 15J-Jake Fetterman[4]; 6. 55J-Jeremy Short[7]; 7. 28-Wesley Briggs[6]; 8. (DNS) 116-Nathan Melanson

Heat 1 – 1. 65-Kris Jackson[2]; 2. 8S-Jon Sheets[4]; 3. 32-Robbe Ewing[1]; 4. 5S-Austin Skiles[3]; 5. 8-Jerry Morgan[5]; 6. 54-Tyler Kidwell[8]; 7. 24L-Dakota Lowe[7]; 8. 15H-Jeremy Hazel[6]

Heat 2 – 1. 56-Shadren Turner[1]; 2. 1B-Bobby Williams[2]; 3. 6T-Michael Taylor III[6]; 4. 2-Quentin Taylor[4]; 5. 80-TJ Yount[3]; 6. 3A-Aaron Speck[5]; 7. 26-Derick Schlarb[7]; 8. (DNF) 10J-Caden Johnson[8]

Heat 4 – 1. X2-Brian Bolin[7]; 2. 42C-Casey Thomas[1]; 3. Z28-Randy Zimmerman[4]; 4. 91-Jaylen Wettengel[2]; 5. 39-Dwight Brown[5]; 6. 15J-Jake Fetterman[3]; 7. 28-Wesley Briggs[6]; 8. (DNS) 116-Nathan Melanson

Qualifying 1 – 1. 32-Robbe Ewing[1]; 2. 56-Shadren Turner[11]; 3. 65-Kris Jackson[8]; 4. 1B-Bobby Williams[15]; 5. 5S-Austin Skiles[5]; 6. 80-TJ Yount[12]; 7. 8S-Jon Sheets[6]; 8. 2-Quentin Taylor[10]; 9. 8-Jerry Morgan[4]; 10. 3A-Aaron Speck[14]; 11. 15H-Jeremy Hazel[9]; 12. 6T-Michael Taylor III[2]; 13. 24L-Dakota Lowe[7]; 14. 26-Derick Schlarb[3]; 15. 54-Tyler Kidwell[16]; 16. (DQ) 10J-Caden Johnson[13]

Qualifying 2 – 1. F1-Mitchell Franklin, 00:18.087[6]; 2. 42C-Casey Thomas, 00:18.477[15]; 3. 37-Wes Long, 00:18.497[7]; 4. 91-Jaylen Wettengel, 00:18.660[9]; 5. 24-Jerry Ellis, 00:18.720[10]; 6. 15J-Jake Fetterman, 00:18.764[4]; 7. 98-Christopher Watts, 00:18.825[12]; 8. Z28-Randy Zimmerman, 00:18.880[11]; 9. 15S-Kody Bray, 00:18.894[5]; 10. 49-Patrick Royalty, 00:18.937[2]; 11. 28-Wesley Briggs, 00:19.146[8]; 12. 42J-Donnie Jackson, 00:19.174[13]; 13. X2-Brian Bolin, 00:19.183[3]; 14. 55J-Jeremy Short, 00:19.214[1]; 15. 116-Nathan Melanson, 00:59.999[14]

Diamond Drag Boat Nationals conclude Sunday: The 12th annual Diamond Drag Boat Nationals conclude on Sunday on Lake Lucas with elimination rounds set to begin at 9 a.m.

(Diamond Drag Boat Nationals Sunday grandstand admission)

Age 6 and up GA/Pit Pass Combo – $10

5 and Under GA/Pit Pass Combo – FREE

(All tickets include access to Drag Boat pit area)

Hockett/McMillin Memorial next on the dirt: Dirt track action at Lucas Oil Speedway resumes with the 12th annual Jesse Hockett-Daniel McMillin Memorial, Sept. 15-17. Featured in the three-night open-wheel major are the Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Car Series along with the POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprints with full programs each night.

To purchase tickets for any event on Lucas Oil Speedway’s schedule, or to inquire about camping information, contact Admissions Director Nichole McMillan at (417) 295-6043 or via email at nichole@lucasoilspeedway.com.