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O’Neil, Sobbing score opening night wins at Jayhawk Classic

By USMTS *Kansas City, KS) -- Jake O’Neil had an answer for every challenge that came his way Friday night, and led all 30 laps en route to a $5,000 triumph at the Lakeside Speedway during the opening night of the 12th Annual Jayhawk Classic featuring the Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt.

Carlos Ahumada Jr. earned the Sybesma Graphics Pole Award but O’Neil took control on the opening lap as he churned the cushion while Ahumada took the short way around the historic half-mile dirt oval in Kansas City, Kan.

PHOTO CREDIT: Todd Boyd

With the first lap in the books, Cayden Carter jumped into second place and began to reel in O’Neil using the low side of the racing surface. Just as the leaders crossed side-by-side under the flagstand to complete the ninth lap, O’Neil moved to the bottom to block the advance of Carter and keep the youngster at bay.

“I was going about as fast as I could go up top,” O’Neil revealed. “I had her on the floor and I kept seeing him poke his nose down there and I was like ‘Man, I got to get down there.’ I hope I didn’t chop him too bad—I thought I was clear.”

One lap later, the race’s first and only caution lit the yellow lights. Dereck Ramirez used the slowdown to pounce on Carter and put the high side to good use as he and O’Neil had a tense battle for the lead for nine laps.

“I saw Ramirez get up top there and I know he's always fast here. I kept missing my marks so I had to beat myself on the head and said, ‘Quit messing up and try to get this done,’” O’Neil added.

O’Neil did just that as Ramirez joined him on the low side but failed to keep pace with the leader. With masterful maneuvering through thick lapped traffic, the 31-year-old from Tucson, Ariz., sped to his 30th career USMTS win and a $5,000 paycheck. It was his second win of the season and second at Lakeside Speedway—his last win here was in the 2018 Grant Junghans Memorial.

“After last week we really needed this. We had a tough going last weekend, didn't have much luck and this is just pretty awesome,” O’Neil said. “Everything kind of fell our way here. We got a good draw and got lucky in the heat race with the passing points.”

Carter rediscovered his mojo and passed both Rodney Sanders and Ramirez late in the race to claim runner-up honors. Behind Sanders and Ramirez—who own five series titles between them—was Tanner Mullens who came with Ramirez from the fourth row on the starting grid.

For the first time in series history, Dan Ebert came into the night as the series points leader, but despite earning the FK Rod Ends Hard Charger Award after racing from 16th to sixth, Ebert dropped behind O’Neil in the rankings.

Meanwhile, Darron Fuqua snagged the seventh spot with Ahumada holding on for eighth. Fifteenth-starting Zack VanderBeek nabbed ninth-place money and Grant Junghans Rookie of the Year contender Gary Christian turned his emergency provisional into a tenth-place result after starting in the 25th and final position in the lineup.

The 12th Annual Jayhawk Classic featuring the Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt wraps up Saturday, May 6 with the Malvern Bank SLMR West Series and Hoker Trucking SLMR East Series Late Models sharing the spotlight. Both classes pay $10,000 to win.

For complete race day information check out the FAST FACTS for the event.

For its Silver Anniversary season, the Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt currently features 45 nights of racing at 15 of America's premier dirt track racing venues in nine states. The winners of those events are set to earn more than $300,000 with nearly $2 million in purses and prize money earmarked for the 2023 campaign.

Watch every USMTS event online live and on-demand from anywhere on any device with RacinDirt. Download the app at Roku, Amazon Fire, iOS, Apple TV or on Google Play.

Visit usmts.com for schedules, points, photos, souvenirs, videos and more. Follow our social media channels on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Click here to get USMTS news delivered to your inbox.

RESULTS

Summit Racing Equipment A Feature 1 (35 Laps): 1. 0-Jake O'Neil[2]; 2. 10C-Cayden Carter[5]; 3. 20-Rodney Sanders[6]; 4. 4R-Dereck Ramirez[8]; 5. 02-Tanner Mullens[7]; 6. 60-Dan Ebert[16]; 7. 87-Darron Fuqua[3]; 8. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr[1]; 9. 33Z-Zack VanderBeek[15]; 10. 58X-Gary Christian[25]; 11. 75-Terry Phillips[4]; 12. K9-Will Krup[18]; 13. 12-Jason Hughes[9]; 14. 24C-Jim Chisholm[11]; 15. 44K-Kelsie Foley[19]; 16. 19SB-Lance Mari[17]; 17. 10B-Brandon Givens[24]; 18. 3B-Nic Bidinger[10]; 19. 88-Chad Wheeler[12]; 20. 4W-Tyler Wolff[13]; 21. 1K-Tim Karrick[22]; 22. 4TW-Tim Ward[21]; 23. 01-Jacob Hobscheidt[20]; 24. 21K-Kyle Brown[14]; 25. 11X-Tom Berry Jr[23]

Real Racing Wheels B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 33Z-Zack VanderBeek[1]; 2. 19SB-Lance Mari[6]; 3. 44K-Kelsie Foley[3]; 4. 4TW-Tim Ward[8]; 5. 29-Dennis Elliott[4]; 6. 44T-Tanner Black[9]; 7. 55-Chris Kratzer[11]; 8. 21C-Chad Clancy[7]; 9. 11N-Gene Nicholas[12]; 10. 65-Tyler Davis[2]; 11. 30-Dalton Kirk[5]; 12. (DNS) 4-Jeremy Nelson; 13. (DNS) 11JR-Randal Schiffelbein Jr; 14. (DNS) 45-Chase Holland

Real Racing Wheels B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 60-Dan Ebert[1]; 2. K9-Will Krup[3]; 3. 01-Jacob Hobscheidt[4]; 4. 1K-Tim Karrick[2]; 5. 58X-Gary Christian[5]; 6. 10B-Brandon Givens[9]; 7. 9-Mark Schafman[11]; 8. 17-Jon Plowman[8]; 9. 99L-Steve Lavasseur[10]; 10. 68-Kerry Davis[6]; 11. 11X-Tom Berry Jr[12]; 12. (DNS) 16-Austin Siebert; 13. (DNS) 38T-Dylan Thornton

Simpson Performance Products Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 10C-Cayden Carter[4]; 2. 33Z-Zack VanderBeek[2]; 3. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr[5]; 4. 3B-Nic Bidinger[6]; 5. 01-Jacob Hobscheidt[1]; 6. K9-Will Krup[8]; 7. 19SB-Lance Mari[10]; 8. 10B-Brandon Givens[7]; 9. 55-Chris Kratzer[9]; 10. 11X-Tom Berry Jr[3]; 11. 45-Chase Holland[11]

Fast Shafts Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 75-Terry Phillips[2]; 2. 0-Jake O'Neil[6]; 3. 60-Dan Ebert[3]; 4. 88-Chad Wheeler[5]; 5. 1K-Tim Karrick[7]; 6. 21C-Chad Clancy[1]; 7. 21K-Kyle Brown[4]; 8. 44T-Tanner Black[8]; 9. 99L-Steve Lavasseur[10]; 10. 11N-Gene Nicholas[9]

Edelbrock Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 02-Tanner Mullens[2]; 2. 12-Jason Hughes[4]; 3. 65-Tyler Davis[1]; 4. 24C-Jim Chisholm[6]; 5. 4W-Tyler Wolff[5]; 6. 58X-Gary Christian[3]; 7. 68-Kerry Davis[7]; 8. 4TW-Tim Ward[9]; 9. 9-Mark Schafman[8]; 10. (DNS) 38T-Dylan Thornton

Wieland Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 87-Darron Fuqua[3]; 2. 4R-Dereck Ramirez[7]; 3. 20-Rodney Sanders[5]; 4. 29-Dennis Elliott[1]; 5. 44K-Kelsie Foley[9]; 6. 30-Dalton Kirk[8]; 7. 17-Jon Plowman[2]; 8. 4-Jeremy Nelson[4]; 9. 16-Austin Siebert[6]; 10. (DNS) 11JR-Randal Schiffelbein Jr

Qualifying 1: 1. 3B-Nic Bidinger, 00:19.140[10]; 2. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr, 00:19.222[4]; 3. 10C-Cayden Carter, 00:19.322[8]; 4. 11X-Tom Berry Jr, 00:19.333[9]; 5. 33Z-Zack VanderBeek, 00:19.380[7]; 6. 01-Jacob Hobscheidt, 00:19.398[6]; 7. 10B-Brandon Givens, 00:19.430[1]; 8. K9-Will Krup, 00:19.446[5]; 9. 55-Chris Kratzer, 00:19.498[3]; 10. 19SB-Lance Mari, 00:19.676[2]; 11. 45-Chase Holland, 00:19.676[11]

Qualifying 2: 1. 0-Jake O'Neil, 00:19.053[5]; 2. 88-Chad Wheeler, 00:19.216[3]; 3. 21K-Kyle Brown, 00:19.238[7]; 4. 60-Dan Ebert, 00:19.240[9]; 5. 75-Terry Phillips, 00:19.275[8]; 6. 21C-Chad Clancy, 00:19.305[10]; 7. 1K-Tim Karrick, 00:19.673[4]; 8. 44T-Tanner Black, 00:19.686[1]; 9. 11N-Gene Nicholas, 00:19.870[2]; 10. 99L-Steve Lavasseur, 00:19.983[6]

Qualifying 3: 1. 24C-Jim Chisholm, 00:19.026[7]; 2. 4W-Tyler Wolff, 00:19.076[10]; 3. 12-Jason Hughes, 00:19.221[1]; 4. 58X-Gary Christian, 00:19.502[6]; 5. 02-Tanner Mullens, 00:19.531[3]; 6. 65-Tyler Davis, 00:19.571[4]; 7. 38T-Dylan Thornton, 00:19.872[9]; 8. 68-Kerry Davis, 00:19.995[2]; 9. 9-Mark Schafman, 00:20.389[5]; 10. 4TW-Tim Ward, 00:20.389[8]

Qualifying 4: 1. 16-Austin Siebert, 00:19.422[10]; 2. 20-Rodney Sanders, 00:19.467[8]; 3. 4-Jeremy Nelson, 00:19.508[9]; 4. 87-Darron Fuqua, 00:19.674[3]; 5. 17-Jon Plowman, 00:19.821[5]; 6. 29-Dennis Elliott, 00:19.826[7]; 7. 4R-Dereck Ramirez, 00:19.851[1]; 8. 30-Dalton Kirk, 00:19.961[4]; 9. 44K-Kelsie Foley, 00:19.961[2]; 10. 11JR-Randal Schiffelbein Jr, 00:19.961[6]

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SOBBING SCORES MALVERN BANK LATE MODEL VICTORY AT LAKESIDE

By Anthony Ainslie (Kansas City, KS) -- The defending Malvern Bank Super Late Models West Series Champion Jesse Sobbing makes it back-to-back wins after Friday’s festivities at Lakeside Speedway.

The Kansas City, Kansas Lakeside Speedway played host for the second round for the Malvern Bank West Series as well as the first race of the season for the Haulin’ with Hoker Trucking East Series. A strong field of 33 cars from Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, and Missouri made the trip for the first night of the 12th annual Jayhawk Classic.

After four heats and two B features, a 26-car field was assembled for the night’s 35-lap main event with Derrick Stewart starting on pole. His run as leader did not last very long as Jeff Larson jumped from the outside of the front row to take the lead.

Larson would extend his lead before Tad Pospisil, Justin Zeitner and Dylan Sillman chased him down. The trio took multiple shots at taking the lead from Larson, but the Freeport, Illinois driver held strong.

Larson’s race came to an abrupt end when he jumped the cushion in turn three and hit the outside wall bringing out the caution flag. He would end up finishing 24th. That gave the lead to Justin Zeitner. However, six laps later, Zeitner’s motor gave way while he led the race bringing out the caution again.
Jesse Sobbing would be the next recipient of the lead with Dylan Sillman behind him. Sillman raced Sobbing hard in lapped traffic, but a mistake would cost him second as Tad Pospisil got by.

Meanwhile, no one could catch Sobbing. After not winning a points-paying race all season in 2022, the Malvern, Iowa driver makes it 2 points race wins in a row as he wins his eighth career series win and his second at Lakeside Speedway. His win is worth $5,000. Pospisil would finish second while Sillman took third. Bill Leighton Jr. and Chad Holladay rounded out the top five.

The Malvern Bank and Haulin’ with Hoker Trucking Super Late Models Series are back at Lakeside Speedway again on Saturday for night 2 of the Jayhawk Classic, but this time, the top prize has been upped to a whopping $10,000. After Kansas City, The Malvern Bank West Series is back in action on May 12th and 13th with a Missouri doubleheader. The tour will make its debut at Osborn’s U.S. 36 Raceway on the 12th and then head to Central Missouri Speedway in Warrensburg on the 13th.

RESULTS

Malvern Bank Hoker Trucking A Feature 1 (35 Laps): 1. 99-Jesse Sobbing[8]; 2. 04-Tad Pospisil[3]; 3. 35D-Dylan Sillman[5]; 4. 24-Bill Leighton[9]; 5. 32C-Chad Holladay[6]; 6. 43-Derrick Stewart[1]; 7. 76-Zach Zeitner[18]; 8. 52-Brian Kosiski[12]; 9. 56-Andy Eckrich[10]; 10. 4-JC Wyman[16]; 11. 22-Charlie McKenna[19]; 12. 85-Josh Leonard[20]; 13. 07-Matt Ryan[15]; 14. 1-Jake Neal[21]; 15. 44-Luke Goedert[22]; 16. 58-Dave Eckrich[14]; 17. 15C-Curt Schroeder[13]; 18. 33G-Paul Glendenning[25]; 19. 32-Curtis Glover[24]; 20. 76H-Jason Hahne[4]; 21. 33-Nick Marolf[7]; 22. 25-Brad Perdue[26]; 23. 62-Justin Zeitner[11]; 24. 99L-Jeff Larson[2]; 25. 77-Jeff Aikey[17]; 26. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[23]

Predator Custom Trailers B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 77-Jeff Aikey[4]; 2. 22-Charlie McKenna[2]; 3. 1X-Aaron Marrant[3]; 4. 33G-Paul Glendenning[6]; 5. 42-Fred Remley[8]; 6. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[7]; 7. 44-Luke Goedert[5]; 8. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[1]

Predator Custom Trailers B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 76-Zach Zeitner[2]; 2. 85-Josh Leonard[1]; 3. 25-Brad Perdue[3]; 4. 10T-Jeff Tharp[5]; 5. 53-Andrew Kosiski[8]; 6. 32-Curtis Glover[4]; 7. 10-TeeJay Janousek[7]; 8. 44D-Troy Daly[6]; 9. 1-Jake Neal[9]

Ideal Ready Mix Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 24-Bill Leighton[2]; 2. 99-Jesse Sobbing[3]; 3. 32C-Chad Holladay[5]; 4. 35D-Dylan Sillman[6]; 5. 77-Jeff Aikey[8]; 6. 10T-Jeff Tharp[1]; 7. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[7]; 8. 53-Andrew Kosiski[9]; 9. 44-Luke Goedert[4]

Ideal Ready Mix Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 15C-Curt Schroeder[1]; 2. 07-Matt Ryan[7]; 3. 43-Derrick Stewart[6]; 4. 85-Josh Leonard[4]; 5. 52-Brian Kosiski[5]; 6. 76-Zach Zeitner[2]; 7. 22-Charlie McKenna[3]; 8. 10-TeeJay Janousek[8]

Ideal Ready Mix Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 33-Nick Marolf[3]; 2. 76H-Jason Hahne[5]; 3. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[2]; 4. 58-Dave Eckrich[4]; 5. 32-Curtis Glover[8]; 6. 62-Justin Zeitner[6]; 7. 1-Jake Neal[1]; 8. 42-Fred Remley[7]

Ideal Ready Mix Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 56-Andy Eckrich[2]; 2. 99L-Jeff Larson[5]; 3. 04-Tad Pospisil[6]; 4. 4-JC Wyman[3]; 5. 25-Brad Perdue[1]; 6. 33G-Paul Glendenning[7]; 7. 44D-Troy Daly[8]; 8. 1X-Aaron Marrant[4]

Qualifying A: 1. 35D-Dylan Sillman, 00:17.115[2]; 2. 43-Derrick Stewart, 00:17.393[12]; 3. 32C-Chad Holladay, 00:17.432[1]; 4. 52-Brian Kosiski, 00:17.592[6]; 5. 44-Luke Goedert, 00:17.622[4]; 6. 22-Charlie McKenna, 00:17.638[3]; 7. 99-Jesse Sobbing, 00:17.682[8]; 8. 76-Zach Zeitner, 00:17.683[16]; 9. 24-Bill Leighton, 00:17.709[7]; 10. 85-Josh Leonard, 00:17.835[11]; 11. 10T-Jeff Tharp, 00:17.842[9]; 12. 15C-Curt Schroeder, 00:17.966[10]; 13. 99D-Darrel DeFrance, 00:18.027[15]; 14. 07-Matt Ryan, 00:18.073[14]; 15. 77-Jeff Aikey, 00:18.125[17]; 16. 10-TeeJay Janousek, 00:18.982[13]; 17. 53-Andrew Kosiski, 00:18.982[5]

Qualifying B: 1. 62-Justin Zeitner, 00:17.518[2]; 2. 04-Tad Pospisil, 00:17.653[3]; 3. 76H-Jason Hahne, 00:17.731[15]; 4. 99L-Jeff Larson, 00:17.801[1]; 5. 58-Dave Eckrich, 00:18.041[8]; 6. 1X-Aaron Marrant, 00:18.087[10]; 7. 33-Nick Marolf, 00:18.199[7]; 8. 4-JC Wyman, 00:18.201[13]; 9. 26JR-Corey Zeitner, 00:18.207[9]; 10. 56-Andy Eckrich, 00:18.255[6]; 11. 1-Jake Neal, 00:18.308[16]; 12. 25-Brad Perdue, 00:18.334[4]; 13. 42-Fred Remley, 00:18.352[14]; 14. 33G-Paul Glendenning, 00:18.377[11]; 15. 32-Curtis Glover, 00:18.540[5]; 16. 44D-Troy Daly, 00:18.656[12]

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