Junction Motor Speedway
Vaught tops Jackson at McCool Junction
Will Vaught heads for victory at Junction Motor Speedway. (fasttrackphotos.net)
MCCOOL JUNCTION, Neb. (Aug. 9) — Will Vaught was in the right place at the right time Friday night, in the Lucas Oil MLRA King of the Hill event at Junction Motor Speedway, helping the Crane, Mo., driver to claim the first leg of a weekend doubleheader at the King of the Hill Late Model Shootout. | Slideshow
Vaught of Crane, Mo., was running second remaining when race-long leader Travis Dickes' engine expired. Dickes’ departure handed the lead to Vaught, who held off Tony Jackson Jr. of Lebanon, Mo., in the final laps to score $2,000 victory in an event tri-sanctioned by the MARS DIRTcar Series, the Lucas Oil MLRA and the National Championship Racing Association.
"It was good," said Vaught, who earned his first victory since January. "We'll take a win anyway we can do it. Tony (Jackson) had a really good car. It was unfortunate for Travis (Dickes) to blow a motor there. He was probably gonna win this deal. Tomorrow night hopefully we can beat them fair and square. We've got a little tweaking to do to this thing.”
Jackson, the points leader on both the MARS and MLRA tours, settled for second to notch his 15th top-five finish in his past 17 races. Home-state driver Kyle Berck of Marquette Neb., advanced from eighth to round out the podium finishers. Jesse Stovall of Galena, Mo., was fourth with Terry Phillips of Springfield, Mo., fifth.
Dickes led the first 16 laps after earning the pole position through heat race passing points. Once in lapped traffic Jackson closed in and briefly took the lead, however a yellow negated his pass and put Dickes back out front. On the restart with 10 laps remaining, Phillips and Jackson made contact, allowing Vaught to race past for second in what was ultimately the winning pass.
Notes: Vaught drives a Clements-powered Warrior Race Car sponsored by Circle M Auto Sales, GW Performance and Integra Racing Shocks. ... Vaught’s victory was the eighth of his career in MARS action, his fourth on the MLRA tour and third in a NCRA event. ... NCRA points leader Jacob Magee was not a factor in finishing 17th. ... The feature took approximately 15 minutes to complete. ... Drivers return to Junction on Saturday for a $3,000-to-win program.
King of the Hill Shootout: (1) Will Vaught, (2) Tony Jackson Jr., (3) Kyle Berck, (4) Jesse Stovall, (5) Terry Phillips, (6) Justin Asplin, (7) Brad Looney, (8) Jase Kaser, (9) Chase Junghans, (10) Mike Collins, (11) Robbie Anderson, (12) Tad Pospisil, (13) Mike Wiarda, (14) Justin Gregg, (15) Bill Leighton, (16) Dustin Walker, (17) Jacob Magee, (18) John Anderson, (19) Travis Dickes, (20) Jimmy Seagraves, (21) Dean Moore, (22) Al Humphrey, (23) Chris Avery, (24) Junior Coover. Heat race winners (among 32 cars): Jackson, Dickes, Wiarda, Asplin. Consolation winners: Leighton, Collins.
