Maquoketa, IA (August 13th, 2022) – Tony Jackson Jr. scored his second Lucas Oil MLRA win on the weekend on Saturday night cashing in on a classic back-and-forth battle with Chris Simpson at the Maquoketa Speedway. The win is “Prime Time’s” 13th all time under the MLRA banner, and his second straight at Maquoketa.

Kolby Vandenbergh got the night off to a fast start, scoring his second DirtonDirt.com Fast Time Award of the season with a lap of 13.989 seconds—just .003 seconds faster than series point leader Chad Simpson. Heat race checkers would go home with Chris Simpson, Jackson Jr., and Spencer Diercks.

The 30 lap main event would find the last two Maquoketa Speedway MLRA winners starting on the front row in Chris Simpson and Jackson JR. Jackson stole the lead on the first circuit, but it didn’t take Simpson long to return the favor. Simpson, who had ran third the previous two nights with the MLRA, used a power move to drive past Jackson on the lap two to take the lead.

Simpson started to put some distance between the leaders but the cushion was short lived as the duo caught lapped traffic on the races 7th lap. With two lapped cars to split for Simpson, Jackson used the situation to his advantage and was able to slip past the Oxford, IA driver to regain the race lead. Remaining caution free for the entire distance the leaders continued to navigate lapped traffic with Simpson stalking Jackson’s every move.  

 As the leaders exited turn four coming to the white flag, Jackson gave the fans more excitement then he bargained for as he slipped off the top side of the race track and allowed Simpson one more shot at the win. Jackson kept his foot in the gas and maintained his advantage, scoring the $5,000 win by .454 seconds over Simpson. 

“There was two lapped cars there in front of me and they just covered my shield there with mud and I just got real tight so I didn’t want to lift because I didn’t know how close Chris was there,” explained Jackson. “It was a lot more banking off there (turn four) than I anticipated so I was just lucky to get back on.”
Frank Heckenast Jr. rallied to his best finish of the weekend and rounded out the podium in third. Spencer Diercks would come home in fourth followed by Chad Simpson.

“It threw us some curve balls there,” noted Jackson of the race surface. “It was so fast around the bottom and then it started throwing stuff up there in the middle but I could drive this thing anywhere,” he continued about his new Capital Chassis that he debuted on Thursday night, ending the weekend with a pair of victories.

Chris Simpson continued his steak of podium finishes and spoke of the pass for the lead in saying, “I just didn’t know where to go. When I was here a few years ago we won right on the top so I knew it would be vital to just get up top and ride. Once those lapped cars got the bottom worked in it just kind of threw crumbs up across the top and I got caught behind one. Tony, he’s aggressive, so he made it stick through there and it was a good clean pass. It would have been good to win but either way it’s another top three again, so we’ll take it.”     

The third place run for Heckenast Jr. was his best of the season with the MLRA. “The track was good, it was a fun little track, it kind of takes me back to the glory days when I started. I just haven’t been around a race track like that in a long time so it was fun.”

“These guys obviously are a little bit faster than us, we’ve just been a third or fourth place car for three days now. We’ve got some stuff to work on but they are getting better and we need to get out of the box a little bit, but when we put it back we can run top five so we’ll keep plugging away with that and maybe get them next time.” 

Another big three day weekend of action awaits the MLRA during the upcoming Labor Day Weekend starting off on Friday night September, 2nd at the Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, KS. Action will move to the Lucas Oil Speedway the following night for the annual running of the Ron Jenkins Memorial. The 2nd Annual Weiner Nationals at the Randolph County Raceway will wrap up the weekend on Sunday night with the winner driving off with a $10,000 payday.

Maquoketa Speedway Contingencies 8/13/22
Lap Leaders –Jackson (1), Chris Simpson (2 - 7), Jackson (8 - 30)
Cautions – 0
DirtonDirt.com “Overall Fast Time Award" -- Kolby Vandenbergh (13.989 sec.)
Lucas Oil Slick Mist "Pole Award" – Chris Simpson
Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race – Rob Schlup
Hooker Harness "11th Place Finisher" – Gary Webb
Performance Bodies "Performer of the Race" – Tony Jackson Jr.
Sunoco “Rookie of the Race” – Kolby Vandenbergh
Swift Springs “Move of the Race” – Tony Jackson Jr.
Midwest Sheet Metal "Points Leader Spoiler Challenge" – Chad Simpson 

A Feature Cedar Creek Jerky 30 Laps | 00:12:12.525

1. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[2]; 2. 32S-Chris Simpson[1]; 3. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[5]; 4. 29D-Spencer Diercks[3]; 5. 25-Chad Simpson[8]; 6. 15V-Kolby Vandenbergh[4]; 7. 15K-Justin Kay[7]; 8. 10P-Paul Parker[9]; 9. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[6]; 10. 99-Sawyer Specht[11]; 11. W56-Gary Webb[12]; 12. 07-Matt Ryan[15]; 13. 10T-Jeff Tharp[10]; 14. T22-Tegan Evans[14]; 15. 78S-Steve Stultz[16]; 16. 17-Tim Simpson[13]; 17. C15-Brandon Hamburg[17]

Heat 1 Midwest Sheet Metal 8 Laps | 00:03:20.279

1. 32S-Chris Simpson[2]; 2. 15V-Kolby Vandenbergh[1]; 3. 15K-Justin Kay[4]; 4. 10T-Jeff Tharp[3]; 5. 17-Tim Simpson[6]; 6. 78S-Steve Stultz[5]

Heat 2-Hooker Harness 8 Laps | 00:04:23.518

1. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[2]; 2. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[3]; 3. 25-Chad Simpson[1]; 4. 99-Sawyer Specht[4]; 5. T22-Tegan Evans[5]; 6. C15-Brandon Hamburg[6]

Heat 3 My Race Pass 8 Laps | 00:04:00.919

1. 29D-Spencer Diercks[1]; 2. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[2]; 3. 10P-Paul Parker[3]; 4. W56-Gary Webb[4]; 5. 07-Matt Ryan[5]

Qualifying 1 Dirt on Dirt | 00:00:28.125

1. 15V-Kolby Vandenbergh, 00:13.989[14]; 2. 25-Chad Simpson, 00:13.992[1]; 3. 29D-Spencer Diercks, 00:14.004[17]; 4. 32S-Chris Simpson, 00:14.089[6]; 5. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr, 00:14.164[5]; 6. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck, 00:14.258[15]; 7. 10T-Jeff Tharp, 00:14.420[4]; 8. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr, 00:14.463[2]; 9. 10P-Paul Parker, 00:14.474[11]; 10. 15K-Justin Kay, 00:14.499[12]; 11. 99-Sawyer Specht, 00:14.578[10]; 12. W56-Gary Webb, 00:14.751[13]; 13. 78S-Steve Stultz, 00:14.884[3]; 14. T22-Tegan Evans, 00:15.110[8]; 15. 07-Matt Ryan, 00:15.215[16]; 16. 17-Tim Simpson, 00:15.886[9]; 17. C15-Brandon Hamburg, 00:17.092[7]

Davenport, IA (August 12th, 2022) – Spencer Diercks may have been denied his first ever Lucas Oil MLRA win on Thursday night at the CJ Speedway by one position, but he came back swinging on Friday night and captured an emotional $5,000 MLRA victory in front of his hometown fans at the Davenport Speedway.

The 26 year old driver, behind the wheel of a new Longhorn by Wells Chassis, swept the entire night from start to finish including the DirtonDirt Fast Time Award with a lap of 13.354 seconds along with top honors in his respective heat race. The heat race win would line him up on the front row alongside Chris Simpson for the 30 lap “A” Main. 

At the drop of the green Diercks immediately assumed control running the low line while Chris Simpson took the long way around the speedway in search of momentum. On the second lap, Simpson was able to secure just enough of an advantage exiting turn four to grab the race lead at the line.

Diercks would stay true to the low line and just two laps later drove back by Simpson for the lead. It did not take long for the leader to build up a two plus second advantage over the field, but lap traffic proved to be the equalizer and allowed Simpson to close the gap in the late stages of the caution free event.  

 With Chris Simpson reeling in Diercks, MLRA point leader Chad Simpson was hustling the high line as the top two both worked the low side of the speedway. Chad Simpson would drive by for the runner up spot on lap 26 but was not able to get any closer to Diercks who would hold on for a 1.271 second victory. Chris Simpson would come home in third for the second night in a row, followed by Frank Heckenast Jr. and Kolby Vandenbergh to round out the top five.

“If it’s anywhere in the world I’d like to get a win it’d be here,” stated Diercks in Cedar Creek Beef Jerky Victory Lane. “I’m from here and I’ve always had bad luck here, but it’s been treating me nice lately. I’m just a dumb concrete guy and I just do this for fun, I’m just speechless.”

“I knew he was out there,” Diercks noted of Chris Simpson in the early going. “But I’ve ran here enough to know that cushion was way up there and it was black all the way up there. It was going to take somebody crazy to get up there and I knew he (Chris Simpson) was kind of a bottom feeder so I stuck down there and stood in my line and there we go.”

Chad Simpson’s runner up finish marked the sixth podium finish of the season for the MLRA point leader. “My guys were pointing me to the top there and I was surprised early on it wasn’t as good as it was but it really came in there in the end, said Simpson.” “We struggled last night and a little bit early on tonight, but hopefully were rolling into something here and we can kind of carry it into tomorrow.”

Friday nights third place run marked the third such occurrence of the season for Chris Simpson with the MLRA. “I knew if I stayed up top, since they only allow us run one tire, that I would have burnt the right rear off in another five laps staying up there, so I had to get down. I hate finishing third, but there are a lot of guys that dream of running third to these guys, so we’ll take it and move onto tomorrow night and see if we can get a couple spots better.”

The Lucas Oil MLRA will wrap up their three night weekend swing on Saturday night with a return visit to the Maquoketa Speedway. Defending race winner Tony Jackson Jr. will look to defend his win from a year ago and cash in on the $5,000 top prize.

Davenport Speedway Contingencies 8/12/22
Lap Leaders –Spencer Diercks (1), Chris Simpson (2 - 3), Spencer Diercks (4 - 30)
Cautions – 0
DirtonDirt.com “Overall Fast Time Award" --Spencer Diercks (13.354 sec.)
Lucas Oil Slick Mist "Pole Award" – Spencer Diercks
Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race – Matt Pewe
Hooker Harness "11th Place Finisher" – Sawyer Specht
Performance Bodies "Performer of the Race" – Spencer Diercks
Sunoco “Rookie of the Race” – Kolby Vandenbergh
Swift Springs “Move of the Race” – Chad Simpson
Midwest Sheet Metal "Points Leader Spoiler Challenge" – Chad Simpson

A Feature 1 30 Laps
1. 29D-Spencer Diercks[1]; 2. 25-Chad Simpson[5]; 3. 32S-Chris Simpson[2]; 4. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[3]; 5. 15V-Kolby Vandenbergh[7]; 6. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[4]; 7. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[6]; 8. 17-Tim Simpson[17]; 9. 7B-Mark Burgtorf[10]; 10. 12-Brandon Queen[12]; 11. 99-Sawyer Specht[15]; 12. 78S-Steve Stultz[14]; 13. T22-Tegan Evans[16]; 14. (DNF) 42-Johnathan Huston[13]; 15. (DNF) 17A-Austin Howes[9]; 16. (DNF) 33F-Rickey Frankel[11]; 17. (DNF) W56-Gary Webb[18]; 18. (DNF) 10P-Paul Parker[19]; 19. (DQ) 15K-Justin Kay[8]

Heat 1 Midwest Sheet Metal 8 Laps | 00:04:20.387
1. 29D-Spencer Diercks[1]; 2. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[2]; 3. 15V-Kolby Vandenbergh[3]; 4. 7B-Mark Burgtorf[5]; 5. 42-Johnathan Huston[4]; 6. T22-Tegan Evans[6]; 7. (DNF) 10P-Paul Parker[7]

Heat 2-Hooker Harness 8 Laps | 00:03:06.542
1. 32S-Chris Simpson[1]; 2. 25-Chad Simpson[2]; 3. 15K-Justin Kay[3]; 4. 33F-Rickey Frankel[4]; 5. 78S-Steve Stultz[5]; 6. (DNF) 17-Tim Simpson[6]

Heat 3 My Race Pass 8 Laps | 00:04:35.750
1. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[1]; 2. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[2]; 3. 17A-Austin Howes[4]; 4. 12-Brandon Queen[5]; 5. 99-Sawyer Specht[3]; 6. (DNS) W56-Gary Webb

Qualifying 1 Dirt on Dirt
1. 29D-Spencer Diercks, 00:13.534[6]; 2. 32S-Chris Simpson, 00:13.576[18]; 3. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr, 00:13.865[3]; 4. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr, 00:13.875[13]; 5. 25-Chad Simpson, 00:13.907[4]; 6. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck, 00:14.037[8]; 7. 15V-Kolby Vandenbergh, 00:14.078[2]; 8. 15K-Justin Kay, 00:14.159[17]; 9. 99-Sawyer Specht, 00:14.181[12]; 10. 42-Johnathan Huston, 00:14.259[9]; 11. 33F-Rickey Frankel, 00:14.335[15]; 12. 17A-Austin Howes, 00:14.408[7]; 13. 7B-Mark Burgtorf, 00:14.430[10]; 14. 78S-Steve Stultz, 00:14.820[1]; 15. 12-Brandon Queen, 00:15.002[5]; 16. T22-Tegan Evans, 00:15.340[16]; 17. 17-Tim Simpson, 00:15.365[19]; 18. W56-Gary Webb, 00:17.534[14]; 19. 10P-Paul Parker, 00:59.999[11]