O’Neil a slam dunk in USMTS Jayhawk Classic lid-lifter

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.

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.

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OFFICIAL RESULTS
United States Modified Touring Series
Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt
12th Annual Jayhawk Classic – Night 1 of 2
Lakeside Speedway, Kansas City, Kan.
Friday, May 5, 2023

Showing finishing position, starting position in parentheses, car number, driver and hometown. Heat race lineups are determined via group qualifying. The top 12 in heat race passing points advance to the Summit Racing Equipment “A” Main.

SIMPSON PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS HEAT RACE #1 (8 laps):
1. (4) 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa
2. (2) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
3. (5) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas
4. (6) 3B Nic Bidinger, Perry, Kan.
5. (1) 01 Jacob Hobscheidt, Plattsmouth, Neb.
6. (8) K9 Will Krup, Mt. Carmel, Ill.
7. (10) 19SB Lance Mari, El Centro, Calif.
8. (7) 10B Brandon Givens, Wichita, Kan.
9. (9) 55 Chris Kratzer, Lyons, Kan.
10. (3) 11X Tom Berry Jr., Des Moines, Iowa
DNS – 45 Chase Holland, Success, Miss.

FAST SHAFTS HEAT RACE #2 (8 laps):
1. (2) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
2. (6) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.
3. (3) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
4. (5) 88 Chad Wheeler, Muskogee, Okla.
5. (7) 1K Tim Karrick, Basehor, Kan.
6. (1) 21C Chad Clancy, Polo, Mo.
7. (4) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa
8. (8) 44T Tanner Black, Otis, Kan.
9. (10) 99L Steve Lavasseur, River Falls, Wis.
10. (9) 11N Gene Nicholas, Lowell, Ark.

EDELBROCK HEAT RACE #3 (8 laps):
1. (2) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
2. (4) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
3. (1) 65 Tyler Davis, Haysville, Kan.
4. (6) 24C Jim Chisholm, Osage, Iowa
5. (5) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
6. (3) 58X Gary Christian, Broken Bow, Okla.
7. (7) 68 Kerry Davis, Parkville, Mo.
8. (9) 4TW Tim Ward, Harcourt, Iowa
9. (8) 9 Mark Schafman, Edwardsville, Kan.
DNS – 38T Dylan Thornton, Orcutt, Calif.

WIELAND HEAT RACE #4 (8 laps):
1. (3) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan.
2. (7) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
3. (5) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
4. (1) 29 Dennis Elliott, Mt. Ayr, Iowa
5. (9) 44K Kelsie Foley, Otis, Kan.
6. (8) 30 Dalton Kirk, Edgerton, Kan.
7. (2) 17 Jon Plowman, Woodbine, Iowa
8. (4) 4 Jeremy Nelson, Alexandria, Minn.
9. (6) 16 Austin Siebert, Grandview, Mo.
DNS – 11JR Randal Schiffelbein Jr., Berryton, Kan.

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #1 (12 laps, top 5 advance):
1. (1) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
2. (6) 19SB Lance Mari, El Centro, Calif.
3. (3) 44K Kelsie Foley, Otis, Kan.
4. (8) 4TW Tim Ward, Harcourt, Iowa
5. (4) 29 Dennis Elliott, Mt. Ayr, Iowa
6. (9) 44T Tanner Black, Otis, Kan.
7. (10) 55 Chris Kratzer, Lyons, Kan.
8. (7) 21C Chad Clancy, Polo, Mo.
9. (11) 11N Gene Nicholas, Lowell, Ark.
10. (2) 65 Tyler Davis, Haysville, Kan.
11. (5) 30 Dalton Kirk, Edgerton, Kan.
DNS – 4 Jeremy Nelson, Alexandria, Minn.
DNS – 45 Chase Holland, Success, Miss.
DNS – 11JR Randal Schiffelbein Jr., Berryton, Kan.

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #2 (12 laps, top 5 advance):
1. (1) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
2. (3) K9 Will Krup, Mt. Carmel, Ill.
3. (4) 01 Jacob Hobscheidt, Plattsmouth, Neb.
4. (2) 1K Tim Karrick, Basehor, Kan.
5. (5) 58X Gary Christian, Broken Bow, Okla.
6. (8) 10B Brandon Givens, Wichita, Kan.
7. (10) 9 Mark Schafman, Edwardsville, Kan.
8. (7) 17 Jon Plowman, Woodbine, Iowa
9. (9) 99L Steve Lavasseur, River Falls, Wis.
10. (6) 68 Kerry Davis, Parkville, Mo.
11. (11) 11X Tom Berry Jr., Des Moines, Iowa
DNS – 16 Austin Siebert, Grandview, Mo.
DNS – 38T Dylan Thornton, Orcutt, Calif.

SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT “A” MAIN (35 laps):
1. (2) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.
2. (5) 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa
3. (6) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
4. (8) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
5. (7) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
6. (16) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
7. (3) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan.
8. (1) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas
9. (15) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
10. (25) 58X Gary Christian, Broken Bow, Okla.
11. (4) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
12. (18) K9 Will Krup, Mt. Carmel, Ill.
13. (9) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
14. (11) 24C Jim Chisholm, Osage, Iowa
15. (19) 44K Kelsie Foley, Otis, Kan.
16. (17) 19SB Lance Mari, El Centro, Calif.
17. (24) 10B Brandon Givens, Wichita, Kan.
18. (10) 3B Nic Bidinger, Perry, Kan.
19. (12) 88 Chad Wheeler, Muskogee, Okla.
20. (13) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
21. (22) 1K Tim Karrick, Basehor, Kan.
22. (21) 4TW Tim Ward, Harcourt, Iowa
23. (20) 01 Jacob Hobscheidt, Plattsmouth, Neb.
24. (14) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa
25. (23) 11X Tom Berry Jr., Des Moines, Iowa

Lap Leader: O’Neil 1-35.
Total Laps Led: O’Neil 35.
Margin of Victory: 4.149 seconds.
Time of Race: 15 minutes, 2.829 seconds (1 caution).
Provisional Starters: Berry, Givens.
Emergency Provisionals: Christian.
FK Rod Ends Hard Charger: Ebert (started 16th, finished 6th).
Entries: 41.
Next Race: Saturday, May 6, Lakeside Speedway, Kansas City, Kan.
Summit USMTS National Championship Points: O'Neil 1020, Ebert 1003, Sanders 1000, Hughes 968, Wolff 963, Phillips 957, Berry 943, Krup 936, Ramirez 931, Fuqua 930.
Grant Junghans USMTS Rookie of the Year Points: Berry 943, Krup 936, Christian 789, Nelson 774, Holland 680.
FK Rod Ends USMTS Hard Charger Points: Givens 49, O'Neil 42, Hughes 40, Chisholm 40, Phillips 38.
Miller Welders USMTS Manufacturers Championship Points: Mullens 90, MBCustoms 90, Hughes 75, LG2 70, VanderBuilt 70.
Callies/JE Pistons USMTS Engine Builder of the Year Points: Cornett 95, Mullins 94, Stoen 87, Hatfield 77, ProPower 71.

Contingency Awards:
Aero Race Wheels – Kirk.
American Racer – Karrick.
Beyea Custom Headers – Ramirez.
BigDeal Car Care – O’Neil, Christian.
Bryke Racing – Foley.
BSB Manufacturing – Karrick.
Champ Pans – Mullens.
Collins Brothers Towing – Thornton.
Deatherage Opticians – Chisholm.
Edelbrock – Mullens.
Fast Shafts – Phillips.
FK Rod Ends – Ebert.
Hooker Harness – Krup.
Hyperco – Nicholas.
Integra Racing Shocks & Springs – Bidinger.
Keyser Manufacturing – Christian.
KSE Racing Products – Ebert.
MD3 – O’Neil.
Mel Hambelton Racing – Carter.
Mesilla Valley Transportation – Krup.
Midwest Wrap Co. – Ward.
MSD Performance – Sanders.
Penske Racing Shocks – Hughes.
PEM Racing Gears & Drivetrain – Siebert.
QA1 – Carter.
Quarter Master – VanderBeek.
RacerWebsite.com – Holland.
Salty’s BBQ & Catering – Christian.
Simpson Performance Products – Carter.
Summit Racing Equipment – Chisholm, Krup, Ramirez, Sanders, VanderBeek.
Super Clean – O’Neil.
Swift Springs – Chisholm, Bidinger, O’Neil.
Sybesma Graphics – Ahumada.
VP Racing – O’Neil.
Wehrs Machine & Racing Products – Schiffelbein.
Willy's Carb & Dyno Shop – Ahumada.
Wilwood Disc Brakes – Fuqua.