Jimmy Owens earned his second Jackson 100 win
The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series concluded a three-race weekend at Brownstown Speedway on Saturday night with the 42nd running of the Jackson 100. Jimmy Owens scored the win in the prestigious event after a clean night of racing on the track located in Indiana. The Rocket Chassis driver from Newport, Tennessee earned $20,000 for his efforts in a race shown live by MavTV Plus.
A total of 39 cars were signed in for competition.
Devin Gilpin led Group A qualifying with a lap of 13.433 seconds around the quarter-mile clay oval besting Earl Pearson Jr., Jimmy Owens, Tanner English and Ricky Thornton Jr.
Billy Moyer Jr. was fastest in Group B time-trials with a time of 13.442 seconds topping Mike Marlar, Kyle Bronson, Stormy Scott and Spencer Hughes.
Jimmy Owens was victorious in the first heat race of the night over Hudson O’Neal, Tyler Erb and Devin Gilpin then Earl Pearson Jr. outran Devin Moran, Tanner English and Brandon Sheppard in the second preliminary.
Spencer Hughes took the third heat ahead of Kyle Bronson, Josh Richards and Billy Moyer Jr. just before Mike Marlar defeated Dennis Erb Jr., Stormy Scott and Jason Jameson in the fourth and final heat.
Johnny Scott and Steve Casebolt won the two B-main races used to set the remainder of the starting lineup for the main event.
At the start of the 100-lap feature it was Owens who took the early race lead with Hughes, Pearson, Marlar and Dennis Erb Jr. trailing. While Pearson and Hughes fought over the runner-up spot during the early laps, Bronson moved around Erb to take fifth.
Owens began slip away from his pursuers in the early going until slower traffic became a factor just after lap 10. Hughes continued to battle Pearson as both of those cars made up ground on Owens among slower cars.
The top-5 running of Owens, Hughes, Pearson, Marlar and Bronson held station as the race passed the quarter mark as the feature ran caution free to that point. Owens was able to work through traffic effectively early on as his car appeared to have the ability to maneuver in multiple grooves.
Pearson took second away from Hughes on lap 43 after a side-by-side battle that carried on for several laps and looked to set off after Owens as the two four-time Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series champions paced the field.
Young chargers Moran and O’Neal began to move forward just before the halfway mark as they passed by Bronson and Hughes just inside the top-5. Moran’s charge continued as he took third away from Marlar on lap 56 then he moved to second by passing Pearson on lap 59.
O’Neal and Marlar battled over the fourth position as the race moved inside of 40 laps remaining as they exchanged the spot multiple times. Meanwhile, Owens continued to lead by just over three seconds ahead of Moran and the rest of the field.
English began to rise as the feature passed the three-quarter mark when he passed Marlar for fifth. He then moved around O’Neal to take fourth and lap 80.
The first caution flag of the night waved on lap 86 when sixth-running Ricky Thornton Jr. spun. Moran issued a challenge to Owens on the restart as those two drivers raced side-by-side for several laps. However, Owens would reassert his leadership of the event on lap 93.
As the laps clicked away, the No. 20 machine fought off a last lap challenge from Moran in which the No. 9 briefly took the lead but Owens regained the advantage with a crossover move on the back straightaway. The two cars then raced side-by-side through turns three and four with Owens winning the race to the checkered flag by .079 seconds.
It was Owens second win in the Jackson 100 having previously earned the trophy in 2012.
Feature Finish: 1. Jimmy Owens, 2. Devin Moran, 3. Tanner English, 4. Earl Pearson Jr. , 5. Mike Marlar, 6. Hudson O’Neal, 7. Dennis Erb Jr., 8. Josh Richards, 9. Spencer Hughes, 10. Stormy Scott, 11. Kyle Bronson, 12. Tim McCreadie, 13. Brandon Sheppard, 14. Tyler Erb, 15. Jason Jameson, 16. Zack Dohm, 17. Devin Gilppin, 18. Steve Casebolt, 19. Skyller Lewis, 20. Ricky Thornton Jr., 21. Johnny Scott, 22. Billy Moyer Jr., 23. Shane Clanton, 24. Scott James, 25. Jared Bailey
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