YORK HAVEN, Pa.: Tony Jackson never forgot the words of his legendary father, Larry Jackson, a former winner of the Sportsman 100 and one of the top drivers to ever pilot a car in the Super Sportsman division.
The elder Jackson drove home the point, “To win the Sportsman 100, you have to finish the Sportsman 100.” That about sums up Tony Jackson’s run in the Herr’s Chips 49th annual Gary Wolford Super Sportsman 100 presented by Drydene Oil.
Tony Jackson didn’t have the fastest car in the grueling, long-distance event. Scott Dellinger, maybe even Matt Ondek or Kenny Edkin, had faster mounts. But Jackson did something they didn’t ... he finished.
It was a well-earned, and probably overdue, celebration in Victory Lane Saturday night. Jackson overcame all obstacles and joined his father as the only father-son to win the prestigious Super Sportsman 100 at BAPS Motor Speedway.
“This is like a dream come true to win this,” Jackson said afterward. “I didn’t give good feedback at the intermission, and I can’t put it on those guys. I feel they give me the best car every night, but honestly, we didn’t have the best racecar ... but you know what, you’ve got to run all 100 laps.
“I’m super-proud of this team. I told my son and wife on the way here today, ‘Normally, the winner of this race is someone who has won before, championships, and whatever.’ My son reminded me that in winged and wingless, I’ve won every big race but this one. Tonight was our night.”
Jackson started off the night strong by setting quick time for the 28-car field with a lap of 18.361. That put him 12th on the starting grid, and it took some time for the Newville, Pa., driver to make his way to the front.
Eric Walker started second and shot into the lead. Matt Ondek, who started fifth, has been one of the fastest cars in the pit area the second half of the season and used that speed to grab the lead on the 16th circuit.
While Ondek paced the field, Jackson was carving his way through the field. He was running fourth by Lap 29 and cracked the top three two laps later before getting locked in an intense battle with Russ Mitten.
The two drivers diced around the speedway, with Jackson pulling a slider in Turn 2 on Lap 51. Contact occurred, and Mitten got the worst of it, which ended any chance he had of defending his Sportsman 100 title.
“Before I go any further, I’m sure Russell isn’t happy, but he and I race each other hard and I race him clean,” Jackson said. “I thought I had him cleared, and at the end of the day, you have to use your left foot sometimes.
“I’ve had to do that a lot, so he could’ve lived to race another lap. He isn’t going to want to think that is right, but I’ve had to lift and use my brakes. It is what it is.”
Ondek was still setting a good pace, but his race came to an end on Lap 67, when he stopped on the speedway. That handed the lead to Jackson, but it was a short-lived stint at the front.
Scott Dellinger started ninth and was the fastest car on the track. He uncorked a huge slider on Jackson and took the lead on Lap 72. He started to stretch his lead but contact with a lapped car on the 85th circuit took him out of contention.
Again, Jackson inherited the lead. This time, he didn’t give it up. The veteran driver moved around the racetrack and did whatever was necessary to take the checker by 2.810 seconds at the finish.
“You’ve got to finish,” Jackson said. “Scott [Dellinger] surprised the crap out of me when he threw that slider at me. He had a little more straightaway speed than we did tonight. I would’ve liked to have finished it out, even if we ran second.
“It was a tough break for Matt. He had a really good car, but I felt like I could run with him. Scott was able to gap me a little bit, but at the end of the day, we are standing here, and that is what’s going to show in the history books. It’s pretty cool to be the first father-son to win the 100.”
Mike Enders followed Jackson to the stripe, with Jay Fannasy completing the podium. Dellinger came back through the field to finish fourth. Walker fell to fifth.
In the Creekside Auto Sales 358 Late Model main event, Jed Latshaw started on the pole and wired the field for the 20-Lap victory.
Latshaw beat fellow front-row starter Mike Walls to the line to lead Lap 1 and never looked back. He survived four cautions periods and took the win by 1.067 seconds.
Bobby Beard stormed from 10th to second, with Mike Walls finishing third. Matt Adams and Travis Mease completed the top five.
Like Latshaw, Greg Reed started on the pole and led every lap in the 20-Lap FXG Sign and Label/Dickey’s 602 Crate Modified feature.
This one was never close. Reed dominated the field, claiming the win by a hefty 4.874 seconds over Brad Brightbill. Tom Princiotta, Adam White, and Talan Carter completed the top five.
Meyer's RV Super Sportsman ( 28 Cars ):
1) 88 Tony Jackson 2) 3B Mike Enders 3) 222 Jay Fannasy 4) 30 Scott Dellinger 5) 88w Eric Walker 6) 5D Luke Deatrick 7) 25 Tyler Wolford 8) 10 Troy Rhome 9) 19R Eric Rutz 10) 99G Scott Grace 11) 38DD Luke Lenker
12) 21R Jamie Rickert 13) 6s Shane McConnell 14) 77w Tom Wyckoff 15) 35 John Edkin 16) 75 Kenny Edkin 17) 9B Blake Brooks 18) 2M Matt Ondek 19) 32 Gene Eppley 20) 318 Steve Wilbur 21) 38H Allan Hallman
22) 77 Russ Mitten 23) 7 Timmie Barrick 24) F14 Jason Fraker
DNQ: 37 Jordan Fulton, 11 Chad Baker, 24 Jack Liddick, 22 Daniel John
Lap Leaders: 88w Walker ( 1 - 15 ), 2m Ondek ( 16 - 67 ), 88 Jackson ( 68 - 71 ), 30 Dellinger ( 72 - 84) 88 Jackson ( 85 - 100 )
Quick Time: 88 Jackson
Qualifers: 19R Rutz, 22 John
Creekside Auto Sales 358 Late Models ( 27 Cars ):
1) 25 Jed Latsha 2) 12 Bobby Beard 3) 52 Mike Walls 4) 77 Matt Adams 5) 116 Travis Mease 6) 118 Sean Merkel 7) 56R Chaz Buchinsky 8) 5W Travis Horan 9) 21m Matt Murphy 10) 41 Jake Moser 11) 18 DJ Mease
12) 72 Wayne Pfeil 13) 79 Tyler Bowman 14) 08 Zach Kauffman 15) X4 Lou Egrie 16) 543 Eric Tripp 17) 26 Shawn Liddick 18) 4 John Moser 19) 14 Lucas Adams 20) NINE Ross Leinbach 21) 15 Jared Miller 22) 4M Kyle Moser
23) ONE Chuck Schutz 24) 62 Devin Frey
DNQ: 7F Hunter Fulton, 54 Cole Slanker, 88c Chuck Cox III
Lap Leaders: 25 Latshaw ( 1 - 20 )
Heat Winners: 25 Latshaw, 52 Walls, 56R Buchinsky
FXG Sign & Label / Dickeys 602 Modifieds ( 14 Cars ):
1) 21 Greg Reed 2) 19 Brad Brightbill 3) 32 Tom Princiotta 4) 15 Adam White 5) 1JR Talan Carter 6) 54 Chase Rehbein 7) 99 Donnie Broderick 8) 5 Bryce Bashore 9) 78 Troy Conrad 10) B4 Tim Borror 11) 43 Michael White
12) 72 Ray Woodall 13) 44 Bob Stough 14) 17 Bobby Kupp
Lap Leaders{ 21 Reed ( 1 - 20 )
Heat Winners: 21 Reed, 19 Brightbill
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