"O'Neal Holds off Cowboy For Jackson 100 Victory"

By: Chris Nunn

Don O'Neal held off a charging Cowboy en route to his second Jackson 100 victory at the Brownstown Speedway. O'Neal took over the outside pole position, when Bryan Barber elected to go to the tail by virtue of a broken rocker arm. He would then lead all 100 laps of the main event.

The 25th Annual Jackson 100 started with Jesse James Lay leading the field to the green flag, with O'Neal outdragging him to turn one. O'Neal would lead the first two laps until the caution came out for the car of Mark Teske in turn three. When racing resumed, a battle for the second position would take place between Mark Barber and Lay. The two would make slight contact, which would allow Barber to take second. Lay would get out of shape, only to lose third place to Darren Miller, and fourth place to Dick Phillips. Miller would then move up to challenge Barber for the runner up spot. Miller took the spot on lap number six. Behind them, Terry English would make his debut in the top five, with a pass on Lay on lap seven. Back up to the battle for third between Barber and Phillips. Barber would hold the position, keeping Phillips in fourth. English would then get around Phillips for the fourth position. English would then get around Barber for the third position on lap 12. Back to Phillips now, who would have to fight with Jeff Wilson for the fifth position. Wilson would take the spot away from Phillips, relegating him to sixth. Wilson would then move up and pass Barber for the fourth position. Back up front, O'Neal would begin the lapping process on lap 15, as he would put Doug Ault and Brad Barrow a lap down. On lap 17, Barber and Phillips would battle for the fifth position, with Phillips making his way back to the top five. At this point, the man on the move was Billy Drake, who had started 20th, and was already up to the eighth position by lap 20. Back to the front now, as Wilson would get sideways coming out of turn four on lap 24 allowing Phillips to fourth, and John Gill to fifth. Gill and Phillips would then wage a war for the fourth position, with Gill taking the spot away from Phillips. Phillips would then have to contend with Drake, who was on a tear towards the front. Phillips would hold Drake off until the caution would fly on lap 26 for the cars of Josh Williams and Scott James. On the restart, Drake would get around Phillips for the fifth position, as English and Gill would battle for third. Gill would get the third position away from English, with Drake coming along to take fourth away from English. English would then lose the fifth position to Phillips. On lap 43, Phillips and Drake would make contact, sending Drake around bringing out the yellow, and ending Drakes march towards the front. The new top five were: O'Neal, Miller, Gill, Phillips, and Dan Sturgeon. When racing resumed, a battle for fifth would take place between Sturgeon and Rick Aukland. Sturgeon would hold the spot, keeping Aukland in sixth. Sturgeon wanted something better, so he passed Phillips for the fourth position. At the same time, Miller was closing on O'Neal for the lead. Back to Sturgeon now, as he would then lose the fourth spot back to Phillips. As Miller would close in to almost pass O'Neal for the lead, he would suddenly pull into the infield with engine woes on lap 56. This would put Gill in the runner up spot, and he would begin to close on O'Neal. Another member of the top five would retire on lap 63 as Aukland would pull in with problems. Back to the battle with O'Neal and Gill, as Gill would try to poke under O'Neal for the point, only to see O'Neal pull away on the straights. The caution would fly again as a five inch long piece of white metal was lying on the track in turn one on lap 74. On the restart, O'Neal would lead the field past the cone with Gill right on his bumper. Gill would make persistant attempts at getting around O'Neal in the turns, only to see O'Neal keep pulling away on the straights. More problems in the top five would arise, as Sturgeon would pull in with problems while running fourth on lap 77. What was a two car battle for the lead, turned into a three car affair, as Phillips would join O'Neal and Gill for some fun. As Phillips started to get a run on the leaders, his oil pressure caused some major problems for him and he would pull in as well while running third. As O'Neal and Gill would get through lapped traffic, Gill just could not find a way to get under O'Neal. With just five to go, Gill and O'Neal would be clear of all lapped traffic and would make a dash to the finish. Gill made a great effort with three to go, but just couldn't make the move. O'Neal would hold on to win the "25th Annual" Jackson 100 ahead of Gill, Steve Barnett, English, and Randy Korte. O'Neal is sponsored by A-1 Auto Salvage, Living Room Center, Blackwell Trucking, CJ Rayburn Race Cars, Allstar Performance, Jay Dickens Racing Engines, and Fast Graphix. The victory marked O'Neals second in the Jackson 100 and his 25th victory in 2004. The $1,000 Lou Ahlbrand Memorial Award went to Stanford, KY native Victor Lee for passing the most cars in the Jackson 100. He passed 11 cars during the 100 lap affair.

The 30 lap, $1,000 to win Modified feature almost saw a first time winner in Matt Huddleston, but someone else had another ideas. Heres how it all panned out. The feature would start off with a yellow as Bobby Gardner and Paul Ortman would spin in turn four. When racing resumed, Huddleston would lead the first lap with Earl Plessinger in pursuit. Back a little ways, Randle Sweeney and Jeremy Hines would battle for the fifth position. Sweeney would take the spot, moving Hines back to sixth. A battle for the second position was also taking place between Plessinger and Clint Demoss. Plessinger would hold Demoss off to keep his second position. All battles would cease however, for a caution involving Chuck Griffis on the frontstretch. On the restart, Sweeney and Matt Boknecht would battle for the fourth position, with Sweeney taking the spot. Sweeney would then get around Demoss for the third position before the caution would fly on lap 14 for debris. A series of yellows would follow, one for Bubba Woods who would slam the barrier in turn four. The other was for Griffis again on the backstretch. When racing resumed for good on lap 17, Sweeney and Demoss would run side by side for the third position. Demoss would take the spot, putting Sweeney back to fourth. Matt Bex would then make his way into the top five, as he would take fifth away from Boknecht. As the leaders took the five to go signal, Plessinger would start putting pressure on Huddleston who was running the bottom of the track. With Plessinger on the rim, it was anyones ball game at this point. As the white flag flew, Plessinger took a slight advantage on Huddleston down the back straightaway. As the duo came out of turn four, Plessinger had enough momentum to snag the victory at the line. Following Plessinger to the line was Huddleston, Denoss, Boknecht, and Sweeney would round out the top five

SUMMARY:

LATE MODELS (71 Cars)

HEAT ONE: Jesse James Lay, Darrin Miller, Steve Barnett, Kevin Weaver, Victor Lee, Shannon Reed, Brad Erwin, Patrick Sheltra, Rick Sowders, Rickey Riggle, Justin Blackwell, Kyle Richards

HEAT TWO: Bryan Barber, Terry English, Brad Neat, Wayne Chinn, John Mason, Ted Nobbe, Brad Barrow, Dion Deason, Devin Sebree, Rick Corbin, Mike Bechelli, Dusty Chapman

HEAT THREE: Mark Barber, Jeff Wilson, Josh Williams, Brent Londeree, Steve Casebolt, Pete Parker, Blake Chinn, Bryan Barnhardt, Danny Cox, Ray Godsey, Ryan Eads, Brian Wilhite

HEAT FOUR: Don O'Neal, Greg Johnson, Randy Korte, Billy Drake, Dennis Erb Jr., Scott James, Bradley Sturgeon, Mike Jewell, Ernie Barrow, Elex Leyton, Jayme Zidar, Duane Brown

HEAT FIVE: Dick Phillips, Dan Sturgeon, James Huff, Frankie Coomer, Randle Sweeney, Steven Godsey, Spencer Watson, Gary Hardin, Jim Curry, JP Hume, Charles Ross

HEAT SIX: Rick Aukland, John Gill, Doug Ault, Mark Teske, Kevin Claycomb, Tim Prince, Mark Anderson, Chad Smith, Jack Taylor, Tom Allman, Greg Ault

CONSI ONE: Victor Lee, Wayne Chinn, Kevin Weaver, Dion Deason, Patrick Sheltra, Rick Corbin, John Mason, Brad Erwin, Justin Blackwell, Rick Sowders, Devin Sebree, Mike Bechelli, Ted Nobbe, Dusty Chapman, Brad Barrow, Shannon Reed, Rickey Riggle

CONSI TWO: Billy Drake, Scott James, Dennis Erb Jr., Brent Londeree, Bradley Sturgeon, Steve Casebolt, Elex Leyton, Blake Chinn, Jayme Zidar, Danny Cox, Bryan Barnhardt, Ryan Eads, Duane Brown, Mike Jewell, Pete Parker, Ernie Barrow, Ray Godsey

CONSI THREE: Mark Teske, Frankie Coomer, Kevin Claycomb, Randle Sweeney, Steve Godsey, Chad Smith, Jim Curry, Gary Hardin, JP Hume, Jack Taylor, Charles Ross, Spencer Watson, Tim Prince

FEATURE: Don Oneal, John Gill, Steve Barnett, Terry English, Randy Korte, Jeff Wilson, Greg Johnson, Victor Lee, Mark Barber, Jesse James Lay, Brad Neat, James Huff, Josh Williams, Frankie Coomer, Wayne Chinn, Doug Ault, Dick Phillips, Dan Sturgeon, Mark Teske, Billy Drake, Rick Aukland, Darren Miller, Brad Barrow, Scott James, Bryan Barber -- (Lou Ahlbrand Memorial Winner - Victor Lee)

UMP Modifieds (54 Cars)

HEAT ONE: Earl Plessinger, Matt Boknecht, Randle Sweeney, Rob Manley, Gary Barrow, Broc Burton, Troy Cannon, Ron Fedor, Jimmie Powers

HEAT TWO: Jeremy Hines, Joe Godsey, John Davis, Dennis Boknecht, John Martin, Rodney Harris Jr., Sam Lee, John Phillips, Donnie Parson

HEAT THREE: Matt Huddeleston, Chuck Griffis, Mike Bowersox, Greg Deckard, Gary Burton, Ralph Lane, Charles Phillips, Josh Ferguson, Brandon Reed

HEAT FOUR: Matt Bex, Jeff Bland Jr., Alan Magner, Shelby Miles, Billy Despain, Alan Adams, David Spille, JD Roberts, Murl Robinson

HEAT FIVE: Clint DeMoss, Brent Londeree, Adam Sasser, Bubba Woods, Josh Wells, Brad Fleetwood, Daniel Bohall, Jerry Davis, Dale Ayers

HEAT SIX: Nathan Voorhies, Paul Ortman, Bobby Gardner, Tim Eddleman, Jared Bailey, Brad Cummings, Travis Fleetwood, Greg Lee, Webb Lee

CONSI ONE: Rob Manley, Gary Barrow, Broc Burton, Dennis Boknecht, Rodney Harris Jr., Troy Cannon, Sam Lee, Ron Fedor, John Martin, John Phillips, Jimmie Powers

CONSI TWO: Shelby Miles, Davis Spille, Gary Burton, Greg Deckard, Josh Ferguson, JD Roberts, Billy Despain, Charles Phillips, Alan Adams, Ralph Lane

CONSI THREE: Bubba Woods, Tim Eddleman, Brad Cummings, Daniel Bohall, Brad Fleetwood, Jared Bailey, Josh Wells, Webb Lee, Travis Fleetwood, Greg Lee, Jerry Davis

FEATURE: Earl Plessinger, Matt Huddleston, Clint DeMoss, Matt Boknecht, Randle Sweeney, Adam Sasser, Brent Londeree, Matt Bex, Shelby Miles, Jeremy Hines, Alan Magner, David Spille, Tim Eddleman, Mike Bowersox, Gary Barrow, Rob Manley, Bubba Woods, John Davis, Nathan Voorhies, Bobby Gardner, Chuck Griffis, Jeff Bland Jr., Joe Godsey, Paul Ortman