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USAC Winchester
WINCHESTER, Ind. — Marc Jessup figured his day at Winchester Speedway had ended after he flipped his car during the first heat. But, his Keith Kunz team completed repairs before the B main, and Jessup went on to dominate Sunday afternoon’s 30-lap Lucas Oil USAC National Sprint Car Series-sanctioned Rich Vogler Classic.
“This is a dream come true,” said Jessup, who collected his first USAC victory. “I’ve had a whole lot less happen (damage) and been done for the day. I was surprised to make it back out and to win, too. That was great.”
On restarts late in the race, Jessup found his engine stumbling as he picked up the throttle. To counter this, he jumped on the throttle early so he would be up to speed upon reaching the white line in the fourth turn.
“I wanted to protect myself, and I did that by taking off early,” said Jessup.
In the closing laps, pavement master Dave Steele ran second, someone Jessup respected and learned from when he started racing on pavement. On each restart, Jessup pulled away.
“To have him behind me and be able to pull away from him is just amazing,” said Jessup. “I wouldn’t want anyone other than him running behind me because I know he definitely has the skills to run safely around the track.”
Steele finished second, with Darren Hagen, Tracy Hines and Eric Gordon rounding out the top five.
The summary:
Qualifications: 1. Marc Jessup, Kunz 67k, 14.281; 2. Darren Hagen, Kunz 67, 14.383; 3. Brian Tyler, Contos 4, 14.554; 4. Mike Murgoitio, Walker/Guiducci 11, 14.660; 5. Dave Steele, Dynamics 69, 14.678; 6. Dave Darland, Pace 44, 14.804; 7. Tracy Hines, Stewart 21, 14.808; 8. Eric Gordon, Bowman 51, 14.853; 9. Levi Jones, Stewart 20, 14.902; 10. Chris Windom, Windom 17, 14.952; 11. Nick Green, Short 36, 14.964; 12. Tom Hessert III, Hessert 5h, 14.983; 13. Ron Gregory, BWB 62, 15.100; 14. Brady Short, 2B Racing 2b, 15.104; 15. Kevin Swindell, Kahne 79, 15.123; 16. Cameron Dodson, Ram 50m, 15.191; 17. Brian Gerster, Davis/Gerster 27, 15.246; 18. Brady Bacon, Kahne 99, 15.439; 19. Damion Gardner, Leffler 71, 15.592; 20. Donnie Adams, Jr., Adams 17a, 15.606; 21. Ryan Litt, Litt 07, 15.709; 22. Dustin Morgan, Walker/Guiducci 11d, 15.762; 23. Jason Blonde, Brown 55, 15.826; 24. Mat Neely, Neely 17n, 15.899; 25. Robert Ballou, MPHG 81, 15.970; 26. Cody Veenstra, Veenstra 07x, 16.060; 27. Daron Clayton, Clayton 92, 16.071; 28. Jesse Hockett, VKCC 75, 16.106.
First Heat (10 laps): Steele, Gregory, Gerster, Jones, Ballou, Litt, Jessup.
Second Heat (10 laps): Darland, Hagen, Bacon, Windom, Morgan, Short, Veenstra.
Third Heat (10 laps): Tyler, Hines, Gardner, Green, Swindell, Blonde, Clayton.
Fourth Heat (10 laps): Dodson, Hessert, Gordon, Murgoitio, Adams, Neely, Hockett.
Semi (12 laps): Jessup, Swindell, Short, Adams, Morgan, Blonde, Clayton, Neely, Veenstra, Hockett, Litt, Ballou. Feature (30 laps): Jessup, Steele, Hagen, Hines, Gordon, Swindell, Darland, Jones, Hessert, Gregory, Morgan, Green, Blonde, Bacon, Dodson, Gerster, Clayton, Windom, Adams, Murgoitio, Tyler, Gardner, Short.