2/16/2019
Jake O'Neil Wins Final Night of AZ Mod Tour at USA Raceway
Jake and Nick both continued their early season schedule as he participated in the 7-race Arizona Mod Tour, which took place at 4 cities across the state of Arizona during the early part of February. The series kicked off on February 8th at the Arizona Speedway in Queen Creek, AZ. 92 IMCA Modified competitors checked in for action on the opening night of the tour and Jake had a rough start to the tour, not able to make the start in either his heat or b-main due to mechanical issues. Nick had a better outing, finishing third in his heat race and coming home with a fifth place finish in his b-main.
The tour continued on February 9th at Arizona Speedway with another stout field of competitors in action. Nick ran sixth in his heat race and then made his way forward to a fourth place finish in his b-main, Jake got back up to speed with a 9th to 2nd run in his heat race, putting him outside of the third row for the main. During the feature, he was able to get up to 2nd quickly and came home with a solid runner up finish in the main event.
Sunday night, the tour moved to the Central Arizona Speedway in Casa Grande, Az and Jake again had a great night, winning his heat race from his 6th starting position and then coming home with his second straight runner up finish in the main event after starting on the outside of the third row. Nick also won his qualifying heat race and then made his way forward from his 12th starting spot to an 8th place finish in the night's main event.
Night #4 of the tour was held Monday night at the Central Arizona Speedway and Jake ran second in his heat race before racing forward from his 11th starting position to an 8th place finish when the checkered flew. Nick ran fourth in his heat race, then came home with a runner up finish in the b-main and, after starting 21st in the main, moved ahead to post a 19th place finish when all was said and done.
After a night off, the tour moved to the Canyon Speedway Park in Peoria, AZ for the fifth leg of the week-long mini-series with Jake passing a ton of cars en route to his top five finish. After he raced from 10th to 7th in his heat race, he then charged from 8th to 3rd in the b-main, qualifying for the 22nd starting spot in the main event. From there, Jake put on a show, slicing and dicing through traffic to come home with an impressive fifth place finish. Nick also qualified for the main event by finishing second in his heat race, but after starting 14th in the main, he elected to retire early on the tricky racing surface, ending with a dnf.
After practice night at the newly re-opened USA Raceway in Tucson, AZ was rained out, night #6 kicked off with Jake winning his qualifying heat race from the pole and then charging forward in the night's main event from his 12th starting spot to post a fifth place finish. Nick had his bad luck return as he failed to finish his heat race and then scratched from the night's b-main.
The 7th and final night of the tour was back at USA Raceway and saw Jake pick up the win on the final night of the tour after a fourth to first run in his heat race and then a fifth to first run in the night's main event to claim the $1,500 top prize. Nick also had a great final night of the tour after racing from 10th to 3rd in his heat race, he started 6th and settled in with a fifth place finish to cap off a successful week-long tour.
Results can be found at www.ArizonaModTour.com.
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