(Photo by Speedway Shots)
Inside Line Promotions – JACKSON, Minn. (June 6, 2017) – Jack Dover recorded one of the most prestigious wins of his career last weekend at Jackson Motorplex where he nearly swept the 360ci winged sprint car portion of the 39th annual AGCO Jackson Nationals.
Dover claimed the opening night, finished second on Night 2 and dominated the finale to capture the crown.
“It’s one of those prestigious races,” he said. “Hopefully it’s a big event in 25 years and I’ll be one of the drivers with my name on a t-shirt as a previous champion.”
Dover opened the tripleheader on Friday when he finished where he started – third – in a heat race. That missed the feature redraw by only one spot and lined him up on the inside of the fifth row for the main event sanctioned by the Carpet Land Nebraska 360 Sprints, Upper Midwest Sprint Car Series and the Midwest Sprint Touring Series.
“Every time I go on the track I have a car capable of winning,” he said. “I told myself to creep around the bottom and let the front cars sort themselves out. Luckily everyone went into turns one and two and slid up. I caught some moisture and we were in second on the first lap. It was lucky and good thinking on my part. I knew I had to drive hard and race smart.”
Dover advanced from ninth to second on Lap 1 before he took the lead a few laps later en route to the victory.
The second night of competition nearly went just as smooth as Dover won a heat race after starting on the outside of the front row. That advanced him into the feature redraw, in which he pulled the No. 1 to start the main event on the pole.
“We led the whole thing until the last lap,” he said. “I’d rather be chasing than get chased. You don’t know how to pace yourself or what line to run. I was really frustrated, but to come out second was still pretty good.”
That ranked Dover second in overall preliminary points, which locked him into the feature redraw for Saturday’s main event. He pulled the No. 3 to start the A Main on the inside of the second row.
“I got to second right away,” he said. “We pretty much did the same setup as the first night because we knew it’d be around the bottom. Luckily I got by Cody (Ledger) for the lead before they threw the yellow. That put me in the lead and we never looked back. We had a pretty good distance once I got to traffic so I didn’t push the issue. I knew I slowed up quite a bit and knew someone would be coming, but it would have been hard to pass me because the bottom was so good.”
Dover maintained the top spot for the final 19 laps to earn his first-ever Jackson Nationals title.
“Any time you can win a race that says nationals at the end of it you know it’s a pretty awesome race,” he said. “We were one lap shy of winning all three nights. Any weekend you can almost clean sweep the weekend it’s pretty amazing.”
Dover will drive for Chris Bowers this Friday at U.S. 36 Raceway in Osborn, Mo., with the ASCS Warrior Region before returning to his sprint car on Saturday at Junction Motor Speedway in McCool Junction, Neb., with the NCRA Series.
QUICK RESULTS –
June 1 – Jackson Motorplex in Jackson, Minn. – Heat race: 3 (3); Feature: 1 (9).
June 2 – Jackson Motorplex in Jackson, Minn. – Heat race: 1 (2); Feature: 2 (1).
June 3 – Jackson Motorplex in Jackson, Minn. – Feature: 1 (3).
SEASON STATS –
13 races, 5 wins, 8 top fives, 10 top 10s, 11 top 15s, 12 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Friday at U.S. 36 Raceway in Osborn, Mo., with the ASCS Warrior Region and Saturday at Junction Motor Speedway in McCool Junction, Neb., with the NCRA Series
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.JackDoverRacing.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackDoverRacing
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jackdoverracing?fref=ts
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Thorpe’s Body Shop
Thorpe’s Body Shop has been offering collision repair and automobile painting services to customers in Papillion, Neb., and the surrounding areas for more than 40 years. For more information, visit http://ThorpesBodyShop.com.
“I want to thank Thorpe’s Body Shop for making our cars look sharp every year,” Dover said. “Blake, who co-owns it, has been a family friend since I can remember and we really appreciate his support of our race team throughout the years.”
Dover would also like to thank Carpet Land, Certified Transmission, Home Pride Companies, Inc., True Trucking, Eagle Motorsports, Moss Racing Engines, Backlund Plumbing, Speedway Graphics, Trail Performance Coatings Inc., ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems, Keizer Wheels, Schoenfeld Headers, Langfeldt Overhead Doors, K&N Filters, FK Rod Ends, DMI, Speedway Motors, Vortex Wings, Ostransky Farms, Select Auto, Select Auto Body, R&G Services and Industrial Plating for their continued support.
PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES –
Jack Dover Racing is close to being able to compete across the country by returning to the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour, where Dover has finished in the top 10 both seasons he has raced full time with the premier 360 sprint car series. He is also ready to compete with the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series en route to his dream of racing in NASCAR. For more information on partnership opportunities, e-mail JackDoverRacing@yahoo.com.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.
To meet the media relations needs of your program by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.
- Shawn Miller on Jun 07, 2017
- Article Date: 6/6/2017 by Inside Line Promotions