JACKSON, Minn. — A late-race pass from a hard charging driver secured victory in both divisions competing on Friday night at Jackson Motorplex, which hosted Tony Stewart Night presented by C&B Operations.
James McFadden led the final five laps of the $10,000-to-win Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions feature and Elliot Amdahl powered to his third consecutive Heartland Steel RaceSaver sprint cars presented by Wyffels Hybrids triumph after taking the lead with two laps remaining.
McFadden maneuvered from fifth into second place by the midpoint of the 30-lap All Star feature. He stalked Josh Baughman for the top spot before executing the race-winning pass on the bottom of turns three and four with only five laps remaining.
“I was getting really annoyed at the cautions,” he said after becoming the 24th different feature winner at Jackson Motorplex this season. “Every time we’d get to traffic we’d have a caution. It’s one of those deals if you didn’t get it done he’d probably step up the pace.”
Brian Brown led the first dozen laps before he spun as the caution was waved on Lap 13 – a lap after entering traffic. Baughman inherited the lead and just as he reached traffic a caution came out on Lap 20. McFadden stayed within striking distance before pouncing in the closing laps for his second straight All Star triumph and the fourth of his career.
Cory Eliason passed Baughman for the runner-up result with two laps remaining and he finished 2.255 seconds behind McFadden.
“Any time you can have more than one groove of racing it’s awesome,” Eliason said.
Baughman rounded out the podium.
“That last caution a tire sealed over and we were a sitting duck,” he said. “To come out here and race with these guys and compete says a lot.”
Kerry Madsen was the Hard Charger Award winner for maneuvering from 18th to fourth and Justin Henderson garnered a fifth-place finish.
Aaron Reutzel set quick time of the 33 drivers in qualifying.
Amdahl continued his recent domination during the Heartland Steel RaceSaver sprint cars presented by Wyffels Hybrids main event. He moved up to the high groove in the waning laps and took over second place with five laps remaining before running down Ryan Voss for the top spot.
Voss posted a runner-up result after leading 16 of the 20 laps. Javen Ostermann placed third with Sam Henderson fourth and 12th -starting Bill Johnson fifth.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 9-James McFadden (5); 2. 26-Cory Eliason (2); 3. 17-Josh Baughman (3); 4. 2M-Kerry Madsen (18); 5. 7X-Justin Henderson (4); 6. 44-Trey Starks (11); 7. 13-Paul McMahan (8); 8. 70-Brock Zearfoss (7); 9. 21K-Thomas Kennedy (20); 10. 55-Brooke Tatnell (15); 11. 11-Dale Blaney (9); 12. 2KS-Austin McCarl (14); 13. W20-Greg Wilson (23); 14. 70X-Justin Peck (10); 15. 17W-Shane Golobic (22); 16. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr (12); 17. 21-Brian Brown (1); 18. 83-Lynton Jeffrey (19); 19. 35-Skylar Prochaska (13); 20. 07-Gerard McIntyre Jr (25); 21. 14M-Marcus Dumesny (17); 22. 99-Skylar Gee (24); 23. 2C-Wayne Johnson (16); 24. 87-Aaron Reutzel (6); 25. 14-Tony Stewart (21).