Erik Jones wins UARA Super Late Model race at Jennerstown

Erik Jones had never seen Jennerstown Speedway until Wednesday and he became a winner there in the UARA Motor Mountain Masters 150 by Thursday night.

Driving his No. 4 Port City chassis, Jones led the first 22 laps before conceding the lead over to Johnny Sauter in the Wauters Motorsports No. 5. Sauter was penalized at the halfway break, for two infractions, parking at the hauler and for the team working on the car too soon.

As a result, Jones re-inherited the lead and never looked back.

“I had a fun race, had a good car,” said Jones. “The first stage, we were just loose. I saw the 5 [of Sauter] and the 26 [of Pollard], they were pretty good. Mike here made some good adjustments at the break. Got the car good, had a good restart and we were able to maintain from there.

“Our long run was tough at the beginning. It kept going free, going free. I was happy about the yellows. I thought once I could cool my stuff down, I’d be good.”

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Driving for Tony Elrod in a HAMKE chassis similar to the one he typically drives for Bob Lyon, Jeremy Doss finished second.

“It feels pretty good,” said Doss. “You always want to finish one spot better than this. I just want to thank Tony and Amber Elrod for the opportunity. The car’s in one piece. I don’t think there’s a mark on it. I think we were just a little bit off right at the end. Congrats to Erik on the win, we’ll get them next time.”

Bubba Pollard drove to second before the halfway break but the car just didn’t quite have enough.

“We just got too tight,” said Pollard. “The stagger closed up on us and made for a long 75 laps. I knew when we fired off we were in trouble. It’s part of it. We’ve just got to do a better job with tires and learning what we need to do to pass. On the first run, it was pretty good. We didn’t really make any adjustments, all we did was put the two tires on it.”

Pollard, the defending UARA Super Late Model champion, retained his earnings lead following wins in the Rattler 250 at South Alabama and Money in the Bank at Berlin.

Albert Francis and Evan Shotko completed the top-five. Sauter had driven back to third but pulled off the track with a mechanical issue inside of the final 10 laps. The UARA season continues on August 6-7 with the $40,000-to-win Battle at Berlin 250.

For Jones, this was ultimately just a good chance to run a new short track no too far from Pocono Raceway where the NASCAR Cup Series is this weekend. Winning is just a bonus.

“It’s always good to win, right? No matter what you’re driving or where you’re at or what you’re doing,” said Jones. “I’d love to have at least one win a year, right? It’s fun to add one to the resume here, at a first-time track. Thank you guys who came out tonight. It’s great people, a great facility, a great place, great track, a lot of fun to race on.”

UARA Motor Mountain Masters 150
Jennerstown Speedway
July 11 2024

1. Erik Jones
2. Jeremy Doss
3. Bubba Pollard
4. Albert Francis
5. Evan Shotko
6. Jarred Barclay
7. Michael Atwell
8. Brandon Turbush
9. Johnny Sauter
10. Brandan Marhefka
11. Ethan Myers
12. Bryan Shipp
13. Michael Hemminger
14. Scott Melton