CONTACT AT KOKOMO: Tucker Wins Third Tour Feature of Season 3 After Bergeron Penalty
Tucker pads large points lead, looks to seal second straight title in two weeks’ time
May 12, 2021 – White flag. Big slide job in Turns 1-2 by Alex Bergeron. Kendal Tucker crosses underneath him with the lead as they exit Turn 2. Then, big contact.
Both drivers dove for the inside of Turn 3 at Kokomo Speedway, neither willing to give an inch as they rounded the final corners before the finish line. Some contact was made, then some more, and even more still as they crossed underneath the checkered flag in Wednesday night’s NOS Energy Drink 360 Sprint Car Feature.
The iRacing simulation showed Bergeron as the winner, but DIRTcar eSports officials determined, in post-race review, that Bergeron was at fault in the incident for initiating the contact with Tucker. Therefore, Bergeron was handed a two-spot post-race penalty, and officially scored in third place.
This handed the $250 Feature win over to Tucker and moved original third-place Dylan Houser into second.
The last-lap fireworks succeeded a very entertaining 30 laps around the virtual quarter-mile, filled with several clean slide jobs for the lead as Houser and Bergeron tried to wrestle the lead from polesitter Tucker, who led all but the final lap.
Houser was the first to do so on Lap 25, launching a big slider in Turns 3-4 that Tucker quickly turned underneath to regain the position. Bergeron threw one the very next corner, which Tucker answered immediately, driving right back by him on the inside to take the spot back.
Tucker led the race through the white flag before Bergeron threw the slide job at him again in Turn 1 before the final-corner melee that decided the race, ultimately handing Tucker his second Tour Feature victory of Season 3.
The DIRTcar eSports Tour is back in action next Wednesday night, May 19, for Round #9, featuring the 358 Small-Block Modifieds at USA International Speedway. Catch all the action live on DIRTVision presented by Drydene.
NOS Energy Drink Feature (30 Laps) – 1. 00-Kendal Tucker [1]; 2. 2-Dylan Houser [10]; 3. 12-Alex Bergeron [2]; 4. 33-Evan Seay [3]; 5. 85-Tyler Schell [4]; 6. 115-Boddie Parker [11]; 7. 48-Dylan Yeager [20]; 8. 1-Jesse Enterkin [8]; 9. 17-Brett Rowles [13]; 10. 331-Dustin Hall [9]; 11. 461-Cole Dewease [15]; 12. 46-Jonathan Nause [18]; 13. 43-Terrell Wheeler [17]; 14. 033-Richard Murtaugh Jr. [5]; 15. 29-Billy Richardson [7]; 16. 14-Brett Wright [19]; 17. 17-Sam Reakes [6]; 18. 5-Jacob Karklin [16]; 19. 13-Matt Remick [21]; 20. 38-Ryan Carlisi [12]; 21. 82-Eric Schroeter [14]
CLAP BACK: Kilgore Breaks Jackson’s Street Stock Hot Streak with Win at Eldora
Another chapter in the growing book of Carl Kilgore vs. Tyler Jackson has just been scribed.
After a sour finish last Wednesday night at Limaland, Kilgore, of Greenville, MS, stepped back up to the plate at Eldora Speedway and made sure he wouldn’t be denied two weeks in-a-row, leading all 20 laps en route to his third Chevy Performance Street Stock victory of the season over Keith Hackney and Tyler Jackson.
A track reset before the warmup session had several drivers rethinking their strategy, but overall made for a great race in the end and allowed drivers multiple grooves to race.
“That was a hell of a race,” Kilgore said. “I was skeptical about the reset, but it turned out well. It really worked into a great racetrack.”
While Kilgore led the entire distance, he did encounter several slide job attempts for the top spot, but denied them quickly.
“We were trying to keep our nose clean for the first half, then when we had that caution at Lap 15, it was go-time,” Kilgore said.
A late caution flag restacked the field and put a hard-charging points leader in Tyler Jackson, of Rockford, IL, right on Kilgore’s rear bumper for the restart. Both got a great launch, but Kilgore maintained the spot out front as fellow Team No Love member Hackney made the move under Jackson for second as they scrambled into Turns 1-2.
While Jackson was able to take the spot back on the high side by the time they crossed under the white flag, his successful slide job in Turns 1-2 was countered by Kilgore down low as he retook the lead.
Hackney, of Calhoun, GA, threw a slide job of his own from third on Jackson in Turn 3 and was able to cut Jackson off as they reached Turn 4, swiping the runner-up spot away at the line as teammate Kilgore drove away with the $100 Feature win.
The win is one of importance for Kilgore, having come into the race 58 points back of Jackson in the championship standings. The win will cut into Jackson’s lead by 10 points as the season begins the final stretch next week.
The Chevy Performance Street Stock League is back in action next Wednesday night, May 19, for Round #9 of competition at Williams Grove Speedway. Catch all the action live on DIRTVision presented by Drydene.
Chevy Performance Feature (20 Laps) – 1. 021-Carl Kilgore [1]; 2. 69-Keith Hackney [3]; 3. 25-Tyler Jackson [4]; 4. 121-Edward Farness [5]; 5. 17-Brett Rowles [8]; 6. 546-Randy Axner [10]; 7. 077-Holden English [11]; 8. 73-Scott Reid [12]; 9. 93-Steve Miskolczi [21]; 10. 026-Sage Luther [18]; 11. 002-Clifford Bellomy [19]; 12. 26-Sean Stevens [14]; 13. 21-Jim Reavis [9]; 14. 23-Brayden McMahan [13]; 15. 71-Daniel Stiffler [16]; 16. 260-Blade Kearns [7]; 17. 46-Jonathan Nause [22]; 18. 53-Aidan Skraha [2]; 19. 18-Justin Henson [23]; 20. 0-Jordan Gage [6]; 21. 97-Butch Baker [20]; 22. 111-Jaron Valley [24]; 23. 225-Nathan Lemons [15]; 24. 92-Payton Gries [17]