Story By: JUSTIN SNYDER – A2DPR / SCOTT HESS RACING – ABBOTTSTOWN, PA – Tony Jackson and Scott Hess Racing scored a career-best 15th-place finish in 410 Sprint Car competition as part of the World of Outlaws Tune-Up at Williams Grove Speedway on Friday night.
“We left the track feeling pretty good and it’s a nice feeling to be talking about moving forward and getting results,” said Jackson. “We’ve been talking a lot about top 15 finishes, and this is a step in the right direction for us as a team.”
Jackson kicked off the night by timing 23rd quickest in qualifying among 31 cars in attendance with a fastest lap of 17.483 seconds. As a result, he lined up eighth in a heat race, where he advanced one position to finish in seventh.
“We were tight in time trials, but I think maybe it was me and the line I drove and not so much the setup,” said Jackson. “You need to be fast off the trailer with these Outlaw-type races, so we didn’t help ourselves there much.”
Needing to compete in a B-main to qualify for the feature, Jackson finished where he started – fourth. As a result, he secured the 22nd starting position for the night’s $6,000 to-win feature event.
With 25 laps at his expense, Jackson meticulously worked through traffic to advance seven positions throughout the duration of the A-main. As a result, he crossed under the checkered flag in the 15th position.
“We had some help with attrition, but we passed a few guys, and we learned a lot competing with a good field of cars,” he said. “The biggest thing we were able to do was to maintain throughout the night and that makes a big difference when you’re not having to overcome so much on the track.”
Next up for the duo will be a pair of World of Outlaws starts on Wednesday at Lincoln Speedway in Abbottstown, PA, and Friday at Williams Grove Speedway. Depending on how things go in these two events, the team may return on Saturday for the finale at ‘The Grove.’
Riding some positive momentum into the week, Jackson is optimistic about their chances to qualify for the shows and is looking forward to the ability to learn against the best the sport has to offer.
“We’re still a bit out of our league in terms of the competition, but ultimately we’re going to try and gain experience and see where we stack up,” said Jackson. “I’ve spent a lot of time sitting in the stands watching the Outlaws and even worked on a few cars that have competed with them and I don’t know that I ever thought I’d be in this position with the opportunity to race with them. So, for the first crack at things, I’m going to soak it in a bit and just go out and do my best and hopefully we can get an A-main start or two.”
UP NEXT
Wednesday, May 8th, at Lincoln Speedway in Abbottstown, PA, and Friday, May 10th at Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, PA.