Erik Jones made his first trip to Jennerstown Speedway a memorable one, winning the UARA National Motor Mountain Masters 150.
Jones scored the victory in the Super Late Model race, inheriting the lead at the halfway break and pacing the field to secure the “red jacket.”
“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.”
Taking place on a Thursday night, the Motor Mountain Masters gave Jones a chance to race in Pennsylvania before this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Pocono Raceway. It may have come on a short track instead of the “Tricky Triangle,” but Jones is excited to have a win under his belt for the 2024 season.
“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.”
Jeremy Doss made the coast-to-coast trip to partake in the event, traveling from Upper Lake, California to Jennerstown. Ultimately, the trek was rewarded with a runner-up finish.
“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 finished third in the race, giving him three podium finishes in the first three UARA National events of 2024. Pollard won the Rattler 250 at South Alabama Speedway, followed by Money in the Bank at Berlin Raceway.
“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.”
Albert Francis finished fourth, with Evan Shotko rounding out the top five.
Jones led the first 22 laps of the race before turning over the top spot to Johnny Sauter. However, Sauter was penalized during the halfway break for his team working on the car before the approved time period, and for bringing his car to the team’s hauler instead of remaining in line on pit road. He drove back up to third position in the field before slowing off the pace and bringing his car to pit road in the final 10 laps of the event.
UARA National returns to Berlin Raceway for its next event on August 6-7, the Battle at Berlin 250.
-Photo credit: Erik Jones Racing
Motor Mountain Masters 150 Unofficial Results
FIN | NO | DRIVER | LAPS | DIFF |
1 | 4 | Erik Jones | 150 | — |
2 | 08 | Jeremy Doss | 150 | 2.944 |
3 | 26 | Bubba Pollard | 150 | 4.887 |
4 | 33 | Albert Francis | 150 | 6.618 |
5 | 22 | Evan Shotko | 150 | 9.312 |
6 | 92 | Jarred Barclay | 150 | 11.031 |
7 | 14 | Michael Atwell | 146 | 4 Laps |
8 | 05 | Brandon Turbush | 142 | 8 Laps |
9 | 5 | Johnny Sauter | 140 | 10 Laps |
10 | 13 | Brandan Marhefka | 113 | 37 Laps |
11 | 19 | Ethan Myers | 73 | 77 Laps |
12 | 48 | Bryan Shipp | 30 | 120 Laps |
13 | 72 | Michael Hemminger | 22 | 128 Laps |
14 | 69 | Scott Melton | 5 | 145 Laps |