Montpelier Speedway
Notes: Jameson's bid falls short at Montpelier
By Bryan Ault
DirtonDirt contributing writer
Jason Jameson (Tyler Carr photo)
MONTPELIER, Ind. (April 11) – The margin between winning and losing in Dirt Late Model racing is getting ever thinner. Between the aerodynamics of the cars themselves and increased technology on the full-fender machines, the difference is razor-thin. To reach victory lane, driver error is practically not allowed.
For Jason Jameson of Lawrenceburg, Ind., the slimmest of openings off turn two on Montpelier Motor Speedway’s tricky surface cost him dearly with two laps remaining in Saturday night’s 40-lap Northern Allstars Late Model Series-sanctioned Breakout Bash. It allowed Rusty Schlenk of McClure, Ohio to retake the lead at his adopted home track and left Jameson, who was making his debut at the northeast Indiana track, disappointed in his pit stall with a runner-up finish as Schlenk took home the $7,500 winner’s check. | RaceWire
“The car was good since they dropped the green flag. We just had to work way up through there,” said Jameson, who started eighth in his JRR Motorsports Longhorn Chassis. “You know, the track was actually racing pretty good. You could run all over the damn thing. It was still a good race.
“It wasn't bad,” he added of the unique track with a high, cupped bank. “Track was one-lane there early, you know what I mean? But they went out there and kind of threw some water on it (during an intermission). I think it really helped it as far as being able to run all over it.”
Schlenk dominated for the opening 30 laps, building a straightaway edge late in the race before reaching lapped traffic with five to go. Jameson was able to finally overtake Chad Finley of St. John’s, Mich., after battling for laps 20-30 and quickly evaporated his straightaway deficit to the leader as Schlenk became pinned behind slower vehicles.
Jameson took the lead with a slider off Montpelier’s second turn and led for laps 36-38 before ceding the position in the same spot. Schlenk retook the top spot on lap 38 for good and beat Jameson to the line by a 0.273 second margin.
“Rusty kind of slid over my nose there a couple times and parked it on my nose,” Jameson said. “I wouldn’t have raced him that way, but he did what he did that had to win, you know what I mean?”
Still, Jameson was pleased with the speed in his year-old Longhorn mount, a carryover from last year that gave him a much-needed positive result. In recent weeks he had broke a lower control arm in the NALMS opener at Florence Speedway in Union, Ky. — forfeiting his front-row starting spot — and in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned Indiana Icebreaker at Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway, a power steering line doomed his chances. But he placed second at the NALMS series stop last week at Ponderosa Speedway in Junction City, Ky., a signal of better days ahead.
“We’ll take a second, keep running second,” Jameson said. “First places will come, you know? It's been good since we unloaded this year, just getting monkeys off our back to make it go forward. That’s all we got to do. It’s fun when you run good. If you ain’t running good, it ain’t fun.”
Mahoney flashes speed
Cody Mahoney had every reason to feel confident about his car heading into Saturday’s 40-lap A-main. The Madison, Ind., driver set fast time, won the first heat race and started on the pole of the headliner, one of the few times he’s managed to do just that since rebirthing his career in the division two years ago.
Unfortunately, Schlenk’s cushion-pounding ways proved to be too much for Mahoney as Schlenk took the lead on the first lap and never looked back. Mahoney slipped back to post a fifth-place finish.
“I think it was one of those deals where we were just too good at the beginning of the night and I kept watching the racetrack,” Mahoney said. “I was afraid if I had to just run the top, then I’ll never be able to run the bottom. If I adjust for the bottom, I can’t run the top. And not being here a lot, I didn’t really know exactly what I was going to need or what the car was going to need, but I think I got a better idea of what I was going to need now.
“I guess the only upside to it, I mean, we did win a heat race, we got fast time, we’re getting ready to load the race car back in the trailer in one piece,” he added.
Mahoney is looking to record some checkered flags this season, especially on the NALMS circuit. He hopes that comes as soon as the tour’s doubleheader next weekend at Paragon (Ind.) Speedway for the Marvin O’Neal Memorial and the John Gill Classic at Brownstown.
“We’ll probably hit some of those and then just mix in with some other stuff,” he said about his season plans. “But I feel like we're close. We're just missing something there in the features. Like, when the racetrack gets slick like that, I’ve been struggling with that, so we’re just going to keep working on that at the end of the night.”
Finley’s podium finish
Chad Finley, a Michigan racer with an asphalt Late Model background, decided to make the Montpelier trip to get some laps on dirt. It was definitely fruitful for the 34-year-old wheelman, who finished third behind Schlenk and Jameson.
The asphalt-dirt combination doesn’t have much in common, but Finley learns more lessons racing on dirt that can carry over to his pavement operation.
“You learn more from this going to asphalt, you know, about wheel-spin and keeping tires underneath you, and then it also allows you to drive the asphalt cars a lot freer than typically everybody else,” Finley said. “So I’m always a lot freer than everybody else anymore when I go asphalt racing. That’s what taught me a lot.”
Finley plans to race more on dirt this season. While he piloted a Longhorn Chassis he raced last season, he has a fresh Rocket XR2 model back in the shop that he plans to get up to speed. Typically running “between 18 to 25 shows” each year, he plans to bump that number up to “35 to 40” in 2026. He wishes it could be more, but constraints with running his towing business back home can certainly interfere with his racing schedule.
“My family owns one too, and I own one myself, so it makes it hard to get away, you know, and put the business into everybody else’s hands while I’m gone,” he said. “The towing business is 24/7, 365, and never stops. So, as I said, the opportunity we get to come out here and race, we’re thankful to do that.”
