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]