Jordon Mallett has used a strong last couple of weekends to climb to third in the ASCS National Tour championship standings.
Mallett posted two podiums, four top fives and five finishes in the top six during five races throughout the Midwest. He is now riding a seven-race top-10 streak that was kicked off by a run from 21 st to fifth on May 28.
“The last five shows we ran inside the top five and the only exception was a sixth,” he said. “Four of the five shows we were in contention and in a position to win if the cards went our way. That’s what we have been working toward all year. It’s nice to see that panning out.”
Mallett capped last weekend with another stout rally as he hustled from 22 nd to fourth on Saturday at Caney Valley Speedway. The performance earned him the Hard Charger Award for passing the most cars.
“I like that race track a lot and we unloaded a great race car,” he said. “We qualified second and had a good run going in the heat race. We seemed a little off and we wound up hurting a motor and had a DNF. That buried us for the rest of the night. We got back to the trailer and changed power plants. We rolled back out at the tail and charged through the field. It was still disappointing. If we wouldn’t have had the problem in the heat race I felt we could have won that deal. The bad luck wasn’t over though. On Lap 1 of the feature the motor wasn’t running right. I ran that race on seven cylinders, which was frustrating because I knew we had a car to beat even from the tail.”
Two nights earlier, Mallett maneuvered from 12 th to sixth at Lawton Speedway in Lawton, Okla. That was tied for the second-most positions gained.
“We were strong, qualifying quickest in our group,” he said. “We made it to second in our heat race and had a restart. I was sizing up to pass for the lead, but the quick change gear blew up in the rear end so we DNFed in the heat. We rushed back to the trailer and put a new rear end for the feature. We moved forward and just ran out of laps to get a top five. I really think we just needed another lap. I wish we hadn’t had that mechanical failure early on. Perseverance we really key all weekend for us.”
The previous weekend featured a trio of top fives, beginning on June 15 with a third-place outing at Creek County Speedway in Sapulpa, Okla.
“It was one I let get away, but that was my own fault,” he said. “I stuck to the bottom the first lap where the track had been dominant all night. I got passed in the first lap on the top in turns three and four. I went to try to recover off the bottom. I got a really good drive and it sucked me into a yuke tire. It bent about everything on the front end and knocked the left front tire flat. I ran the last 25 laps of the feature with the left front flat and everything folded up on the steering. I held on to finish on the podium, but it was frustrating for the error on my part trying to make something happen on the bottom.”
Mallett posted a season-best second-place finish the following night during his debut at Humboldt Speedway in Humboldt, Kan.
“It was a good night,” he said. “We qualified well and heat raced okay. We started third and ran second. The cards didn’t fall our way, but we were plenty fast to win that deal. We needed to get into traffic and when we finally did I was able to size the leader up. When we could make a bid for the lead the caution came out. We never did get back into traffic for the opportunity we needed.”
That weekend concluded on June 17 at 81 Speedway in Park City, Kan., where Mallett advanced from ninth to fifth.
“We qualified okay and didn’t heat race very good,” he said. “We weren’t very balanced. We got into the top five in the feature, but had a right rear tire come apart about three laps toward the end. The treads just came off the right rear. We were able to hold on. It was a nightmare those last laps as bad as it was shaking, but we were able to hang on for a top five.”
Mallett is facing ASCS National Tour races this Friday at Boone County Raceway in Albion, Neb., and Saturday at WaKeeney Speedway in WaKeeney, Kan.
QUICK RESULTS –
June 15 – Creek County Speedway in Sapulpa, Okla. – Qualifying: 4; Heat race: 1 (1); Feature: 3 (1).
June 16 – Humboldt Speedway in Humboldt, Kan. – Qualifying: 1; Heat race: 4 (4); Feature: 2 (3).
June 17 – 81 Speedway in Park City, Kan. – Qualifying: 2; Heat race: 4 (3); Feature: 5 (9).
June 22 – Lawton Speedway in Lawton, Okla. – Qualifying: 1; Heat race: 6 (4); Feature: 6 (12).
June 24 – Caney Valley Speedway in Caney, Kan. – Qualifying: 2; Heat race: 8 (3); Feature: 4 (22).
SEASON STATS –
23 races, 0 wins, 6 top fives, 15 top 10s, 17 top 15s, 19 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Friday at Boone County Raceway in Albion, Neb., and Saturday at WaKeeney Speedway in WaKeeney, Kan., with the ASCS National Tour
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