Inside Line Promotions – OCALA, Fla. (Nov. 13, 2018) – Jordon Mallett capped his second consecutive USCS Series national championship by finishing second in the season finale last Saturday at Bubba Raceway Park. Along with the USCS National title, Mallett made it a clean sweep, earning the Deep South Thunder, Mid-South Thunder and Southern Thunder regional titles.
“We were tickled to be able to win the national title and the regional championships,” he said. “We are very pleased with how everything with the season went and are glad to add to our resume in terms of championships. We tried not to really look at the points and didn’t really worry about it until the last weekend of the season.”
Mallett and his team had an adventurous couple of days leading up to the season finale. When they went to leave on Thursday morning their tow rig would not start. After working all day to try to remedy that, they wound up having to use a different truck to pull the trailer to Florida and got to the track just 45 minutes before hot laps rolled off.
“It was a very trying weekend for sure,” he explained. “We left around midnight on Thursday night and I had my father-in-law come with as an extra driver. We drove 14 hours straight with two different vehicles. It was a stressful endeavor to say the least. When we went to bed after the races on Friday night that was the first time any of us had seen a bed in 42 hours straight. We were exhausted, but that’s what the difference is between hard work and giving up.”
Mallett opened the event at Bubba Raceway Park last Friday night with a win in both the dash and the heat race. In the main event, he pulled off the track during the feature as he was concerned about having an engine problem. Mallett was credited with a 15th-place finish.
“We were super good out of the box,” he said. “We felt really good about the car going into the feature, after winning the dash and heat race. Early on the track was pretty narrow and I had made it back up to about fifth or sixth by Lap 20 or so and had found a line that was really suited to the car and making progress. I felt something change in the engine coming off turn four and it didn’t feel right, so I went ahead and shut it down while I still had oil pressure and saved the motor. Something just didn’t feel right and I’m smart enough to know when something is going south and we made an engine change for Saturday.”
Mallett worked his way from the sixth starting spot to finish third in heat race competition in Saturday’s finale at Bubba Raceway Park. That put the native of Greenbrier, Ark., on the pole for the 25-lap main event.
“It was our goal to go down there and be better early on in the night,” he said. “Every time we have ever been down there we had struggled in the heat race and dash. We wanted to be better in those and put ourselves in a position in the feature to win. The car was right where it needed to be. The track was kind of hard to pass on in the heat, but we were able to gain some spots.”
After falling back a couple of spots early in the main event, Mallett charged back to the front. He made a late-race charge on the leader, coming up just a few feet short at the line on a track which was very challenging to pass on. The runner-up finish was his 29th in USCS competition and 30th overall this season.
“Everyone knows how I feel about starting on the pole,” he said with a chuckle. “They re-worked the track before the B Main so it was kind of a tough guess, but we hit the nail on the head and had a car that should have won. I set the leader up with two to go going into turn one and a lapped car kind of got funny in front of the leader. I was right on top of him and I had to check up and it unloaded the car enough that I got a real bad push and the track started to rubber down.
“I lost a straightaway to the leader and was quick enough that I was able to make that whole straightaway up in a lap. He out-dragged me by just enough to win at the finish line. I really wanted to get that 10th win and definitely had the car to do it. I won’t ever complain though when the car is in one piece and they knew we were there and what was coming.”
The event at Bubba Raceway Park wrapped up a very consistent 2018 campaign, which saw Mallett earn a career-high nine wins en route to claiming the USCS titles while recording top-10 finishes in 42 of the 45 events the series ran.
QUICK RESULTS –
Nov. 9 – Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla. – Dash: 1 (1); Heat race: 1 (1); Feature: 15 (5).
Nov. 10 – Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla. – Heat race: 3 (6); Feature: 2 (1).
SEASON STATS –
48 races, 9 wins, 30 top fives, 45 top 10s, 47 top 15s, 48 top 20s
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://jordonmallett.myracepass.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jmmotorsports14
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jordonmallettmotorsports
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Porter Commercial Refrigeration
Porter Commercial Refrigeration, which was created in 1992 and is based in Greenbrier, Ark., provides the finest refrigeration equipment sales, quality service and installation for supermarkets, c-stores, restaurants, warehouses, processing plants and ice machines. For more information, visit http://www.PorterRefrigeration.com.
“Porter Commercial Refrigeration is a huge supporter of our team,” Mallett said. “They are always stepping up to help us however they can and we really appreciate the partnership.”
Mallett would also like to thank Water for Christ, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, Racing Optics, DHR Suspension, FK Rod Ends, Sinco, Inc., D&K Farms, Autometer, Callies Racing Products, Dynotech Race Engines, Fuel Safe Systems, Hero Graphics, Hilborn Fuel Injection, ISC Racers Tape, K&N Engineering, Lone Star Super Gas (Sunoco), Schoenfeld Headers, Simpson Race Products, Smiley’s Racing Products and Superior Bearing and Supply for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
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To meet the media relations needs of your program by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.