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2016 SCCA Runoffs Recap: Oscar Jackson Jr. Wins!

SCCA.com
For Immediate Release:

Oscar Jackson Travels to Touring 4 Runoffs Win

LEXINGTON, Ohio (September 23, 2016) – With plans to compete in three different Runoffs classes, Oscar Jackson came to Ohio from Chino, California, nearly 2,300 miles away in search of a national championship. He won’t leave empty handed as he cruised to a Touring 4 win Friday at the 53rd SCCA National Championship Runoffs presented by Garmin VIRB being held on the 13-turn, 2.258-mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Jackson in his red, No. 46 Jackson Racing/BFGoodrich Scion FR-S led the 34-car field to the green flag. He immediately took control of the race with the No. 2 East Street Racing/Mazdaracers.com Mazda MX-5 of Jim Drago, from Memphis, Tennessee, tucked right behind. Kevin Fandozzi, of Saint Joseph, Michigan, fell into third in the No. 27 Insight Driven/Hoosier/LANE Auto Scion FR-S, and Ryan Kowalewski, of Indianapolis, Indiana, filed into fourth in the No. 02 Racecraft 1/QC Mobile Service MX-5 Mazda.

Over the first half of the race, Jackson and Drago hooked up and pulled away from the pack. Then over time, Jackson turned on the juice and began building a gap on Drago as frontrunners pushed through lapped traffic. At one point, Jackson was pinched off at a corner by a driver further down the field. He jammed on the brakes, bumped the slower competitor, and then looked in his mirror to see Drago pounding down the straightaway behind him. Jackson then got refocused and back to work.

But the work didn’t last long as a stalled car brought the field under a full-course yellow late in the race. And behind the pace car, the Touring 4 fight came to a conclusion with Oscar triumphant and claiming his first Runoffs victory.

“Finally,” Jackson said. “This is a dream. It’s really, really a dream. It’s something I’ve dreamt about since I was a kid. This is our third year at the Runoffs, and we had some bad luck the first two years. But this feels great. It’s awesome.”

Drago said that even though the race ended under yellow, he wasn’t sure he had anything for Jackson this day. The two-time champion in Spec Miata was doing his best and trying to keep the tires beneath him in good shape to perhaps take advantage of some misstep. But earning a second-place finish at the Runoffs in T4 is still satisfying.

“I knew my best shot was going to be to drive really hard the first part of the race and just try to say with him,” Drago said. “My game plan was to try and fill his mirrors and stay there as long as I could to see if he would make a mistake. But Oscar did a really good job of knowing where his car was good. Congratulation to him on his first national championship.”

Meanwhile, several seconds behind the Jackson-Drago chess match, two-time Runoffs champ Fandozzi was having a tussle with Kowalewski for the final podium position. At one point, Fandozzi got crossed up a bit, which provided Kowalewski the opportunity to pass and head off to his first Runoffs podium in his very first year of racing.

“It’s been weird all week. I was sitting third or fourth in qualifying and thought to myself, ‘man, I’m pretty disappointed,'” Kowalewski said. “Then I thought, ‘wait, this is amazing!’ When I saw that checkered flag, probably everyone on pit lane could hear me yelling from the car.”

Fandozzi brought his car home in fourth, and Jared Lendrum, of Queensbury, New York, shuttled home his No. 7 North Country Subaru BRZ to a fifth-place finish.

Taking the Sunoco Hard Charger award was Bob Demers in the No. 11 Midway Buick GMC Somersworth Pontiac Solstice, finishing 21st from his 29th-place grid position.

The 53rd SCCA National Championship Runoffs presented by Garmin VIRB, the Pinnacle of American Motorsports, crowns Sports Car Club of America’s Club Racing National Champions this year at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, from Friday, September 23 through Sunday, September 25.

While the live broadcast of all 28 National Championships is available live at SCCA.com, each race will be on demand in the coming weeks.

LEXINGTON, Ohio — Provisional results for Friday’s SCCA Touring 4 National Championship at the 53rd SCCA National Championship Runoffs presented by Garmin VIRB at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, with finish position, starting position in parentheses, driver, hometown, car and laps complete.

1, (1), Oscar Jackson, Chino, CA, Scion FR-S, 20.
2, (2), Jim Drago, Memphis, TN, Mazda MX-5, 20.
3, (4), Ryan Kowalewski, INDIANAPOLIS, IN, Mazda MX-5, 20.
4, (3), Kevin Fandozzi, Saint Joseph, MI, Scion FR-S, 20.
5, (5), Jared Lendrum, Queensbury, NY, Subaru BRZ, 20.
6, (7), Don Knowles, Pittsboro, NC, Mazda RX-8, 20.
7, (10), Jason Shultz, Millersburg, OH, Mazda MX-5, 20.
8, (8), Philip Royle, Thousand Oaks, CA, Honda Civic SI, 20.
9, (14), Kevin Fryer, Arlington, VA, Mazda MX-5, 20.
10, (12), Scotty B White, Auburn, WA, Ford Mustang V6, 20.
11, (11), James Ebben, Appleton, WI, Mazda MX-5, 20.
12, (9), Kevin Koelemeyer, Fort Myers, FL, Mazda MX-5, 20.
13, (18), Richard Dickey, Columbus, IN, Mazda RX-8, 20.
14, (15), Steven Zink, Henderson, NV, Mazda RX-8, 20.
15, (16), Tim Myers, Atlanta, GA, Mazda RX-8, 20.
16, (17), Jeffrey Jensen, Monument, CO, Acura RSX Type-S, 20.
17, (13), Jonathan Yanca, Saline, MI, Mazda MX-5, 20.
18, (20), Dave Kutney, West Chester, OH, Pontiac Solstice, 20.
19, (24), Kristina Etherington, Henderson, NV, Mazda RX-8, 20.
20, (22), Douglas Chan, Torrance, CA, Honda Civic SI, 20.
21, (29), Bob Demers, Dover, NH, Pontiac Solstice, 20.
22, (27), Ali Naimi, Morgan Hill, CA, Mazda MX-5, 20.
23, (28), Dan Hardison, Delaware, OH, Pontiac Firebird, 20.
24, (31), Brian Husting, Irvine, CA, Chevrolet Cobalt SS, 19.
25, (32), Steven Christopher, Olathe, KS, Mazda MX-5, 19.
26, (34), L. Huston, Friendswood, TX, Ford Mustang V6, 19.
27, (33), Keith Jones, Lorain, OH, Mazda MX-5, 19.
28, (25), Ralph Porter, Kokomo, IN, Pontiac Solstice, 15.
29, (6), Tom Wickersham, San Ramon, CA, Mazda MX-5, 10.
30, (30), Stanislas Czacki, Truth or Consequences, NM, Acura RSX Type-S, 7.
31, (26), David Ogburn, San Angelo, TX, Toyota Corrola XRS, 7.
32, (23), Steve Strickland, Marion, VA, Mazda MX-5, 6.
33, (19), Derrick Ambrose, Brush Prairie, WA, Mazda 3s, 0.
34, (21), Matthew Downing, Pickerington, OH, Pontiac Solstice, 0.

Overall Time of Race: 37:49.132
Average Race Speed: 71.647 mph
Margin of Victory: .740 seconds
Fastest Race Lap: Oscar Jackson, 1:40.397 (80.967 mph)
Sunoco Hard Charger: #11 Bob Demers
Lap Leaders: Laps 1-20, #46 Oscar Jackson

Photo: Oscar Jackson taking Touring 4 win at Runoffs.
Credit: Shawn Lumley

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Race Report: 2016 SCCA Majors Tour Final Round

The 2016 SCCA Majors Final Round at Portland International Raceway

Chino, California (July 05, 2016) – Jackson Racing heads to the Final Round of the Majors Tour.

The Jackson Racing team headed up to the Pacific Northwest again for the last stop of the SCCA Majors Tour held at Portland International Raceway. Held over the 4th of July weekend, it always makes for a fun trip filled with friends, laughs, and racing.

Friday qualifying came and the weather was perfect! Oscar Jackson Jr. set out on the track and threw down a smoking lap time that landed the FR-S on pole by several seconds. The Jackson Racing Supercharger continues to work perfectly in all the different track conditions.

Saturday’s weather was just as nice, and would make for a great race. The green flag dropped and the cars were off! There was a multi car collision in turn 1, which resulted in one of the cars oiling down the track. The race was stopped for cleanup and rescheduled for Sunday morning.

Sunday was set to be a busy day, since there would be 2 STU races nearly back to back. Oscar Jackson Jr. set out from pole in Race 1 and quickly put some distance between the other competitors and drove to the win! The Jackson Racing FR-S came back to the pits for fuel and fresh BFGoodrich tires and went out to the grid for Race 2. Another start from pole and again Oscar Jr. was out in front. After a few laps there was a full course caution. This time the track was cleared quickly and the race commenced. Oscar Jr. and the Jackson Racing FR-S kept the push after the restart and pulled off another flag to flag win, the 11th win on the season.

Besides winning the races, Oscar Jr. was presented with his Championship trophies for both the Super Touring Light and Super Touring Under classes. It was a great season for Jackson Racing in the SCCA Majors Tour. Now the team prepares for the the SCCA National Championship Runoffs at Mid Ohio in September, with the hopes of bringing the National Championship home!

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Race Report: The 2015 Pacific Coast Road Racing Championship

The 2015 Pacific Coast Road Racing Championship at Auto Club Speedway

Group 2 Race Front Straight AC2_9897_Oct1715

Chino, California (December 2, 2015) – World leading supercharger experts Jackson Racing win at the Pacific Coast Road Racing Championship in Fontana, CA.

Fresh off a podium finish at the SCCA Runoffs, Jackson Racing heads to the Pacific Coast Road Racing Championship at Auto Club Speedway, to battle the “Best in the West” for the title. The Jackson Racing FR-S was pretty much dialed in for the Roval, so only minor adjustments were needed to be made for the race. Oscar Jackson Jr. set out for the qualifying race and after a good battle with a V8 Mustang, finished on pole.

Group 2 Race Turn 13 ACS_2366_Oct1715_by_ZW-CaliPhoto

The Championship Race was on Day 2, and the Jackson Racing FR-S picked up right where it left off. Oscar Jr. set his sights on 1st place and kept up his race pace to make sure he got it. The FR-S in STU trim, is one of the heavier cars out on the track and Oscar Jr. did a fantastic job getting the car to turn some fast laps. In the end, Jackson Racing took 1st place beating out the rest of the field by a comfortable margin.

Group 2 Race Turn 12 ACS_2564_Oct1715_by_ZW-CaliPhoto Group 2 Race ACS_5547_Oct1815_by_ZW-CaliPhoto Group 2 Race ACS_5276_Oct1815_by_ZW-CaliPhoto Group 2 Qualifying Turn 2 Front ACS_0948_Oct1715 DSC_0178