Jack Ely Leads Wire-to-Wire for Ol' Boy Cup VIII Win at Lancaster

Jack Ely enjoyed a picture-perfect night on Thursday, leading every lap to win Ol’ Boy Cup VIII at Lancaster Motorplex.

Ely scored the second Race of Champions Modified win of his career, taking the checkered flag in the 60-lap feature win ahead of Zane Zeiner and Paulie Hartwig, III.

Ely chalked up the perfect night to a perfect race car, fruits of his team’s efforts to improve at half-mile circuits such as Lancaste rwhere he has struggled at times in the past.

“It’s not many times in your career you have a perfect race car, but I think we brought one here tonight,” said Ely. “It’s extra-special because ever since I started doing the ROC series and started touring, the half-mile program has always been my Achilles.

“Since we started this new team with the 81 and Ely Family Racing with my uncle Jeff and Aunt Michelle, we’ve been building a notebook for the past two years. It paid off tonight.”

It was also a big bounce back for Ely after seeing a strong finish fall by the wayside in the ROC’s last event at Chemung Speedrome. Ely ran second in the closing laps of that race before running out of fuel, ultimately falling to 13th in the running order.

“If you asked me after Chemung when we ran out of gas going down the backstretch on the last lap running second, I was almost ready to pack it in. That’s why you don’t give up.”

RELATED: Zane Zeiner Wins 'Race 300' for ROC Modified Series at Chemung

Chemung winner Zane Zeiner drove from eighth to second for another podium finish, adding to his series points lead. Part of that drive included dodging a multi-car incident on lap 17 that collected several competitors and ended the night for five cars.

However, his charge through the field prevented him from truly challenging Ely in spite of a late-race caution.

“I just used the car up,” said Zeiner. “Didn’t know if we were going to get another yellow there, so I was trying to get as many as I could there late. Jack had a great car all day.

“Hats off to that crew there. They’re working hard and deserved to win. We were a little off, but we’ve got some good notes and we’ll see if we can’t get a little stronger here next time.”

Paulie Hartwig, III continued a strong start to his 2024 season with a second-straight podium finish. The young driver has not missed the top 10 in any ROC Modified Series event this year.

However, Hartwig's path to a podium finish included a brief detour through a mucky infield while avoiding one incident.

“We were just hanging on there, “ said Hartwig. “We had 60 long ones. I took a bath over there when they wrecked in turn three. I was halfway sideways, it was either kill my right-front or go through the mud.”

The ROC 'Family of Series' races again on Saturday night at the Wyoming County 'BullRing,' with the ROC Sportsman Modifieds headlining the card. The next ROC Modified Series event is scheduled for July 13 at Evans Mill Speedway.

-Photo credit: EC Media, Race of Champions

Ol' Boy Cup VIII Unofficial Results