Pearson Takes Win In Golden Isles’ Super Bowl Of Racing

Earl Pearson, Jr. celebrates in victory lane after winning Saturday night’s Super Bowl of Racing event for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series at Golden Isles Speedway. Photo: Black Diamond Racing/Facebook

Four-time Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Champion Earl Pearson, Jr. showed Saturday that he has eyes on championship No. 5 this year. After finishing second in the first of two $12,000-to-win features at Golden Isles Speedway in Waynesville, Georgia earlier in the day, Pearson drove to victory in the Super Bowl of Racing’s nightcap.

Pearson drove from fifth to the lead in 33 laps and led the final 17 to score his 38th career series win. Defending series champion Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Georgia squeezed by Scott Bloomquist for second on the final lap, with Tyler Erb and Brandon Sheppard filling out the top five.

The 47-year-old Jacksonville, Florida, native exited his car in victory lane to confetti and howling applause from a waterlogged but near-capacity crowd that stuck out a 3-hour rain delay. He was quick to dedicate the win to his car owner, Ronnie Stuckey.

“He’s been awful sick the last three or four months, and he’s back at the hospital, but I am sure he’s smiling right now,” Pearson said. “You know, there ain’t no better feeling than to win a race in front of my home crowd here. Me, Scott (Bloomquist) and Davenport had a heck of race.”

For the second straight night, a pesky rain delayed the start of the event, arriving shortly after late model hot laps around 5:30 pm. By 7 pm, the rain had subsided, and officials were able to work the track into shape for a late night of racing. Hot laps began once again shortly after 9 pm.

Bloomquist led the field to the green flag, but it was Jimmy Owens who paced the field for the first 9 laps. On lap 10, Bloomquist tried to slide in front of Owens for the lead but appeared to bobble, leaving Owens in a spin that collected third-place-running Josh Richards.

On the restart, Bloomquist took off from the field, running mostly on the bottom of the track. Meanwhile, Pearson began making time running around the rim of the 3/8-mile speedway.

“We got up on top and cleaned it up a bit, and our car worked great up there,” Pearson said. “We weren’t too good on the bottom.”

By lap 32, Pearson had erased the two-second lead Bloomquist had built. On lap 33, he overwhelmed the late model legend with an outside pass off of turn 2, and he never looked back.

In the closing laps, Davenport found similar speed on the high line and tracked down Bloomquist as well, taking the second spot away as the white flag flew.

“Running the top, you’re killing your tires so much – I could only run there so many laps,” Davenport said. “My tires got so hot it felt like I was getting a flat, so I had to go back to the bottom and then made one more run on the top there at the end.”

Next, the series heads to East Bay Raceway outside of Tampa, Florida, for a full week of racing as Speedweeks charges on. Pearson makes the tow as the Lucas Oil series points leader and some new hardware from his de facto home track.

“It’s a dream come true to win here at Brunswick,” he said. “I’ve seen so many fans here and guys I’ve raced with for so many years, it’s just a great feeling.”

Erb Wins First Race In New Ride

Earlier Saturday, Tyler Erb drove to victory in the first Lucas Oil feature of the season, which had to be held in the afternoon after a Friday rainout. The young gun built a 3-second lead with 10 laps to go and needed all of that advantage to hold off a fast-closing Pearson, who closed the gap to just a few car lengths as the checkered flag fell.

Davenport finished third, with Richards and Sheppard rounding out the top five. Don O’Neal, who raced his way into the feature via the B-main, moved up to sixth, followed by Scott Bloomquist in seventh.

The win was the first for Erb in his first start for Best Performance Motorsports.

“They gave me an awesome, awesome race car – I mean, we were fast right away,” Erb said in victory lane. “I’m excited – I’m ready to keep racing all week.”

Hudson O’Neal, the son of Don O’Neal, led the first 12 laps before Erb pounced to grab a lead he would never relinquish. The younger O’Neal’s run ran out of room on the 29th lap in turn 1, as his car jumped the cushion and slammed into the outside wall. He retired with a damaged suspension.

The race was red flagged on lap 20 after Brian Shirley spun and flipped down the backstretch, coming to rest upside down nearly on top of the outside concrete wall. Shirley was able to climb out and walk away, but his No. 3 Late Model was destroyed.

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Golden Isles Speedway – Waynesville, GA
Super Bowl of Racing – February 2, 2019

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Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Golden Isles Speedway – Waynesville, GA
Super Bowl of Racing – February 1-2, 2019