Hudson O’Neal (left), Mike Marlar (center), and Ricky Thornton, Jr. (right) recorded victories in Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series competition over the weekend. Photos: LOLMDS Media
Hudson O’Neal, Mike Marlar, and Ricky Thornton, Jr. all made trips to victory lane in Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series action over the weekend.
O’Neal was the winner on Thursday night at Atomic Speedway in Chillicothe, Ohio, while Marlar topped the field on Friday night at Ponderosa Speedway in Junction City, Kentucky. Thornton, Jr. wrapped up the weekend with a victory at Florence Speedway in Union, Kentucky on Saturday night.
On Thursday, Hudson O’Neal regained the lead on lap 27 and went on to win at Atomic Speedway.
It marks the 21st career series win for the 22-year-old Indiana native, breaking a tie with Tyler Erb for 10th place on the all-time win list.
“What a race that was,” O’Neal said. “That cushion was treacherous. I made a bunch of mistakes on it, but it was just so big. It was built up there on the wall and it was real forgiving. If you made a little mistake it wasn’t going to hurt, you. That break was killing us, we have been sitting around and ready to get going again.”
Evans, Georgia’s Brandon Overton made it close at the finish coming home just .303 seconds behind the winner to take the runner-up spot. Mike Marler finished in third, with Kyle Larson in fourth, and Blairsville, Georgia’s Jonathan Davenport – who led laps 2 through 26 – in fifth.
On Friday night, Mike Marlar led wire-to-wire to become the ninth different winner this year with the series at Ponderosa Speedway.
Marlar finished just 0.574 seconds ahead of Hudson O’Neal at the checkered flag to earn his 19th career series victory.
Marlar grabbed the lead at the start of the race with Brandon Overton holding down the second position. Overton ran in second tucked behind Marlar for the first 21 laps of the race until the only caution flew for a slowing Earl Pearson, Jr.
On the lap 22 restart O’Neal got by Overton to take over second. O’Neal then chased Marlar through lapped traffic closing to within a couple of car lengths on several occasions as they raced through lapped traffic.
Marlar held his line on the final lap to hold off O’Neal for the win.
“I want to thank my car owner and all of these great sponsors,” said Marlar. “It takes a lot of people to have a great race team. It’s fun when it’s working good. The car was really good again tonight. We had that one caution and sometimes your tires cool off, or the track bleeds and other things happen under caution. It’s usually a good thing especially when you have a clean track in front of you. You run these cars on such a fine line.”
Overton finished third, with Jonathan Davenport fourth, and Ricky Thornton, Jr. fifth.
On Saturday, Ricky Thornton, Jr. regained his early season form in winning the Ralph Latham Memorial at the Florence Speedway. Thornton pulled away in the last few laps to secure his third series win of the season.
Thornton was the third different leader of the highly contested race as he came from the seventh starting spot to secure the $15,000 victory.
Jonathan Davenport started from the pole and bolted to the lead at the start of the race. Davenport pulled away from the field as O’Neal moved past Spencer Hughes for second on the third lap. O’Neal then closed the gap that had developed between himself and Davenport as the two ran two distinctly different lines.
Overton made it a three-way battle for the top spot just as the first caution of the race came out on lap ten. On the restart it took Hudson O’Neal just three laps to get by Davenport to become the second different leader of the race. Overton and Thornton both passed Davenport, dropping to fourth in the running order, with 19 laps scored as the caution would come out.
On the restart Thornton had the momentum on the top, passing both O’Neal and Brandon Overton as he took the lead on lap 23. Bobby Pierce climbed to third, but just as that happened an issue developed for Pierce forcing him pit side with 24 laps complete.
The heated battle would slow once again with 15 laps remaining. On the restart Thornton surged away to a 2.554 second advantage when the checkers fell. It was Thornton’s second career win at Florence after he won the Spring 50 in 2021.
“I told my guys my goal was to come out and win tonight,” said Thornton, Jr. “The car took off after that one restart. I was able to get by Hud (O’Neal) and Brandon (Overton). I thought it was going to be around the bottom longer than it was. It’s easy to knock the right rear off the car here. You can look at my quarter panel and see that. But at the end I just wanted to keep it off the wall and hit my marks because I knew those other guys were not going to give up. Overall, I am excited to get this win.”
O’Neal came home in second, with Overton third, Garrett Alberson fourth, and Tim McCreadie fifth.
Cory Hedgecock, Davenport, Earl Pearson, Jr., Devin Moran, and Logan Roberson rounded out the top 10.
The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series returns to action on Friday, May 12 at Illinois’ Farmer City Raceway before moving to Illinois’ Fairbury Speedway on Saturday, May 13. Visit LucasDirt.com for more information.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Atomic Speedway – Chillicothe, OH
Buckeye Spring 50 – May 4, 2023
1. 1H-Hudson O’Neal
2. 76-Brandon Overton
3. 157-Mike Marlar
4. 6K-Kyle Larson
5. 49-Jonathan Davenport
6. 1T-Tyler Erb
7. 99C-Camaron Marlar
8. 111B-Max Blair
9. 11R-Josh Rice
10. 39-Tim McCreadie
11. 20RT-Ricky Thornton, Jr.
12. 46-Earl Pearson, Jr.
13. 83-Jensen Ford
14. 28-Tyler Carpenter
15. 20-Jimmy Owens
16. 16-Tyler Bruening
17. 18D-Daulton Wilson
18. 11-Spencer Hughes
19. 7-Ross Robinson
20. 99B-Boom Briggs
21. 10-Garrett Smith
22. 99-Devin Moran
23. 58-Garrett Alberson
24. 71R-Rod Conley
25. 89-Logan Roberson
26. 68-Adam Stricker
27. 20B-Todd Brennan
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Ponderosa Speedway – Junction City, KY
John Bradshaw Memorial – May 5, 2023
1. 157-Mike Marlar
2. 1H-Hudson O’Neal
3. 76-Brandon Overton
4. 49-Jonathan Davenport
5. 20RT-Ricky Thornton, Jr.
6. 11R-Josh Rice
7. 11-Spencer Hughes
8. 1T-Tyler Erb
9. 17D-Zack Dohm
10. 99-Devin Moran
11. 18D-Daulton Wilson
12. 58-Garrett Alberson
13. 23-Cory Hedgecock
14. 111B-Max Blair
15. 39-Tim McCreadie
16. 7-Ross Robinson
17. 13W-David Webb
18. 16-Tyler Bruening
19. 10-Garrett Smith
20. 89-Logan Roberson
21. 99B-Boom Briggs
22. 8K-Kyle Strickler
23. 20-Jimmy Owens
24. 46-Earl Pearson, Jr.
25. D8-Dustin Linville
26. 99C-Camaron Marlar
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Florence Speedway – Union, KY
Ralph Latham Memorial – May 6, 2023
1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton, Jr.
2. 1H-Hudson O’Neal
3. 76-Brandon Overton
4. 58-Garrett Alberson
5. 39-Tim McCreadie
6. 23-Cory Hedgecock
7. 49-Jonathan Davenport
8. 46-Earl Pearson, Jr.
9. 99-Devin Moran
10. 89-Logan Roberson
11. 157-Mike Marlar
12. 1T-Tyler Erb
13. 20-Jimmy Owens
14. 7-Ross Robinson
15. 11-Spencer Hughes
16. 111B-Max Blair
17. 33-Jesse Lay
18. 16-Tyler Bruening
19. 10-Garrett Smith
20. 11R-Josh Rice
21. 99B-Boom Briggs
22. 32-Bobby Pierce
23. 18D-Daulton Wilson
24. 18-Trevor Landrum
25. 7R-Kent Robinson
26. 22-Chris Ferguson
27. 68-Adam Stricker
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.