Owens led all 50 laps for the win
The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series headed to Tazewell Speedway on Sunday evening after having the scheduled race at this track postponed due to weather from Friday night. The upper east Tennessee facility hosted the national touring series in a $10,000-to-win event that saw local hero Jimmy Owens drive his car to victory after turning in a dominating performance by leading flag-to-flag in the Toyota Knoxville 50.
Darrell Lanigan was fastest in qualifying with a lap of 11.281 seconds around the third-mile clay oval as he beat out Owens, Josh Richards, Scott Bloomquist and Earl Pearson, Jr. in the time-trial session.
Lanigan earned the pole for the feature when he won the first heat race of the night over his Clint Bowyer Racing teammate Don O’Neal and Bloomquist while Owens secured the outside of the front row on the starting grid for the main event by taking the victory in the second preliminary pf the night over Pearson and Gregg Satterlee.
Josh Richards won the third and final heat race of the night as he bested Shanon Buckingham and Dennis Erb, Jr.
At the start of the 50-lap feature it was Owens who took advantage of his front row starting spot and went to the early lead just ahead of Lanigan, Richards, O’Neal and Pearson. Pearson made an early move as he slipped by O’Neal on the second circuit to take fourth in the running order.
Don O’Neal(5), Josh Richards(1) & Earl Pearson, Jr.(1 red, white & blue) battled for much of the night
The first of five yellow flags to be displayed to the field came out on the third lap for a multi-car mishap in turn 2.
Owens bolted back out to a lead of several car lengths when the race resumed while Buckinham battled with Hudson O’Neal over the sixth spot. At the same time, the second running Lanigan was busy holding back the challenges of Richards, O’Neal and Pearson as those drivers raced around the high banks in tight formation.
Erb slowed on lap 8 to bring out another caution. On the ensuing restart, it would be O’Neal who would advance his position as he moved up to wrest third away from Richards. Twelfth starting Tim McCreadie began to move forward around this time as well as he moved in to challenge Buckingham for sixth place.
By lap 15, Owens had caught the tail of the field, which included Bloomquist. The current LOLMDS points leader had suffered from mechanical gremlins during much of the night and those issues had landed him near the back of the pack during the race’s first half.
At the midway point of the race, O’Neal and Richards were staging the best battle on the track as they swapped the third spot a couple of times. Meanwhile, Owens appeared to be on cruise control as he maintained a relatively comfortable margin over his closest pursuers.
Richards brought a caution on lap 35 when his right rear tire went flat while running fourth. It would be on this restart when O’Neal would move by his teammate to grab the runner-up position. Just one lap later, Pearson moved around Lanigan for third then Buckingham took fourth away from the fading pole sitter.
Shanon Buckingham(50) moves around Darrell Lanigan
Another caution came out on lap 39. For the second time of the night, Bloomquist came to the attention of his crew while Lanigan also visited the hot pit area for a new tire.
The final caution flag of the night waved on lap 44 which gave the rest of the field one last shot at Owens. However, the ‘Newport Nightmare’ was not be denied as he drove to the checkered flag in the cool air in front of a big Sunday night crowd.
Feature Finish: 1. Jimmy Owens, 2. Don O’Neal, 3. Earl Pearson, Jr., 4. Shanon Buckingham, 5. Tim McCreadie, 6. Steve Francis, 7. Gregg Satterlee, 8. Josh Richards, 9. Darrell Lanigan, 10. Scott Bloomquist, 11. Brian Smith, 12. Hudson O’Neal, 13. Boom Briggs, 14. Robby Moses, 15. Chris Barton, 16. Dakotah Knuckles, 17. Billy Ogle, Jr., 18. Ethan Burgess, 19. Dennis Erb, Jr., 20. Michael Chilton, 21. Colton Flinner, 22. Steve Smith
Jimmy Owens celebrates his $10,000 victory
