Hudson O’Neal led the second half of the event
The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series moved to the Smoky Mountain Speedway on Saturday night to contest the third event in a three-race weekend. Hudson O’Neal led the field to the checkered flag to not only grab the Big Daddy 60 trophy from Maryville, Tenn. track but also take home the $15,000 first prize.
Josh Richards led the way in Group A qualifying and overall by posting a lap of 16.787 seconds around the 4/10 mile clay oval which bested the efforts of Jonathan Davenport, Mike Marlar, Shane Clanton and Jimmy Owens.
Tim McCreadie was fastest in Group B qualifying after he toured the track in 16.902 seconds to beat out Tyler Erb, Dale McDowell, David Payne and Devin Moran.
Marlar earned the pole for the feature by winning the first heat ahead of Josh Richards, Jimmy Owens and Donald McIntosh while Hudson O’Neal won out over Jonathan Davenport, Shanon Buckingham and Ryan King in the night’s second preliminary race of the night.
McCreadie would start from the outside of the front row after he won the third heat race ahead of Kyle Bronson, Stormy Scott and Devin Moran just before Ricky Weiss scored the win in the fourth and final heat of the night over Tyler Erb, David Payne and Billy Moyer, Jr.
Kyle Strickler and Dale McDowell won the two B-main races used to set the remainder of the starting grid for the main event.
At the start of the 60-lap it was Marlar who charged to the front of the pack ahead of O’Neal, McCreadie, Weiss and Richards. On lap 2 it would be Richards who made the first move as he took fourth away from Weiss. However, a caution for debris on teh track briefly slowed the action.
McCreadie rushed to second on the lap 2 restart as Weiss was shuffled well back in the top-10 after running high and out of the racing groove. At the same time, Owens made his presence known as he entered the top-5 up the fourth position on lap 3.
Over the next several laps, O’Neal and McCreadie hotly contested the second spot while Marlar continued to lead giving the appearance that he would dominate this race as he did the previous night at Cherokee Speedway in South Carolina.
O’Neal eventually broke free from his fight with McCreadie then went after the race leader on lap 14, making a move to the inside that would eventually be fought off.
Moran brought out a yellow flag on lap 22 when he slowed on track. Richards took advantaga of the restart by bolting all the way up to fourth. Soon after the restart, the top-5 of Marlar, O’Neal, Owens, Richards and McCreadie broke away and looked as they might want to settle the issue among themselves.
O’Neal seized on an opportunity provided by a lap 29 caution. One lap after the restart, the young O’Neal swept around Marlar to take the top spot.
Weiss began to make a move forward on lap 36 restart when he took fourth. One lap later he moved around Owens to grab third. In the meantime, O’Neal was getting further ahead of the field as he stretched his lead to a full straightaway.
On lp 46, Weiss passed Richards to claim second. But that as far as the young Canadian driver would climb. Other battles within the top-10 proved to be entertaining as Owens and McCreadie spent several laps fighting over fourth while Earl Pearson, Jr. and Tyler Erb battling for sixth.
Ultimately, however, it was O’Neal who would build a relatively comfortable margin as he sailed on to victory.
Feature Finish: 1. Hudson O’Neal, 2. Ricky Weiss, 3. Josh Richards, 4. Tim McCreadie, 5. Jimmy Owens, 6. Tyler Erb, 7. Earl Pearson, Jr., 8. Kyle Strickler, 9. Dale McDowell, 10. Stormy Scott, 11. Jonathan Davenport, 12. Devin Moran, 13. Shanon Buckingham, 14. Donald McIntosh, 15. David Payne, 16. Kyle Bonson, 17. Billy Moyer Jr., 18. Scott Bloomquist, 19. Robby Moses, 20. Vic Hill, 21. Ryan King, 22. Mike Marlar, 23. Don O’Neal, 24. Shane Clanton
