The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series kicked off a two-race weekend on Friday night as its competitors took on the high banks of the Tazewell Speedway. At the end of the evening it was Shanon Buckingham who left the upper east Tennessee track with the winner’s trophy and a check valued at $12,000.
It was the Morristown, Tenn. driver’s first career Lucas Oil win and also the first such triumph for Double Down Motorsports.
Josh Richards set the pace in qualifying by posting a lap time of 11.118 seconds around the third-mile clay oval to better the efforts of Jason Trammell, Michael Norris, Shanon Buckingham, Ryan King and Jimmy Owens.
Richards earned the pole for the feature by winning the first heat race ahead of Buckingham, Dale McDowell, Earl Pearson Jr., Devin Moran and Hudson O’Neal while Jimmy Owens claimed the second preliminary of the night ahead of Tyler Erb, Dakotah Knuckles, Kyle Strickler, Billy Moyer Jr. and Jeff Neubert.
The third and final heat went to Jeff Wolfenbarger as he beat out Vic Hill, Michael Norris, Ryan King, Jared Hawkins and Tim McCreadie.
Stormy Scott won the lone B-main race ahead of Jonathan Davenport, David Payne and Jason Trammell.
At the start of the 50-lap main event it was Richards who shot to the front of the field with Owens, Buckingham, Wolfenbarger and Hill trailing in his tire tracks. As is often the case, slower traffic would play a major role in the feature as Richards encounter the tail of the field on lap 6 which allowed Owens and the others pursuers to close in on the early leader.
Richards tangled with the slowing car of Steve Smith on lap 8 and was sent spinning. Owens also sustained damage in the mishap. LOLMDS officials determined that the caution was not caused by the two leaders and both were placed back in their original positions. However, the damage sustained by Owens would bring about a lap 10 yellow flag when the local hero slowed on the track.
After a visit to the pit area, Owens would return to the track at the tail of the field. But at the same time, Davenport retired from the race at that point suffering his first DNF of the 2019 season in a points-paying Lucas Oil show.
Richards led the field to the halfway point with Erb maintaining a close distance. On lap 28, Erb made his move for the race lead in traffic. Both cars slid up the track in turn four with Richards tagging the outside wall.
McDowell moved around Buckingham on lap 29 to grab third. Soon thereafter, the top-3 of Erb, Richards and McDowell ran in tight formation until Richards slowed with a flat tire on lap 42 to bring out a caution flag.
Flat tires would play a major factor in the remainder of the race as the lead car of Erb would drop off the pace on lap 45, seemingly handing the lead to McDowell. However, the No. 17m car did not even make it to the next restart before also succumbing to a flat tire.
Buckingham then inherited the lead with Hawkins and Pearson trailing. Fourth running Kyle Bronson also pulled off track with a flat during that same caution period.
Once the green flag finally waved, Buckingham held off all challengers to score the victory.
Feature Finish: 1. Shanon Buckingham, 2. Jared Hawkins, 3. Earl Pearson Jr., 4. Hudson O’Neal, 5. Jimmy Owens, 6. Tim McCreadie, 7. Kyle Strickler, 8. Vic Hill, 9. Devin Moran, 10. Ryan King, 11. Tyler Erb, 12. Josh Richards, 13. Dale McDowell, 14. Billy Moyer Jr., 15. Kyle Bronson, 16. Jeff Wolfenbarger, 17. Jeff Neubert, 18. Stormy Scott, 19. Dakotah Knuckles, 20. Michael Norris, 21. David Payne, 22. Jonathan Davenport, 23. Jason Trammell, 24. Steve Smith
Josh Richards (14) and Jimmy Owens (20) fight for the lead on lap 1.
Second place finisher Jacob Hawkins (11) and third place finisher Earl Pearson Jr. (1).
Dale McDowell (17m) grabs second place from Shanon Buckingham (50).
Shanon Buckingham and crew celebrate their win at Tazewell Speedway.
