Brandon Overton led all the way for the WoO win
The DIRTcar Nationals continued on Friday evening at Volusia Speedway Park in a World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series sanctioned event. Ultimately, Brandon Overton dominated to come away as the big prize winner from the Barberville, FL track in a race shown live by DirtVision.com. The Evans, GA driver was awarded $10,000 for his triumph.
A total of 38 cars were signed in for competition.
Kyle Bronson sailed around the half-mile clay oval in 16.152 seconds to lead Group A qualifying with Brandon Overton, Scott Bloomquist, Tony Jackson Jr., and Rick Eckert just a tick slower.
Fastest in Group B time-trials and overall was Bobby Pierce followed by Kyle Strickler, Devin Moran, Brent Larson, and Dennis Erb Jr.
Kyle Bronson was the victor in the first heat race with Rick Eckert, Scott Bloomquist, and Brandon Sheppard trailing while Brandon Overton took the second preliminary ahead of Tony Jackson Jr., Tyler Bruening, and Cade Dillard.
Bobby Pierce topped Devin Moran, Dennis Erb Jr., and Darrell Lanigan in the third heat race then Brent Larson bested Chris Madden, Kyle Strickler, and Ryan Gustin in the fourth and final heat of the night.
The WoO Late Models redraw set the first four rows on the feature starting grid as
Mike Norris took the first Last Chance Showdown ahead of Dale McDowell and Mark Whitener while Josh Richards, Ricky Weiss, and Shane Clanton made it into the big show out of the second LCS.
Overton immediately took command when the 40-lap feature took the green flag with Bronson, Larson, Eckert and Jackson trailing. Both Jackson and Madden shot by eckert on the second circuit to claim fourth and fifth respectively.
By the fourth lap, Overton was pulling away from the pack while Moran took to the high line in an attempt to move forward which initially worked as the No. 9 machine broke into the top-5 by passing Madden on lap 5 and then moved to third by passing Larson.
On lap 12, Overton began to catch slower traffic as Larson moved back around Moran for third. Further back. Madden took fifth away from Jackson on lap 15. He then wrested the fourth position from Moran five laps later.
Overton maintained a relatively comfortable advantage as he continued to work through traffic.
Disappointment for fourth-running Larson when he slowed with a flat tire on lap 35. One lap later a crash causing significant damage to the cars of Weiss, Gustin, and Blake Spencer resulted in a brief red flag. All drivers were reported to be uninjured.
Overton pulled away from the field on the lap 35 restart as Moran blasted to second. But in the end, the No. 76 proved to be too much for the competition as Overton sailed under the checkered flag for the victory.
“Everybody’s been giving me s**t all well about not running that lip,” Overton said in his post-race interview. “The first couple of features I ran right through the middle all night but I kept telling myself to just keep sticking with it. It’s really cool to have a race car to run through the middle like that and not have to rely on a cushion but them boys get after so hats off to them.”
The alligator shaped trophies given by Volusia Speedway Park have been on Overton’s wish list for a while.
“Hell man, I’m excited. I’ve been wanting one of these Gators for a long time so I finally got me one.”
Feature Finish: 1. Brandon Overton, 2. Devin Moran, 3. Kyle Bronson, 4. Chris Madden, 5. Rick Overton, 6. Kyle Strickler, 7. Dennis Erb Jr., 8. Tyler Bruening, 9. Darrell Lanigan, 10. Josh Richards, 11. Brandon Sheppard, 12. Cade Dillard, 13. Mike Norris, 14. Dale McDowell, 15. Ross Biles, 16. Brent Larson, 17. Chase Junghans, 18. Mark Whitener, 19. Tony Jackson Jr., 20. Boom Briggs, 21. Scott Bloomquist, 22. Ricky Weiss, 23. Ryan Gustin, 24. Shane Clanton, 25. Blake Spencer, 26. David Breazeale, 27. Ryan Scott, 28. Bobby Pierce
