Hudson O’Neal earned the Show-me 100 trophy by leading the final 32 laps
The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series took to the Lucas Oil Speedway on Saturday night to contest the first crown jewel race of the 2021 season. After a night of hard fought racing on a track that tested the competitors, it was an emotional Hudson O’Neal who captured the prestigious win at the Wheatland, Mo. track. The Martinsville, Ind. driver earned $30,000 for his efforts in the race shown live on MavTV and MavTV Plus.
A total of 59 cars were signed in for competition.
A points scoring system from features held on Friday night was used to set the first nine rows for the feature starting grid.
Josh Richards and Tim McCreadie would start the main event from the front row with Brandon Sheppard, Shane Clanton, Hudson O’Neal, Scott Bloomquist, Jimmy Owens, Chris Ferguson, Ricky Thornton Jr., Bobby Pierce, Kyle Bronson, Ryan Gustin, Stormy Scott, Brian Shirley, Mike Marlar, Frank Heckenast Jr., Earl Pearson Jr. and Shannon Babb filling in the remaining positions.
Jonathan Davenport and Tony Jackson Jr. transferred to the feature as a result of their finish in the first B-main then Rick Eckert and Matt Cosner a starting position through the second B-main. Logan Martin and Scott Crigler earned the final two positions in the main event via B-mains.
Chad Simpson won the last chance qualifying race to become the final entrant into the Show-me 100.
At the start of the 100-lap feature pole sitter Richards went to the early lead with McCreadie, Clanton, O’Neal, and Owens in his wake. Four-time Show-me 100 winner Owens went on the move as he wrested fourth away from O’Neal on the second lap then became part of a three-wide fight for second with McCreadie and Clanton on the third circuit.
Clanton emerged from that second place battle to go after Richards for the lead. The No. 25 car moved to the top of the leaderboard on lap 5 leaving Richards to fight with Owens for second. Further back, O’Neal and McCreadie engaged in a battle of their own as they contested the fourth spot.
Owens went to the lead on lap 13 when he passed by Clanton while McCredie moved up to third. Just behind, Richards, O’Neal, Ferguson, and Sheppard found themselves in a hornet’s nest as they each worked to gain the fourth position.
The first of the contenders to find trouble would be the 2020 Diamond Nationals winner(at Lucas Oil Speedway) when Ferguson stopped on the track with a broken drive shaft to bring out a caution on lap 37. On that restart, O’Neal began to assert himself as he jumped around Clanton to grab third.
McCreadie took his turn leading the race on lap 41 when he moved around Owens. The current Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series points leader would hold on to the top spot through the halfway mark of the race. But all action ground to a halt on lap 56 when Tyler Erb’s car flipped and ended up on its rook in turn four. Not only was Erb not injured in the mishap but once the car was righted he fired it up and returned to action after a brief visit to the pit area.
When green flag racing resumed, Owens began to fade as Richards drove by to claim third then Clanton took fourth.
Between laps 66 and 68 O’Neal and McCreadie went at it for the race lead with O’Neal emerging from that fight with the top spot on a track that had grown a bit rough and was beginning to test its competitors.
From that point, Sheppard went on the move. In succession, he passed by Owens, Clanton, Richards, and finally McCreadie, until he had made his way up to the runner-up position. But by that time, O’Neal had built too big of an advantage to be caught.
‘The New Deal’ cruised under the checkered flag to claim the crown jewel win. O’Neal joined his father Don O’Neal as a Show-me 100 winner making them the only father-son duo to capture this race.
“I looked up at the board with about 15 to go and my signaler, Eric, was telling me they were closing a little bit but I wasn’t really making great laps,” O’Neal said in his post-race interview. “I got a little antsy, I guess was the word. I don’t know, I didn’t drive the greatest 20 laps by any means. It was just good enough. I knew we had a race car to win this thing earlier. Actually, last night my dad called me and gave me some good words of encouragement that we could do this- I just had to be smart and drive my own race.”
Feature Finish: 1. Hudson O’Neal, 2. Brandon Sheppard, 3. Josh Richards, 4. Tim McCreadie, 5. Shane Clanton, 6. Mike Marlar, 7. Ricky Thornton Jr., 8. Jimmy Owens, 9. Kyle Bronson, 10. Brian Shirley, 11. Bobby Pierce, 12. Frank Heckenast Jr., 13. Stormy Scott, 14. Rick Eckert, 15. Jonathan Davenport, 16. Earl Pearson Jr., 17. Tony Jackson Jr., 18. Tyler Erb, 19. Garrett Alberson, 20. Logan Martin, 21. Jason Papich, 22, Scott Bloomquist, 23. Shannon Babb, 24. Mason Oberkramer, 25. Ryan Gustin, 26. Scott Crigler, 27. Billy Moyer Jr., 28. Chris Ferguson, 29. Matt Cosner, 30. Chad Simpson, 31. Payton Looney, 32. Jake Timm
