Tim McCreadie took the lead early and never looked back
For the second consecutive night the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series took to the track on Friday at the Port Royal Speedway for the ‘Rumble by the River’. Following two nights of preliminary action on Thursday and Friday, a big $30,000-to-win event will bring the weekend to a close on Saturday evening. At the end of the night on Friday, it was Tim McCreadie who scored the win at the Pennsylvania track. The Longhorn Chassis driver from Watertown, New York was paid $12,000 for his efforts in a race aired live on MavTV Plus.
A total of 46 cars were signed in for competition.
Jonathan Davenport was fastest in Group A qualifying with a lap of 18.616 seconds around the half-mile clay oval besting Chris Ferguson, Andy Haus, Colton Flinner and Kyle Lee.
Tim McCreadie paced Group B time-trials by touring the track in 18.727 seconds topping Jimmy Owens, Hudson O’Neal, Michael Brown and Tyler Erb.
Jonathan Davenport would start the feature from the pole by virtue of his win in the first heat race of the night over Josh Richards, Andy Haus and Jason Covert then the second preliminary went to Chris Ferguson ahead of Stormy Scott, Ricky Thornton Jr. and Colton Flinner.
Tim McCreadie gained an outside of the front row starting position in the feature after he won the third heat beating out Hudson O’Neal, Tyler Erb and Kyle Bronson just before Jimmy Owens won the fourth heat race defeating Michael Norris, Shane Clanton and Trever Feathers.
Earl Pearson Jr. and Gregg Saterlee won the two B-main races used to set the remainder of the starting grid.
Davenport went to the front of the pack at the start of the 40-lap feature ahead of McCreadie, Ferguson, Owens and O’Neal in his tire tracks. McCreadie passed by Davenport for the lead on the second circuit then the top-2 began to pull away from the pack as Davenport kept McCreadie in his sights after six laps.
Further back, Clanton and Thornto fought over positions at the back of the top-10 on lap 9. Near the front, Owens moved around Ferguson for third on lap 11 but Ferguson regained the position one lap later as O’Neal closed in on those two drivers.
Thursday night winner O’Neal went on the charge on lap 13 when he moved by Owens for fourth then took third away from Ferguson two laps later. At that point, McCreadie, Davenport and O’Neal battled for the top-3 spots wheil working through slower traffic.
O’Neal attempted a slide job pass on lap 18 for second but came in contact with Davenport and was unable to take the position. O’Neal’s right rear quarter panel suffered damage as a result of the contact.
A caution for debris on lap 25 provided a reprieve from the intense action. However, that reprieve did not last long as Owens stormed by O’Neal and Ferguson to assume third on the restart. But soon thereafter, another yellow flag would wave for a four-car pileup involving Richards, Scott, Thornton and Covert with all of those cars suffering significant damage.
Under that caution, top-5 runners Davenport and Ferguson suffered flat tires and had to go to the pit area and restart from the tail. On the following restart, Owens assumed second with O’Neal up to third and Erb taking fourth.
Erb went by O’Neal for third on lap 25 just before the caution flag once again came out for a crash involving Satterlee. Owens and Erb exchanged the second spot on successive restarts as McCreadie pulled away from his pursuers.
Over the closing laps, T-Mac continued to build his lead until eventually cruising under the checkered flag with an advantage of just over two seconds. With the win, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series points leader added to his lead in the standings.
Feature Finish: 1. Tim McCreadie, 2. Jimmy Owens, 3. Tyler Erb, 4. Shane Clanton, 5. Hudson O’Neal, 6. Earl Pearson Jr., 7. Michael Norris, 8. Spencer Hughes, 9. Ross Robinson, 10. Trever Feathers, 11. Colton Flinner, 12. Gary Stuhler, 13. Chris Ferguson, 14. Jonathan Davenport, 15. Andy Haus, 16. Kyle Bronson, 17. Ricky Thornton Jr., 18. Matt Cosner, 19. Gregg Satterlee, 20. Josh Richards, 21. Stormy Scott, 22. Jason Covert, 23. Jeff Rine, 24. Mike Marlar, 25. Kyle Lee
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