Gregg Satterlee took the win at Eldora
The preliminary events that will lead into the 50th annual World 100 played out at the Eldora Speedway on Friday night. The field was divided into two groups for the purpose of contesting two separate events at the legendary Rossburg, Ohio track. At the end of the night, it was ‘The Truth’ Gregg Satterlee who claimed the win in the Group B feature. The Rocket Chassis driver from Indiana, Pennsylvania was awarded $10,000 for his victory.
A combined total of 79 cars were signed in for competition.
Chris Madden topped Group B qualifying with a time of 15.566 seconds around the half-mile clay oval beating out Darrell Lanigan, Chris Ferguson, Johnny Scott, Mark Whitener, Brian Shirley, Zack Dohm, Nick Hoffman, Josh Richards and Tim McCreadie.
Chris Madden took the win in the first heat race ahead of Josh Richards, Tyler Erb, Hudson O’Neal and Ashton Winger while Ricky Weiss bested Brian Shirley, Tim McCreadie, Darrell Lanigan and Boom Briggs in the second preliminary.
Chris Ferguson outran Bobby Pierce, Brandon Sheppard, Zack Dohm and Kyle Hammer in the third heat just before Nick Hoffman was victorious in the fourth and final heat by defeating Gregg Saterlee, Rick Eckert, Johnny Scott and Joseph Joiner.
Ryan Gustin, Alex Feree, Chad Simpson and Steven Roberts advanced to the main event out of the lone Last Chance Showdown.
When the green flag waved over the 25-lap feature it was Satterlee who bolted to the early lead with Pierce, Weiss, Sheppard and McCreadie in his tire tracks. McCreadie and Hoffman swapped the fifth position a couple of times on laps 4 and 5.
A caution for the slowing car of Shirley slowed the pace on lap 7.
Hoffman jumped up to third on the restart while McCreadie grabbed fourth on the lap 7 restart. But the Sheppard machine got rolling on the outside line by lap 11 when the No. 1 car drove by both McCreadie and Hoffman to take third.
With Satterlee continuing to lead, Pierce kept it close but a yellow flag would wave on lap 18 for the slowing car of Richards. When the race went back to green, Pierce pulled right to the rear deck lid of Satterlee to challenge for the lead.
With two laps remaining, Pierce went low and attempted a slide job pass in turn one but Satterlee crossed over and regained the spot. Ultimately, Satterlee would not be denied as he won the race back to the checkered flag.
Satterlee also won a preliminary feature at Eldora back in June during the Dirt Late Model Dream double-header.
Feature Finish: 1. Gregg Saterlee, 2. Bobby Pierce, 3. Brandon Sheppard, 4. Nick Hoffman, 5. Tim McCreadie, 6. Hudson O’Neal, 7. Ricky Weiss, 8. Chris Ferguson, 9. Ashton Winger, 10. Zack Dohm, 11. Rick Eckert, 12. Chris Madden, 13. Chad Simpson, 14. Joseph Joiner, 15. Boom Briggs, 16. Kyle Hammer, 17. Johnny Scott, 18. Alex Feree, 19. Steven Roberts, 20. Josh Richards, 21. Ryan Gustin, 22. Tyler Erb, 23. Brian Shirley, 24. Darrell Lanigan
