Brandon Overton made it two-in-a-row at Golden Isles
The newly rebranded World of Outlaws CASE Construction Late Model Series returned to action on Wednesday night for the first time since January’s ‘Sunshine Nationals’ to contest its first event in the Gator Nationals. After a wide open night of racing at Volusia Speedway Park, it was Brandon Overton who came away as the winner. The Longhorn Chassis driver from Evans, Georgia earned $10,000 at the Barberville, Florida track in a race shown live by DirtVision.com.
A total of 58 cars were signed in for competition.
Chris Madden was fastest in Group A qualifying after posting a lap of 15.911 seconds around the half-mile clay oval topping Devin Moran, Dale McDowell, Hudson O’Neal, Daulton Wilson and Brian Shirley.
Ricky Thornton Jr. set the quick time in Group B time-trails with a mark of 16.170 seconds besting Kyle Strickler, Darrell Lanigan, Dennis Erb Jr., Ashton Winger and Tanner English.
Chris Madden won the first heat race of the night over Hudson O’Neal and Frank Heckenast Jr. then Mike Marlar bettered Devin Moran and Colten Burdette in the second preliminary.
Dale McDowell took the third heat ahead of Tim McCreadie and Brian Shirley while Dennis Erb Jr. outran Brandon Overton and Gordy Gundaker in the fourth heat.
Kyle Strickler bettered Garrett Smith and Ashton Winger in the fifth heat just before Darrell Lanigan won the sixth and final heat by beating out Brent Larson and Tanner English.
Cade Dillard, Max Blair and Tyler Bruening won the three Last Chance Showdown races used to set the remainder of the starting lineup for the main event.
The WoO Late Models redraw set the top-6 on the starting grid as Strickler, Madden, Marlar, Lanigan, McDowell and Erb.
At the start of the 40-lap feature Richards spun to bring out an early caution before the completion of a lap. On the second attempt, Strickler took the lead over Madden, Marlar, McDowell and Lanigan trailing.
Another caution came out just after the completion of the first lap when multiple cars had issues. On the restart, Strickler kept the lead as Marlar moved to second with Madden, McDowell and Overton in his tire tracks.
Second running Marlar slowed on lap 5 to bring out another yellow flag with a flat right rear tire. On the restart, Madden challenged Strickler for the lead until his car bounced in turn one on lap 6 allowing McDowell to take second. In the meantime, Overton rose to fourth just ahead of O’Neal.
Moran passed O’Neal for fifth on lap 15 just before the lead car of Strickler slowed to bring out a caution. Overton bolted to the lead on the restart with McDowell, Madden, O’Neal and Moran chasing. Hammer spun on lap 19 to cause another caution.
McDowell spun on lap 20 after contact with Madden as the two veteran drivers raced for second.
Moran roared around Madden to grab second on lap 21. Further back, O’Neal also moved around Madden to claim third although Madden would fight back to take the position back on lap 26. Again, O’Neal passed Madden on lap 28 for third. at the same time, tail starting Sheppard climbed up to fourth.
Sheppard moved up even more on lap 32 when he took third from O’Neal.
As the laps clicked away, Moran closed in on Overton. With just one lap remaining, Overton’s car began to show signs of smoke which allowed Moran to close even more but the No. 76 was able to get back to the checkered flag first for the victory at Volusia.
Feature Finish: 1. Brandon Overton, 2. Devin Moran, 3. Brandon Sheppard, 4. Hudson O’Neal, 5. Darrell Lanigan, 6. Chris Madden, 7. Frank Heckenast Jr., 8. Josh Richards, 9. Tanner English, 10. Dennis Erb Jr., 11. Tyler Erb, 12. Colten Burdette, 13. Max Blair, 14. Tyler Bruening, 15. Brent Larson, 16. Blake Spencer, 17. Gordy Gundaker, 18. Boom Briggs, 19. Morgan Bagley, 20. Tim McCreadie, 21. Dale McDowell, 22. Garrett Smith, 23. Kyle Hammer, 24. Ashton Winger, 25. Brian Shirley, 26. Kyle Strickler, 27. Shane Clanton, 28. Mike Marlar, 29. Cade Dillard, 30. Ryan Gustin
Josh Richards placing emphasis on the task at hand in return to WoO Late Models
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