InsideDirtRacing.com will be providing live updates from the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned $100,000-to-win Dirt Track World Championship at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio on Friday, October 20, 2023. These updates will be provided by Richard Allen(@RichardAllenIDR on Twitter and @RichardAllenIDR on Instagram).
Live Updates are provided by Smoky Mountain Speedway. Make plans now to visit the Maryville, TN track in 2024.
Weather Forecast: Saturday’s forecast calls for partly cloudy skies with highs in the lower 60s.
Time: Hot laps are slated for 1:00pm.
Feature Payout: $100,000-to-win
Track Description: Half-mile clay oval
Other Classes: Modified
Live Stream: FloRacing.com
Pre-race Notes: Friday’s racing action was postponed to Saturday afternoon due to wet conditions. These updates will now cover the entire event.
The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championship will be decided. The highest finisher in Saturday’s main event among Ricky Thornton Jr., Hudson O’Neal, Jonathan Davenport and Devin Morn will be crowned.
The champion will receive $200,000 on top of his winnings from the race. Second in the championship battle will earn $150,000 with third and fourth getting $125,000 and $100,000 respectively.
This is the first time the Dirt Track World Championship will be contested at Eldora Speedway.
The Friday portion of the Dirt Track World Championship has been pushed to Saturday afternoon due to weather and track conditions. More details will be posted when they are made available.
12:50- We are in a holding as a few sprinkles pass by the track.
1:07- Cars are being readied in the pit area. Hot laps should be coming soon. For now, things looking okay weather wise.
1:33- A few drops falling again. Cars sent back to the pit area.
1:57- The Limited Late Models are going to do their hot laps/qualifying session now. There are still two LOLMDS hot lap groups yet to go.
2:15- Back in a holding pattern.
3:00- Just announced that officials hope the very light rain here now will be gone by 3:30 then they can start getting the track ready to complete the program.
3:45- Track work has begun.
4:09- Sounds like the plan is to do hot lap/qualifying for the Limited Late Models then resume the DTWC program.
5:00- Limited Late Models are about halfway through their hot laps/qualifying session.
5:20- Super Late Models are moving toward the staging area. Four of six hot laps groups ran earlier but since the track had to be reworked, the entire field will have a chance to hot lap.
5:50- SLM hot laps have concluded.
8:42- Just announced that the rest of tonight’s DTWC has been postponed until tomorrow. Hot laps will begin at noon. The track is just not safe enough to continue tonight.
Sunday
3:00- Hot laps underway
Live Updates:
Car Count: 62 cars
Drivers Here: 0- Scott Bloomquist, 1- Hudson O’Neal, 1- Tyler Erb, 2- G.R. Smith, 3- Austin Neely, 03- Gregg Haskell, c4- Freddie Carpenter, B5- Brandon Sheppard, 5n- Dustin Nobbe, 6- Ross Bailes, 6jr- Parker Martin, 7- Ross Robinson, 7R- Kent Robinson, 7w- Ricky Weiss, 8- Kyle Strickler, 8- Rob Anderzack, s8- Chris Stotts, 9- Nick Hoffman, 10- Garrett Smith, 11- Spencer Hughes, 11A- Austin Smith, 11K- Austin Kirkpatrick, 12- Jason Jameson, 15k- Cody Overton, 16- Tyler Bruening, 17m- Dale McDowell, 18- Shannon Babb, 18D- Daulton Wilson, 20- Jimmy Owens, 20c- Duane Chamberlain, 20RT- Ricky Thornton Jr., 21H- Robby Hensley, 22- Chris Ferguson, 25- Jason Feger, 25z- Mason Zeigler, 28- Dennis Erb Jr., 28c- Tyler Carpenter, 29- Clint Keenan, 32- Bobby Pierce, 39- Tim McCreadie, 46- Earl Pearson Jr., 49- Jonathan Davenport, 49B- Brian Ruhlman, 58- Garrett Alberson, 63- Terry Rushlow, 69- Jon Hodgkiss, 76- Brandon Overton, 79- Bill Lewis, 88- Trent Ivey, 88G- Chad Green, 89M- Mike Spatola, 93- Carson Ferguson, 95j- Jerry Bowersock, 96- Tanner English, 99- Devin Moran, 99- Boom Briggs, 111- Max Blair, 11- Steven Roberts, 114- Jordan Koehler, 130- Chase Osterhoff, 157- Mike Marlar, 174- Ethan Dotson, 316- Mike Bargo
Qualifying Results: Qualifying will determine the starting lineups for tonight’s heat races.
Group A- 1. Jimmy Owens(15.165), 2. Brian Shirley, 3. Ricky Thornton Jr., 4. Devin Moran, 5. Tim McCreadie, 6. Jon Hodgkiss, 7. Bobby Pierce, 8. Garrett Alberson, 9. Carson Ferguson, 10. Tanner English
Group B- 1. Garrett Smith(15.370), 2. Daulton Wilson, 3. Mason Zeigler, 4. Brandon Sheppard, 5. Mike Marlar, 6. Hudson O’Neal, 7. Jonathan Davenport, 8. Ross Bailes, 9. Mike Spatola, 10. Brandon Overton
Heat Race Results: There will be six heat races with the top-3 from each transferring to the feature.
Heat 1 Lineup- 1. Owens, 2. Moran, 3. Pierce, 4. English, 5. Hoffman, 6. F Carpenter, 7. GR Smith, 8. Babb, 9. Kirkpatrick, 10. Chamberlain, 11. Bargo
Heat 1 Finish– 1. Devin Moran, 2. Jimmy Owens, 3. Bobby Pierce … Hoffman, English, Carpenter, Kirkpatrick, Smith, Bargo
Heat 2 Lineup- 1. Shirley, 2. McCreadie, 3. Alberson, 4. Feger, 5. Jameson, 6. McDowell, 7. Hensley, 8. Blair, 9. Green, 10. Lewis
Heat 2 Finish– 1. Tim McCreadie, 2. Brian Shirley, 3. Dale McDowell … Jameson, Alberson, Blair, Hensley, Green, Feger
Heat 3 Lineup- 1. Thornton, 2. Hodgkiss, 3. Ca Ferguson, 4. Martin, 5. T Carpenter, 6. Roberts, 7. Neely, 8. Briggs, 9. Haskell, 10. Nobbe
Heat 3 Finish– 1. Ricky Thornton Jr., 2. Carson Ferguson, 3. Tyler Carpenter … Hodgkiss, Martin, Briggs, Neely, Haskell, Roberts
Heat 4 Lineup- 1. G Smith, 2. Sheppard, 3. Davenport, 4. B Overton, 5. T Erb, 6. Bloomquist, 7. McCoy, 8. Pearson, 9. Bruening, 10. Rushlow
Heat 4 Finish– 1. Jonathan Davenport, 2. Brandon Overton, 3. Brandon Sheppard … G Smith, T Erb, Pearson, McCoy, Bloomquist, Bruening
Heat 5 Lineup- 1. Wilson, 2. Marlar, 3. Bailes, 4. Hughes, 5. C Overton, 6. Robinson, 7. D Erb, 8. Dotson, 9. Weiss, 10. Bowersock
Heat 5 Finish– 1. Mike Marlar, 2. Daulton Wilson, 3. Ethan Dotson … Bailes, Weiss, D Erb, Bowersock, Hughes, Robinson
Heat 6 Lineup- 1. Zeigler, 2. O’Neal, 3. Spatola, 4. A Smith, 5. Ivey, 6. Ch Ferguson, 7. Ruhlman, 8. Stotts, 9. Osterhoff, 10. Anderzack
Heat 6 Finish– 1. Hudson O’Neal, 2. Mason Zeigler, 3. Chris Ferguson … Spatola, Osterhoff, Ivey, Stotts, Ruhlman, A Smith
B-main Results: There will be three B-main races with the top-2 from each transferring to the feature.
B-main 1 Finish- 1. Nick Hoffman, 2. Tanner English
B-main 2 Finish- 1. Garrett Smith, 2. Tyler Erb
B-Main 3 Finish- 1. Ricky Weiss, 2. Mike Spatola
Feature Notes:
Feature Lineup- 1. Moran, 2. Davenport, 3. McCreadie, 4. Marlar, 5. Thornton, 6. O’Neal, 7. Owens, 8. Overton, 9. Shirley, 10. Wilson, 11. Ca Ferguson, 12. Zeigler, 13. Pierce, 14. Sheppard, 15. McDowell, 16. Dotson, 17. T Carpenter, 18. Ch Ferguson, 19. Hoffman, 20. G Smith, 21. Weiss, 22. English, 23. T Erb, 24. Spatola, 25. Max Blair, 26. Earl Pearson Jr., 27. Garrett Alberson, 28. Spencer Hughes
5:40- Track prep taking place. Limited Late Model feature before the DTWC.
7:20- More track work underway.
7:27- Feature will be rolling out soon. 100 laps for $100,000.
7:33- Four wide with the four championship contenders at the front.
7:35- Missing man formation for Freddy Smith
7:38- Green flag!
Lap 7 caution for Spatola. Marlar leads Davenport, O’Neal, Moran and McCreadie. Thornton is 7th.
Lap 8 caution for Thornton with heavy right front damage after he hooked a rut and shot up the track making contact with Owens and Pierce. He may be done and his championship hopes dashed.
O’Neal jumped to the lead on the restart. Marlar, Davenport, McCreadie and Overton are 2-5.
The race goes back green with Thornton still in the pit area.
Lap 14 caution for Wilson slowing. Marlar had just passed O’Neal for the lead but the move was negated because the lap was not completed. Marlar, Davenport, McCreadie and Shirley are 2-5.
Thornton returns to the track under the caution. He is multiple laps down.
Lap 22 caution for flat tire on G Smith. O’Neal leads Marlar, Davenport, T Carpenter, Shirley, Overton, Pierce, McCreadie. Carpenter and Pierce started well back.
Lap 25 caution for incident involving Weiss and English. Carpenter got up on the high side and blasted to the lead. O’Neal, Shirley, Pierce, Davenport and Marlar run 2-6.
Lap 34 caution for English. Shirley now leads over Carpenter, Pierce, O’Neal, Davenport, McCreadie, McDowell.
Marlar pulls off track. He is out.
Lap 35 caution for O’Neal slowing. He is going to the pit with a flat right rear. Shirley leads Carpenter, Pierce, McCreadie and Davenport. Overton appears to be out with a shock issue.
Lap 40 caution for Carpenter slowing. Shirley leading McCreadie, Pierce, Davenport, T Erb.
Shirley pulls off track with smoke under the car. McCreadie now leads Pierce.
Lap 41 caution for spin by Carpenter. O’Neal slows with a flat tire. McCreadie leads Pierce, Davenport, T Erb, McDowell and Sheppard.
Among the championship contenders- Davenport(3rd), Moran(8th), O’Neal(13th), Thornton(20th)
Halfway- Pierce now leads McCreadie, T Erb, Sheppard and Davenport
Lap 68- Sheppard leads Pierce, McCreadie, T Erb, Owens, Davenport, McDowell, Moran, G Smith, O’Neal
Lap 74 caution for fourth-place T Erb slowing. Sheppard leads Pierce, McCreadie, Owens, Davenport, Moran, McDowell, O’Neal. Thornton is now up to 14th.
Lap 95 caution for Pierce out of gas slowing from third-place. Sheppard leads McCreadie. Owens may have also just run out of gas.
O’Neal and Moran are third and fourth racing for the championship.
Lap 97 caution for Thornton slowing. Could be out of gas.
Sheppard leads McCreadie, Moran, O’Neal, McDowell and Pierce
Sheppard wins. Coasted across the finish line out of gas barely beating O’Neal. It’s Sheppard 5th DTWC win.
O’Neal passed Moran for second on the last lap to win the championship.
Feature Results: 1. Brandon Sheppard, 2. Hudson O’Neal, 3. Devin Moran, 4. Tim McCreadie, 5. Dale McDowell, 6. Bobby Pierce, 7. Jimmy Owens, 8. Ricky Thornton Jr., 9. Garrett Smith, 10. Jonathan Davenport, 11. Tyler Erb, 12. Garrett Alberson, 13. Daulton Wilson, 14. Carson Ferguson, 15. Ricky Weiss, 16. Chris Ferguson, 17. Spencer Hughes, 18. Brandon Overton, 19. Tyler Carpenter, 20. Brian Shirley, 21. Mike Marlar, 22. Tanner English, 23. Max Blair, 24. Earl Pearson Jr., 25. Ethan Dotson, 26. Nick Hoffman, 27. Mike Spatola, 28. Mason Zeigler
Be sure to check in to this site on Saturday to follow live updates from the Dirt Track World Championship
Ricky Thornton Jr.(20RT) and Jonathan Davenport are two of the championship contenders
