Ashton Winger led all the way in the Sunshine Nationals makeup
The World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series had originally planned to run this race on January 21st as part of the ‘Sunshine Nationals’ but postponed it to the next day because of rain. The event was then moved to February 16 when poor weather and track conditions would not allow for the competition to take place. The preliminary events had been run on January 21st so that all was remaining was the feature.
At the end of the night when the makeup was completed, it was Ashton Winger who claimed the win. The Hampton, Georgia driver earned $10,000 for his efforts in a race shown live by DirtVision.com.
A total of 46 cars were signed in for competition.
Dale McDowell was quickest in Group A qualifying with a lap of 17.298 seconds around the half-mile clay oval topping Ross Robinson, Hudson O’Neal, Daulton Wilson and Brian Shirley.
Ashton Winger topped Group B time-trials after touring the track in 17.575 seconds to better the efforts of Dennis Erb Jr., Darrell Lanigan, Devin Moran and Ricky Thornton Jr.
Dale McDowell claimed the win in the first heat race of the night ahead of Hudson O’Neal, Brian Shirley and Shane Clanton then Ross Robinson bested Brandon Sheppard, Josh Richards and Daulton Wilson in the second preliminary contest.
Ashton Winger took the checkered flag over Darrell Lanigan, Kyle Larson and Jimmy Owens in the third heat while Chris Madden outran Devin Moran, Kyle Strickler and Kyle Bronson in the fourth and final heat.
Logan Martin and Max Blair were the winners in the two Last Chance Showdown races used to set the remainder of the starting grid for the main event.
The WoO Late Models redraw set the first four rows of the starting grid for the main event as Winger, McDowell, Robinson, Madden, Lanigan, Moran, O’Neal and Sheppard.
When the 40-lap feature took the green flag it was Winger shot to the lead with Madden, Robinson, McDowell and Sheppard just behind. McDowell took third away from Robinson on the second lap which then opened the door for Sheppard who also got by Robinson for fourth.
A yellow flag on lap 5 for the slowing car of Chris Simpson slowed the action. A second yellow flag came on the restart when Gustin and English tangled. And again, a caution flag was shown to the field on the second attempt to restart when Clanton slowed.
Madden took the lead on the restart but Winger fought back to retake the top spot as McDowell, Sheppard and Robinson rounded out the top-5 in the early going. On lap 10, O’Neal cracked the top-5 by passing Robinson.
As the race crossed the halfway point, Madden continued to stalk Winger for the race lead as those two ran in front of a fierce fight between McDowell, O’Neal and Sheppard for the remaining top-5 positions. A caution on lap 21 for a spin by Daulton Wilson provided a respite for the front runners.
McDowell blasted to second on the lap 21 restart and set off after Winger as O’Neal, Sheppard and Moran continued to battle further back. At the same time, Winger built a lead of more than two seconds as he dominated the event.
But with less than 10 laps remaining, McDowell began to cut into the lead of Winger as the lead machine worked slower traffic. However, Winger again began to stretch his advantage after clearing the slower cars.
Winger would eventually sail under the checkered flag to score the fourth WoO Late Models win of his career.
Feature Finish: 1. Ashton Winger, 2. Dale McDowell, 3. Chris Madden, 4. Devin Moran, 5. Hudson O’Neal, 6. Ross Robinson, 7. Kyle Bronson, 8. Brandon Sheppard, 9. Dennis Erb Jr., 10. Josh Richards, 11. Tanner English, 12. Max Blair, 13. Tyler Bruening, 14. Logan Martin, 15. Kyle Hammer, 16. Morgan Bagley, 17. Brent Larson, 18. Gordy Gundaker, 19. Boom Briggs, 20. Kyle Strickler, 21. Daulton Wilson, 22. Cade Dillard, 23. Darrell Lanigan, 24. Brian Shirley, 25. Chris Simpson, 26. Shane Clanton, 27. Ryan Gustin
Brandon Overton holds on to claim Wednesday night WoO feature at Volusia
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