Brandon Overton earned the win on Friday night at East Bay
The fifth event of the Wrisco Industries Winter Nationals took to the track on Friday night at East Bay Raceway Park. At the end of the evening at the ‘Clay by the Bay’ in Tampa, it was series points leader Brandon Overton who claimed the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory in a race shown live by MavTV Plus. The Evans, GA driver collected a winner’s check valued at $12,000.
Brian Shirley set fast time in Group A qualifying with a lap of 14.548 seconds around the third-mile clay oval besting Mike Marlar, Shane Clanton, Billy Moyer Jr., and Boom Briggs.
Brandon Overton posted the quickest lap in the Group B session by touring the track in 14.673 seconds topping Tyler Erb, Bobby Pierce, Steven Roberts, and Jimmy Owens.
Brian Shirley earned the pole for the feature by beating Tim McCreadie and Billy Moyer Jr. in the night’s first heat race while Boom Briggs outran Mike Marlar and Ricky Thornton Jr. to the finish line in the second preliminary.
Shane Clanton won out in the third heat over Tyler Bruening and Mark Whitener.
Brandon Overton secured the outside of the front row for the main event by leading Frank Heckenast Jr. and Tony Jackson Jr. to the checkered flag in the fourth heat then Jimmy Owens took the fifth heat ahead of Mason Zeigler and Tanner English.
Tyler Erb was parked for the night by Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series following the fifth heat when he retaliated against Mason Zeigler on the cool down lap after the two had come in contact during the heat race.
Bobby Pierce took the sixth and final heat besting Stormy Scott and Spencer Hughes.
Former series champions Jonathan Davenport and Josh Richards made their way to the feature out of the first B-main just before Hudson O’Neal and Brandon Sheppard moved on from the second B-main. Devin Moran and Rick Eckert were the final two drivers to make the main event from a B-main.
At the start of the 50-lap feature, it was Shirley taking the early lead over Overton, Briggs, Owens and Zeigler. Owens and Pierce went to the top of the track and began to move forward.
Owens went to second on lap 3 with Pierce taking fourth. Their momentum continued as Owens went to the lead on lap 8 with Pierce moving around Shirley for second one lap later. The top-5 of Owens, Pierce, Shirley, Zeigler and Overton race furiously for the next several laps exchanging positions.
On lap 13 the top line began to fade as the bottom groove seemed to come back to life. Shirley went back to the front with Griggs and McCreadie pulling up on the inside. A caution for a spin by Strickler on lap 20 slowed the action.
Under that caution, Pierce had a left tire to go flat but he remained on track. Shirley, McCreadie and Marlar took up the top-3 positions on the restart as Pierce struggled on that flat tire.
A caution flag waved on lap 24 when a portion of the wall came detached after Pierce bounced off it. At that time, Shirley led McCreadie, Marlar, Pierce, Briggs, and Overton. When the race restarted, Marlar went to the high side to seize the lead of the race just before a yellow flag waved for the slowing car of Pierce on lap 26.
The lap 26 restart saw McCreadie blast to the lead bringing Overton along with him as Marlar faded. Bruening and Moran charged through the field to third and fourth, while at the same time, Overton took the lead away from McCreadie.
Another caution for a multi-car incident again slowed the action on lap 29.
Bruening and Moran slipped by McCreadie to move into second and third respectively after the lap 29 restart as Overton continued to lead. Once more, a caution was displayed to the field on lap 31 for an incident between Zeigler and Chase Junghans that left the Junghans car upside down. The drivers argued but appeared to otherwise be okay.
After the lap 31 restart, Overton pulled away with Bruening, Moran, McCreadie and Clanton in line on the bottom further back. The leaders encountered slower traffic on lap 40 which allowed Overton’s pursuers to reel him in.
But in the end, Overton proved to be too much for the competition as he sailed under the checkered flag for his first Lucas Oil win of the season.
Feature Finish: 1. Brandon Overton, 2. Tyler Bruening, 3. Tim McCreadie, 4. Devin Moran, 5. Shane clanton, 6. Mark Whitener, 7. Hudson O’Neal, 8. Earl Pearson Jr., 9. Billy Moyer Jr., 10. Josh Richards, 11. Jimmy Owens, 12. Rick Eckert, 13. Stormy Scott, 14. Ricky Thornton Jr., 15. Brandon Sheppard, 16. Tony Jackson Jr., 17. Tanner English, 18. Mike Marlar, 19. Wil Herrington, 20. Kyle Bronson, 21. Kyle Strickler, 22. Frank Heckenast Jr., 23. Mason Zeigler, 24. Boom Briggs, 25. Spencer Hughes, 26. Brian Shirley, 27. Bobby Pierce, 28. Jonathan Davenport, 29. Chase Junghans, 30. Gregg Satterlee
