Brandon Overton came up huge at Eldora
For the final time over a four-day stretch, the Eldora Speedway hosted the top drivers in the country. The 26th annual Dirt Late Model Dream rolled off on Saturday night as the second lucrative crown jewel held at the Rossburg, Ohio track during this racing-filled week. This event would serve as the makeup for the postponed 2020 version of this race.
At the end of the historic night and week at ‘The Big E’, it was Brandon Overton who scored the much coveted victory on the Tony Stewart-owned half-mile clay oval to go along with his Thursday win in the 27th annual version of this race. The Evans, GA driver earned $126,000 for his efforts to go along with the $127,000 he won on Thursday as well as the two $10,000 preliminary wins on Wednesday and Friday.
Heat race lineups were established based on a points system that incorporated results from the qualifying, heat race, and feature race efforts compiled by each driver on Friday night.
Kyle Larson took the win in the first heat race of the night topping Brandon Overton and Chris Ferguson while it was Ricky Thornton Jr. who emerged victorious in the second preliminary after outrunning Ricky Weiss and Gregg Satterlee.
Jonathan Davenport defeated Brandon Sheppard and Bobby Pierce in the third heat then Kyle Bronson bested Chris Madden and Scott Bloomquist in the fourth heat.
Devin Moran grabbed the checkered flag in the fifth prelim ahead of Kyle Strickler and Ryan Gustin just before Darrell Lanigan won the sixth and final heat over Tim McCreadie and Shane Clanton.
Mike Marlar, Earl Pearson Jr. and Zack Dohm moved to the main event out of the first B-main race prior to Dale McDowell, Mason Zeigler and Nick Hoffman advanced out of the second B-main.
Tyler Bruening and Spencer Hughes earned the final positions in the feature by winning the two Scramble races.
At the start of the 100-lap feature it was KLanigan who went to the early lead with Bronson, Thronton, Moran and Davenport following in his tire tracks. Thursday winner Overton took fifth away from Moran on the third lap then passed Davenport for fourth on lap 7.
Further back, Larson moved up to sixth. On lap 9, Overton and Davenport rushed by Thornton for third and fourth respectively as the lead car of Lanigan began to encounter slower traffic. Overton continued to climb as he moved around Bronson for second on lap 17.
Madden began to rumble on lap 19 when he passed Larson for sixth on lap 19 then took fifth from Thornton for fifth on lap 20. At the same time, Davenport and Bronson engaged in a position swapping fight for third and fourth until Bronson slowed on lap 32 with a flat tire to bring out a caution.
On the first attempt to restart the race, a melee that involved Weiss, Pierce, Marlar and Thornton again slowed the action.
On the second lap 32 restart, McCreadie jumped up to fifth while Lanigan maintained the lead with Overton, Davenport and Madden giving chase before a caution for the spinning car of Thornton.
On the lap 37 restart, Overton began to harass Lanigan for the race lead in his bid for an historic finish to his week.
Sheppard slowed to bring out a caution on lap 44 with mechanical issues. Lanigan continued to lead Overton, Davenport, Madden, McCreadie, and Larson. Lanigan, Overton and Davenport were involved in an intense three way battle for the top-3 positions as the race moved to its halfway mark.
On lap 52, Overton’s pressure finally paid off as he moved by Lanigan for the race lead. At the same time, Madden took the third position away from Davenport. As the laps clicked away into the second half of the race, the top-5 of Overton, Lanigan, Madden, Davenport, and McCreadie settled into a rhythm as they held station.
Bloomquist slowed to bring out a yellow flag on lap 68. Madden took the runner-up spot away from Lanigan one lap after the restart as a flurry of activity involving Davenport, Larson and McCreadie took place just behind.
Following a lap 72 restart, Overton and Madden engaged in a lead swapping fight that would go on for several laps. Overton went back to the lead on lap 80 but Madden regained the top spot one lap later. Then Overton took the lead back for the final time on lap 85.
Over the closing laps Overton had to fight with slower traffic as Madden looked to close back in. Bjut eventually, Overton would claim the win to add to his Thursday night victory to go a perfect four-for-four on the week.
The top-3 cars will be impounded and subjected to a complete teardown.
Feature Finish: 1. Brandon Overton, 2. Chris Madden, 3. Chris Ferguson, 4. Jonathan Davenport, 5. Darrell Lanigan, 6. Kyle Larson, 7. Shane Clanton, 8. Tim McCreadie, 9. Gregg Satterlee, 10. Dale McDowell, 11. Tyler Bruening, 12. Jimmy Owens, 13. Devin Moran, 14. Kyle Bronson, 15. Bobby Pierce, 16. Mason Zeigler, 17. Mike Marlar, 18. Scott Bloomquist, 19. Earl Pearson Jr., 20. Kyle Strickler, 21. Ricky Thornton Jr., 22. Brandon Sheppard, 23. Zack Dohm, 24. Ricky Weiss, 25. Ryan Gustin, 26. Nick Hoffman, 27. Spencer Hughes, 28. Shannon Babb
