Chris Ferguson scored the win at Lucas Oil Speedway
Chris Ferguson had never won a crown jewel coming into this Memorial Day weekend but that all changed on Saturday night when he laid claim to the 30th annual Show-Me 100 at the Lucas Oil Speedway. The driver of the No. 22 outdueled many of the top drivers in Dirt Late Model racing to secure the prestigious and lucrative victory.
The Team Zero Race Cars driver from Mt. Holly, NC claimed a paycheck valued at a hefty $50,000 in a race held on the 3/8 mile clay oval located in Wheatland, Missouri and shown live by MavTV.
At total of 63 cars were signed in for competition.
With Thursday night’s racing cancelled by rain, the top-18 starters in the feature were determined from the results of Friday night’s ‘Don & Billie Gibson Tribute’ event.
1. Johnny Scott, 2. Jonathan Davenport, 3. Jimmy Owens, 4. Hudson O’Neal, 5. Ricky Thornton Jr., 6. Ashton Winger, 7. Kyle Bronson, 8. Garrett Alberson, 9. Kolby Vandenbergh, 10. Chris Ferguson, 11. Brandon Sheppard, 12. Jason Papich, 13. Chad Simpson, 14. Bobby Pierce, 15. Scott Bloomquist, 16. Earl Pearson Jr., 17. Tim McCreadie, 18. Billy Moyer Jr.
B-main 1 Finish: 1. Jeremy Shaw, 2. Brian Shirley
B-main 2 Finish: 1. Payton Looney, 2. Cade Dillard
B-main 3 Finish: 1. Tyler Erb, 2. Shannon Babb
Feature Re-cap: When the 100-lap main event got underway it was Davenport who took the early lead over Scott, Owens, O’Neal and Winger trailing. The top-5 held station early on until the top-3 broke away and then began to encounter slower traffic by lap 10.
Scott briefly got by Davenport but Davenport regained the top spot. Owens then took second away from Scott on lap 16 as the leaders raced among heavy traffic. Slower cars kept the top-10 runners in close quarters at the lap 20 mark with no caution yet slowing the pace.
The first yellow flag of the night waved on lap 24 when Kolby Vandenbergh spun. O’Neal moved to third by passing Scott just after the restart while Ferguson rose to sixth and then to fifth.
O’Neal, Scott and Ferguson ran in tight formation battling for positions 3-5 at the lap 30 mark while Davenport and Owens continued to show the way. O’Neal moved in to challenge Owens for second and eventually took the spot on lap 37 as Davenport knifed through slower traffic.
Pierce moved up on lap 39 and wrested the third position away from Owens. A caution bunched the field on lap 44 with Davenport leading O’Neal, Pierce, Owens and Thornton.
Thornton moved up to third just after the restart behind Davenport and O’Neal. Owens and Ferguson rounded out the top-5 at the halfway mark after Pierce pulled off track with mechanical issues.
Thornton’s climb continued on lap 51 when he passed O’Neal for second. By lap 56, Thornton had closed to Davenport’s rear spoiler as the two worked slower traffic. Further back, Ferguson grabbed fourth when he passed Owens on lap 60.
Thornton took the lead away from Davenport on lap 63 leaving Davenport to fight with Ferguson and O’Neal.
Davenport went to the high side of the track when Thornton got held up by slower traffic to retake the lead on lap 67. McCreadie stepped up to fight with Owens and O’Neal at the back of the top-5 ultimately moving to fourth.
After retaking the lead, Davenport began to pull away from Thornton and Ferguson building an advantage of 1.5 seconds. Ferguson made his way to second when he passed Thornton on lap 80 then set off after Davenport.
With 15 laps remaining, the top-6 of Davenport, Ferguson, Thornton, O’Neal, Owens and McCreadie ran on the same straightaway. Contact between Ferguson and Davenport as they fought among slower cars for the lead sent Davenport spinning to bring out a yellow flag on lap 88.
Over the closing laps, Ferguson pulled away from the remainder of the top-5 who were fighting furiously for position. It was Ferguson’s first Show-Me 100 win although he had won the Diamond Nationals at Lucas Oil Speedway.
“I don’t know what to say, I’m speechless,” Ferguson declared in his post-race interview with MavTV. “That was awesome, this is amazing. J.D. kind of got stuck behind them lapped cars there and I found a groove about a half car length out from everybody else, I rolled him in one and two and got door-to-door with him. I kind of picked up Earl(Pearson) down the backstretch to let him know I was there and he went down and I rolled to the outside of him. Me and J.D. both just kind of got in hot and we hit a little bit.”
Feature Finish: 1. Chris Ferguson, 2. Ricky Thornton Jr., 3. Tim McCreadie, 4. Jimmy Owens, 5. Chad Simpson, 6. Kyle Bronson, 7. Hudson O’Neal, 8. Payton Looney, 9. Ashton Winger, 10. Scott Bloomquist, 11. Garrett Alberson, 12. Brandon Sheppard, 13. Tyler Erb, 14. Earl Pearson Jr., 15. Chris Simpson, 16. Jonathan Davenport, 17. Johnny Scott, 18. Kolby Vandenbergh, 19. Trevor Gundaker, 20. Daulton Wilson, 21. Ross Robinson, 22. Spencer Hughes, 23. Shannon Babb, 24. Tad Posposil, 25. Billy Moyer Jr., 26. Brian Shirley, 27. Jason Papich, 28. Bobby Pierce, 29. Stormy Scott, 30. Cade Dillard, 31. Jeremy Shaw
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