Chris Madden led all the way
The World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series headed for the Keystone State on Friday night for the first of two big events to be held at the historic Port Royal Speedway. At the end of Friday night’s caution-free action, it was Chris Madden who dominated then stood in victory lane at the Pennsylvania facility following a race shown live by DirtVision.com. the Gray Court, SC driver earned $10,000 for his efforts.
A total of 43 cars were signed in for competition.
Chris Madden was fastest in Group A qualifying with a lap of 19.802 seconds around the half-mile clay oval besting Brandon Overton, Colton Flinner, Hayes Mattern, and Mason Zeigler.
It was Chris Ferguson who led the way in Group B time-trials with a lap of 19.962 topping Tyler Bruening, Rick Eckert, Brandon Sheppard, and Gregg Satterlee.
Chris Madden won the first heat race of the night over Ricky Weiss, Mason Zeigler, and Gary Stuhler while Brandon Overton took the second preliminary ahead of Donald Lingo Jr., Ryan Gustin, and Jeff Rine.
Rick Eckert defeated Ross Robinson, Chris Ferguson, and Kyle Strickler in the third heat then Brandon Sheppard beating out Tyler Bruening, Boom Briggs, and Jason Covert in the fourth and final heat.
The World of Outlaws redraw set the first four rows on the feature starting grid as Chris Madden, Brandon Overton, Brandon Sheppard, Rick Eckert, Ricky Weiss, Tyler Bruening, Donnie Lingo Jr., and Ross Robinson.
Cade Dillard and Brent Larson won the two Last Chance Showdown races used to set the remainder of the starting lineup for the main event.
At the start of the 40-lap feature it was Madden shooting to the early lead with Overton, Sheppard, Eckert, and Bruening in his tire tracks. Bruening was the first to make a move as he took fourth away from Eckert on lap 4.
By the fifth circuit, the top-5 of Madden, Overton, Sheppard, Bruening, and Eckert began to space out and sail around the big speedway. Madden began to pull away from his pursuers on lap 8. However, the No. 44 began to encounter slower traffic by lap 10 which briefly allowed Overton to close in on the front runner.
By lap 15, Madden extricated himself from the battle with Overton and sailed through the halfway point in the feature.
Eckert closed in on Bruening then regained the fourth spot on lap 32. At the same time, Overton closed right to the rear spoiler of Madden but was never able to make a move for the lead. Madden went on to cruise under the checkered flag to claim his third WoO Late Model triumph of the 2021 season.
Feature Finish: 1. Chris Madden, 2. Brandon Overton, 3. Brandon Sheppard, 4. Rick Eckert, 5. Tyler Bruening, 6. Chris Ferguson, 7. Ricky Weiss, 8. Ryan Gustin, 9. Ross Robinson, 10. Dan Stone, 11. Donnie Lingo Jr., 12. Jason Covert, 13. Cade Dillard, 14. Boom Briggs, 15. Colton Flinner, 16. Kyle Hardy, 17. Dylan Yoder, 18. Brent Larson, 19. Dennis Erb Jr., 20. Tyler Bare, 21. Kyle Strickler, 22. Hayes Mattern, 23. Mason Zeigler, 24. Jeff Rine, 25. Gary Stuhler
