Dale McDowell’s late pass earns Friday night Group B triumph at Eldora

Dale McDowell got by Josh Rice with two laps remaining

Dale McDowell in the Friday night Group B feature at Eldora Speedway showed just how much experience is worth as he tracked down leader Josh Rice and made a late race pass to secure the win in the second World 100 preliminary event of the night.

The Team Zero Race Cars driver from Chickamauga, Georgia earned $12,000 for his efforts at the track located in Rossburg, Ohio in a race aired live by FloRacing.com.

Points accumulated on Thursday and Friday will be used to set the heat race lineups for Saturday night’s World 100.

A total of 107 cars were signed in for competition

Qualifying Results: 1. Dale McDowell(15.362), 2. Garrett Smith, 3. Dennis Erb Jr., 4. Mike Benedum, 5. Chris Madden, 6. Hudson O’Neal, 7. John Blankenship, 8. Chase Junghans, 9. Ryan Gustin, 10. Gregg Satterlee

Heat 1 Results: 1. Jon Henry, 2. Chris Madden, 3. Dale McDowell, 4. Ryan Pearson, 5. Earl Pearson Jr.

Heat 2 Results: 1. Josh Rice, 2. Hudson O’Neal, 3. Garrett Smith, 4. Gregg Satterlee, 5. Scott Bloomquist

Heat 3 Results: 1. Zack Dohm, 2. Dennis Erb Jr., 3. John Blankenship, 4. Forrest Trent, 5. Duane Chamberlain

Heat 4 Results: 1. Brian Shirley, 2. Chase Junghans, 3. Daulton Wilson, 4. Stormy Scott, 5. Mike Benedum

B-main 1 Finish:  1. Tyler Erb, 2. James Rice

B-main 2 Finish: 1. Kye Blight, 2. Victor Lee

Feature Re-cap: At the start of the 25-lap main event it was Rice who went to the early lead over Henry, O’Neal, Shirley and Dohm. Shirley passed Henry for third on the second lap then McDowell ripped by two cars to break into the top-5. 

A lap 5 caution for the car of second running O’Neal slowed the action with Rice continued to lead Shirley, Dohm and McDowell. On the restart, Rice continued to lead but McDowell moved up to second with Shirley taking third.

Although Rice pulled out to a lead, McDowell began to close in just after the halfway point of the race. The two drivers ran in close formation as they began to encounter slower traffic while Madden moved into third and began to reel in the lead duo.

With Rice running the top line around the track and McDowell moving to the low side the battle raged on. Finally, McDowell seized an opportunity as he and Rice went three-wide with a slower car also in the mix. McDowell emerge from that fight with the lead with two laps to go.

McDowell then sailed under the checkered flag to claim the win.

Feature Results: 1. Dale McDowell, 2. Josh Rice, 3. Chris Madden, 4. Garrett Smith, 5. Brian Shirley, 6. Ryan Gustin, 7. Zack Dohm, 8. Chase Junghans, 9. Scott Bloomquist, 10. Dennis Erb Jr., 11. Tyler Erb, 12. Stormy Scott, 13. John Blankenship, 14. Daulton Wilson, 15. Victor Lee, 16. Earl Pearson Jr., 17. Hudson O’Neal, 18. Gregg Satterlee, 19. Jon Henry. 20. James Rice, 21. Mike Benedum, 22. Kye Blight, 23. Duane Chamberlain, 24. Forrest Trent 

Please consider also reading:

Bobby Pierce nabs Friday night Group A feature at Eldora following Weiss DQ

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