Devin Moran took the lead late in the race and drove to the win
The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series made its second stop for its part of Georgia-Florida SpeedWeeks by making its way to the East Bay Raceway Park. After a sixth place finish in the first feature of 2020 at Georgia’s Golden Isles Speedway on Saturday night, Devin Moran scored the win on Monday night earning the $5,000 first prize.
It was Moran’s first win after rejoining car owner Tye Twarog.
A total of 62 cars signed in for competition on the first night of the Wrisco Winternationals at the Tampa, Florida track.
Tim McCreadie was fastest in Group A qualifying and overall as he posted a lap of 14.832 seconds around the third-mile clay oval. That time beat out Brandon Sheppard, Jimmy Owens, Tyler Erb, John Tweed and Johnny Scott.
Devin Moran beat out the competition in Group B time-trials with an effort of 15.081 seconds at “The Clay by the Bay” to better the times of Jeff Mathews, Boom Briggs, Chris Garnes, Kyle Bronson and G.R. Smith.
Tim McCreadie took the first heat of the night earning his way into the feature along with Brian Shirley and Tyler Erb while Brandon Sheppard grabbed the second preliminary over Josh Richards and Billy Moyer, Sr.
Jimmy Owens dominated the third heat ahead of Johnny Scott and Donald McIntosh.
Devin Moran earned the outside front row starting spot in the feature by winning the fourth heat of the evening by beating out Chris Garnes and Billy Moyer, Jr. while Jeff Mathews won the fifth heat over Kyle Bronson and Brandon Overton.
G.R. Smith topped Mason Zeigler and Mike Marlar in the sixth and final heat of the night.
Shane Clanton won the first B-main of the night over Hudson O’Neal while Chase Junghans won the second B-main ahead of defending LOLMDS champion Jonathan Davenport.
Allen Weisser won the Strawberry Dash to earn the final spot on the starting grid for the main event.
At the start of the 30-lap feature it was McCreadie who took the early lead with Moran, Sheppard, Smith and Owens tailing. But the action was slowed almost immediately as Junghans came to a stop on the track at the end of the first lap.
Sheppard advanced to second on the restart while Mathews took fourth at the same time. Sheppard then closed in on McCreadie for the lead one lap later with the No. 39 on the very bottom of the track and the No. 1 running right around the top.
The two leaders encountered slower traffic on lap 7 with both cars finding themselves bottled up behind the slower machines. Finally on lap 11 Sheppard moved by McCreadie for the top spot.
At the race’s midway point home state favorite Bronson charged through the field and into the third spot as he passed by Moran. One lap later it was Bronson who would move into the runner-up position as he passed by McCreadie.
A lap 19 restart provided Bronson with an opportunity to use a slide job pass on Sheppard for the race lead. But a spin by Shirley brought out a caution on lap 20.
On the restart there was contact between Bronson and Sheppard as they roared down the backstretch battling for the lead. Sheppard spun as a result of the contact while Bronson received some damage to his car.
The restart following the Sheppard caution saw Bronson, Moran and Erb go three-wide for the lead with both Moran and Erb passing by Bronson. After exchanging a couple of slide jobs Moran emerged as the leader.
Moran slipped away from his closest pursuers but the action remained intense behind him with Bronson sliding by Erb to retake second with three laps remaining in the show.
At the end, it was Moran who would sail under the checkered flag to score the victory.
Feature Finish: 1. Devin Moran, 2. Kyle Bronson, 3. Tyler Erb, 4. Jonathan Davenport, 5. Chris Garnes, 6. Billy Moyer, Jr., 7. Tim McCreadie, 8. Hudson O’Neal, 9. Mike Marlar, 10. Brandon Sheppard, 11. Jeff Mathews, 12. Billy Moyer, Sr., 13. Shane Clanton, 14. Earl Pearson, Jr., 15. Josh Richards, 16. Donald McIntosh, 17. Dennis Erb, Jr., 18. Brian Shirley, 19. G.R. Smith, 20. Shanon Buckingham, 21. Tyler Bruening, 22. Stormy Scott, 23. Allen Weisser, 24. Johnny Scott, 25. Jimmy Owens, 26. John Tweed, 27. Coleby Frye, 28. Brandon Overton, 29. Mason Zeigler, 30. Chase Junghans
