Hudson O’Neal
It was an epic fight for all 50 laps in the ‘Rumble by the River’ on Saturday night at the Port Royal Speedway. In the end, it was Hudson O’Neal who would emerge from the fight with the likes of Jonathan Davenport, Brandon Overton and Mike Marlar to score a lucrative Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory.
The Rocket Chassis driver from Martinsville, Indiana earned $50,000 for his efforts on the track located in Port Royal, Pennsylvania in a race shown live by FloRacing.com.
A total of 52 cars were signed in for competition
Qualifying Results: Heat race lineups were set based off of points earned from preliminary races held on Friday.
Heat 1 Results: 1. Brandon Overton, 2. Devin Moran, 3. Cody Overton
Heat 2 Results: 1. Hudson O’Neal, 2. Michael Norris, 3. Logan Roberson
Heat 3 Results: 1. Jonathan Davenport, 2. Earl Pearson Jr., 3. Matt Cosner
Heat 4 Results: 1. Tim McCreadie, 2. Rick Eckert, 3. Kyle Hardy
Heat 5 Results: 1. Ricky Thornton Jr., 2. Daulton Wilson, 3. Mason Zeigler
Heat 6 Results: 1. Mike Marlar, 2. Colton Flinner, 3. Garrett Alberson
B-main 1 Finish: 1. Max Blair, 2. Chris Ferguson
B-main 2 Finish: 1. Tyler Erb, 2. Gregg Satterlee
Feature Re-cap: At the start of the 50-lap feature it was Overton who moved to the front of the pack over O’Neal, Davenport, Marlar and McCreadie. McCreadie took fourth from Marlar on the second circuit while O’Neal and Davenport closed in to harass Overton for the lead.
Marlar got fourth back from McCreadie on lap 5 while Overton and O’Neal swapped sliders at the front of the field. Moran moved forward by taking fifth from McCreadie on lap 7 as Overton, O’Neal and Davenport ran in tight formation ahead of the pack.
Davenport moved around O’Neal for second on lap 15. The No. 49 then took the lead from Overton on lap 21. Overton continued to fall back as he lost second to O’Neal on lap 22 then third to Marlar on lap 23.
Ferguson, Zeigler and Pearson tangled on lap 27 to bring out the first yellow flag of the night. Moran and Norris moved up on the restart taking fourth and fifth respectively pushing Overton back to sixth.
Thornton blasted into the top-5 from the tail of the field on lap 30. Marlar grabbed the runner-up position from O’Neal on lap 35 as Davenport continued to show the way. Marlar challenged Davenport for the lea don lap 35 just before a caution for Norris came out with 14 laps remaining.
On the restart, Thornton bolted to third behind Davenport and Marlar. With 12 to go, Marlar continued to fight with Davenport for the lead. Thornton then passed Marlar for second but a lap 40 caution for Robinson negated the move. As the cars circulated under caution, Thornton came to a stop on the track and had to be pushed to the pit area and out of the race.
At the time of the restart, Davenport led Marlar, O’Neal, Overton and Moran. O’Neal went by Marlar for second on lap 43. O’Neal then took the lead away from Davenport on lap 44 but a caution on lap 45 for the slowing car of Eckert regrouped the field.
Cosner moved into fourth on the restart behind O’Neal, Davenport and Marlar. O’Neal would then pull away from his pursuers and sail to victory as Marlar and Davenport fought for second.
Feature Results: 1. Hudson O’Neal, 2. Mike Marlar, 3. Jonathan Davenport, 4. Matt Cosner, 5. Brandon Overton, 6. Tim McCreadie, 7. Devin Moran, 8. Cody Overton, 9. Garrett Alberson, 10. Logan Roberson, 11. Earl Pearson Jr;, 12. Spencer Hughes, 13. Tyler Erb, 14. Daulton Wilson, 15. Gregg Satterlee, 16. Colton Flinner, 17. Max Blair, 18. Rick Eckert, 19. Ross Robinson, 20. Jeff Rine, 21. Kyle Hardy, 22. Ricky Thornton Jr., 23. Michael Norris, 24. Chris Ferguson, 25. Mason Zeigler
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