Hudson O’Neal
Hudson O’Neal led all the way in Thursday night’s Castrol FloRacing Night in America feature race at the Tri-county Race Track but there were potential stumbling blocks that had to be avoided. Throughout the contest, the No. 1 car was constantly threatened by the likes of Bobby Pierce and Jonathan Davenport. And more, his car’s engine developed a misfire that would persist during the event. Ultimately, however, the second generation driver would beat the field to the checkered flag and cut into the already slim points lead held by Pierce coming into the night.
The Rocket Chassis driver from Martinsville, Indiana earned $23,023 from the track located in Brasstown, North Carolina.
A total of 34 cars were signed in for competition
Qualifying Results:
Group A Results- 1. Ricky Thornton Jr.(12.544), 2. Brent Dixon, 3. Bobby Pierce, 4. Garrett Alberson, 5. Dale McDowell, 6. David Payne, 7. Carson Ferguson, 8. Donald McIntosh
Group B Results- 1. Hudson O’Neal(12.534), 2. Jonathan Davenport, 3. Kenny Collins, 4. Ethan Dotson, 5. Tim McCreadie, 6. Jimmy Owens, 7. Daulton Wilson, 8. Jamie Oliver
Heat 1 Results: 1. Bobby Pierce, 2. Ricky Thornton Jr., 3. Dale McDowell, 4. Carson Ferguson
Heat 2 Results: 1. Brent Dixon, 2. Garrett Alberson, 3. David Payne, 4. Donald McIntosh
Heat 3 Results: 1. Hudson O’Neal, 2. Kenny Collins, 3. Tim McCreadie, 4. Ross Bailes
Heat 4 Results: 1. Jonathan Davenport, 2. Ethan Dotson, 3. Jamie Oliver, 4. David McCoy
B-main 1 Finish: 1. Dennis Erb Jr., 2. Vic Hill
B-main 2 Finish: 1. Jimmy Owens, 2. Daulton Wilson
Feature Re-cap: The 53-lap main event took the green flag with O’Neal leading Davenport, Pierce, Collins and Dixon. Almost immediately, Pierce moved and began to challenge Davenport for the second spot just behind O’Neal until a lap 7 caution slowed the pace.
On the restart, a huge pileup that began when Collins spun then collected the cars of McDowell, Owens, Payne, Oliver, Alberson and McCreadie with varying degrees of damage being the result.
After a couple of attempts to get the race restarted, Pierce and Davenport resumed their battle for second with Pierce ultimately winning out after throwing a slide job on Davenport in turn one on the 11th lap of the race. Further back, Thornton began to move forward as he fought with Ferguson for the fifth position.
Bailes spun on lap 15 to bring out another yellow flag. Following that restart, the four drivers who have, for the most part been the talk of the sport, in the persons of O’Neal, Pierce, Davenport and Thornton showed the way. With O’Neal continuing to lead, Davenport worked to regain the runner-up position while Thornton looked to seize the opportunity to take spots away from both.
Erb completed a strong charge when he rolled up to the fifth spot on lap 29 after starting 17th on the grid. A lap 35 caution for a flat tire on Hill’s car restacked the field setting up a three-wide fight for second between Pierce, Davenport and Thornton when the racing action resumed.
Over the closing laps despite his car’s misfiring engine, O’Neal was able to maintain the lead as he sailed under the checkered flag to claim his third FloRacing win of the season.
Feature Results: 1. Hudson O’Neal, 2. Bobby Pierce, 3. Ricky Thornton Jr., 4. Jonathan Davenport, 5. Dennis Erb Jr., 6. David McCoy, 7. Daulton Wilson, 8. Jimmy Owens, 9. Donald McIntosh, 10. Ethan Dotson, 11. Vic Hill, 12. Brent Dixon, 13. Jordan Koehler, 14. Carson Ferguson, 15. Ross Bailes, 16. Austin Neely, 17. Tim McCreadie, 18. Kenny Collins, 19. Dale McDowell, 20. Garrett Alberson, 21. Jamie Oliver, 22. David Payne
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