Hudson O’Neal capitalized on Brandon Sheppard’s misfortune to claim the win
Brandon Sheppard took the lead away from Jimmy Owens as the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series feature neared the halfway point on Thursday night at I-70 Motorsports Park and looked to be on the way to convincing victory. But with the white flag in sight, Sheppard suffered mechanical trouble which opened the door for Hudson O’Neal to assume the lead then go on to claim his second series victory of the 2022 season.
The Rocket Chassis driver from Martinsville, Ind. earned $10,000 for his efforts in a race held at the 3/8 mile Odessa, MO track that was shown live by FloRacing.com.
A total of 24 cars were signed in for competition
Qualifying Results: 1. Brandon Sheppard(15.478), 2. Jimmy Owens, 3. Kyle Strickler, 4. Tim McCreadie, 5. Hudson O’Neal, 6. Daulton Wilson, 7. Spencer Hughes, 8. Ross Robinson, 9. Ricky Thornton Jr., 10. Johnny Scott
Heat 1 Results: 1. Brandon Sheppard, 2. Tim McCreadie, 3. Spencer Hughes, 4. Johnny Scott, 5. Earl Pearson Jr., 6. Aaron Marrant, 7. Chad Simpson, 8. Steve Stultz
Heat 2 Results: 1. Jimmy Owens, 2. Hudson O’Neal, 3. Ross Robinson, 4. Tyler Erb, 5. Logan Martin, 6. Daniel Hilsabeck, 7. Dusty Leonard, 8. Jason Bodenhamer
Heat 3 Results: 1. Daulton Wilson, 2. Kyle Strickler, 3. Ricky Thornton Jr., 4. Garrett Alberson, 5. Kolby Vandenbergh, 6. Jon Binning, 7. Dalton Imhoff, 8. Kaeden Cornell
Feature Re-cap: At the start of the 30-lap feature it was Owens who jumped out to the early lead ahead of Sheppard, O’Neal, McCreadie and Wilson. Owens immediately began to slip away from his pursuers as the top-5 cars spread out around the lightning fast speedway.
The pace was slowed on lap 9 as a yellow flag waved for the slowing car of Binning.
Thornton entered the top-5 by passing Wilson on lap 11. At the front of the field, Sheppard got around Owens for the race lead then O’Neal and McCreadie also passed by the early leader.
Strickler moved forward by passing Thornton for fifth on lap 17. The leaders began to encounter slower traffic on lap 18 which allowed O’Neal to take a peek underneath Sheppard for the race lead while McCreadie closed in from third.
With five laps remaining, the top-5 of Sheppard, O’Neal, McCreadie, Owens and Strickler ran in tight formation as they looked to settle the issue among themselves. However, a caution flag would be shown to the field on lap 27 when Hughes slowed on the track.
Sheppard quickly pulled away on the lap 27 restart but disaster struck with just over one lap remaining as his car began smoking heavily and he retired from the race.
O’Neal assumed the lead after Sheppard’s misfortune and then went on the take the win following a green/white/checkered finish.
Feature Results: 1. Hudson O’Neal, 2. Jimmy Owens, 3. Tim McCreadie, 4. Kyle Strickler, 5. Ricky Thornton Jr., 6. Tyler Erb, 7. Garrett Alberson, 8. Daulton Wilson, 9. Ross Robinson, 10. Chad Simpson, 11. Earl Pearson Jr., 12. Daniel Hilsabeck, 13. Brandon Sheppard, 14. Spencer Hughes, 15. Kolby Vandenbergh, 16. Logan Martin, 17. Aaron Marrant, 18. Steve Stultz, 19. Dusty Leonard, 20. Dalton Imhoff, 22. Jason Bodenhamer, 23. Johnny Scott, 24. Kaeden Cornell
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