Jimmy Owens scored a Thursday night win at Volusia
The World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series made hit the track for the second time in the DIRTcar Nationals on Thursday night at Volusia Speedway Park. Jimmy Owens beat the rest of the field to the finish line to claim the gator shaped trophy and the winner’s check valued at $10,000.
It was the 16th WoO Late Models feature win for Owens and the first ever Late Model win at Volusia for the Newport, Tenn. racer.
Boom Briggs was fastest in Group A qualifying by turning a lap in 16.495 seconds around the .425 mile clay oval to beat out Jimmy Owens, Brian Shirley, Dale McDowell, Pearson Lee Williams and Tim McCreadie.
Darrell Lanigan led the way in Group B time-trials with a time of 16.443 seconds to better the efforts of Brandon Sheppard, Dennis Erb Jr., Kyle Bronson, Mike Marlar and Brandon Overton.
The top-3 from each heat race transferred to the feature.
Dale McDowell won the first heat race of the night by besting Kody Evans and Chris Madden while Jimmy Owens took the second preliminary ahead of Donny Schatz and Tyler Erb.
Brian Shirley took the win in the third heat ahead of Tim McCreadie and Scott Bloomquist.
Brandon was victorious in the fourth preliminary as he bested Darrell Lanigan and Jonathan Davenport with Mike Marlar beating out Shane Clanton and Allen Weisser.
Kyle Bronson won the sixth and final heat by topping Josh Richards and Gregg Satterlee.
Mark Whitener took the first Last Chance Showdown by beating out Johnny Scott with Chase Junghans getting the win in the second LCS over Ricky Weiss. Rick Eckert took the third heat ahead of Dennis Erb, Jr.
The WoO Late Models redraw placed Sheppard on the pole with Owens, Marlar, McDowell, Bronson and Shirley lining up in order on the starting grid.
At the start of the 40-lap feature Owens used his outside front row starting position to his advantage and took the lead over Sheppard, McDowell, Marlar and Shirley. Bronson and Lanigan went by Shirley to take fourth and fifth on lap 2. However, Shirley regained fifth from Lanigan one lap later.
Owens immediately began pulling away as Richards began moving forward as he passed by Lanigan for seventh on lap 4.
A lap 10 caution for Blake Spencer regrouped the pack for a restart.
Owens resumed his control of the lead on that restart while McDowell moved by Sheppard for the runner-up spot. Further back, Sheppard, Richards and Bronson went three-wide for positions 3-5 on lap 11. Sheppard held third as Richards went to fourth.
By lap 14 Owens had built a lead of over two seconds. Meanwhile, Richards closed in on Sheppard as those drivers contested third.
Richards finally cleared Sheppard for third on lap 20 and then charged by McDowell to capture second. At that time, McDowell, Sheppard and Bronson engaged in a fierce battle for positions 3-5.
A lap 29 caution again erased a big Owens lead. On the ensuing restart contact between Richards and Bronson did damage to the right rear of the Richards machine as Bronson suffered right front damage.
Davenport moved forward to gain fourth from Bronson but Owens would have no match as he cruised under the checkered flag for the victory.
Feature Finish: 1. Jimmy Owens, 2. Dale McDowell, 3. Josh Richards, 4. Jonathan Davenport, 5. Mike Marlar, 6. Brandon Sheppard, 7. Kyle Bronson, 8. Chris Madden, 9. Darrell Lanigan, 10. Donny Schatz, 11. Ricky Weiss, 12. Shane Clanton, 13. Rick Eckert, 14. Dennis Erb Jr., 15. Johnny Scott, 16. Chase Junghans, 17. Tyler Erb, 18. Ashton Winger, 19. Scott Bloomquist, 20. Brian Shirley, 21. Brent Larson, 22. Boom Briggs, 23. Tim McCreadie, 24. Cade Dillard, 25. Kody Evans, 26. Matt Cosner, 27. Allen Weisser, 28. Gregg Satterlee, 29. Blake Spencer, 30. Mark Whitener
