Jimmy Owens will start the Topless 100 from the pole
The string of major Dirt Late Model events will continue on Saturday night at the Batesville(AR) Motor Speedway with the running of the 29th annual Comp Cams Topless 100. The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned event that features cars racing without their roofs will pay out $40,000 to the eventual winner.
Two $5,000-to-win preliminary events that would be used to set the top-16 starters for Saturday’s main event had originally been scheduled as part of the Topless 100 weekend. However, Thursday’s racing program was cancelled due to rain. That meant the Friday portion of the racing action would be the sole determinant as far as deciding who would be able to avoid running in a B-main was concerned.
Please consider also reading “Jimmy Owens picks up Topless 100 preliminary win at Batesville“
Drivers accumulated points in qualifying, heat races, and in the Friday feature. The sixteen drivers who scored the most points earned automatic entry into the Topless 100.
Jimmy Owens won his first Lucas Oil feature of 2021 on Friday and is a three-time winner of this crown jewel event(2009, 2014, 2020). The Newport, Tennessee driver pointed to the improved performance of his Rocket Chassis car over the past few weeks during his victory lane interview with MavTV Plus.
“The car was good, it’s been good all night long,” Owens commented. “I’ve got to thank the crew and those guys for busting their butt, it’s been a long road up here. The car was flawless tonight and maybe we can carry it into tomorrow.”
Owens will start from the pole position on Saturday due to his efforts on that lone preliminary night.
“It’s definitely a boost in morale for the guys and it makes it look a lot more exciting when you go from one race to the next,” the 49-year-old racer remarked. “Me and Mikey(Marlar) were talking about how tonight you’ve got to do the best you can do because we didn’t get two points nights so you’ve got to capitalize on what you got tonight. We were able to do alright.”
Tim McCreadie will start the Topless 100 from the front row
Tim McCreadie finished second to Owens on Friday night and will start Saturday’s feature from the outside of the front row. The Watertown, New York native and his team rolled out a new Longhorn Chassis for Friday’s race and the results were pleasing.
“It wasn’t the greatest at the beginning, but that’s what we’re hoping for,” McCreadie explained. “We’re hoping for a car that will get a little better as you run and it did. We’ve got a tough decision because the car we’ve been running up to last week and most of last year makes a lot of money, a ton of money. We’ll make a decision in the morning of what to do with this thing if we can make it better.”
McCreadie, who won the Topless 100 in 2008, knows that success is not easily found on this series and in these big events.
“We got beat by a different guy and that means this is a very tough series to be in,” the 47-year-old driver pointed out. “And right now we’ve been the most consistent lately, but maybe not the fastest.”
The Top-16 starters for the Comp Cams Topless 100:
1. Jimmy Owens, 2. Tim McCreadie, 3. Nick Hoffman, 4. Brandon Overton, 5. Ricky Thornton Jr., 6. Hudson O’Neal, 7. Jonathan Davenport, 8. Tyler Erb, 9. Billy Moyer Jr., 10. Josh Richards, 11. Cade Dillard, 12. Mike Marlar, 13. Scott Crigler, 14. Stormy Scott, 15. Timothy Culp, 16. Brian Rickman
There will be two B-main races on Saturday night with the top-3 from each moving on to the main event. Here are the starting lineups for those races:
B-main 1 Lineup: 1. Wendell Wallace, 2. Billy Moyer Sr., 3. Kylan Garner, 4. Morgan Bagley, 5. Rick Rickman, 6. Spencer Hughes, 7. Earl Pearson Jr., 8. Hunter Rasdon, 9. Michael Arnold, 10. Neil Baggett, 11. Chad Mallett, 12. Jason Miles, 13. Steve Shultz, 14. Robbie Stuart, 15. Rayce McCord, 16. Cole Farmer
B-main 2 Lineup: 1. Kyle Bronson, 2. Kyle Beard, 3. Terry Phillips, 4. Shane Clanton, 5. Shannon Babb, 6. Johnny Scott, 7. Chris Jones, 8. Logan Martin, 9. Brayden Proctor, 10. Austin Vincent, 11. B.J. Robinson, 12. Jadon Frame, 13. Derrick Nichols, 14. Dustin Holmes, 15. Travis Ashley
