Jimmy Owens picked up $6,000 for his Friday night win
The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series took to the Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri for the second night in a row for a $6,000-to-win event named in honor of Don and Billie Gibson(originators of the Show-me 100 at West Plains Speedway). Jimmy Owens, who has won four of the last eight Show-me 100 races held at this track, came away as the winner of the non-points paying feature after the checkered flag waved over the ‘Diamond of Dirt Tracks’.
Kyle Bronson was fastest in Group A qualifying as he turned a lap in 15.188 seconds to better the times of Gavin Landers, Joey Moriarity, Justin Duty and Mason Zeigler.
Jimmy Owens lead the way in Group B time-trials after posting a lap of 15.269 seconds to beat out Jake Davis, Jonathan Davenport, Bobby Pierce and Mike Marlar.
Duty won the night’s first heat race and earned the pole for the feature as he beat Bronson and Earl Pearson, Jr. to the finish line while Zeigler topped Landers and Raymond Merrill in the second preliminary of the evening.
Joey Moriarity won the third heat of the night over Billy Moyer and Scott Crigler.
Bobby Pierce secured the outside of the front row for the feature when he beat Jimmy Owens and Austin Rettig in the fourth heat.
Mike Marlar won the fifth heat over Brian Shirley and Jesse Stovall just before Hudson O’Neal beat out Jonathan Davenport and Logan Martin in the final heat of the night.
Dennis Erb, Jr., Scott Bloomquist and Jared Landers won the three B-main races used to set the remaining spots on the main event starting grid.
*Bloomquist had a very interesting journey into the feature that included a qualifying disqualification and winning his B-main essentially on three wheels. Read about it here.
On the initial attempt at a start of the 40-lap feature the pole sitting car of Duty was involved in a single car spin and had to go to the tail for the following attempt at a start.
Zeigler jumped to the top spot once the race got going with Pierce, Marlar, O’Neal and Moriarity trailing. Moriarity then began to move forward as he took fourth away from O’Neal with Owens following suit and taking fifth from O’Neal on lap 4.
Moriarity continued his climb as he moved around Marlar for third on lap 6. Owens again followed Moriarity as he took fourth from the No. 157 of Marlar on the seventh circuit. Shirley also passed by Marlar to move into the top-5 on the next lap.
The third running car of Moriarity slowed to bring out a yellow flag on lap 9. On the ensuing restart, Owens made a big move as he caught and passed Pierce for second and immediately began his pursuit of Zeigler. On lap 13, Zeigler and Owens exchanged the lead a couple of times before a caution flag flew on lap 13.
Owens took the lead for good on lap 15 with Shirley moving in to challenge Zeigler for second. On lap 17, Shirley and Pierce split Zeigler to take second and third respectively. At the same time, Bloomquist had made his way up to sixth from his 20th starting position.
On lap 24, Bloomquist moved by Zeigler to take fifth and two laps later he took fourth away from Pierce as Owens slipped away from the field.
Over the final laps, Owens maintained a relatively comfortable lead with Shirley in pursuit from several car lengths behind. Just behind the lead duo, Davenport and Bloomquist battle for third until Davenport jumped the cushion with fur laps remaining.
But in the end, it was Owens who would drive under the checkered flag to score the win.
Feature Finish: 1. Jimmy Owens, 2. Brian Shirley, 3. Scott Bloomquist, 4. Jonathan Davenport, 5. Bobby Pierce, 6. Mike Marlar, 7. Hudson O’Neal, 8. Dennis Erb, Jr., 9. Mason Zeigler, 10. Kyle Bronson, 11. Austin Rettig, 12. Chris Simpson, 13. Jesse Stovall, 14. Jared Landers, 15. Billy Moyer, 16. Josh Richards, 17. Gavin Landers, 18. Earl Pearson, Jr., 19. Scott Crigler, 20. Justin Duty, 21. Logan Martin, 22. Raymond Merrill, 23. Mason Oberkramer, 24. Joey Moriarity
