The Wednesday night session of the two-part World 100 extravaganza at Eldora Speedway is in the books and there were several interesting pieces of news to come out of the first night of racing action at the Rossburg, Ohio track. A surprise winner in Johnny Scott and a previous World 100 champion in the person of Tim McCreadie each made their way to the victory lane stage at ‘The Big E’ following the two preliminary features that will serve as lead-ins for Thursday night’s running of the 51st annual World 100.
Longhorn drivers Tim McCreadie(39) and Jonathan Davenport(49) ended their nights with a win and a 5th respectively on Wednesday
Longhorn takes both Wednesday wins: Coming off of the Double Dream weekend back in June in which Brandon Overton dominated everything with his Wells Motorsports prepared Longhorn Chassis, it appears as if that particular Dirt Late Model chassis builder is picking up right where it left off. The only difference for this time around on opening night for the World 100 four-day event was that the names on top of the car’s window openings have changed.
With all the talk coming into this weekend centering around drivers such as Overton, Kyle Larson, Jonathan Davenport, Tim McCreadie and Brandon Sheppard there were few who had the name of Johnny Scott on their radar as a potential feature winner. So the New Mexico driver no doubt caught many competitors and fans alike by surprise when he wheeled his Longhorn onto the victory lane stage alongside the front straightaway of the famed facility.
One of the two Scott racing twins(along with brother Stormy), scored the biggest Late Model feature win of his career and collected $10,000 in the process to add to the Longhorn success at Eldora.
In the second feature it was a more familiar face who would pull his Longhorn onto the stage as multiple-time Eldora winner Tim McCreadie drove from his 9th starting spot to take the lead with seven circuits remaining in the 25-lap affair then separated himself from the competition before sailing under the checkered flag.
Can Rocket or one of the other chassis builders top Longhorn in the World 100 on Thursday night?
Dale McDowell was frustrated after having a heat race win taken away
Heat Race Penalties: Two of the heat races held on Wednesday saw drivers penalized when officials deemed their starts to be improper.
Following the finish of the first heat in Group A, officials(DIRTcar) announced that driver Tyler Erb had started the race in violation of the rules. It was stated by those who officiate the World 100 that the No. 1 Best Performance Motorsports car was too far out of line on the start. As a result, Erb was docked two positions. Instead of finishing third in that race, he was credited with a fifth-place result.
Erb still made the Group A feature, starting from the inside of the ninth row. He would end his night with an 11th place finish.
Dale McDowell also fell victim to the punishment of race officials. The No. 17m machine was said to have jumped the start from the pole positions in the first heat in Group B. The ‘Mac Daddy’ went on to win that preliminary race then found out later he would be pushed back two positions. His final finishing spot would be listed as third instead of as the victor of the heat race.
McDowell would ultimately finish the Group B feature in 10th after starting from the inside of the sixth row.
Typically under the rules of most series, a caution is thrown immediately when a driver is deemed to have gained an unfair advantage on the start with a second attempt at a start called for. On some occasions the offending driver may be told to fall back one row and sometimes the driver will be given two chances to get it right. Obviously, that was not the case in either of these instances as the penalties were doled out after the race.
Overton and Larson relatively quiet: Easily, two of the most talked about contenders coming into this week have been Double Dream winner Brandon Overton and NASCAR star Kyle Larson. However, those two racing superstars proved to be relatively quiet during Wednesday night’s action.
Larson did make some noise during qualifying as he placed second in Group A time-trials behind only Kyle Strickler. The No. 6 K&L Rumley Longhorn Chassis driver went on to finish fourth in his heat race which placed him on the outside of the seventh row at the start of the feature. The driver who has won in NASCAR, Sprint Cars and Dirt Late Models so far in 2021 was not able to make up much ground during the 25-lap feature ultimately placing 12th in the final rundown.
Brandon Overton finished 6th in his feature race on Wednesday
Overton pocketed more than $270,000 the last time his No. 76 was on the track at Eldora Speedway and many look at the Georgia driver as a favorite in this World 100 double-header as well. However, his weekend did not get off to the same type of start on Wednesday evening.
After qualifying 24th among those in Group A Overton managed a third-place effort in his heat race. He then started the feature from the outside of the sixth row. During the main event he was able to move forward finally finding himself in the sixth spot when the checkered flag waved.
It will be interesting to see how these two drivers do on Thursday night with a full 100 laps to work their way into position at the end.
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