Mike Marlar captured the win on Thursday night at Lernerville Speedway in a race that served as a preliminary for Saturday night’s $50,000-to-win Firecracker 100 event that will be sanctioned for the first time in its history by the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series.
The Longhorn Chassis driver from Winfield, TN earned $6,000 for his win in a race held on the Sarver, PA track that was aired live by MavTV Plus.
A total of 54 cars were signed in for competition.
The lineups for Saturday’s heat races will be determined based on the results of the Thursday and Friday features.
Qualifying Results:
Group A- 1. Daulton Wilson(15.291), 2. Chub Frank, 3. Brandon Overton, 4. Ashton Winger, 5. Earl Pearson Jr.
Group B- 1. Mike Marlar(15.346), 2. Tyler Erb, 3. John Garvin, Jr., 4. Brandon Sheppard, 5. Spencer Hughes
Heat 1 Results: 1. Ashton Winger, 2. Mark Whitener, 3. Jonathan Davenport
Heat 2 Results: 1. Earl Pearson Jr., 2. Chub Frank, 3. Rick Eckert
Heat 3 Results: 1. Brandon Overton, 2. Garrett Alberson, 3. Michael Norris
Heat 4 Results: 1. Mike Marlar, 2. Brandon Sheppard, 3. Drake Troutman
Heat 5 Results: 1. Tyler Erb, 2. Hudson O’Neal, 3. Chris Ferguson
Heat 6 Results: 1. John Garvin Jr., 2. Scott Bloomquist, 3. Ricky Thornton Jr.
B-main 1 Finish: 1. Daulton Wilson, 2. Jimmy Owens
B-main 2 Finish: 1. Matt Lux, 2. Tim McCreadie
B-main 3 Finish: 1. Daryl Charlier, 2. Colton Flinner
Feature Re-cap: When the 30-lap feature began, it was Winger who jumped to the lead with Pearson, Marlar, Overton and Erb trailing. Marlar took second away from Pearson on the second circuit then moved up to the lead by passing Winger on the third lap.
A caution for a spin by Garvin brought out a yellow flag on lap 7. On the ensuing restart, Pearson, Overton and Erb were all able to get by Winger for second, third and fourth respectively until a caution came out on lap 8 for wild rollover crash involving Frank(who walked away under his own power).
Overton went to second on the restart but Pearson regained that position one lap later as Marlar continued to show the way. Those top-3 cars ran in tight formation as the race approached the halfway mark. Erb and Whitener held down the fourth and fifth positions.
As competitors marched into the race’s second half, Marlar pulled away with the best battles being between Davenport, Alberson and McCreadie in the back half of the top-10.
With five laps remaining, Overton passed by Pearson for second behind Marlar who was maneuvering through traffic. In the end, it would be Marlar who would drive to the victory.
Feature Results: 1. Mike Marlar, 2. Brandon Overton, 3. Earl Pearson Jr., 4. Brandon Sheppard, 5. Tyler Erb, 6. Jonathan Davenport, 7. Mark Whitener, 8. Tim McCreadie, 9. Ashton Winger,10. Garrett Alberson, 11. Ricky Thornton Jr., 12. Hudson O’Neal, 13. Michael Norris, 14. Chris Ferguson, 15. Scott Bloomquist, 16. Daulton Wilson, 17. Rick Eckert, 18. Jimmy Owens, 19. Matt Lux, 20. Colton Flinner, 21. Daryl Charlier, 22. Drake Troutman, 23. Chub Frank, 24. John Garvin Jr.
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