DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Hudson O'Neal takes big step forward, busy dirt racing Memorial Day on tap | DIRTRACKR Daily 5/31/21
It is Monday, May 31st, two thousand and twenty one. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
Hope everyone is enjoying their Memorial Day weekend. There is plenty to talk about from the last few days, and there is more to come tonight. Let's get right into it.
We had a ton of racing wiped out over the weekend because of bad weather, and while rain did affect the program on Thursday, we did get the full three race weekend in for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series at Lucas Oil Speedway for the Show-Me 100. We ended up with a prelim night double header on Friday, with both the rained out Thursday show and Friday's regular racing being completed. The first Friday race was dominated by Tim McCreadie, who started third, slipped past Brandon Sheppard on the first lap, and never looked back grabbing his second Lucas win of 2021. Hudson O'Neal, Bobby Pierce, Sheppy, and Josh Richards completed the top five. I said back on Friday that I didn't know if we'd see BShepp race, as Rocket Racing didn't have this weekend on their schedule. We obviously did end up seeing him, but it was in his own B5 and not the Rocket 1. Following McCreadie's win, they did a complete track re-work, and started into the next program. Things for the second program got started pretty late, which meant things ended very late, or really very early Saturday morning. In the end though, it was Josh Richards getting his second win of 2021, getting by Brian Shirley on lap six and driving away to the win. It was Richards' first win since January 27th at East Bay, a span of 12 races. Shane Clanton finished second, Chris Ferguson hard charged from 23rd to finish third, BShepp was fourth, and Kyle Bronson completed the top five. The results from the two prelim programs set up the feature lineup and B mains for Saturday, with several big drivers on the outside looking in. Jonathan Davenport won the first B main to get in, while names like Tyler Erb, Billy Moyer Jr., and last year's event winner Payton Looney all taking provisionals to start the feature. We were treated to a solid 100 laps, with four lead changes among five drivers. Richards, Clanton, Jimmy Owens, McCreadie, and O'Neal all took their turns out front. In the end though, it was young Hudson O'Neal who was celebrating in victory lane at the end of the night. It was definitely the biggest win of his career, and he had to beat the best to do it. Sheppard finished second, Richards third, McCreadie fourth, and Clanton fifth. Not only is O'Neal now $30 grand richer, he also now leads all drivers on the season with three wins. I wondered last week if we would see O'Neal take a big step this summer and really cement himself as a contender for this Lucas championship, and he definitely did that this weekend. He finished second on Friday in the first feature, drove from 24th into the top ten in the second feature before getting in an incident and finishing 14th, and then bagged the big win Saturday night. McCreadie maintains the points lead following the three races, but O'Neal has chopped his advantage from 65 points down to 25 with 18 races complete. For several others, it was a weekend to forget, including for Jonathan Davenport and Tyler Erb. Davenport had two finishes outside the top 10, and missed the second Friday feature. He's dropped from 165 points back to now 220 points back. Erb was a B main runner in both Friday features, ended up on his lid in the Saturday night big show, and has tumbled back to 9th in the standings. Lucas now goes quiet until June 17th through the 19th at Magnolia Motor Speedway.
As for the other national series, the World of Outlaws Friday show at Terre Haute was postponed due to rain. They are working on a makeup date for that event. And the entire All Star weekend in Pennsylvania was wiped out, with Friday at Williams Grove and Saturday at Port Royal cancelled. The Sunday Weikert Memorial show was pushed to today. If you might remember from Friday, Lance Dewease is the favorite from the dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula for that race, although Tyler Courtney has been on fire lately.
And although it isn't dirt, Kyle Larson capped off an incredible eight day stretch of racing on Sunday night with a win in the Coke 600 at Charlotte. So he he finished second at COTA on the road course last Sunday, 3rd in the late model at Tri City on Tuesday, won Thursday in the sprint car at Atomic, and won Sunday in the Cup car. The guy is just incredible.
Elsewhere around the country, there were a lot of local and regional shows that went off with a problem. Hunt the Front's Joseph Joiner was a crate winner at All-Tech on Friday, Dona Marcoullier picked up $10 K at Merritt on Saturday, Cody Overton bagged a $10 grand to win 602 show at Cochran, Randy Weaver and Tyler Millwood were Spring Nationals winners, Brandon Overton won at Cherokee, and there was a very strong field at Eldora on Sunday in advance of the double Dreams. Darrell Lanigan picked up the win in a race that also included Ricky Weiss, Steve Casebolt, Kyle Strickler, Boom Briggs, Devin Moran, and others. In weekend MARS racing, Jason Feger won Saturday at Fayette County, while Brandon Sheppard capped a busy weekend in his B5 with the Sunday MARS win at Spoon River. For more from the late model weekend, check out dirtondirt.com.
In open wheel action, it was a banner weekend for young Ryan Timms. On Saturday night at Lake Ozark, the 14 year old became the youngest ever POWRi midget winner at the age of 14 driving for Chad Boat. He topped Keith Kunz youngsters Brenham Crouch and Bryant Wiedeman. On Sunday, Timms survived a wild ASCS sprint car feature at Lake Ozark to bag his first ever national tour win. I say survived, because the track had some nasty ruts that took out several cars, including leader Blake Hahn. Timms also finished second in the Sunday midget feature, and fifth in the Saturday sprint car feature. We've talked lately about a few young drivers around the country to keep an eye on, and Timms is certainly on that list. Other weekend open wheel winners include Sammy Swindell in a 360 at Vado Speedway Park, Justin Grant at Kokomo, Austim McCarl in 410 action at Huset's, Andy Forsberg in Sprint Car Challenge Tour action at Marysville, Brady Bacon at Waynesfield in a winged car, and Robbie Pribnow won in a thriller with the IRA at 141. On Saturday night at Knoxville, Jamie Ball slipped by early leader Ryan Giles with 10 to go to grab his second 360 win of the year. And with the Outlaws off, the 410 race was packed with heavy hitters. Brad Sweet started fourth, took the lead from Gio Scelzi with 18 to go, and drove away to the $5000 score. Carson Macedo, James McFadden, Brian Brown, and Rico Abreu completed the top five. For more on the open wheel weekend, check out tjslideways.com.
In the northeast, Mat Williamson grabbed the Super DIRTcar Series win at Weedsport yesterday, passing Billy Decker on lap 15 and driving away to the victory. Decker and Stewart Friesen were the rest of the podium. The Super DIRTcar Series is back tonight at Lebanon Valley for the $13,500 to win Mr. DIRT Track. Sunday's Clash at the Can for the Short Track Super Series was postponed to tomorrow because of rain.
Looking towards tonight, there is a lot to watch if you're a dirt racing fan. The Outlaws are at Lawrenceburg and that place always puts on a good show. Kyle Larson and Brad Sweet are the two most recent winners there, and it sounds like it will be a stout field including Tanner Thorson, Buddy Kofoid and others. I think the dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula is really hoping for that 300th win for Schatz, as he's the favorite tonight according to the numbers. Gravel and Sweet trail him in win chances. If you aren't into the Outlaws and All Stars, there is also Spring Nationals late models at 411 Motor Speedway, weekly sprint car action at Lincoln, and more.
Since there is so much racing going on tonight, I might throw up a livestream on the dirtrackr YouTube channel later and we'll do another watch party. Stay tuned to the channel and social accounts for details on what time.
There are 12 shows on the streaming schedule for this Memorial Day Monday, including the Outlaws at Lawrenceburg, All Stars at Port Royal, Spring Nationals late models at 411, and a bunch more. To see the full daily streaming schedule, with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
That's it for the show today, hope everyone has a good Monday. If you have thoughts about the topics on today's show, leave them in the comments below or tweet at me.
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