5.29.21 MLRA Late Models Results
Wheatland, MO (May 29, 2021) – For the first time in his young career, Hudson O’Neal laid claim to his first Crown Jewel Late Model win on Saturday night by capturing the 29th Annual Show-Me 100 Presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com. The $30,000 victory didn’t come easy for the 20 year old driver from Martinsville, Indiana, in a race that saw a total of five different leaders.
Josh Richards fired off from the DirtonDirt.com pole position and it initially looked like Richards was going to continue his dominance that he showed on Friday night in winning the “Tribute to Don & Billie Gibson” preliminary feature. Richards lead would be short lived as, the “Georgia Bulldog”, Shane Clanton powered by on lap number five and set sail around the top side of the Lucas Oil Speedway.
The next driver to take their turn at the top would be four time Show-Me 100 winner Jimmy Owens. Owens made an impressive charged to the front from his fourth row starting spot to take the top spot from Clanton on lap 13. The first of three StopTech Brakes cautions would slow the field on lap 37, when Chris Ferguson slowed off the exit of turn two while running in the sixth position, bringing an early end to his night.
Current Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series (LOLMDS) point leader Tim McCreadie had been working his way to the front and took advantage of the restart to pressure Owens for the lead, eventually moving in front down the back stretch on lap 41. McCreadie would maintain the advantage until the race came to an abrupt halt on lap 56 when Tyler Erb rolled his Best Performance Motorsports entry off the exit of turn four.
Amazingly Erb was able to drive back to the hot pit area, where his crew made quick repairs and sent him back out onto the track where he was able to salvage an 18th place finish. Just one lap later the final caution of the night would be displayed when Jason Papich slowed on the speedway.
With just 44 laps remaining, O’Neal made his first big move of the night on the restart by working his way from third to the runner-up position behind McCreadie. O’Neal continued to apply pressure on McCreadie who eventually upset the handle of his car exciting turn two and surrendered the lead to O’Neal. With the “New Deal” in control, action was heating up in his rear view in the form of Brandon Sheppard. Sheppard drove his B5 entry into second with just 11 laps to go and appeared to be closing the gap as the leaders maneuvered throught lapped traffic.
In the end Sheppard would run out of laps, as O’Neal cruised to his first career win at the Lucas Oil Speedway and first with the Lucas Oil MLRA Series in the event which was co-sanctioned with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. Sheppard laid claim to second while Richards rounded out the podium in third. McCreadie would finish in fourth as Clanton rounded out the top five.
Saturday nights triumph is not the first for the O’Neal family as Hudson’s father Don O’Neal scored the Show-Me hardware back in 2014. It was an emotional victory lane celebration for the driver of the Double Down Motorsports Rocket XR-1 Chassis. “My Dad called me last night and gave me some good words of encouragement that we could do this, that I just had to be smart and drive my own race,” commented O’Neal. “This is a whole team effort. My dad and everybody is back home watching. I know I have a lot of family watching, I just wish they were here,” he continued. “I don’t think we’re gonna leave this place tonight,” he proclaimed to the near capacity crowd.
Sheppard who completed a solid weekend with his runner up finish noted, “This is a fun place to race. They had the track awesome all weekend long and good crowds. The last time I was here I was terrible and didn’t even make the show. I figured I’d give it another try and I’m sure glad I did,” he concluded.
Big Week Ahead For MLRA: The Lucas Oil MLRA hits the road for another big three day weekend starting this Thursday night June 3rd, at the Maquoketa Speedway in Maquoketa, IA where $3,000 will be on the line. The tension will be tight on Friday night when the MLRA rolls into Mississippi Thunder Speedway in Fountain City, WI for the $10,000 to win “River City Rumble”. The trifecta weekend concludes with a $5,000 to win feature on Saturday night June, 5th at the Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, MN which is expected to serve as a tune up for many teams in preparation for the upcoming NAPA Auto Parts Gopher 50 on June 25th & 26th.
Lucas Oil Speedway Contingencies “Show-Me 100” 5/29/21
Lap Leaders—J. Richards (1-4), S. Clanton (5-12), J. Owens (13-40), T. McCreadie (41-67), H. O’Neal (68-100)
Stop Tech Brakes Cautions—C. Ferguson (37), T. Erb (56), J. Papich (57)
Casey’s “Hard Charger of the Race” – Mike Marlar (+9)
DirtonDirt.com “Pole Award” – Josh Richards
Dynamic Drivelines Crew Chief of the Race – Trevor Crittenden
Gorsuch Performance Solutions “10th Place Finisher” – Brian Shirley
Hooker Harness “11th Place Finisher”—Bobby Pierce
Midwest Sheet Metal “Points Leader Spoiler Challenge” –Tony Jackson Jr.
Performance Bodies “Performer of the Race” –Hudson O’Neal
Racing Junk “Hard Luck Award” –Chris Ferguson
StopTech Brakes “6th Place Finisher”- Mike Marlar
Sunoco “Rookie of the Race” – Mason Oberkramer
Swift Springs “Move of the Race”— Hudson O’Neal
Wrisco Feature Winner– Hudson O’Neal
Lucas Oil Show-Me 100 100 Laps | 00:48:21.153 | presented by Protect The Harvest
1. 71-Hudson O’Neal[5]; 2. B5-Brandon Sheppard[3]; 3. 14-Josh Richards[1]; 4. 39-Tim McCreadie[2]; 5. 25-Shane Clanton[4]; 6. 157-Mike Marlar[15]; 7. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[9]; 8. 20-Jimmy Owens[7]; 9. 40B-Kyle Bronson[11]; 10. 3S-Brian Shirley[14]; 11. 32-Bobby Pierce[10]; 12. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[16]; 13. 2S-Stormy Scott[13]; 14. 0E-Rick Eckert[20]; 15. 49-Jonathan Davenport[19]; 16. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[17]; 17. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[22]; 18. 1T-Tyler Erb[25]; 19. 59-Garrett Alberson[27]; 20. 36-Logan Martin[21]; 21. 91P-Jason Papich[28]; 22. 0-Scott Bloomquist[6]; 23. 18B-Shannon Babb[18]; 24. 93-Mason Oberkramer[29]; 25. 19R-Ryan Gustin[12]; 26. 12C-Scott Crigler[24]; 27. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[26]; 28. 22F-Chris Ferguson[8]; 29. 66C-Matt Cosner[23]; 30. 25S-Chad Simpson[31]; 31. 15L-Payton Looney[32]; 32. 49T-Jake Timm[30]
B-Main 1 LINE-X 15 Laps | 00:05:08.396
1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[2]; 2. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[1]; 3. 1T-Tyler Erb[4]; 4. 91P-Jason Papich[6]; 5. 25S-Chad Simpson[3]; 6. 18J-Chase Junghans[5]; 7. 99L-Scott Lewis[8]; 8. 14M-Reid Millard[11]; 9. 3W-Brennon Willard[9]; 10. 55-Chris Kratzer[10]; 11. (DNF) 44W-David Webster[12]; 12. (DNS) 11G-Gordy Gundaker; 13. (DNS) 7JR-Ryan Johnson; 14. (DNS) 94-Austin Rettig
B-Main 2 UNOH 15 Laps | 00:17:12.094
1. 0E-Rick Eckert[2]; 2. 66C-Matt Cosner[4]; 3. 59-Garrett Alberson[1]; 4. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[3]; 5. 15V-Kolby Vandenbergh[6]; 6. 41-Jeremiah Hurst[5]; 7. 23-Cody Holtkamp[13]; 8. L88-Larry Clawson[11]; 9. 50K-Kayden Clatt; 10. 7J-Jay Fields[10]; 11. (DNS) 43-Jeremy Grady; 12. (DNS) 22H-Daniel Hilsabeck; 13. (DNS) 78S-Steve Stultz; 14. (DNS) 7W-Cole Wells
B-Main 3 MyRacePass 15 Laps | 00:14:53.534
1. 36-Logan Martin[2]; 2. 12C-Scott Crigler[1]; 3. 49T-Jake Timm[4]; 4. 50-Kaeden Cornell[5]; 5. 6H-Al Humphrey[12]; 6. 1X-Aaron Marrant[10]; 7. 11R-Justin Reed[8]; 8. 93-Mason Oberkramer[3]; 9. 15L-Payton Looney[13]; 10. (DNS) 15D-Justin Duty; 11. (DNS) 4G-Bob Gardner; 12. (DNS) 32S-Chris Simpson; 13. (DNS) 00S-Jesse Stovall
Show-Me Challenge 20 Laps | 00:04:48.809 | Midwest Sheet Metal
1. 25S-Chad Simpson[3]; 2. 18J-Chase Junghans[6]; 3. 41-Jeremiah Hurst[7]; 4. 15V-Kolby Vandenbergh[4]; 5. 49T-Jake Timm[1]; 6. 50-Kaeden Cornell[2]; 7. 7J-Jay Fields[18]; 8. 3W-Brennon Willard[14]; 9. 14M-Reid Millard[12]; 10. 50K-Kayden Clatt[15]; 11. 6H-Al Humphrey[5]; 12. 55-Chris Kratzer[17]; 13. L88-Larry Clawson[13]; 14. 99L-Scott Lewis[9]; 15. 23-Cody Holtkamp[10]; 16. (DNS) 15L-Payton Looney; 17. (DNS) 1X-Aaron Marrant; 18. (DNS) 11R-Justin Reed