O’Neal came up just short of his first Dirt Track World Championship victory, but secured his first Lucas Oil title. “This is unbelievable. It was a war of attrition. I had two flat tires, led at one point, was a lap down at one point, so I had every emotion I could think of that happened during that race. What a race it came down to with me and Devin. It was kind of rough and tumble out there, but the way it came out it made a great race for the championship and it about made it a great race for the win. I think somebody [Sheppard] ran out of fuel coming to the checkered or something. Hats off to my whole team and family. This sport will drive you crazy sometimes, it helps to have a good backdrop of people to rely on.”
O’Neal joins his father, Don who won the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series title in 2014. “I can’t believe it turned out the way it did. Hats off to the Eldora track crew. They worked their tails off all weekend no matter what the racetrack was they couldn’t help it; they did the best they could. It rained for three days straight they did a great job.”
Moran, earning his best career finish in the Dirt Track World Championship and in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championship points, went back and forth with O’Neal in the final laps. “It was a great comeback year. We got off to a good start in Speedweeks and then we really struggled in the first month or two after that. That was about as exciting there at the end as it could get. I think everyone is going to talk about this for a very long time. Thanks to the whole Lucas Oil family for a great series to race with.”
The winner’s Sheppard-Riggs Racing, Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Cornett Racing Engine and sponsored by Valvoline, True Timber Camo, Dennis G. Woodworth Attorney at Law, Wyld Gear, Riggs Drilling Solutions, Sheppard Auto Sales and Salvage, D&E Marine, Sunoco Race Fuels, and Bilstein Shocks.
Completing the top ten were Bobby Pierce, Jimmy Owens, Ricky Thornton Jr., Garrett Smith, and Jonathan Davenport.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Race Summary
43rd Annual General Tire Dirt Track World Championship Presented by ARP
Sunday, October 22, 2023
Eldora Speedway – New Weston, OH
Allstar Performance Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Jimmy Owens | 15.165 seconds (overall)
Fast Time Group B: Garrett Smith | 15.370 seconds
Penske Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 99-Devin Moran[2]; 2. 20-Jimmy Owens[1]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce[3]; 4. 9H-Nick Hoffman[5]; 5. 96V-Tanner English[4]; 6. C4-Freddie Carpenter[6]; 7. 11K-Austin Kirkpatrick[9]; 8. 22*-GR Smith[7]; 9. 3:16-Mike Bargo[11]; 10. (DNS) 18B-Shannon Babb; 11. (DNS) 20C-Duane Chamberlain
Summit Racing Products Heat Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 39-Tim McCreadie[2]; 2. 8S-Brian Shirley[1]; 3. 17M-Dale McDowell[6]; 4. 12-Jason Jameson[5]; 5. 58-Garrett Alberson[3]; 6. 111B-Max Blair[8]; 7. 21H-Robby Hensley[7]; 8. 88G-Chad Green[9]; 9. 25-Jason Feger[4]; 10. 79-Bill Lewis[10]
Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 2. 00-Carson Ferguson[3]; 3. 28C-Tyler Carpenter[5]; 4. 69-Jon Hodgkiss[2]; 5. 6JR-Parker Martin[4]; 6. 99B-Boom Briggs[8]; 7. 3-Austin Neely[7]; 8. 03-Gregg Haskell[9]; 9. (DNS) 111-Steven Roberts; 10. (DNS) 5N-Dustin Nobbe
AP1 Insurance Heat Race #4 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[3]; 2. 76-Brandon Overton[4]; 3. B5-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 4. 10-Garrett Smith[1]; 5. 1T-Tyler Erb[5]; 6. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[8]; 7. 187-David McCoy[7]; 8. 0-Scott Bloomquist[6]; 9. (DNS) 16-Tyler Bruening; 10. (DNS) 63-Terry Rushlow
Lucas Oil Heat Race #5 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 157-Mike Marlar[2]; 2. 18D-Daulton Wilson[1]; 3. 174-Ethan Dotson[8]; 4. 6-Ross Bailes[3]; 5. 7W-Ricky Weiss[9]; 6. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[7]; 7. 95J-Jerry Bowersock[10]; 8. 11-Spencer Hughes[4]; 9. 7-Ross Robinson[6]; 10. 15K-Cody Overton[5]
Lucas Oil Heat Race #6 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 1H-Hudson O’Neal[2]; 2. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[1]; 3. 22F-Chris Ferguson[6]; 4. 89M-Mike Spatola[3]; 5. 130-Chase Osterhoff[9]; 6. 88-Trent Ivey[5]; 7. S8-Chris Stotts[8]; 8. 49B-Brian Ruhlman[7]; 9. 11A-Austin Smith[4]; 10. (DNS) 8-Rob Anderzack
Fast Shafts B-Main Race #1 Finish (12 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 9H-Nick Hoffman[1]; 2. 96V-Tanner English[3]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson[4]; 4. C4-Freddie Carpenter[5]; 5. 12-Jason Jameson[2]; 6. 22*-GR Smith[9]; 7. 11K-Austin Kirkpatrick[7]; 8. 21H-Robby Hensley[8]; 9. 3:16-Mike Bargo[11]; 10. 88G-Chad Green[10]; 11. 111B-Max Blair[6]; 12. 79-Bill Lewis[13]; 13. (DNS) 25-Jason Feger
UNOH B-Main Race #2 Finish (12 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 10-Garrett Smith[2]; 2. 1T-Tyler Erb[4]; 3. 6JR-Parker Martin[3]; 4. 99B-Boom Briggs[5]; 5. 187-David McCoy[8]; 6. 3-Austin Neely[7]; 7. 0-Scott Bloomquist[10]; 8. 03-Gregg Haskell[9]; 9. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[6]; 10. 69-Jon Hodgkiss[1]
MyRacePass B-Main Race #3 Finish (12 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 7W-Ricky Weiss[3]; 2. 89M-Mike Spatola[2]; 3. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[5]; 4. 88-Trent Ivey[6]; 5. 11-Spencer Hughes[9]; 6. 95J-Jerry Bowersock[7]; 7. 49B-Brian Ruhlman[10]; 8. 130-Chase Osterhoff[4]; 9. S8-Chris Stotts[8]; 10. 15K-Cody Overton[13]; 11. 6-Ross Bailes[1]; 12. (DNS) 7-Ross Robinson; 13. (DNS) 11A-Austin Smith
Jim Dunn Memorial Non-Qualifier Finish (16 Laps): 1. 12-Jason Jameson[6]; 2. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[2]; 3. 99B-Boom Briggs[4]; 4. 11K-Austin Kirkpatrick[11]; 5. 95J-Jerry Bowersock[10]; 6. 3-Austin Neely[9]; 7. 88G-Chad Green[19]; 8. 187-David McCoy[7]; 9. 49B-Brian Ruhlman[13]; 10. 3:16-Mike Bargo[17]; 11. 6JR-Parker Martin[1]; 12. 79-Bill Lewis[23]; 13. 69-Jon Hodgkiss[20]; 14. 22*-GR Smith[8]; 15. C4-Freddie Carpenter[3]; 16. 130-Chase Osterhoff[16]; 17. (DNS) 88-Trent Ivey; 18. (DNS) 0-Scott Bloomquist; 19. (DNS) 21H-Robby Hensley; 20. (DNS) 03-Gregg Haskell; 21. (DNS) S8-Chris Stotts; 22. (DNS) 15K-Cody Overton; 23. (DNS) 6-Ross Bailes
43rd Annual General Tire Dirt Track World Championship Presented by ARP Feature Finish (100 Laps): |