EAGLE, Neb. — Current Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series points leader Hudson O’Neal of Martinsville, Indiana charged from the seventh starting position to capture his fifth series victory of the season Thursday night during opening night of the Malvern Bank High Bank Heist at Eagle Raceway.
O’Neal collected $10,000 for the win, which also marked his 13th overall dirt late model victory of the year.
Ricky Thornton Jr., who started 15th, rallied to finish second. Brandon Sheppard, fresh off last Saturday’s victory at Fairbury Speedway, rounded out the podium in third after starting 10th. Max Blair finished fourth, while Jonathan Davenport completed the top five.
Brandon Overton led the opening 17 laps of the 40-lap main event before Garrett Alberson briefly took over the top spot for three circuits. Overton regained the lead on lap 21 and appeared poised for victory until O’Neal began closing rapidly in the closing stages.
O’Neal completed the winning pass exiting turn four on lap 30. Overton remained second until lap 34, when a flat left rear tire forced him to the hot pit. After changing the tire, Overton returned to finish 16th after leading 27 laps.
The win marked the 39th Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory of O’Neal’s career and his second triumph at Eagle Raceway, having also won during the Series’ inaugural visit to the track in 2024.
“I felt like we were pretty good all night,” O’Neal said in Lucas Oil Victory Lane. “The top was dominant early, and it was hard to make time on the bottom. Once the track started moving around, though, I felt really good down there. Overton was definitely better around the cushion, but once the bottom came in, I just tried to stay patient and wait for my opportunity.”
“We finally got a restart where I could get underneath him, and then he had the misfortune with the flat tire. On that last restart, my carburetor stumbled a little bit and I thought everybody was going to pile into me. I’m sorry if anybody got caught up in that.”
Thornton, who unloaded a backup car after issues surfaced during hot laps, charged from the eighth row to finish just 0.616 seconds behind O’Neal.
“I love this place,” Thornton said. “We had trouble with the primary car in hot laps, so we unloaded this one and probably overdrove in qualifying, which made for a long night. But we passed a lot of cars, and the car felt really good.”
Sheppard continued his recent momentum with a third-place finish after charging forward from 10th.
“Honestly, I felt like we had a really good race car the whole race,” Sheppard said. “I just made a couple wrong moves early — stayed too high too long, then stayed too low too long before halfway. Once everyone started moving around, I could really roll the track and move wherever I needed to. We had a really fast race car tonight.”
Malvern Bank Presents High Bank Heist | Night 1 Feature Finish (40 Laps):
Pos – Start – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Earnings
1 – 7 – 71 – Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – $10,100
2 – 15 – 20RT – Ricky Thornton Jr – Chandler, AZ – $5,500
3 – 10 – 1 – Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – $3,500
4 – 4 – 111 – Max Blair – Centerville, PA – $2,700
5 – 6 – 49 – Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – $2,500
6 – 9 – 3S – Brian Shirley – Chatham, IL – $2,300
7 – 12 – 99 – Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – $2,200
8 – 8 – 40B – Kyle Bronson – Brandon, FL – $2,100
9 – 2 – 58 – Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – $2,050
10 – 17 – 13 – Dallon Murty – Chelsea, IA – $2,000
11 – 11 – 93L – Cory Lawler – Hanover, PA – $1,600
12 – 18 – 8 – Dillon McCowan – Urbana, MO – $1,500
13 – 14 – 11 – Josh Rice – Crittenden, KY – $1,200
14 – 16 – 16 – Tyler Bruening – Decorah, IA – $1,000
15 – 22 – 4 – Tad Pospisil – Norfolk, NE – $950
16 – 1 – 76 – Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – $925
17 – 21 – 93 – Carson Ferguson – Lincolnton, NC – $900
18 – 24 – 19M – Brenden Smith – Dade City, FL – $875
19 – 20 – 99-18 – Jesse Sobbing – Malvern, IA – $850
20 – 19 – 6 – Clay Harris – Jupiter, FL – $825
21 – 13 – 60 – Dan Ebert – Lake Shore, MN – $800
22 – 23 – 22 – Daniel Hilsabeck – Earlham, IA – $900
23 – 3 – 18 – Chase Junghans – Manhattan, KS – $800
24 – 5 – 76N – Blair Nothdurft – Renner, SD – $800
