WALTON, Ky. — Brandon Overton and Josh Rice used last-lap passes to win their respective 25-lap preliminary features for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series on Friday night at Florence Speedway.
Overton’s first series win since last May nearly slipped away when Mike Marlar got by him as they headed to the white flag. Overton fought back, storming past Marlar to regain the lead and taking the checkered flag by a scant 0.192 seconds.
Hudson O’Neal finished third, with Jimmy Owens and Adam Stricker completing the top five in the first feature.
Rice’s win also featured a dramatic last-lap finish. He got by Bobby Pierce as the two took the white flag, making a daring move for the lead that paid off as he held off Pierce for the win. Zack Dohm was third, with Dan Ebert and Devin Moran rounding out the top five in the second 25-lap feature.
In Wieland Victory Lane for the 20th time in his career, Overton, an Evans, Georgia, native who sits fourth in the championship standings, was relieved to finally claim his first series win in more than a year.
“I said, ‘oh no, not again.’ I was fine early on, and those guys got to racing behind, and all I can say is hats off to Josh King. I look forward to coming here every year, and this is why: you can race all over it,” Overton said. “Obviously, it’s hard to leave because you don’t know where everybody else is. It’s $6,000 to win and they’re racing like it’s the Daytona 500. I don’t expect anything less. It was a fun race with Mikey, and man, they drive so hard, and we will take them any way we can. It was fun, but my heart did sink when Mikey came sliding by me. I was just doing the best I could. It may be just a prelim night, but it’s a shot in the arm for us.”
Marlar, who won a preliminary feature on Thursday night, came close to becoming the first driver to win two races this week.
“It was fun all the way around. I had a little bit of a messed-up tire deal there. We went and changed a tire and couldn’t get the lug nut off of it, so I was struggling with my steering, but it’s all right. It was a fun race, and I had a little bit of a cushion, so I could steer on that just fine. Probably the part that hurt me was the corner steering, and I didn’t want to hit him (Overton) or something when I turned under him.”
O’Neal came from 11th to finish third.
“I had the best seat in the house. These guys were going at it. I really thought I was in the best spot whenever they were going down into three, and Mikey had a small run. I thought he was going in there to slide him, and I was hoping they would rub a little bit and I would sneak in there and get one.”
In the second $6,000-to-win preliminary feature, LOLMDS points leader Brandon Sheppard took the lead at the start over Bobby Pierce and held it until Pierce passed him for the top spot on lap 10.
Rice then got by Sheppard for second. With three laps to go, Pierce, Rice, Sheppard, and Dohm were all battling for the lead when Sheppard suffered a flat tire, forcing him to make a pit stop.
On the final restart, Pierce led the field to the white flag, but Rice threw a slider entering turn one to take the lead. He held his line into turn three and, despite banging the cushion hard in turn four, held on for the win.
In Wieland Victory Lane for the second time this year and the fourth time in his career, the two-time Ralph Latham Memorial winner set his sights on his first Sunoco Race Fuels North-South 100 win on Saturday night.
“I know Bobby (Pierce) won three of these North-South races in a row, but this is Rice Brothers, y’all. I tried that slider line right before the caution, and I closed up probably six car lengths,” Rice said. “I don’t know if Bob (Pierce) told him that was good or not. He was messing my air really bad, and I finally just hit it right. I don’t know how clean it was; it was time to throw it. Man, what a hot rod. I can’t thank Mark Richards enough. It’s crazy to come out here and be on the podium and then win the first weekend out. This place is so darn cool to run good at. I have won everything here except the Big One, and we will give it our best shot tomorrow night.”
Pierce, who will be looking for his fifth North-South 100 victory on Saturday night, led 14 laps and crossed the finish line 0.252 seconds behind Rice.
“I felt like I didn’t get great off of four, and then I went to protect the slider if someone was there in one, and then I hit that hole,” Pierce said. “But all in all, I think the track was really good. They gave us lots of room to race on and gave us a last-lap pass in both features, so it was a really good track. I think we made a lot of good gains with the car throughout the weekend so far. We’ve learned a lot more, and I think the more we can apply for tomorrow, the better.”
Dohm earned his first podium finish of the season.
“I thought I was sitting pretty. I knew what tires everybody had on, and it seems like those 3s fade after a caution. So I figured Josh would make a run on Bobby, and I was hoping they would get a little more aggressive. I thought even on that last lap Bobby was going to drive back up beside him and they both would go up the hill, but Josh had him cleared too much. Third is good. We have had just a terrible weekend. We had a transmission go out and a bent spindle when we hit the wall before qualifying yesterday, and it ruined my lap. But in the features, we have passed cars, and that’s what it’s all about.”
The Results
Group A – Feature Finish (25 Laps):
Pos – Start – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Earnings
1 – 1 – 76 – Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – $6,000
2 – 2 – 157 – Mike Marlar – Winfield, TN – $3,000
3 – 11 – 71 – Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – $2,000
4 – 4 – 20O – Jimmy Owens – Newport, TN – $1,250
5 – 6 – C7 – Adam Stricker – Batavia, OH – $1,000
6 – 5 – 93F – Carson Ferguson – Lincolnton, NC – $900
7 – 7 – 20RT – Ricky Thornton Jr – Chandler, AZ – $850
8 – 18 – 8 – Dillon McCowan – Urbana, MO – $800
9 – 21 – 18 – Shannon Babb – Moweaqua, IL – $750
10 – 14 – 12M – Ryan Montgomery – Fairmont, WV – $700
11 – 12 – 40B – Kyle Bronson – Brandon, FL – $650
12 – 20 – 18L – Trevor Landrum – Florence, KY – $600
13 – 17 – 3s – Brian Shirley – Chatham, IL – $550
14 – 16 – 49 – Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – $500
15 – 13 – 79 – Donald McIntosh – Dawsonville, GA – $500
16 – 9 – 17SS – Brenden Smith – Dade City, FL – $500
17 – 24 – 93 – Devin Gilpin – Columbus, IN – $500
18 – 19 – 0 – Jake O’Neil – Tucson, AZ – $500
19 – 8 – 5 – Drake Troutman – Hyndman, PA – $500
20 – 15 – 5N – Dustin Nobbe – Batesville, IN – $500
21 – 22 – 49G – Billy Green – Walton, KY – $500
22 – 23 – D48 – Derek Groomer – Bloomington, IN – $500
23 – 3 – 22F – Chris Ferguson – Mt. Holly, NC – $500
24 – 10 – 9 – Michael Leach – Sun River, MT – $500
Group B – Feature Finish (25 Laps):
Pos – Start – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Earnings
1 – 4 – 11 – Josh Rice – Crittenden, KY – $6,000
2 – 2 – 32 – Bobby Pierce – Oakwood, IL – $3,000
3 – 5 – 17D – Zack Dohm – Cross Lanes, WV – $2,000
4 – 3 – 60 – Dan Ebert – Lake Shore, MN – $1,250
5 – 8 – 99 – Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – $1,000
6 – 6 – 1T – Tyler Erb – New Waverly, TX – $900
7 – 16 – 12J – Jason Jameson – Lawrenceburg, IN – $850
8 – 11 – 16 – Justin Rattliff – Campbellsville, KY – $800
9 – 12 – 126 – Kaede Loudy – Rogersville, TN – $750
10 – 13 – 111 – Max Blair – Centerville, PA – $700
11 – 10 – T1 – Todd Morrow – Penton, AL – $650
12 – 18 – 81F – Jadon Frame – Winchester, TN – $600
13 – 9 – 13 – Dallon Murty – Chelsea, IA – $550
14 – 20 – 58 – Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – $500
15 – 19 – 22 – Daniel Hilsabeck – Earlham, IA – $500
16 – 1 – 1 – Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – $500
17 – 17 – 6 – Clay Harris – Jupiter, FL – $500
18 – 23 – 99JR – Frank Heckenast, Jr. – Frankfort, IL – $500
19 – 22 – 317 – Blake Creech – Richmond, IN – $500
20 – 7 – 93L – Cory Lawler – Hanover, PA – $500
21 – 24 – 7S – Justin Smith – Barbourville, KY – $500
22 – 21 – 11M – Michael Chilton – Salvisa, KY – $500
23 – 15 – 17SR – Brody Smith – Dade City, FL – $500
24 – 14 – 4G – Kody Evans – Camden, OH – $500
