MASON CITY, Iowa — Making its debut at Iowa’s Mason City Motor Speedway on Wednesday, FloRacing Night in America did not disappoint.
Topping a back-and-forth battle with Nick Hoffman for the lead, as well as a late-race charge from Bobby Pierce, Hudson O’Neal raced to his second series win of the season and the eighth of his career.
“This K&L Rumley car has been good the last two nights. It was good last night and the driver didn’t do his job in the heat race, and then cost us at least a second place there at the very end, jumping the cushion again,” O’Neal said. “So, I was just trying to make sure, telling myself, you know, ‘It’s better to be consistent around that top than it is to be track record speed.'”
Brandon Sheppard and Hudson O’Neal started on the front row for the 50-lap feature with O’Neal pacing the field for the first six laps before fourth-starting Nick Hoffman took the lead on the seventh circuit.
Hoffman commanded the top spot before a lap-21 restart, when O’Neal sailed back to the top spot with Sheppard, Devin Moran, Ricky Thornton Jr., and Bobby Pierce contending for the third position.
In the closing laps, O’Neal held the lead while Hoffman and Pierce staged a furious battle for the runner-up position. O’Neal claimed the win by 0.361 seconds over Hoffman and Pierce.
Hoffman’s tumultuous feature had one final surprise for the North Carolina racer.
After crossing the finish line Hoffman made contact with a rapidly-slowing Jake Timm. Both drivers were uninjured but significant damage was suffered by both race cars.
The finish:
Feature (50 Laps): 1. 6-Hudson O’Neal[2]; 2. 9-Nick Hoffman[4]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce[7]; 4. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[10]; 5. 99-Devin Moran[3]; 6. 1-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 7. 25-Jason Feger[6]; 8. 60-Dan Ebert[9]; 9. 40B-Kyle Bronson[14]; 10. 1T-Tyler Erb[8]; 11. 13X-Dallon Murty[12]; 12. 19R-Ryan Gustin[16]; 13. 77-Michael Leach[15]; 14. 49T-Jake Timm[21]; 15. 11G-Gordy Gundaker[13]; 16. 15S-Clay Stuckey[22]; 17. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[23]; 18. 8-Matthew Larson[18]; 19. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[17]; 20. 74X-Ethan Dotson[5]; 21. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[20]; 22. 3S-Brian Shirley[19]; 23. B8-Brent Larson[24]; 24. 9M-Tim McCreadie[11]
