Owens Takes Reopening Tour Opener at Golden Isles

WAYNESVILLE, GA – Jimmy Owens picked up his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of 2020 on Tuesday Night at Golden Isles Speedway. The series returned to the race track for the first time since the Georgia-Florida Speedweeks back in February, 100 days ago.
The 40-lap main event had three different race leaders, Owens, Brandon Overton, and Josh Richards. Owens took the lead from Brandon Overton on lap 32 and then pulled away for his 65th career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win. Mason Zeigler got by Overton on the final lap to finish second. Overton was third followed by Josh Richards and Devin Moran.
Overton was looking for a clean sweep of the night after setting the overall fast time amongst the 43 entrants on hand, then ran away to a heat race win, earning the outside front-row starting position alongside Richards in the process. Overton led the pack for the first eight laps of the race until Richards took the lead on lap 9.
A lap later Overton regained the top spot. One of the cars on the move was Tim McCreadie.  McCreadie, who won the first race of the season at Golden Isles back in February, climbed to second after a terrific side-by-side battle with Richards for several laps.  McCreadie finally cleared Richards by lap 23 and had his sights set on race leader, Overton. As McCreadie was battling 3-wide in traffic for the lead, he and a lap-car got together, with McCreadie suffering a cut right-rear tire, forcing the caution and him into the pits to change the tire.
When the race resumed Overton still held the point in the Wells Motorsports/Longhorn.  Owens began his assault on the leaders and started to flex his muscles. He quickly moved to second around Richards on lap 28 and then with 9 laps remaining he was able to take the lead from Overton.
Overton fought back as the two drivers went door-to-door for the race lead. Owens was finally able to shake Overton and go on to become the sixth different winner in the nine events contested so far in 2020. In his last seven starts overall this season Owens has won six of those races.
The 48-year-old Tennessee native and 3-time Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series National Champion continued his recent hot streak of victories as he recorded his fourth career win at Golden Isles. “The car was a little bit freer than I wanted it to be. It had a push, so I had to rotate it a lot through the center of the turns a lot more than I wanted to. We made a couple of changes right before the feature and I felt like it really messed us up, but the car is still really, really good right now.”
Zeigler picked up one of the most exciting wins back in February at East Bay, and tonight came from 9th to pick up the runner-up spot in the JLE Industries/Rocket. “I really needed the top on that restart.  Those two guys [Owens and Overton], went to slide them both, but they both went to the middle. Rubbing is racing sometimes. The car was good, I wish we could have started closer to the front and we are aiming for that tomorrow.”
Overton led the most laps during the race and held on for third in the end. “In the middle of the race I got into a lapped car and it never drove the same after that, it got really, really tight. All-in-all it has been so good all night and I didn’t want to touch much. These guys are the best in the business, Jimmy’s been really hot so congratulations to him.”
The winner’s Ramirez Motorsports Rocket Chassis is powered by a Vic Hill Racing Engine and is sponsored by Reece Monument Company, Tommy Pope Construction, Boomtest Well Service, General Tire, Ohlins, Champion, FK Rod Ends, Hypercoil Springs, and Red Line Oil.
Completing the top ten were Shane Clanton, Tyler Erb, Rick Eckert, Kyle Bronson, and Tanner English.

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Race Summary
Optima Batteries Golden Isles Nationals – presented by Bilstein
Tuesday, May 19th, 2020
Golden Isles Speedway – Waynesville, GA

Lucas Oil Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Josh Richards / 15.006 seconds
Fast Time Group B: Brandon Overton / 14.779 seconds (overall)

Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer):  1. 14-Josh Richards[1]; 2. 111B-Max Blair[2]; 3. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[3]; 4. 0E-Rick Eckert[5]; 5. 22F-Chris Ferguson[4]; 6. 5W-Mark Whitener[7]; 7. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[8]; 8. 1B-Ross Bailes[6]; 9. 1V-Vic Hill[9]; 10. 00-Russell Brown Jr[11]; 11. 8-Mike Benedum[10]

FK Rod Ends Heat Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer):  1. 39-Tim McCreadie[1]; 2. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 3. 1T-Tyler Erb[3]; 4. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[5]; 5. 3S-Brian Shirley[6]; 6. 50-Shanon Buckingham[4]; 7. 28E-Dennis Erb Jr[9]; 8. 6S-Blake Spencer[10]; 9. 2W-Pearson Williams[7]; 10. 0R-Ryan Scott[11]; 11. 89-GR Smith[8]

Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 2. 16-Tyler Bruening[2]; 3. 25-Shane Clanton[4]; 4. 111-Steven Roberts[3]; 5. 49-Jonathan Davenport[5]; 6. 72-Michael Norris[6]; 7. 1G-Ryan King[7]; 8. KB0-Kerry King[8]; 9. F15-Jeremy Conaway[9]; 10. (DNS) 71-Hudson O’Neal; 11. (DNS) 91S-Blake Naylor




Ohlins Shocks Heat Race #4 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 20-Jimmy Owens[3]; 2. 9-Devin Moran[1]; 3. 7F-Jason Fitzgerald[5]; 4. 81E-Tanner English[7]; 5. 25DC-Donnie Chappell[4]; 6. 311-Ken Monahan[9]; 7. 14B-John Baker[10]; 8. 5T-John Tweed[8]; 9. 2S-Stormy Scott[6]; 10. (DNF) 40B-Kyle Bronson[2]

Tiger Rear Ends B-Main #1 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 5W-Mark Whitener[3]; 2. 22F-Chris Ferguson[1]; 3. 50-Shanon Buckingham[4]; 4. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[5]; 5. 1B-Ross Bailes[7]; 6. 3S-Brian Shirley[2]; 7. 28E-Dennis Erb Jr[6]; 8. 00-Russell Brown Jr[11]; 9. 0R-Ryan Scott[12]; 10. (DNS) 6S-Blake Spencer; 11. (DNS) 1V-Vic Hill; 12. (DNS) 2W-Pearson Williams; 13. (DNS) 8-Mike Benedum; 14. (DNS) 89-GR Smith

FAST Shafts B-Main #2 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 72-Michael Norris[3]; 3. 1G-Ryan King[5]; 4. 14B-John Baker[6]; 5. F15-Jeremy Conaway[9]; 6. 91S-Blake Naylor[13]; 7. 311-Ken Monahan[4]; 8. 2S-Stormy Scott[10]; 9. KB0-Kerry King[7]; 10. 71-Hudson O’Neal[11]; 11. (DNS) 5T-John Tweed; 12. (DNS) 25DC-Donnie Chappell; 13. (DNS) 40B-Kyle Bronson

Lucas Oil Feature Finish (40 Laps):

Pos
Start
Car #
Competitor
Hometown
Pay
1
4
20
Jimmy Owens
Newport, TN
$7,000
2
9
25Z
Mason Zeigler
Chalk Hill, PA
$3,500
3
2
76
Brandon Overton
Evans, GA
$2,500
4
1
14
Josh Richards
Shinnston, WV
$2,000
5
8
9
Devin Moran
Dresden, OH
$1,500
6
10
25
Shane Clanton
Zebulon, GA
$1,400
7
11
1T
Tyler Erb
New Waverly, TX
$1,300
8
13
0E
Rick Eckert
York, PA
$1,200
9
23
40B
Kyle Bronson
Brandon, FL
$1,150
10
16
81E
Tanner English
Benton, KY
$1,100
11
18
49
Jonathan Davenport
Blairsville, GA
$1,050
12
3
39
Tim McCreadie
Watertown, NY
$1,000
13
21
50
Shanon Buckingham
Morristown, TN
$975
14
7
1S
Brandon Sheppard
New Berlin, IL
$950
15
17
5W
Mark Whitener
Middleburg, FL
$925
16
5
111B
Max Blair
Centerville, PA
$900
17
25
28E
Dennis Erb Jr
Carpentersville, IL
$175
18
28
89
G.R. Smith
Statesville, NC
$150
19
14
111
Steven Roberts
Sylvester, GA
$825
20
15
21
Billy Moyer Jr
Batesville, AR
$800
21
6
16
Tyler Bruening
Decorah, IA
$800
22
27
1
Earl Pearson Jr
Jacksonville, FL
$100
23
12
7F
Jason Fitzgerald
Middleburg, FL
$800
24
26
71
Hudson O’Neal
Martinsville, IN
$100
25
20
72
Michael Norris
Sarver, PA
$800
26
22
1G
Ryan King
Seymour, TN
$800
27
19
22F
Chris Ferguson
Mt. Holly, NC
$800
28
24
3S
Brian Shirley
Chatham, IL
$800

Race Statistics
Entrants: 43
Lap Leaders: Brandon Overton (Laps 1 – 8); Josh Richards (Lap 9); Brandon Overton (Laps 10 – 31); Jimmy Owens (Laps 32 – 40)
Wrisco Feature Winner: Jimmy Owens
Margin of Victory: 2.054 seconds
Cautions: Brian Shirley (Lap 9); Tim McCreadie (Lap 23); Michael Norris (Lap 28); Hudson O’Neal (Lap 33)
Series Provisionals: Kyle Bronson; Brian Shirley
Fast Time Provisional: n/a
Series Emergency Provisionals: Dennis Erb Jr., Hudson O’Neal, Earl Pearson Jr., G.R. Smith
Big River Steel Podium Top 3: Jimmy Owens, Mason Zeigler, Brandon Overton
Optima Batteries Hard Charger of the Race: Kyle Bronson (Advanced 14 Positions)
Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Brandon Sheppard
Allstar Performance Most Laps Led: Brandon Overton (30 Laps)
Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Jimmy Owens
Eibach Springs Rookie of the Race: n/a
Engine Builder of the Race: Vic Hill Racing Engines
Miller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Rocket Chassis
Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race: Jeff Strope
Dirty Girl Racewear Fastest Lap of the Race: Brandon Overton (Lap #10 – 15.415 seconds)
Hot Rod Processing Tough Break of the Race: Tim McCreadie
PFC Brakes Pole Award: Josh Richards
Time of Race: 23 minutes 48 seconds

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