By Lucas Oil Late Model Series PR (Waynesville, GA) -- Brandon Overton utilized a last lap pass coming off turn number four to barely edge Ricky Thornton Jr. at the finish line. Overton earned a Golden Isles Speedway record $25,000 payday on Saturday night in the final night of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned Super Clean Super Bowl of Racing - presented by ICON Electric Vehicles.
PHOTO CREDIT: Mike Ruefer
Overton’s 0.056 seconds margin of victory at the finish line was one of the closest in series history. For the second night in a row Thornton suffered a late-race heartbreak to come home in second. Tanner English finished third with Brandon Sheppard and Hudson O’Neal completing the top five finishers.
For the third night in a row Overton started from the pole and would lead the first 22 laps of the 60-lap event. Thornton, who started fourth, charged by Hudson O’Neal on lap 13 for second and then pursue Overton before grabbing the point from him on lap 23.
English, who started on the inside of the fourth row, moved into the runner-up slot behind Thornton on lap 33. A caution for a slowing Daulton Wilson on the frontstretch on lap 34 would bunch the field up. On the restart Overton got back by English for second and set his sights on Thornton.
With five laps to go to Thornton was holding a precarious lead over Overton as he was battling with cars at the tail end of the field. Overton started to move to the top of the and close the gap on Thornton as they took the white flag.
Overton with the momentum on the top as the duo exited off the final corner would make the winning pass against the outside retaining wall to steal the victory from Thornton.
Overton in Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the fifth time in his career at Golden Isles emerged from his car to the cheering fans in his home state. “I got lucky tonight. Last night I stuffed it in the fence. When I sent it in there tonight, I made sure I had the back end pointed out and on the chip. It just worked out. I hate it for Ricky, but that’s what it takes lapped traffic sometimes to play a big part of it. I knew when he [Thornton] passed me I had to stay in second and I had to do a better job of managing my tires. I knew a Hail Mary was all I had. Ricky’s run well this week. I am so happy. I love this stuff.”
“I couldn’t let Kyle [Larson come down and show us up like he did last night,” Overton added. “I just keep playing it back through my head just trying to make sure I didn’t go too soon. I seen the white and I said alright here it is I was going to knock the motor out of it, or I was going to get him. It worked out perfect.”
Thornton ended the week at Golden Isles with a third-place finish and a pair of runner-up finishes to maintain second place in the championship standings behind Overton. “The bottom was really good. I wanted to stay stuck there and I thought I had enough gap to Dennis [Erb Jr.] and then they got to racing in front of him and it kind of slowed my pace down. I knew he [Overton] was going to throw a Hail Mary in three and four. My crew guys were telling me to move up. It was like one of those deals where I tried it once and it about destroyed the car. Congrats to Brandon. It stinks to lose another one here. But the good part is we have good speed going into the next two days at Bubba.”
English had his best run of 2023 coming home in third to round out the Big River Steel Podium. “It definitely feels like a win especially against those two guys. They are two of the toughest in the business. We have got to figure out how to get better. It’s feels like a rough month, but it’s only been a few weeks. We are turning it around.”
The winner’s Wells and Sons Motorsports-owned, Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Clements Racing Engine and sponsored by Garnto Southern, Victory Fuel Flavored Electrolyte Water, Muscle Factory, Clean Way Clearing and Grading, Dirt Mafia, Boswell Oil, R.W. Powell Construction, Penske Racing Shocks, EZ-GO, Earnhardt Technologies, Convenience Lube, H&A Development.
Completing the top ten were Tim McCreadie, Jonathan Davenport, Mason Zeigler, Shane Clanton, and Kyle Bronson.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Race Summary
Super Clean Super Bowl of Racing Finale
Saturday, January 28, 2023
Golden Isles Speedway – Brunswick, GA
Allstar Performance Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Brandon Overton / 14.798 seconds (overall)
Fast Time Group B: Hudson O’Neal / 14.939 seconds
Penske Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 2. 96V-Tanner English[3]; 3. 89J-Jeff Choquette[2]; 4. 16-Tyler Bruening[4]; 5. 01-Jason Garver[6]; 6. 5-Mark Whitener[7]; 7. 19M-Wil Herrington[5]; 8. 6-Blake Spencer[8]; 9. 4S-Danny Snyder[9]
Summit Racing Products Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 99-Devin Moran[1]; 2. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[3]; 3. 2-GR Smith[6]; 4. 40B-Kyle Bronson[4]; 5. 111-Steven Roberts[2]; 6. 20-Jimmy Owens[9]; 7. 18-Chase Junghans[5]; 8. 14W-Dustin Walker[7]; 9. 4-Kale Green[8]
Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 25C-Shane Clanton[2]; 2. 8-Brian Shirley[4]; 3. 76B-Blair Nothdurft[5]; 4. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[3]; 5. 773-Christian Thomas[6]; 6. 2V-Allen Murray[1]; 7. 58-Garrett Alberson[8]; 8. (DNS) 25B-Mike Benedum
AP1 Insurance Heat Race #4 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 1H-Hudson O'Neal[1]; 2. 39-Tim McCreadie[3]; 3. 49-Jonathan Davenport[2]; 4. 93-Carson Ferguson[5]; 5. 99B-Boom Briggs[8]; 6. 111B-Max Blair[4]; 7. 114-Jordan Koehler[6]; 8. 78-Matthew Brocato[9]; 9. 21H-Robby Hensley[7]
Super Clean Heat Race #5 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 2. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[2]; 3. 2X-John Henderson[3]; 4. 1T-Tyler Erb[8]; 5. 19R-Ryan Gustin[4]; 6. 26JR-Jimmy Sharpe Jr[5]; 7. 8K-Kyle Strickler[6]; 8. 89-Logan Roberson[9]; 9. 20V-Rece Vaught[7]
Lucas Oil Heat Race #6 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. B5-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 2. 10-Garrett Smith[3]; 3. 11-Spencer Hughes[5]; 4. 44D-Dalton Cook[6]; 5. 7-Ross Robinson[8]; 6. 81J-Jack Riggs[7]; 7. 18D-Daulton Wilson[1]; 8. 22*-Payton Freeman[4]
Fast Shafts B-Main Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 16-Tyler Bruening[1]; 2. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[3]; 3. 5-Mark Whitener[7]; 4. 19M-Wil Herrington[10]; 5. 20-Jimmy Owens[8]; 6. 6-Blake Spencer[13]; 7. 40B-Kyle Bronson[2]; 8. 58-Garrett Alberson[12]; 9. 25B-Mike Benedum[17]; 10. 18-Chase Junghans[11]; 11. 773-Christian Thomas[6]; 12. 111-Steven Roberts[5]; 13. 2V-Allen Murray[9]; 14. (DNS) 01-Jason Garver; 15. (DNS) 14W-Dustin Walker; 16. (DNS) 4S-Danny Snyder; 17. (DNS) 4-Kale Green
UNOH B-Main Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 93-Carson Ferguson[1]; 2. 1T-Tyler Erb[2]; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin[5]; 4. 111B-Max Blair[7]; 5. 99B-Boom Briggs[4]; 6. 7-Ross Robinson[6]; 7. 89-Logan Roberson[14]; 8. 44D-Dalton Cook[3]; 9. 78-Matthew Brocato[13]; 10. 8K-Kyle Strickler[11]; 11. 81J-Jack Riggs[9]; 12. 26JR-Jimmy Sharpe Jr[8]; 13. 114-Jordan Koehler[10]; 14. 20V-Rece Vaught[17]; 15. (DNS) 18D-Daulton Wilson; 16. (DNS) 22*-Payton Freeman; 17. (DNS) 21H-Robby Hensley
Super Bowl of Racing - NIGHT 3 (60 Laps): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[4]; 3. 96V-Tanner English[7]; 4. B5-Brandon Sheppard[6]; 5. 1H-Hudson O'Neal[2]; 6. 39-Tim McCreadie[8]; 7. 49-Jonathan Davenport[14]; 8. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[10]; 9. 25C-Shane Clanton[5]; 10. 40B-Kyle Bronson[26]; 11. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[9]; 12. 8-Brian Shirley[11]; 13. 11-Spencer Hughes[18]; 14. 20-Jimmy Owens[29]; 15. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[21]; 16. 58-Garrett Alberson[23]; 17. 19M-Wil Herrington[27]; 18. 10-Garrett Smith[12]; 19. 76B-Blair Nothdurft[17]; 20. 89-Logan Roberson[28]; 21. 18D-Daulton Wilson[24]; 22. 89J-Jeff Choquette[13]; 23. 7-Ross Robinson[25]; 24. 99-Devin Moran[3]; 25. 2-GR Smith[15]; 26. 2X-John Henderson[16]; 27. 16-Tyler Bruening[19]; 28. 93-Carson Ferguson[20]; 29. 1T-Tyler Erb[22]
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602 CRATE LATE MODELS
A Feature 1: 1. 17-Nevin Gainey[1]; 2. 1T-Cameron Tribble[7]
B Feature 1: 1. 97-Cody Overton[2]; 2. 12C-Johnny Collins[1]; 3. 12-Steven Bryant[3]; 4. 3G-Grayson Ott[4]; 5. J3-Tracy Jorgensen[7]; 6. 23-Blake Mosely[8]; 7. 15-Colby Jenerette[6]; 8. 11D-Peyton Downing[5]; 9. (DNS) 7-Travis Grant
B Feature 2: 1. 4W-Dustin Watkins[2]; 2. 3-Phil Pittman[1]; 3. 12R-Eric Register[4]; 4. 31-Tim Swartz[5]; 5. 7J-Dalton Jacobs[6]; 6. 114-Evan Koehler[3]; 7. TJ3-Paul Jorgensen[9]; 8. 9A-Austin Lewis[10]; 9. 21-Pierce Thrift[8]; 10. 717-Houston Heatter[7]
B Feature 3: 1. 7R-Quentin Steedley[1]; 2. 07G-gage Griffin[2]; 3. 52-John Wayne Haynes[3]; 4. 43-John Strickland[5]; 5. 40B-Terry Bronson[4]; 6. 148-Joseph Diekimper[6]; 7. 149-Seth Speed[7]; 8. 727-Andy Dixon[9]; 9. (DNS) 21X-Bob Robertson; 10. (DNS) 3C-Bruce Collins Jr
Qualifying 1: 1. 17-Nevin Gainey[6]; 2. 515-Bubba Roling[22]; 3. 44P-Kole Platt[34]; 4. 9-Cass Fowler[36]; 5. 14JR-Trey Mills[19]; 6. 175-Brayden Johnson[31]; 7. 1T-Cameron Tribble[28]; 8. 18-David Showers Jr[40]; 9. 388-Jackson Hise[1]; 10. 9C-Ches Chester[12]; 11. 18D-Derek Dent[27]; 12. 25M-Wiley McDaniel[10]; 13. 12C-Johnny Collins[5]; 14. 3-Phil Pittman[13]; 15. 7R-Quentin Steedley[7]; 16. 97-Cody Overton[2]; 17. 4W-Dustin Watkins[17]; 18. 07G-gage Griffin[29]; 19. 12-Steven Bryant[14]; 20. 114-Evan Koehler[20]; 21. 52-John Wayne Haynes[32]; 22. 3G-Grayson Ott[21]; 23. 12R-Eric Register[15]; 24. 40B-Terry Bronson[9]; 25. 11D-Peyton Downing[37]; 26. 31-Tim Swartz[23]; 27. 43-John Strickland[11]; 28. 15-Colby Jenerette[35]; 29. 7J-Dalton Jacobs[18]; 30. 148-Joseph Diekimper[25]; 31. 3C-Bruce Collins Jr[26]; 32. 717-Houston Heatter[24]; 33. 149-Seth Speed[30]; 34. J3-Tracy Jorgensen[33]; 35. 21-Pierce Thrift[3]; 36. 21X-Bob Robertson[38]; 37. 23-Blake Mosely[39]; 38. TJ3-Paul Jorgensen[16]; 39. 727-Andy Dixon[4]; 40. 7-Travis Grant[41]; 41. 9A-Austin Lewis[8]
604 CRATE LATE MODELS
A Feature 1: 1. 6H-Clay Harris[3]; 2. 22-Jeremy Steele[7]; 3. 4F-Jeremy Faircloth[1]; 4. 97-Cody Overton[2]; 5. 1-Hunter Peacock[13]; 6. 5-David Whitener[5]; 7. 121-Blake Craft[4]; 8. 615-Colton Trouille[8]; 9. 388-Jackson Hise[15]; 10. 2J-Justin Shaw[9]; 11. G2G-Jordan Yawn[14]; 12. 55-Ricky McClain[22]; 13. 5C-Dustin Carter[19]; 14. 74-Jason Garver[23]; 15. 18B-Mark Fleischer[28]; 16. 515-Bubba Roling[16]; 17. 80-Benjamin Scott[24]; 18. 14JR-Trey Mills[12]; 19. 10-Ty Giles[29]; 20. 86-Chase Collins[21]; 21. 555-Brock Pinkerous[31]; 22. 78-Wyatt Wilkerson[26]; 23. 11H-Waylon Haynes[10]; 24. 2-Trent Loyd[6]; 25. 38-Chris Lovett[30]; 26. 89-Jeff Choquette[11]; 27. 18E-Ethan Wilson[20]; 28. 19-Kam Boyd[18]; 29. 18-Ben Faircloth[17]; 30. 11S-Nevin Gainey[25]; 31. (DNS) 31G-Stephen Pedulla
B Feature 1: 1. 1-Hunter Peacock[2]; 2. 515-Bubba Roling[1]; 3. 5C-Dustin Carter[4]; 4. 55-Ricky McClain[3]; 5. 11S-Nevin Gainey[5]; 6. 18B-Mark Fleischer[9]; 7. 7A-Corey Almond[10]; 8. 54-Tim Dixon[12]; 9. 05-John Baker[6]; 10. 67-Garret Stewart[11]; 11. 03-Morrie West[7]; 12. 5L-Kenny Limrick[8]; 13. 20G-Chub Gunter[13]; 14. 555-Brock Pinkerous[15]; 15. 4-Trey Davis[16]; 16. (DNS) 721-Joe Kump
B Feature 2: 1. G2G-Jordan Yawn[1]; 2. 18-Ben Faircloth[4]; 3. 18E-Ethan Wilson[2]; 4. 74-Jason Garver[3]; 5. 78-Wyatt Wilkerson[5]; 6. 10-Ty Giles[8]; 7. 22B-Jonah Bozeman[10]; 8. 118-David Showers Jr[12]; 9. 7J-Dalton Jacobs[7]; 10. 2L-Terry Lumley[9]; 11. 9A-Matt Adams[15]; 12. 30-Bodee Stratton[6]; 13. 42-Steven Stratton Sr[11]; 14. 46-Andrew Lankford[14]; 15. 44-Jeff Baggett[13]; 16. 15-Chris Meyer[16]
B Feature 3: 1. 388-Jackson Hise[1]; 2. 19-Kam Boyd[2]; 3. 86-Chase Collins[3]; 4. 80-Benjamin Scott[8]; 5. 31G-Stephen Pedulla[6]; 6. 38-Chris Lovett[10]; 7. 2G-Kale Green[11]; 8. 16-Brandon Dewitt[14]; 9. 16G-Caleb Gay[5]; 10. 11-Stacy Roberts[9]; 11. T20-Taylor Wood[16]; 12. 89H-Timmie Harrelson[12]; 13. 9-Ches Chester[4]; 14. 17-Ryan Frazee[7]; 15. (DNS) 41-Derike Bennett; 16. (DNS) 71-Bo Allen
Qualifying 1: 1. 4F-Jeremy Faircloth[4]; 2. 97-Cody Overton[19]; 3. 6H-Clay Harris[22]; 4. 121-Blake Craft[33]; 5. 5-David Whitener[37]; 6. 2-Trent Loyd[10]; 7. 22-Jeremy Steele[48]; 8. 615-Colton Trouille[23]; 9. 2J-Justin Shaw[16]; 10. 11H-Waylon Haynes[52]; 11. 89-Jeff Choquette[54]; 12. 14JR-Trey Mills[56]; 13. 515-Bubba Roling[53]; 14. G2G-Jordan Yawn[2]; 15. 388-Jackson Hise[38]; 16. 1-Hunter Peacock[31]; 17. 18E-Ethan Wilson[47]; 18. 19-Kam Boyd[27]; 19. 55-Ricky McClain[13]; 20. 74-Jason Garver[58]; 21. 86-Chase Collins[24]; 22. 5C-Dustin Carter[59]; 23. 18-Ben Faircloth[15]; 24. 9-Ches Chester[5]; 25. 11S-Nevin Gainey[8]; 26. 78-Wyatt Wilkerson[50]; 27. 16G-Caleb Gay[45]; 28. 05-John Baker[60]; 29. 30-Bodee Stratton[17]; 30. 31G-Stephen Pedulla[6]; 31. 03-Morrie West[51]; 32. 7J-Dalton Jacobs[57]; 33. 17-Ryan Frazee[44]; 34. 5L-Kenny Limrick[3]; 35. 10-Ty Giles[34]; 36. 80-Benjamin Scott[40]; 37. 18B-Mark Fleischer[55]; 38. 2L-Terry Lumley[30]; 39. 11-Stacy Roberts[46]; 40. 7A-Corey Almond[18]; 41. 22B-Jonah Bozeman[9]; 42. 38-Chris Lovett[25]; 43. 67-Garret Stewart[49]; 44. 42-Steven Stratton Sr[26]; 45. 2G-Kale Green[11]; 46. 54-Tim Dixon[12]; 47. 118-David Showers Jr[14]; 48. 89H-Timmie Harrelson[7]; 49. 20G-Chub Gunter[29]; 50. 44-Jeff Baggett[41]; 51. 71-Bo Allen[35]; 52. 721-Joe Kump[21]; 53. 46-Andrew Lankford[1]; 54. 16-Brandon Dewitt[20]; 55. 555-Brock Pinkerous[43]; 56. 9A-Matt Adams[39]; 57. 41-Derike Bennett[32]; 58. 4-Trey Davis[42]; 59. 15-Chris Meyer[36]; 60. T20-Taylor Wood[28]
ENDUROS
A Feature 1: 1. 5-Jared Jones[2]; 2. 14-Justin Hart[6]; 3. 51-Wiley McDaniel[4]; 4. 1111-Brian Barnes[1]; 5. 06-Josh Ryan[11]; 6. 116-John Carlino[8]; 7. 36-Dustin Real[13]; 8. 1-Daron Bailey[14]; 9. 39-John Drummond[15]; 10. 2R-Zack Flowers[19]; 11. 48-Drew Wentworth[16]; 12. 99T-Chase Litchfield[5]; 13. 3T-Devon Taylor[18]; 14. 69-Alvin Carlson[17]; 15. 74-Jim Barrow[20]; 16. 134-Richard Strickland[23]; 17. 222-Jamie Flowers[10]; 18. 2-Tyler Boyette[3]; 19. 182-John Ward[7]; 20. 00-William Fisher[9]; 21. 14R-Michael Real[12]; 22. 198-Jonah Ryan[21]; 23. 07-Shawn Strickland[22]
Qualifying 1: 1. 1111-Brian Barnes[13]; 2. 5-Jared Jones[19]; 3. 2-Tyler Boyette[6]; 4. 51-Wiley McDaniel[17]; 5. 99T-Chase Litchfield[11]; 6. 14-Justin Hart[4]; 7. 182-John Ward[15]; 8. 116-John Carlino[5]; 9. 00-William Fisher[21]; 10. 222-Jamie Flowers[9]; 11. 06-Josh Ryan[12]; 12. 14R-Michael Real[8]; 13. 36-Dustin Real[10]; 14. 1-Daron Bailey[20]; 15. 39-John Drummond[3]; 16. 48-Drew Wentworth[7]; 17. 69-Alvin Carlson[2]; 18. 198-Jonah Ryan[22]; 19. 3T-Devon Taylor[1]; 20. 2R-Zack Flowers[16]; 21. 74-Jim Barrow[18]; 22. 07-Shawn Strickland[14]