PORTSMOUTH, Ohio – Current Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championship leader Tim McCreadie won his second consecutive series race as he took the top spot in the River Days Rumble Saturday night at Portsmouth Raceway Park.
McCreadie’s win was his fifth this season. Devin Moran finished second to McCreadie with Ricky Thornton Jr., Tyler Erb and Jimmy Owens rounding out the top five.
Kyle Bronson led the first four laps of the race until Bronson, Moran and McCreadie went three-wide for the lead on lap five, with McCreadie emerging as the new leader. Moran was able to challenge McCreadie after several restarts. Despite 10 caution flags that slowed the action, McCreadie held the lead to the checkers by 2.8 seconds for his 27th career series victory.
In Lucas Oil Victory Lane McCreadie was already thinking about the next race in the quest for his first Lucas Oil title.
“It’s great to win here that’s for sure, but I am just going one race at a time,” McCreadie said. “The car was pretty much flawless tonight, we are always working to make it better. This group of drivers are so tough. There are still a lot of races left to go in the season. I want to thank my car owners Donald and Gena Bradsher, they have given me everything I need. They are supportive whether we win or not; we could run second, fifth, or whatever and they are always positive. That is a great feeling to know that.
“With that many cautions you just have to be patient. It’s tough to start and get going and then the caution would come out. Taking the lead there early on was important. I just went for it, and it worked out. I figured maybe Devin or Kyle would go back to the outside and get by me, but no one ever did. It’s great to win in front of this crowd. Sometimes during the other races, I will come up there and sit with some of you. I remember sitting in the grandstands and rooting for my dad for several years.”
Moran, looking for his third Lucas Oil win and his first of the season, came home in second.
“Our car was good for most of the race, we kind of faded there at the end, but we held on for second,” Moran said. “I was able to stay with Timmy there for a long time, but those cautions kind of hurt my momentum. That one restart we went to the top and was running him down. I would go into one a little lower than him and we would make up even more ground. To finish second here hopefully gives us some good notes for when we come back here in October.”
Thornton, the top Eibach Springs rookie this season in the series, pitted during one of the caution flags to change a flat tire but came back to round out the podium.
“Yes, it was a nice comeback for us to come back to get third,” Thornton said. “The car was really good the last part of the race. We could get up there and run with Devin and I thought we had a shot to get second for a moment. To come from the back, I have to thank my crew for getting me back on the track after the flat.”
The finish:
Tim McCreadie, Devin Moran, Ricky Thornton Jr., Tyler Erb, Jimmy Owens, Hudson O’Neal, Spencer Hughes, Jonathan Davenport, Rod Conley, Clint Keenan, Earl Pearson Jr., R.J. Conley, Brandon Fouts, Josh Richards, Kyle Bronson, Shane Clanton, Josh Rice, Todd Brennan, Jason Jameson, Kody Evans, Kevin Wagner, Steven Roberts, Shannon Thornsberry, Jared Hawkins.