PORT ROYAL, Pa. — Coming off the biggest win of his racing career last Saturday night at Batesville Motor Speedway, Hudson O’Neal took his winning ways to Port Royal Speedway on Thursday night during the opening round of the Rumble by the River.
O’Neal’s fifth Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of the season earned him $10,000 as the 20-year-old Indiana native becomes the first driver on the tour to go over the $200,000 mark in season earnings.
O’Neal and Jonathan Davenport came across the line dead-even for the lead on the opening lap at Port Royal. Davenport got too high in turn two though, allowing O’Neal to get by and go on to lead the rest of the race.
Davenport came home in second for the second straight race. Ricky Thornton Jr. crossed the line in third with Shane Clanton fourth and 16th-starting Tim McCreadie rounding out the top five.
O’Neal’s 12th career series win did not come without some tense moments.
“Before that last caution I planted it in the wall. I didn’t get the right front, but I got the right rear hard,” O’Neal said. “I knew we were knocking the spoiler off. A big shoutout to my guys. They have been working hard and not giving up. I think sometimes they have a better mindset than I do and that’s what it’s all about. I am just so happy I can deliver this for them. This is just a huge confidence booster for the rest of the weekend.”
Davenport picked up some championship points with his second-place run.
““I just needed to get the lead there. The top finally started to slow down with about five laps to go,” Davenport said. “I could run him down in three and four, but then I would lose some ground in one and two. Congratulations to him, he only missed one time and it was when I was moving around, and I wasn’t close enough to him.”
Thornton rounded out the podium in third.
“We were really good tonight. We came here last year and wasn’t bad against the wall, tonight we ran mostly off the wall. Congrats to Hud and JD, we’ll back at it tomorrow night.”
The finish:
Hudson O’Neal, Jonathan Davenport, Ricky Thornton Jr., Shane Clanton, Tim McCreadie, Kyle Hardy, Gregg Satterlee, Michael Norris, Colton Flinner, Mike Marlar, Kyle Bronson, Tyler Erb, Spencer Hughes, Jimmy Owens, Josh Richards, Johnny Scott, Jeff Rine, Dan Stone, Earl Pearson Jr., Andy Haus, Stormy Scott, Rick Eckert, Matt Cosner, Chris Ferguson, Austin Berry, Jason Covert, Dylan Yoder.