GIBSONTON, Fla. — Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series point leader Brandon Overton picked up his first victory of the season on Friday night at East Bay Raceway Park.
Overton grabbed the lead from Tim McCreadie on the 27th lap and went on to claim his eighth career series win. A spirited battle for the lead consumed over half the race with more than five different race leaders.
Tyler Bruening started 11th and charged to second at the finish for his best career LOLMDS finish. McCreadie came home in third followed by 21st-starting Devin Moran and Shane Clanton.
Brian Shirley started on the pole and led the first eight laps until Jimmy Owens took over the lead, but a few laps later Shirley regained the point. Shirley stayed in front until lap 26 when Mike Marlar took over the lead. Marlar’s lead was short-lived as he held the lead for just one circuit until McCreadie charged ahead after a restart. McCreadie could not hold off Overton who charged around him with 22 laps to go.
“After the heat race, I said this one is going to require a lot of luck,” Overton said. “I got the lead at the right time. I knew if I just kept hanging around the top three that I would get a win before the end of the week. I started to feel like I was going to leave here without winning and that wasn’t going to sit well with me.”
Bruening was elated on the podium with his highest finish in LOLMDS competition.
“We have been really good, but we’ve gotten tangled up in some stuff that wasn’t our doing this week,” he said. “We have had some really good speed. Now it’s up to the me to put it all together as the driver, because this car is fantastic. Thanks to my dad [Greg] and Marshall Green at Capital Race Cars. I am thrilled to be up here on the podium.
McCreadie had his best finish of the 2021 campaign as he rounded out the podium.
“We have all been chasing our tails all week and we’ve just been behind in our plans. We had a good run tonight, so that’s cool. We just need to be a bit better.”
The finish:
Brandon Overton, Tyler Bruening, Tim McCreadie, Devin Moran, Shane Clanton, Mark Whitener, Hudson O’Neal, Earl Pearson Jr., Billy Moyer Jr., Josh Richards, Jimmy Owens, Rick Eckert, Stormy Scott, Ricky Thornton Jr., Brandon Sheppard, Tony Jackson Jr., Tanner English, Mike Marlar, Wil Herrington, Kyle Bronson, Kyle Strickler, Frank Heckenast Jr., Mason Zeigler, Boom Briggs, Spencer Hughes, Brian Shirley, Bobby Pierce, Jonathan Davenport, Chase Junghans, Gregg Satterlee.