On a night when Forrest Lucas welcomed a large crowd to the Lucas Oil Speedway for an appearance by the Lucas Oil Late Model Series, it was only fitting that the Lucas Oil sponsored #44 would wind up in victory lane. Earl Pearson Jr. fought off a late charge from Jimmy Owens to claim the $10,000 top prize in the car owned by NASCAR star Bobby Labonte.
Forty-seven Late Models were on hand and the 3/8-mile oval was lightning fast tonight as Shannon Babb broke into the fourteen second bracket to take quick time. When Babb spun the number four for the invert you knew that it would be tough for the fast qualifiers to get to the front of their heats as the track was so fast with the preferred line right around the cushion that passing would be at a premium, at least early in the evening. Pearson was the only one of the four fastest qualifiers to work his way up to second in his heat race and that landed him on the outside of row four for the fifty-lap main event. The seven drivers starting ahead of him, including current series point leader Scott Bloomquist had yet to visit victory lane on the 2009 tour.
Defending MLRA champion John Anderson raced away from the field early before a caution on lap six brought the field back to him. On the restart Anderson, pole-sitter John Blankenship and Wendell Wallace waged a thrilling three-wide battle with Wallace claiming the lead on lap eight. Anderson charged back to the front a lap later and Wallace suddenly slowed and stopped on the topside of turn one to bring out another caution. Working the very bottom groove of the racetrack Pearson was on the move and would now restart in third and in two laps he would drive past Anderson for the lead.
With Pearson pulling away it was now Jimmy Mars who was on the move coming from row six up to second while also using Pearson’s preferred line and from row five it was Jimmy Owens racing his way up to third using the cushion that had now been pushed way up to the top in both sets of turns. A caution for Will Vaught on lap thirty-four wiped out a full straightaway advantage for Pearson and the crowd buzzed as they anticipated a three-car battle for the lead on the restart. They had to wait out one more caution though as the fifth-place car of Don O’Neal, who won the Lucas series event the night before in Pontoon Beach, Illinois, got turned around in turn one two laps later.
When the green flag returned it was obvious that the race would be between Pearson and Owens as the two drivers worked completely opposite lines around the speedway. With five laps remaining Owens nosed ahead of Pearson at the stripe only to have the soon-to-be-lapped car of David Breazeale just ahead of him also working the cushion. When Owens went to the middle in turns three and four, Pearson charged by him once again for the lead only to have his own lapped car challenge ahead of him in Dan Schlieper. Schlieper was hugging the bottom as well and as the leader took the white flag it appeared that Owens would be able to sweep past him on the final lap. Coming off turn two though Pearson nosed under Schlieper to make the move that he needed to secure the victory by about four car lengths at the checkers.
Owens would have to settle for the runner-up honors with Mars coming in for third and John Anderson flew the MLRA colors in fine fashion by taking home fourth-place money. Back in May Dale McDowell went to a backup car, started twenty-sixth and finished second to Brian Birkhofer in the Diamond Nationals here. On this night McDowell had to win the first B-Main to start seventeenth and he drove the Clint Bowyer owned #17m to fifth. Birkhofer started sixteenth and finished sixth tonight while Scott Bloomquist was consistent starting sixth and finishing seventh. Steve Casebolt Jr. was an early mover after starting next to McDowell in row nine before settling in for eighth with Shannon Babb and Brad Neat completing the top ten.
Lucas Notes…..Both of the B-Mains saw drivers make passes on the final lap to claim the third and final transfer position. In the first one it was Ray Cook who surprised local favorite Eric Turner with a move off the low side of turn four coming to the checkers. In the second B Chris Smyser and Jeremy Payne put on a thrilling battle over the final five laps before Payne prevailed for the final transfer……Speaking of Smyser, he was forced to run six laps of qualifying earlier in the evening before his transponder would finally register a lap…..John Blankenship won the first heat race to put him on the pole position for the main event, but if his heat would have been one lap longer he would have been running a B-Main as his right rear tire went flat just past the checkers…..Modified star Jason Hughes of Westville, Oklahoma, was behind the wheel of the Flynn Racing #23 Late Model tonight and was very impressive. Hughes started in row three of the first B-Main and drove past Cook and Turner before coming up just inches short of beating McDowell to the checkers. You could tell that he was enjoying himself as he pumped his fist in jubilation heading to the pits. Hughes retired early from the feature……The Pitts Homes A-Modifieds, thirty strong, provided some exciting support action on the night but since we had a bit of a trip home we left before their main event closed out the program.
A big “thank you” to the staff at the Lucas Oil Speedway as they honored their first-class facility in fine fashion by putting on another first-class program. If you have not yet visited this place, check out their schedule at www.lucasoilspeedway.com and plan your trip.
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