Earl Pearson Jr. moved quickly from the inside of row three to take the lead from Don O’Neal on lap two and he then ran away from the field to take the $10,000 victory at 34 Raceway Sunday night. It was the second time in his career that Pearson has visited victory lane at the banked 3/8-mile oval near Burlington and this was the first-ever appearance for the Lucas Oil Late Model Series at the facility.
While Pearson was never challenged for the lead, he did have to survive two close calls with lapped traffic during the fifty-lap distance. On lap twenty-six Chris Wall spun to the apron exiting turn two just ahead of the leader setting up the last of three restarts in the race. Then on lap forty-four local favorite Boone McLaughlin got all the way sideways just in front of Pearson in turn three, but EPJ was able to take evasive action and McLaughlin made the save in order to keep the race under green.
This allowed Ray Cook to regain sight of the leader but there was no catching him over the final six circuits as Cook would finish where he started in second. Will Vaught made a big move from fifth to second on that lap twenty-six restart, but Cook would get back around him a lap later as Vaught would likely be happy with third after starting twelfth on the grid. Dale McDowell also made a big surge forward coming from the inside of row nine to finish in the fourth spot while Jimmy Mars, who started next to Vaught in row six, would take fifth. Scott Bloomquist came from fifteenth to run sixth with Brian Birkhofer chasing him in for seventh after starting fourteenth. Jimmy Owens, who came into the night tied for the series point lead with Bloomquist, faded from third to eighth. Dennis Erb Jr. would finish in the ninth spot while O’Neal would pit for tires on the last caution and then race his way back to tenth.
LOLMS @ 34 Notes……The first two cautions in the feature were for flat tires, on lap six for Jason Utter and on lap eight for Mike Marlar…..Forty Late Models filled the pit area, but two drivers Jason Hughes and Ricky Frankel, were not able to make qualifying attempts. Hughes slapped the wall during hot laps while Frankel had mechanical issues…..Jason Feger set quick time on the night after arriving late to the track due to not one, but two flat tires on his tow rig. Jason Frankel’s crew actually took their trailer back out on the road to tow in Feger’s #25 and Jason’s trailer arrived just before qualifying started. He hopped out, ran over to his car and then set quick time without even taking a hot lap……Feger faded to fourth after starting the first heat from the pole and was never a factor in the main event……Brad Neat, who is Pearson’s teammate at Bobby Labonte Racing, came from tenth to snare the third and final transfer out of the first B-Main…..The finish of the second B-Main brought the crowd to their feet as Jason Utter, Jake Meier and Boone McLaughlin raced three-wide to the checkers for the final two transfer spots. Meier was running second to race leader Bub McCool entering turn three on the final lap, but he was under assault from McLaughlin on the high side and Utter down low. McLaughlin rode the cushion off four to finish second while Utter nosed ahead of Meier by inches at the stripe to take third…..Shannon Babb was one of the "big names" on the trailer come feature time after dropping out of the first B-Main while running sixth.
The 305 c.i. Sprints ran a track point race in support with twenty-one cars on hand and it was definitely Kevin Hetrick’s night. Starting inside row five for the twenty-lap feature, Hetrick stormed to the front and blew past Cale Hutchings for the lead on lap four. He then maintained his advantage through a few more cautions and lapped traffic to take the victory ahead of Jarrod Schneiderman and Tony Davis. Bobby Mincer’s night didn’t start out well as he hit the pit entrance wall during hot laps and had to be towed back to the trailer with rear end damage. Later he was leading his heat before spinning out mid-race sending him back to the pits, but his night ended up pretty good as he raced his way from sixteenth to finish fourth in the main event. Nick Guernsey passed three cars in the final two laps to round out the top five.
A nice-sized crowd was on hand for the Sunday evening action that had been postponed from Friday due to cool and wet conditions. It was anything but that tonight as a hot sun and a stiff southerly breeze had the dust flying early and throughout the evening. But I’ll take dust and racing over a rainout any day!
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