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O’Neal tops Tuesday East Bay action, leading last 20 laps to the checkered flag

From DirtOnDirt.com Staff Reports

GIBSONTON, FL (Feb. 6) – Regaining the point with an inside move by Tyler Erb, pole-starting Hudson O'Neal of Martinsville, IN, led the final 20 laps to win Tuesday's $5,000 opener of the 48th annual Wieland Winternationals at East Bay Raceway Park. O'Neal led 23 laps (1-3; 11-30) to capture his 24th career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series feature victory and his third through seven races of the season.

Securing his fifth career Winternationals triumph, O'Neal has now topped three straight, going back to last year's fourth and fifth rounds. Sixth-starting Daulton Wilson moved into the runner-up spot on lap 20 and trailed O'Neal the rest of the way, finishing 0.654 of a second back.

“It looked like they shoved those tires in down in (turns) three and four a little bit,” O’Neal said. “I just knew if I could just stay patient enough, you know, eventually that top (line) had to go away. Tyler (Erb) moved down in front of me there one time and it came down to my crucial pass coming off of (turn) two, he just missed the bottom there a little bit and let me sneak in. We rubbed some doors, but I knew that was probably gonna be the only chance I had to get back by him.”

Jonathan Davenport regained third place on lap 21 and completed the podium finishers, while Ashton Winger was fourth. After improving six positions in his heat race, Devin Moran advanced 13 spots and grabbed fifth on the final lap.

Renner, South Dakota’s Blair Nothdurft came up just short of qualifying for the feature in the first B feature.

SUMMARY

Lucas Oil Late Model Series:

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 1-Hudson O'Neal[1]; 2. 18D-Daulton Wilson[6]; 3. 49-Jonathan Davenport[4]; 4. 12-Ashton Winger[3]; 5. 99-Devin Moran[18]; 6. 1T-Tyler Erb[2]; 7. 18-Chase Junghans[8]; 8. B5-Brandon Sheppard[11]; 9. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[7]; 10. 19M-Spencer Hughes[13]; 11. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[9]; 12. 3S-Brian Shirley[12]; 13. 111-Max Blair[19]; 14. 58-Garrett Alberson[17]; 15. 39-Tim McCreadie[21]; 16. 99B-Boom Briggs[15]; 17. 14X-Wil Herrington[20]; 18. 10-Garrett Smith[5]; 19. 25-Tony Jackson Jr[22]; 20. 66C-Matt Cosner[10]; 21. 31-Tyler Millwood[24]; 22. 1Z-Logan Zarin[16]; 23. 40B-Kyle Bronson[23]; 24. 20-Jimmy Owens[14]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Hudson O'Neal[1]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[4]; 3. 19M-Spencer Hughes[2]; 4. 111-Max Blair[3]; 5. 2*-Logan Hitt[10]; 6. 11C-Trevor Collins[7]; 7. 82B-Jason Milam[11]; 8. 7T-Drake Troutman[5]; 9. 9-Levi Yetter[6]; 10. 42-Terry Casey[8]; 11. 6H-Ross Bailes[9]; 12. 45D-Dan Battaglia[13]; 13. (DNS) 214-Haiden Cowan

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 12-Ashton Winger[3]; 2. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[1]; 3. 99B-Boom Briggs[2]; 4. 25-Tony Jackson Jr[9]; 5. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[4]; 6. 128-Kylan Garner[6]; 7. 17SS-Brenden Smith[7]; 8. 71C-RJ Conley[8]; 9. 4G-Bob Gardner[10]; 10. 29-Larry Grube[11]; 11. 21M-Tre Martin[12]; 12. 81J-Jack Riggs[5]; 13. (DNS) K&B-Kerry King

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 10-Garrett Smith[1]; 2. B5-Brandon Sheppard[6]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson[3]; 4. 14X-Wil Herrington[2]; 5. 4-Amanda Robinson[7]; 6. 81F-Jadon Frame[4]; 7. 6T-Tim Dohm[5]; 8. 187-David McCoy[11]; 9. 51-Dean Carpenter[8]; 10. 22M-Sean Mattingly[12]; 11. 12R-Ryan Payne[9]; 12. (DNS) 21-Kenny Howell

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 1T-Tyler Erb[1]; 2. 18-Chase Junghans[4]; 3. 20-Jimmy Owens[3]; 4. 6-Clay Harris[2]; 5. 40B-Kyle Bronson[5]; 6. 7-Ross Robinson[8]; 7. 3-Brennon Willard[9]; 8. 69-Brandon Thirlby[6]; 9. 20B-Todd Brennan[7]; 10. 27-Michael Lake[11]; 11. 71R-Rod Conley[10]; 12. 07-Brian Ledbetter[13]; 13. 32-Jason Jack[12]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 66C-Matt Cosner[2]; 3. 1Z-Logan Zarin[3]; 4. 75-Daniel Adam[6]; 5. 81-Jason Riggs[4]; 6. 47W-Brandon Weigle[7]; 7. 8-Dillon McCowan[9]; 8. S21-Seth Daniels[10]; 9. 48-Tim Lance[8]; 10. USA1-Chris Hawkins[12]; 11. 15K-Jensen Ford[5]; 12. (DNS) 33-Jeff Mathews

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 18D-Daulton Wilson[1]; 2. 3S-Brian Shirley[2]; 3. 99-Devin Moran[9]; 4. 39-Tim McCreadie[4]; 5. 96V-Tanner English[3]; 6. 31-Tyler Millwood[7]; 7. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[8]; 8. 93-Cory Lawler[6]; 9. 4S-Danny Snyder[12]; 10. 25B-Mike Benedum[10]; 11. 174-Ethan Dotson[5]; 12. 15-Blake McClain[11]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 111-Max Blair[1]; 2. 25-Tony Jackson Jr[2]; 3. 11C-Trevor Collins[5]; 4. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[4]; 5. 82B-Jason Milam[7]; 6. 7T-Drake Troutman[9]; 7. 17SS-Brenden Smith[8]; 8. 128-Kylan Garner[6]; 9. 2*-Logan Hitt[3]; 10. 9-Levi Yetter[11]; 11. 71C-RJ Conley[10]; 12. 4G-Bob Gardner[12]; 13. 214-Haiden Cowan[19]; 14. 21M-Tre Martin[16]; 15. 29-Larry Grube[14]; 16. 42-Terry Casey[13]

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 14X-Wil Herrington[1]; 2. 40B-Kyle Bronson[4]; 3. 6-Clay Harris[2]; 4. 81F-Jadon Frame[5]; 5. 7-Ross Robinson[6]; 6. 4-Amanda Robinson[3]; 7. 187-David McCoy[9]; 8. 6T-Tim Dohm[7]; 9. 51-Dean Carpenter[11]; 10. 71R-Rod Conley[16]; 11. 27-Michael Lake[14]; 12. 3-Brennon Willard[8]; 13. 21-Kenny Howell[17]; 14. 07-Brian Ledbetter[18]; 15. 22M-Sean Mattingly[13]; 16. 20B-Todd Brennan[12]; 17. 69-Brandon Thirlby[10];

B Feature 3 (10 Laps): 1. 39-Tim McCreadie[2]; 2. 31-Tyler Millwood[6]; 3. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[8]; 4. S21-Seth Daniels[9]; 5. 81-Jason Riggs[3]; 6. 96V-Tanner English[4]; 7. 174-Ethan Dotson[16]; 8. 48-Tim Lance[11]; 9. 8-Dillon McCowan[7]; 10. 25B-Mike Benedum[14]; 11. 4S-Danny Snyder[12]; 12. 47W-Brandon Weigle[5]; 13. 15K-Jensen Ford[15]; 14. USA1-Chris Hawkins[13]; 15. 93-Cory Lawler[10]; 16. 75-Daniel Adam[1]