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O’Neal turns back Harris in Ocala finale, preventing the upset; Nothdurft is 27th

From DirtOnDirt.com Staff Reports

OCALA, FL (Jan. 31) - Nixing a monumental upset bid by Clay Harris, Hudson O’Neal of Martinsville, Indiana, regained the lead from the young Florida driver on lap 18 and controlled the remainder of the distance to capture Wednesday night’s 40-lap Winter Nationals finale at Ocala Speedway. O’Neal beat Harris to the finish line by 1.093 seconds to earn $10,000 for his second Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory in four events this season.

“I just got caught up behind a lapped car down here, he kind of pinched me, and I just completely messed up and about spun out,” O’Neal said of losing the lead to Harris on lap eight. “I was lucky the caution came back out and let us get back to second there and give it a run. That Clay, he drove a good race. I was just able to sneak by him. One time he just messed up a little bit and got up there … I think he drove the backstretch wall.”

O'Neal led laps 1-7 before slipping in lapped traffic and watching Harris slide by, but Harris's run in front ended on lap 18 when he skated high and O'Neal surged ahead off the inside of turn four. The 22-year-old Harris made a last-ditch attempt to challenge O'Neal using the outside lane on the final lap, but he couldn't find grip with the moisture-laden bottom lane dominant for the final 30 circuits. It was just the fourth career Lucas Oil feature start for Harris — all coming this month — and blew away his previous best finish of 14th in Tuesday's A-main at Ocala. Brian Shirley and Tuesday winner Ricky Thornton Jr. finished third and fourth; they ran in the positions from lap 11 to the checkered flag. Kyle Bronson completed the top five.

The race was slowed by five caution flags, all in an early three-lap span: Tanner English slowed on lap eight; Renner, South Dakota’s Blair Nothdurft backed into the turn-two wall on the restart; Drake Troutman twirled out of seventh place amid a lap-nine scramble off turn two; Tony Jackson Jr. and Garrett Alberson spun together in turn four on lap 10; and a lap-10 tangle between turns three and four that swept up Donald McIntosh, Mike Marlar and Mark Whitener, with all three towed off the track. Whitener angrily climbed out of his car and expressed displeasure with Tyler Erb.

Blair Nothdurft, of Renner, South Dakota, was 27th in the field.

SUMMARY

Lucas Oil Late Model Series:

Ocala A-Main | Night 2 (40 Laps): 1. 1-Hudson O'Neal[1]; 2. 6-Clay Harris[3]; 3. 3S-Brian Shirley[5]; 4. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[11]; 5. 40B-Kyle Bronson[13]; 6. 99-Devin Moran[23]; 7. 12-Ashton Winger[6]; 8. 39-Tim McCreadie[15]; 9. B5-Brandon Sheppard[17]; 10. 1T-Tyler Erb[24]; 11. 49-Jonathan Davenport[7]; 12. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[8]; 13. 99B-Boom Briggs[14]; 14. 18D-Daulton Wilson[4]; 15. 7-Ross Robinson[27]; 16. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[21]; 17. 19M-Spencer Hughes[26]; 18. 58-Garrett Alberson[20]; 19. 97-Cody Overton[18]; 20. 25-Tony Jackson Jr[10]; 21. 111-Max Blair[25]; 22. 4G-Bob Gardner[28]; 23. 7T-Drake Troutman[9]; 24. 5-Mark Whitener[19]; 25. 79-Donald McIntosh[22]; 26. 157-Mike Marlar[12]; 27. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[2]; 28. 96V-Tanner English[16]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Hudson O'Neal[1]; 2. 3S-Brian Shirley[4]; 3. 7T-Drake Troutman[3]; 4. 40B-Kyle Bronson[7]; 5. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[6]; 6. 17SS-Brenden Smith[5]; 7. 7-Ross Robinson[8]; 8. 2*-Logan Hitt[11]; 9. 20-Jimmy Owens[2]; 10. 28B-Carson Brown[10]; 11. 30-Ryan Gustin[9]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 6-Clay Harris[2]; 2. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 3. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[3]; 4. 39-Tim McCreadie[5]; 5. 5-Mark Whitener[7]; 6. B5-Brandon Sheppard[4]; 7. 66C-Matt Cosner[6]; 8. 4G-Bob Gardner[9]; 9. 81J-Jack Riggs[10]; 10. 93-Cory Lawler[8]; 11. 81F-Jadon Frame[11]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[1]; 2. 12-Ashton Winger[4]; 3. 25-Tony Jackson Jr[2]; 4. 99B-Boom Briggs[3]; 5. 58-Garrett Alberson[5]; 6. 79-Donald McIntosh[8]; 7. 99-Devin Moran[6]; 8. 111-Max Blair[9]; 9. 0-Ryan Scott[11]; 10. 75-Daniel Adam[10]; 11. 1T-Tyler Erb[7]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 18D-Daulton Wilson[1]; 2. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[3]; 3. 157-Mike Marlar[2]; 4. 96V-Tanner English[5]; 5. 97-Cody Overton[6]; 6. 19M-Spencer Hughes[4]; 7. 174-Ethan Dotson[7]; 8. 11C-Trevor Collins[9]; 9. 128-Kylan Garner[8]; 10. 8-Dillon McCowan[10]