ROSSBURG, Ohio (Sept. 7) — Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., and Brandon Overton of Evans, Ga., shared the spotlight with $10,000 victories in the twin 25-lap preliminary features that kicked off the 47th annual World 100 weekend Thursday night at Eldora Speedway.
Both drivers were triumphant for the second time in 2017 at the famed high-banked, half-mile oval as they repeated preliminary-feature wins they scored during June’s Dream XXIII presented by Ferris Mowers.
Lanigan, 47, steered NASCAR veteran Clint Bowyer’s iracing.com-sponsored Club 29 car to the checkered flag with a powerful performance in the caution-free 25-lap A-main for the evening’s entrants who had odd-numbered results in time trials for the event’s 104 entries. After stalking race-long leader Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., for 15 laps, Lanigan slipped by for the lead with seven circuits remaining and paced the rest of the distance.
Lanigan crossed the finish line 1.055 seconds ahead of Davenport, the 2015 World 100 winner. Jimmy Mars of Menominie, Wis., edged Mike Marlar of Winfield, Tenn., for fourth at the finish while defending World 100 winner Bobby Pierce of Oakwood, Ill., completed the top five.
It’s hard to be patient in a 25-lap sprint, but Lanigan, who started third, was confident he had enough to catch and pass Davenport.
“The car was good the whole race,” said Lanigan, whose 22 career World 100 feature starts makes him the driver with the most appearances in the race without a victory. “I was biding my time. I knew I was coming. We’ve definitely got a good car. It’s a different car than we brought up here for the Dream. I’m definitely proud of the guys, they did a lot of work on the car.”
From the pole, Davenport shot into the lead at the start, building an advantage of a little more than two seconds as the 24-car starting field began to fan out. Getting a good run off the high side, Davenport carried a big lead as he began to catch the back of the field. All the while, Lanigan was slowly reeling in the leader.
Patiently waiting until the lead duo was deep into a horde of lapped traffic, Lanigan nosed even with Davenport as they battled off turn two just beyond the halfway mark, but Davenport used a lapped car as a pick and surged back ahead. The pair raced side-by-side on lap 16 and again on lap 17 as Davenport fought to hold the lead.
Lanigan finally slid ahead to lead lap 18 and began to slowly stretch his advantage.
“When you’ve got a good piece, you really don’t have to push the issue too hard,” Lanigan added. “I was kind of just biding my time there a little bit and I noticed Davenport was getting loose. I was just being patient and got to the lead.
“We’ve got a good piece here this weekend,” he added. “It’s probably the best piece I’ve ever brought up here. We’ve definitely got something for them this weekend, I think.”
Once Lanigan pulled even, Davenport tried in vain to hold him back. Davenport, who said he wasn’t exactly sure where Lanigan was until it was too late, wasn’t terribly disappointed with his runner-up finish.
“I couldn’t really see my guy there giving me signals, so I didn’t know if I had a lead,” said Davenport, who drove the G.R. Smith-owned car that he began campaigning last month. “I just tried to keep my momentum up. Once we got in those lapped cars, I know they can be a determining factor in a hurry here. I tried to get by them as fast as I could. We’ve still got a a little work to do, but hey, that’s a great start.”
The 26-year-old Overton, meanwhile, used his right foot to mash the gas on a new Longhorn Chassis and lead all 25 laps of the feature for even-numbered qualifiers. He pulled away from runner-up Chris Madden of Gray Court, S.C., on a lap-22 restart to put himself in a solid position heading to Saturday night’s $50,000-to-win finale.
Earl Pearson Jr. of Jacksonville, Fla., pressured the polesitting Overton early and Madden turned up the wick amid traffic in the race’s late stages, but Overton kept his throwback Dream Team car out front in racing to victory.
“We definitely made a lot of improvements from early on in the day,” Overton said. “We were definitely no good when we unloaded. This is a brand new car, first night on it. I’d say it was pretty good right out of the box.
“I got nervous a couple of times. I didn’t know if I should have been on that top or that bottom on those restarts. But sometimes everything just falls your way.”
Madden ended up seven-tenths of a second behind at the finish while eighth-starting Don O’Neal of Martinsville, Ind. was third. Zack Dohm of Cross Lanes, W.Va., ran the inside line to improve eight positions and finish fourth and Pearson rounded out the top five.
Overton wasn’t too sure about staying out front on the double-file restarts, but he decided to swing high off turn four — a strategy that appeared to work well.
After reaching Eldora’s victory lane for the second time in his career, Overton was eager to see what he can do for the rest of the weekend.
“We’re just going to keep tinkering this thing a little bit,” said Overton, who finished third in June’s 100-lap Dream. “It was pretty good. These preliminaries, it’s nice to win $10,000, but them 100 laps is what counts and a lot of stuff changes from 25 to 100, that’s for sure. So we’re just going to keep working on it, try to make some smart decisions and see if we can’t park this thing here Saturday.”
The fifth-starting Madden was the fastest car on the track as he caught Overton amid traffic with about five laps remaining, but his charge fell short.
“We were really rolling right there at that time,” Madden said. “I think we had the better car. Hats off to my guys working hard on this thing and getting us back out here today.
“We had some problems hot-lapping today and broke some stuff. But those guys worked hard and got us back out there and give me a good race car tonight. We’ll tune on it a little bit for tomorrow and try to get us a win.”
The second feature was slowed by four cautions, the first for debris on lap and another quick yellow on the ensuing restart when several cars tangled out of turn four including Jimmy Owens, Brent Larson, Chris Ferguson and Jason Feger. The third yellow came out on the eighth lap when Scott Bloomquist and Shane Clanton tangled exiting turn two with Clanton’s right-front getting hung up on left-rear of Bloomquist, who had advanced 11 positions from his 22nd starting position. Clanton ended up ninth and Bloomquist finished 12th. The final caution appeared for Billy Moyer Jr. with three laps remaining.
The World 100 weekend continues on Friday with the second preliminary program topped by another pair of $10,000-to-win features. Hot laps are scheduled to start at 6 p.m.
Qualifying 1.157-Mike Marlar, 15.291; 2.9-Devin Moran, 15.299; 3.5N-Dustin Nobbe, 15.359; 4.1R-Josh Richards, 15.360; 5.14-Darrell Lanigan, 15.394; 6.5-Don O’Neal, 15.427; 7.20H-Jacob Hawkins, 15.429; 8.72-Mike Norris, 15.430; 9.21-Billy Moyer, 15.435; 10.25C-Shane Clanton, 15.460; 11.39-Tim McCreadie, 15.469; 12.44-Chris Madden, 15.479; 13.18K-Brandon Kinzer, 15.490; 14.20-Jimmy Owens, 15.505; 15.71-Hudson O’Neal, 15.506; 16.97-Michael Chilton, 15.510; 17.49-Jonathan Davenport, 15.525; 18.25-Jason Feger, 15.526; 19.10-Eddie Carrier Jr. , 15.527; 20.H1-Jared Miley, 15.542; 21.32P-Bobby Pierce, 15.547; 22.C9-Steve Casebolt, 15.605; 23.28M-Jimmy Mars, 15.608; 24.17D-Zack Dohm, 15.620; 25.1S-Brandon Sheppard, 15.622; 26.1P-Earl Pearson Jr., 15.633; 27.83-Scott James, 15.675; 28.22-Chris Ferguson, 15.719; 29.32S-Chris Simpson, 15.736; 30.116-Brandon Overton, 15.739; 31.7R-Kent Robinson, 15.740; 32.17M-Dale McDowell, 15.748; 33.7M-Donald McIntosh, 15.756; 34.99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr. , 15.758; 35.18B-Shannon Babb, 15.764; 36.C8-Timothy Culp, 15.794; 37.15H-Jon Henry, 15.817; 38.12-Jason Jameson, 15.818; 39.48-Tim Lance, 15.819; 40.4B-Jackie Boggs, 15.822; 41.22S-Gregg Satterlee, 15.827; 42.56-Tony Jackson Jr, 15.832; 43.3s-Brian Shirley, 15.840; 44.240-Doug Drown, 15.841; 45.55-Jeep VanWormer, 15.862; 46.11R-James Rice, 15.863; 47.4-Cody Mahoney, 15.876; 48.1M-Mike Mataragas, 15.885; 49.7B-Jeff Babcock, 15.887; 50.1GK-Ryan King, 15.912; 51.R1-Riley Hickman, 15.927; 52.B1-Brent Larson, 15.931; 53.101-Casey Roberts, 15.948; 54.00-Connor Meade, 15.951; 55.11G-Gordy Gundaker, 15.952; 56.88-Andrew Reaume, 15.960; 57.9R-Curtis Roberts, 15.984; 58.77B-Adam Bowman, 16.043; 59.48L-Steve Lance, 16.053; 60.21JR-Billy Moyer Jr. , 16.059; 61.17-Shannon Thornsberry, 16.067; 62.31-Nick Latham, 16.069; 63.1V-Vic Hill, 16.088; 64.25Z-Mason Zeigler, 16.094; 65.87-Walker Arthur, 16.096; 66.18x-Michael Page, 16.109; 67.111-Steven Roberts, 16.114; 68.28-Dennis Erb Jr. , 16.163; 69.C02-Mark Whitener, 16.165; 70.93-Jay Johnson, 16.191; 71.18-Chase Junghans, 16.217; 72.12M-Raymond Merrill, 16.220; 73.58-Jeremiah Hurst, 16.224; 74.33M-Tim Manville, 16.233; 75.2-Nick Hoffman, 16.245; 76.95J-Jerry Bowersock, 16.253; 77.1N-Casey Noonan, 16.300; 78.20C-Duane Chamberlain, 16.302; 79.2TS-Travis Stemler, 16.318; 80.32-Chad Stapleton, 16.343; 81.15-Steve Francis, 16.351; 82.2c-Joey Coulter, 16.375; 83.50-Shanon Buckingham, 16.387; 84.40B-Kyle Bronson, 16.414; 85.89-Dustin Mitchell, 16.421; 86.39T-Rob Toland, 16.441; 87.33-Jesse James Lay, 16.449; 88.128-Jeff Alsip, 16.512; 89.96-Tanner English, 16.527; 90.51-Joey Moriarty, 16.531; 91.31AUS-Paul Stubber, 16.608; 92.6-Blake Spencer, 16.634; 93.17E-Lance Elson, 16.743; 94.45H-Don Hammer, 16.849; 95.69-Jonny Huck, 16.925; 96.79-Bryant Dickinson, 16.996; 97.79W-Troy Worrick, 17.106; 98.4BG-Bob Gardner, 17.269; 99.97M-Brett Miller, 17.352; 100.144-Chris Barton, 17.528; 101.22F-Nicholas Fenner, 17.854; 102.28X-Drake Meeks, 17.874; 103.34-Chase Porter, 18.395; 104.0-Scott Bloomquist, 99.999;
Heat 1 – (10 Laps) 1. 32P-Bobby Pierce[2] ; 2. 157-Mike Marlar[4] ; 3. 39-Tim McCreadie[3] ; 4. R1-Riley Hickman[6] ; 5. 7R-Kent Robinson[1] ; 6. 15-Steve Francis[9] ; 7. 18-Chase Junghans[8] ; 8. 22S-Gregg Satterlee[5] ; 9. 31AUS-Paul Stubber[10] ; 10. 17-Shannon Thornsberry[7] ; 11. 22F-Nicholas Fenner[11]
Heat 2 – (10 Laps) 1. 44-Chris Madden[3] ; 2. C9-Steve Casebolt[2] ; 3. B1-Brent Larson[6] ; 4. 9-Devin Moran[4] ; 5. 56-Tony Jackson Jr[5] ; 6. 31-Nick Latham[7] ; 7. 2c-Joey Coulter[9] ; 8. 12M-Raymond Merrill[8] ; 9. 6-Blake Spencer[10] ; 10. 17M-Dale McDowell[1] ; 11. 28X-Drake Meeks[11]
Heat 3 – (10 Laps) 1. 28M-Jimmy Mars[2] ; 2. 3s-Brian Shirley[5] ; 3. 18K-Brandon Kinzer[3] ; 4. 5N-Dustin Nobbe[4] ; 5. 17E-Lance Elson[10] ; 6. 34-Chase Porter[11] ; 7. 101-Casey Roberts[6] ; 8. 7M-Donald McIntosh[1] ; 9. 58-Jeremiah Hurst[8] ; 10. 50-Shanon Buckingham[9] ; 11. 1V-Vic Hill[7]
Heat 4 – (10 Laps) 1. 1R-Josh Richards[4] ; 2. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr. [1] ; 3. 17D-Zack Dohm[2] ; 4. 20-Jimmy Owens[3] ; 5. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[7] ; 6. 33M-Tim Manville[8] ; 7. 0-Scott Bloomquist[11] ; 8. 40B-Kyle Bronson[9] ; 9. 240-Doug Drown[5] ; 10. 00-Connor Meade[6] ; 11. 45H-Don Hammer[10]
Heat 5 – (10 Laps) 1. 14-Darrell Lanigan[4] ; 2. 18B-Shannon Babb[1] ; 3. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[2] ; 4. 71-Hudson O’Neal[3] ; 5. 55-Jeep VanWormer[5] ; 6. 11G-Gordy Gundaker[6] ; 7. 2-Nick Hoffman[8] ; 8. 69-Jonny Huck[10] ; 9. 89-Dustin Mitchell[9] ; 10. 87-Walker Arthur[7]
Heat 6 – (10 Laps) 1. 1P-Earl Pearson Jr.[2] ; 2. 5-Don O’Neal[4] ; 3. C8-Timothy Culp[1] ; 4. 18x-Michael Page[7] ; 5. 88-Andrew Reaume[6] ; 6. 95J-Jerry Bowersock[8] ; 7. 11R-James Rice[5] ; 8. 79-Bryant Dickinson[10] ; 9. 97-Michael Chilton[3] ; 10. 39T-Rob Toland[9]
Heat 7 – (10 Laps) 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[3] ; 2. 15H-Jon Henry[1] ; 3. 4-Cody Mahoney[5] ; 4. 83-Scott James[2] ; 5. 20H-Jacob Hawkins[4] ; 6. 9R-Curtis Roberts[6] ; 7. 33-Jesse James Lay[9] ; 8. 1N-Casey Noonan[8] ; 9. 111-Steven Roberts[7] ; 10. 79W-Troy Worrick[10]
Heat 8 – (10 Laps) 1. 12-Jason Jameson[1] ; 2. 22-Chris Ferguson[2] ; 3. 25-Jason Feger[3] ; 4. 72-Mike Norris[4] ; 5. 28-Dennis Erb Jr. [7] ; 6. 1M-Mike Mataragas[5] ; 7. 20C-Duane Chamberlain[8] ; 8. 77B-Adam Bowman[6] ; 9. 4BG-Bob Gardner[10] ; 10. 128-Jeff Alsip[9]
Heat 9 – (10 Laps) 1. 10-Eddie Carrier Jr. [3] ; 2. 21-Billy Moyer[4] ; 3. 32S-Chris Simpson[2] ; 4. 7B-Jeff Babcock[5] ; 5. 48-Tim Lance[1] ; 6. 2TS-Travis Stemler[8] ; 7. 48L-Steve Lance[6] ; 8. C02-Mark Whitener[7] ; 9. 97M-Brett Miller[10] ; 10. 96-Tanner English[9]
Heat 10 – (10 Laps) 1. 116-Brandon Overton[2] ; 2. 4B-Jackie Boggs[1] ; 3. 25C-Shane Clanton[4] ; 4. 21JR-Billy Moyer Jr. [6] ; 5. H1-Jared Miley[3] ; 6. 1GK-Ryan King[5] ; 7. 51-Joey Moriarty[9] ; 8. 93-Jay Johnson[7] ; 9. 32-Chad Stapleton[8] ; 10. 144-Chris Barton[10]
Even B Feature 1 – (12 Laps) 1. 88-Andrew Reaume[2] ; 2. 33M-Tim Manville[4] ; 3. H1-Jared Miley[3] ; 4. 56-Tony Jackson Jr[1] ; 5. 11R-James Rice[7] ; 6. 40B-Kyle Bronson[9] ; 7. 32-Chad Stapleton[13] ; 8. 1M-Mike Mataragas[5] ; 9. 2c-Joey Coulter[6] ; 10. 51-Joey Moriarty[8] ; 11. 6-Blake Spencer[11] ; 12. 00-Connor Meade[14] ; 13. 77B-Adam Bowman[10] ; 14. 128-Jeff Alsip[15]
Even B Feature 2 – (12 Laps) 1. 0-Scott Bloomquist[6] ; 2. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[1] ; 3. 28-Dennis Erb Jr. [2] ; 4. 31-Nick Latham[3] ; 5. 17M-Dale McDowell[13] ; 6. 95J-Jerry Bowersock[4] ; 7. 20C-Duane Chamberlain[7] ; 8. 12M-Raymond Merrill[8] ; 9. 240-Doug Drown[11] ; 10. 93-Jay Johnson[10] ; 11. 1GK-Ryan King[5] ; 12. 45H-Don Hammer[16] ; 13. 79-Bryant Dickinson[9] ; 14. 4BG-Bob Gardner[12] ; 15. 144-Chris Barton[15] ; 16. 39T-Rob Toland[14]
Odd B Feature 1 – (12 Laps) 1. 55-Jeep VanWormer[2] ; 2. 7R-Kent Robinson[1] ; 3. 9R-Curtis Roberts[5] ; 4. 2-Nick Hoffman[7] ; 5. 18-Chase Junghans[6] ; 6. 1N-Casey Noonan[10] ; 7. 50-Shanon Buckingham[14] ; 8. 48L-Steve Lance[8] ; 9. 97M-Brett Miller[13] ; 10. 31AUS-Paul Stubber[11] ; 11. 34-Chase Porter[4] ; 12. 22F-Nicholas Fenner[16] ; 13. 89-Dustin Mitchell[12] ; 14. 48-Tim Lance[3]
Odd B Feature 2 – (12 Laps) 1. 20H-Jacob Hawkins[2] ; 2. 22S-Gregg Satterlee[8] ; 3. 2TS-Travis Stemler[5] ; 4. 101-Casey Roberts[6] ; 5. 11G-Gordy Gundaker[4] ; 6. 1V-Vic Hill[16] ; 7. 58-Jeremiah Hurst[11] ; 8. 33-Jesse James Lay[7] ; 9. C02-Mark Whitener[10] ; 10. 17E-Lance Elson[1] ; 11. 87-Walker Arthur[14] ; 12. 15-Steve Francis[3] ; 13. 17-Shannon Thornsberry[13] ; 14. 69-Jonny Huck[9] ; 15. 111-Steven Roberts[12]
Twin-25 Feature 1 (Even) – (25 Laps) 1. 116-Brandon Overton[1] ; 2. 44-Chris Madden[5] ; 3. 5-Don O’Neal[8] ; 4. 17D-Zack Dohm[12] ; 5. 1P-Earl Pearson Jr.[3] ; 6. 1R-Josh Richards[4] ; 7. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[24] ; 8. 18x-Michael Page[18] ; 9. 25C-Shane Clanton[15] ; 10. 20-Jimmy Owens[17] ; 11. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr. [7] ; 12. 0-Scott Bloomquist[22] ; 13. C9-Steve Casebolt[6] ; 14. 21JR-Billy Moyer Jr. [20] ; 15. 12-Jason Jameson[2] ; 16. 88-Andrew Reaume[21] ; 17. 9-Devin Moran[16] ; 18. 22-Chris Ferguson[9] ; 19. C8-Timothy Culp[13] ; 20. 4B-Jackie Boggs[10] ; 21. B1-Brent Larson[11] ; 22. 72-Mike Norris[19] ; 23. 25-Jason Feger[14] ; 24. 33M-Tim Manville[23]
Twin-25 Feature 2 (Odd) – (25 Laps) 1. 14-Darrell Lanigan[3] ; 2. 49-Jonathan Davenport[2] ; 3. 28M-Jimmy Mars[4] ; 4. 157-Mike Marlar[6] ; 5. 32P-Bobby Pierce[5] ; 6. 39-Tim McCreadie[11] ; 7. 15H-Jon Henry[9] ; 8. 21-Billy Moyer[10] ; 9. 71-Hudson O’Neal[18] ; 10. 10-Eddie Carrier Jr. [1] ; 11. 18B-Shannon Babb[8] ; 12. 83-Scott James[19] ; 13. 32S-Chris Simpson[15] ; 14. R1-Riley Hickman[16] ; 15. 22S-Gregg Satterlee[24] ; 16. 55-Jeep VanWormer[21] ; 17. 3s-Brian Shirley[7] ; 18. 4-Cody Mahoney[14] ; 19. 20H-Jacob Hawkins[22] ; 20. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[13] ; 21. 7R-Kent Robinson[23] ; 22. 18K-Brandon Kinzer[12] ; 23. 7B-Jeff Babcock[20] ; 24. 5N-Dustin Nobbe[17]
Courtesy Campbell Photos
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