Indiana's Don O'Neal navigates Florence Speedway prior to his winning run in the
"Ralph Lathem Memorial". (George
Missita)
Lucas Oil Series: O'Neal Keeps Owens in Check for Latham Memorial Win at
Florence
James Essex
UNION, Ky. – June 4. Don O’Neal of Martinsville, Ind. outran Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tenn. to win
the 25th annual "Ralph Latham Memorial" Saturday at Florence Speedway. O’Neal earned his first Lucas Oil Late
Model Series win of the season with the $10,000 victory. Scott James finished third followed by Darrell Lanigan
and provisional starter Earl Pearson, Jr.
“We’ve been close several times this year, but it sure feels good to get one here at Florence. This is one of my favorite tracks, the track was in great shape tonight, you could run anywhere on it. I knew Jimmy was going to give me a run for it, we raced each other clean, I know I shut the door on him a few times, but after last week when he passed me late in the race with traffic, I wasn’t going to let this one slip away,” said O’Neal.
Scott Bloomquist faded back and was then eliminated when several cars piled up late in the race. (George Missita) Scott Bloomquist led the first four laps until O’Neal took over the point. O’Neal then battled with polesitter Scott James for several laps before putting some distance between the two. The red flag came out on lap 17 when both Greg Johnson and Steve Casebolt flipped in turn one. Johnson’s car was destroyed and Casebolt, who did a complete flip, was remarkably able to restart on the tail after pitting. When the race resumed O’Neal still held the point followed by James, Bub McCool, Bloomquist and Owens, who was up to fifth after starting 11th. Owens the overhauled Bloomquist for fourth on lap 21 and three laps later he had passed both McCool and James to take over second.
Bub McCool and Scott Bloomquist in action at Florence Speedway. (George Missita) Owens began to track down O’Neal as the two went nose-to-tail with 20 laps remaining. Owens pulled even off of turn two on several occasion, but each time O’Neal slammed the door. With 19 laps to go, a major accident took place after a restart when several cars piled up in turns one and two. The cars of Bloomquist and Dale McDowell, who were running fourth and fifth at the time, were among those eliminated in the melee'. On the restart O’Neal again maintained his lead over Owens and with five laps to go, Owens was right on the left rear quarter panel of O’Neal. The final caution came out for a flat tire on Tyler Reddick’s car. That set up a four-lap dash with O’Neal beating Owens to the finish line to become the ninth different series winner of 2011.
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Big Gains for Hubbard, Pearson, Ogle - The A-Team Has Been Updated 05-15-12
Scott James battles #13 Barry Doss in heat race action at Florence (Ky.) Speedway, but in the $2,000-to-win feature, the only thing anyone saw was the tail end of James' #81 car. (Roy Walker)
After plenty of trash-talking via the electronic media between Jeff Matthews and Ivedent Lloyd last week, it was #21 Lloyd who got the final word as he reeled in #33 Matthews to win Friday's LM feature at Oclala, Fla.'s Bubba Raceway Park. (R.E. Wing)
Fans at Markleysburg, Pa.'s Roaring Knob Motorsports Comlex were treated to dual LM features Saturday - one a makeup from a May 5th rainout. (Above) Tim Senic challenges eventual regular feature winner Chuck Harper, while Jared Hawkins (below) claimed the makeup race. (Tommy Micheals)
Henley, Missouri's Jason Russell leads the way to Victory Lane in the ULMS Late Model feature at Lucas Oil Speedway Saturday. (Chris Bork)
Some fierce racing action at Lucas Oil speedway. (Chris Bork)
Dalton, Ga.'s Craig Reece returned to Dixie Speedway Saturday and led all the way to win the Crate LM victory. (Steve Hixson)
Ray Guss Jr. races last week's Quad City Speedway winner, Mike Murphy, Jr. This time, it was advantage Guss. (Chris Damitz)
With a strong motor back into his mount, Veteran Lamar Scoggins claimed last Friday's Crate LM victory at Boyd's Speedway. (Steve Hixson)
Veteran racer Lance Matthees navigates Spring Lake, Minnesota's Deer Creek Speedway before taking Saturday's WISSOTA Late Model checkers. (Jason Durst)
Racing hard at mid-pack, it's the dueling 55s of Cory Mahder (inside) and Greg Nippoldt at Deer Creek. (Jason Durst)
Ryan King (above and below) swept both the Ltd. Late Model and Crate Late Model features Saturday at 411 Motor Speedway in Seymour, Tenn. (Chad Wells)
Still riding his wave in Iowa, Mike Murphy, Jr. in early action before taking the main event win at Davenport last Friday. (Chris Damitz)
Jason Jameson ran a gauntlet to finally capture another win Friday night at Moler
Raceway Park (see main page). (Roy
Walker)
After holding back a charge from Alex Ferree, Chub Frank drove home with a Friday night win at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa. (John Stivason)
Bobby Pierce, Brett Sievert, and Mike Glynn race in a tight pack in Kankakee (Ill.) Speedway's "Crosstown Cup", but (below) it was ultimately Shawn Toczek (42) here racing the high side of Mike Provenzano, who sailed to the win. (Dan Simpson)
A-Team Leaders from 1997-2011 (Click on link for complete rundown)
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