6/24/2023
O'Neal lands second-place finish in Firecracker 100 at Lernerville
For the second-straight week Hudson O’Neal finished in a runner-up position in a $50,000-to-win Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series (LOLMDS) event with his Rocket1 Racing / Valvoline / Seubert Calf Ranches No. 1 Ace Metal Works / XR1 Rocket Chassis / Durham Racing Engine Super Late Model.
His latest podium performance came on Saturday night in the finale for the 17th annual Firecracker 100 at Lernerville Speedway. O’Neal led multiple times for a total of eight laps before ultimately crossing the finish line in second behind Ricky Thornton Jr.
“I don’t know if I had anything left for him [Ricky Thornton]. I was just so married to that bottom it was just hard to deal with some of those lapped cars because I just couldn’t quite get a run on them like I needed. Then that bottom got so thin it made it even harder. Ricky had harder tires and was able to move out on the race track a little bit,” O’Neal shared. “Maybe I didn’t give it a fair enough shot. We have kind of been behind the eight-ball all week. We struggled to find our stride and I just felt like we just got better and better as the week along.”
Rocket1 Racing and Hudson O’Neal followed the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series (LOLMDS) to Lernerville Speedway (Sarver, Pa.) on Thursday evening to compete in a pair of prelims for the Firecracker 100 weekend.
After racing his way into his $5,000-to-win preliminary feature with a heat race victory, a steady rain shower forced officials to postpone both prelims to Friday afternoon.
Starting third on Friday, O’Neal faded late in the 25-lapper to finish fourth.
Later that night for another round of prelims, Hudson’s third-place finish in his heat positioned him on the fourth row for the A-Main. Breaking into the top-five, O’Neal jumped up three spots to place fifth.
With results from prelims placing him on the front row of his heat race on Saturday, O’Neal locked his spot into the $50,000-to-win Firecracker 100 with a second-place finish.
Rolling off 12th, Hudson was up to fourth by lap 14 and overtook Jonathan Davenport for second on lap 50. Taking part in a heated battle over the final 50 circuits, O’Neal led laps 53-56 and 71-74 but wasn’t able to hold off the red-hot Ricky Thornton Jr. in the 100-lap affair.
He ultimately chased Thornton to the checkers with Davenport, Gregg Satterlee, and Devin Moran rounding out the top-five.
Hudson remains second in the latest LOLMDS point standings.
Full results from the events are available at www.LucasDirt.com.
LOLMDS action continues for Rocket1 Racing this week with a visit to the Moran family-promoted Muskingum County Speedway (Zanesville, Ohio). The Freedom 60 weekend includes the field being divided into triple 20-lap $3,000-to-win features on Friday night followed by a $30,000-to-win finale on Saturday.
Full event details are available at www.MuskingumCountySpeedway.com.
Article Credit: Heath Lawson image
