2/10/2024
Hudson O'Neal parks Rocket1 in victory lane at East Bay
With Monday’s opener falling to weather, Rocket1 Racing and Hudson O’Neal returned with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series (LOLMDS) on Tuesday at East Bay Raceway Park (Tampa, Fla.) for the final Wieland Winternationals.
Against a stacked field of 75 cars, O’Neal topped the speed charts overall in time trials before leading flag-to-flag in his heat. Regaining the lead from Tyler Erb on lap 11 of the feature, Hudson rolled to his fourth win of speedweeks and 27th career LOLMDS victory. He bagged a $5,000 payday ahead of Daulton Wilson and Jonathan Davenport.
On Wednesday, Hudson’s third-place finish in his heat pinned him on the seventh row for the $7,000-to-win A-Main. Despite suffering a flat left-rear tire on lap 24 that resulted in a visit to the infield pit, O’Neal rallied to finish 13th.
For a pair of features on Thursday, O'Neal backed up a third-place finish in his heat with a 14th-to-5th performance in the 40-lap feature.
During the same night for Monday's rainout, Hudson clawed to a fourth-place finish in the main event after starting in sixth via heat race win.
With 72 LOLMDS competitors signed in on Friday, O'Neal passed seven cars in the 50-lap A-Main to place second, chasing Jonathan Davenport to the checkers.
The final Wieland Winternationals concluded on Saturday with Hudson scoring a 10th-place finish in the feature.
He currently sits five markers behind Ricky Thornton Jr. for the lead atop the LOLMDS point standings.
Full results from the events are available at www.LucasDirt.com.
Article Credit: Heath Lawson image
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