Earl Pearson, Jr. and Josh Richards were both winners in Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series action over the past few days.
Pearson, Jr. scored the victory on Friday night at Florence Speedway in Union, Kentucky, while Richards went to victory lane on Monday night at 300 Raceway in Farley, Iowa.
On Friday night, Pearson, Jr. picked up his first series win since last February as he won in a photo finish over Florence Speedway track regular Josh Rice.
Pearson’s 39th career series victory came by a scant .002 seconds, which was the closest finish in series history. Pearson took the lead on the white flag as he held off Rice and Zack Dohm, who nearly made it a three-wide finish. Kyle Bronson finished in fourth followed by Trevor Landrum in fifth.
Blairsville, Georgia’s Jonathan Davenport grabbed the lead at the start of the 50-lap feature and held the point until series point leader Jimmy Owens passed him for the top spot on lap 18. Owens was holding off Davenport, Rice, and Bronson until lap 27.
Davenport and Rice made contact on the front stretch battling for second and Davenport got into the front stretch wall forcing the first caution flag of the race. The ensuing restart saw Owens make hard contact with the turn one wall, ending his night.
Rice took over the point and stretched his lead over the field by over two and half seconds. Rice was primed for his first career series victory, but in the last five laps both Pearson and Dohm cut into Rice’s lead. Pearson made the winning pass with two laps to go. Rice gave it everything he had and dive-bombed Pearson at the finish line but came up short.
“He (Rice) was up there on the cushion and when you are out there in the lead you don’t know where to go,” said Pearson. “We found a line through the middle of the racetrack. He (Rice) did a heck of a job and drove the wheels off that car tonight. He’s a good kid, I love racing with him. He drives everybody clean and I respect the heck out of him.”
On Monday night, Josh Richards made a daring three-wide pass for the lead on lap 17 and went on to win at 300 Raceway.
Richards, Jimmy Owens, and Kyle Bronson went 3-wide down the main straightaway as Richards split both Owens and Bronson to take the lead heading into turn one on lap 16. From there Richards maintained a steady pace to the checkers as he bested Owens by .872 seconds to score the victory.
Tim McCreadie charged from the back after pitting for a flat tire to finish in third place. Kyle Bronson led the first part of the race but finished in fourth followed by Tyler Erb in fifth.
Richards was thankful his right rear tire held up as flat tires derailed some of his top competition.
“Man, I was hoping the tires would hold up tonight,” he said. “I can’t thank everyone enough with this race car, Brad, Cody, and Big Dog, they do a phenomenal job. Thanks to my dad and Steve Baker at Rocket Chassis. We have had a lot of speed, and we just tweaked some things. We were a lot better tonight. I knew last year the track dried up pretty quick. They tilled it up quite a bit tonight, so we kind of left the car alone. The car was snug tonight. The last couple of laps the right front wouldn’t steer at all. I was fortunate enough to have a scoreboard in turn three to help with how many laps I had left.”
For more information on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, visit LucasDirt.com.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Florence Speedway – Union, KY
Race Results – July 10, 2020
| Pos | Start | Car # | Competitor | Hometown | Pay |
| 1 | 2 | 1 | Earl Pearson Jr | Jacksonville, FL | $12,000 |
| 2 | 9 | 11R | Josh Rice | Verona, KY | $5,500 |
| 3 | 11 | 17D | Zack Dohm | Cross Lanes, WV | $3,500 |
| 4 | 6 | 40B | Kyle Bronson | Brandon, FL | $2,750 |
| 5 | 22 | 18L | Trevor Landrum | Erlanger, KY | $2,250 |
| 6 | 8 | 39 | Tim McCreadie | Watertown, NY | $1,800 |
| 7 | 16 | 57 | Mike Marlar | Winfield, TN | $1,500 |
| 8 | 5 | 16 | Tyler Bruening | Decorah, IA | $1,300 |
| 9 | 14 | 81E | Tanner English | Benton, KY | $1,200 |
| 10 | 10 | 8 | Kyle Strickler | Mooresville, NC | $1,100 |
| 11 | 3 | 14 | Josh Richards | Shinnston, WV | $1,075 |
| 12 | 12 | 21 | Billy Moyer Jr | Batesville, AR | $1,050 |
| 13 | 19 | 50 | Shanon Buckingham | Morristown, TN | $1,025 |
| 14 | 17 | 11H | Jared Hawkins | Fairmont, WV | $1,000 |
| 15 | 15 | 71 | Hudson O’Neal | Martinsville, IN | $1,000 |
| 16 | 18 | 25 | Shane Clanton | Zebulon, GA | $1,000 |
| 17 | 24 | 2H | Nick Hoffman | Mooresville, NC | $1,000 |
| 18 | 23 | 2S | Stormy Scott | Las Cruces, NM | $1,000 |
| 19 | 7 | 9 | Devin Moran | Dresden, OH | $1,000 |
| 20 | 13 | 1T | Tyler Erb | New Waverly, TX | $1,000 |
| 21 | 1 | 49 | Jonathan Davenport | Blairsville, GA | $1,000 |
| 22 | 4 | 20 | Jimmy Owens | Newport, TN | $1,000 |
| 23 | 21 | 83 | Scott James | Lawrenceburg, IN | $1,000 |
| 24 | 20 | 25Z | Mason Zeigler | Chalk Hill, PA | $1,000 |
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
300 Raceway – Farley, IA
Race Results – July 13, 2020
| Pos | Start | Car # | Competitor | Hometown | Pay |
| 1 | 1 | 14 | Josh Richards | Shinnston, WV | $10,800 |
| 2 | 4 | 20 | Jimmy Owens | Newport, TN | $6,300 |
| 3 | 12 | 39 | Tim McCreadie | Watertown, NY | $4,200 |
| 4 | 2 | 40B | Kyle Bronson | Brandon, FL | $3,450 |
| 5 | 7 | 1T | Tyler Erb | New Waverly, TX | $2,950 |
| 6 | 8 | 49 | Jonathan Davenport | Blairsville, GA | $2,800 |
| 7 | 23 | 81E | Tanner English | Benton, KY | $2,200 |
| 8 | 6 | 25 | Shane Clanton | Zebulon, GA | $2,000 |
| 9 | 5 | 16 | Tyler Bruening | Decorah, IA | $1,200 |
| 10 | 18 | 9 | Devin Moran | Dresden, OH | $1,800 |
| 11 | 9 | 0E | Rick Eckert | York, PA | $1,075 |
| 12 | 20 | 71 | Hudson O’Neal | Martinsville, IN | $1,050 |
| 13 | 15 | 1C | Chad Simpson | Mt. Vernon, IA | $1,025 |
| 14 | 24 | 50 | Shanon Buckingham | Morristown, TN | $1,700 |
| 15 | 3 | 21 | Billy Moyer Jr | Batesville, AR | $1,650 |
| 16 | 17 | 29D | Spencer Diercks | Davenport, IA | $925 |
| 17 | 22 | 44W | David Webster | Monroe, WI | $900 |
| 18 | 11 | 15B | Brian Birkhofer | Muscatine, IA | $875 |
| 19 | 16 | 1 | Earl Pearson Jr | Jacksonville, FL | $1,650 |
| 20 | 13 | 1ST | Johnny Scott | Las Cruces, NM | $825 |
| 21 | 21 | 111 | Matthew Lux | Franklin, PA | $800 |
| 22 | 19 | 2S | Stormy Scott | Las Cruces, NM | $800 |
| 23 | 10 | 32S | Chris Simpson | Oxford, IA | $800 |
| 24 | 14 | 58 | Jeremiah Hurst | Dubuque, IA | $800 |
