O’Neal wins Topless
Hudson O’Neal of Martinsville, Ind., survived a last-lap, last-ditch effort by Jonathan Davenport to win the 29th annual Comp Cams Topless 100 late model event at Batesville Motor Speedway.
LOCUST GROVE — Hudson O’Neal of Martinsville, Ind., survived a last-lap, lastditch effort by Jonathan Davenport to win the 29th annual Comp Cams Topless 100 late model event at Batesville Motor Speedway.
Davenport actually passed O’Neal twice on the final lap, but could not make either stick.
“He was going to slide me, and I was just kind of prepared and turned down the racetrack to get a good run down the backstretch,” O’Neal said on lucasdirt.com. “Then he slid me again. I knew I had to grab that traction early in three to able to get a run to beat him back to the line.”
It was the first Topless victory for O’Neal, 20, who earned his second late model crown jewel victory of the season and collected $40,700 in the process, the largest pay- day of his career. He also won the Show Me 100 in May at Wheatland, Mo.
Starting sixth, O’Neal, passed defending champion Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tenn., for the lead on lap 39. He remained unchallenged for most of the remaining laps in the 100-lap event, but Davenport closed in with five laps to go.
After taking the white flag, Davenport went low in turn one to snare the lead briefly as O’Neal crossed over to regain the top spot as both roared down the backstretch. Then Davenport slid in front of O’Neal entering turn three, but O’Neal would again use a cross-over move and Davenport to checkered flag by .116 seconds.
“I knew he [Davenport] was close.” O’Neal said. “I knew the line I was running, [and] it was going to be subject to a slider down here. I was actually expecting him to slide me with two to go. I knew I had to be ready the next lap.” Davenport, who won backto-back events at Batesville with the Comp Cams Super Dirt Series in May, fell short of taking his first Topless title at the home track of his car owner, Lance Landers of Batesville.
“That was just kind of a Hail Mary there,” Davenport said. “I got just a little bit of a run on him off of [turn] four. He went in just low enough in three that I couldn’t really get a momentum run on him.
“I probably slid too far and then he got back by me earlier than what I anticipated. He raced me clean. … He done an awesome job; he never made a mistake.”
Brandon Overton of Evans, Ga., finished third. Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., the 2008 winner who led the opening nine laps before surrendering the lead to Owens, took fourth and Owens was fifth.
Rounding out the top 10 were Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., Ricky Thornton Jr. of Chandler, Ariz., Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga., Mike Marlar of Winfield, Tenn., and Kyle Bronson of Brandon, Fla.
Batesville’s Billy Moyer Jr. was the top finishing Arkansan in 12th.