For the first time since 2008, Tim McCreadie went to Victory Lane at Brownstown Speedway when he captured the 41st Annual Jackson 100 on Sept. 26. McCreadie took the lead on Lap 15 and held it the rest of the way for his second win in the past three Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series races.
The event drew 60 late models, which was the largest Jackson 100 field since 2006.
Jonathan Davenport chased McCreadie to the checkers to finish second. The Eibach Springs top rookie in the series, Tanner English, came from the 11th starting spot to finish third. Completing the top five were Zack Dohm and Earl Pearson Jr.
Davenport led the first 14 laps of the 100-lap event until yielding the lead to the fourth-place starting McCreadie. McCreadie then survived several restarts to pick-up his second career win in the track’s most prestigious event that began in 1980.
McCreadie’s seventh LOLMDS win of the season was also his second out of his last three. He had earned the victory one week ago at I-80 Speedway in Nebraska.
“When I first came here, we won the first time out the gate,” McCrreadie said. “I thought, ‘Man, I love this place. This is a lot of fun.’ I was thinking 12 years later, it hasn’t been a lot of fun for 11 of them, but 12’s pretty cool. That’s for sure.
“I haven’t been here many times where it’s been horrible. It’s always been real racy,” he added. “Tonight, for me personally, that little brown strip that was out there just held me on the racetrack to keep my momentum up. I am wore out. This is probably the hardest I have worked for anything. I saw 49 on the board, and I though to myself, ‘Don’t hold off one lap because he will make you pay.’ I thought (Davenport) was getting close, so I just moved down the track a little bit.”
Davenport, who like McCreadie, was looking for his second win the event, finished in second, 2.455 seconds behind the race winner.
“We had a good car tonight, just not good enough,” Davenport said. “I think we were pretty close. Congratulations to McCreadie on the win. I think he has been in my trailer as much as he has been in his. Whenever I find something, I try to help him out, and he does the same for me. I was just probably one lap too late in moving up there in the beginning. Me and Zack (Dohm) had a good race there for several laps when we were running side-by-side. We have come a long way from last week.”
English earned another podium finish at one of his favorite tracks.
“We definitely had a fast car at the end,” English said. “It seemed like every time after a caution, we would pass two or three cars and then kind of even out at the end. Everybody seemed to start fading at the end, and I started to gain on them picking them off one by one. I had one of the best cars I have had all year.”
The winner’s Donald and Gena Bradsher-owned Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Cornett Racing Engine and sponsored by Mega Plumbing of the Carolinas, Bilstein Shocks, VP Fuels, Sweeteners Plus, D&E Marine and Racing for Heroes.
Completing the top 10 were Mike Marlar, Tyler Erb, Chris Ferguson, Devin Moran and Ricky Thornton Jr.
Tyler Nicely won his second straight open wheel modified feature at Brownstown over Cole Falloway, Jordan Wever, Brayden Watson and Adam Stricker. Tucker Chastain outdueled his brother Trey to win the super stock feature. Trailing the Chastain brothers across the finish line were Branden Carr, Jamey Wilson and Zach Sasser.
Richards wins
Jackson 100 prelim
Josh Richards held off a late rally from Ricky Thornton Jr. to win the Sept. 25 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned “Night Before the Jackson 100” event at Brownstown Speedway.
Richards, the 2017 LOLMDS National Champion, was the fourth different leader of the race when he took the top spot on Lap 14. He held the lead the rest of the way, despite Thornton’s furious charge which saw the two drivers run side-by-side a couple of times.
Earl Pearson Jr. crossed the line in third, followed by Davenport and Dohm.
Moran and Billy Moyer each led two laps early on until Thornton took over the point. Thornton then held the top spot until Richards forged ahead with 26 laps to go.
In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the 31st time in his career and for the third time this season, Richards came from the seventh starting spot to get the win.
“Coming here in the past we didn’t really have a good package,” Richards said. “I have never really ran real stellar here. We have worked hard on the car the last couple weeks. I have the best team in the business and my guys have been awesome. I didn’t know what to expect. We worked on the car a little bit. They worked on the track and sometimes when you are leading you are a sitting duck. I saw (Thornton) there with two to go. I really didn’t know where to run. I just didn’t want to break my momentum and we held him off.”
Thornton, who keeps getting closer to his first career win in the LOLMDS, had a shot at the end of the race but fell a couple of car lengths back of Richards at the finish.
“Congrats to Josh I had a blast out there,” Thornton said. “You could kind of move around some out there. We have a good hot-rod for tomorrow. I saw the board with 12 or 13 laps to go, and I thought if I am going to get up, I had better go know. I was able to get back to them and run them down. To race as hard as we did, and we never touched once. It’s pretty awesome.”
Pearson, who started sixth and finished third, tried to close on the top two in the waning laps.
“The track is awful racy right now,” Pearson said. “We were a little worried at first with all of these cars here tonight. It was good for us. I got held up by some traffic, but I don’t know if we had anything for the top two. “
The winner’s Clint Bowyer Racing Rocket Chassis is powered by a Cornett Racing Engine and sponsored by iRacing, Big River Steel, DEKALB Seed, Crawford Outdoor, Cometic Gasket, Sunoco Race Fuels and Integra Shocks.
Completing the top 10 were Erb, Bobby Pierce, McCreadie, Moran and English.
Tonight, Brownstown will host its season championship races for super late models, pro late models, super stocks, pure stocks, modifieds and hornets. Everything has been moved up- one hour today with gates opening at 2 p.m. and hot laps at 5 p.m. For more info, visit brownstownspeedway.com.
Kinser wins
at Bloomington
Jordan Kinser won the Bob Kinser Memorial Race on September 25 at Bloomington Speedway. A.J. Hopkins finished second, and Brady Short was third. Tye Mihocko and Dakota Jackson completed the top five drivers.
Josh Divine won the super stock feature over Austin Phelps, Bryce Shidler, Scott Beeler and James Walters. Derek Groomer won the open wheel modified feature over Wes Leigh, James Walters, Tyler Loughmiller and Caleb DeMoss.
Lawrenceburg
finale tonight
Lawrenceburg Speedway will hold the USAC Fall Nationals tonight. It will be the season finale for Lawrenceburg, featuring the USAC National Sprint Cars and modifieds. For further info, visit lawrenceburgspeedway.com.
