DirtonDirt Dispatches
Dispatches: O'Neal makes magic at North Georgia
Hudson O'Neal celebrates at North Georgia. (Kevin Ritchie)
Among the latest notes and quotes from Dirt Late Model action, including the weekend’s Midwest LateModel Racing Association, Comp Cams Super Dirt Series and Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series action (looks for World of Outlaws Illini 100 coverage elsewhere):
Pulling out a win
Hudson O’Neal had really nothing to lose and everything to gain on a restart with two laps remaining in Saturday night’s 50-lap Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series-sanctioned DirtCarLift Doubleheader finale at North Georgia Speedway in Chatsworth, Ga. He was running in a race with no points implications for him, so he could go for it.
“I felt like we had a really good race car,” O’Neal said, “and just had to go up there and let it all hang out.”
Which is exactly what the 25-year-old star from Martinsville, Ind., did. In a dramatic flourish helped by the Hunt the Front tour’s rule keeping Delaware double-file restarts in place for the entire distance, O’Neal immediately shot around the outside of Ashton Winger for second through turns one and two and then did the same to race-long pacesetter Joseph Joiner off the second corner the following lap.
O’Neal beat Joiner back to the finish line by 0.509 of a second for a $12,000 victory that pushed his overall 2026 win total to a division-leading 11. It was as hard-earned as any of his triumphs this season as he spent the vast majority of the distance chasing Joiner and in fact lost second to Winger on a lap-42 restart.
“Finally got my way to second (on a lap-16 restart), trailed (Joiner) through lapped traffic, and I just never … he was just good enough where I couldn’t really ever make a run,” said O’Neal, who captured his second Hunt the Front feature of the season and the third of his career. “And then whenever he got into the lapped car that spun out down there (on lap 42), I thought he was done, but man, his car must have been really good. He was holding something back on us through traffic there. He did really amazing for what he had to work with (after sustaining right-rear bodywork damage in the incident).
“I found that top down there. (Joiner) kind of slid (in turns one and two on the lap-42 restart) and I got into him in the left side there on a restart and then I fell back to third, and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to pass some guys in the bottom because Ashton just kind of slowed down enough to keep it down there and I had to find something else. So I went to the cushion down there (in turns one and two) and I knew when that caution came out (on lap 48), I was like, ‘OK, if I can just stay with them, maybe I can get enough of a run down there to maybe slide them down here (in turns three and four).’ And luckily, I was able to.
“It’s so fun whenever a racetrack race is like this and you can run all over it,” he added. “I mean, we touched every inch of North Georgia Speedway tonight.”
Joiner, 32, nearly managed to hold on for his first Hunt the Front win in two years despite barely escaping tangles among slower cars on two occasions. First, on lap 16, he had to get on the brakes hard to avoid the spinning pair of Austin Smith and Dillard Hatchett in turn one; later, on lap 42, he made significant contact with Kaede Loudy’s spun car in turn two after Loudy came together with Luke Morey.
With his car’s right-rear bodywork and right-side door beat up significantly from the encounter with Loudy, Joiner still stayed in front — until O’Neal proved impossible to stop.
“Hey, that’s racing, right?” Joiner said, managing a smile after his heartbreaking defeat. “As much as it sucks, it happened before and it’ll happen again. The best part is our stuff’s fast. I don’t think it’s hurt too bad (from the incident). When you come here and you put a whole night together and lead all but the last one, I guess that’s part of it.
“I let Hudson get by there. I think I was kind of hanging on after that little wreck over there, but I just really didn’t figure the top would have ever outrun the rubber (lane on the inside) in one and two. And once it kind of latched up over there I just never really looked back at that cushion and didn’t even think about it.
“And then here (O’Neal) come out there … Oh, well, we run second. That's better than third, but it just sucks to lead it all and let it all get away,” he added. “I’m a little let down, I ain't gonna lie, but like I said, it’s racing.”
It’s also no shame to finish behind O’Neal, especially this year as he’s tearing up the Dirt Late Model world. O’Neal, whose SSI Motorsports team decided at midweek to run North Georgia’s HTF twinbill after originally planning to enter the weekend’s MLRA Spring Nationals at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo., is in the midst of a career season.
Winger, who finished third, succinctly summed up O’Neal’s ’26 strength during his post-race comments.
“I hope everybody appreciates what they’re watching out of this 71 car, or if it’s the (Rumley) 6 or wherever,” Winger said of O’Neal’s two rides. “Man, that Hudson is just a driver. I’ve said it forever, he just drives really hard and he’s really good at putting himself in a good spot. I mean, hell, when he did what he did to get to the lead, I tried it, I just couldn’t do it.” — Staff and series reports
Perfect weekend
Jonathan Davenport has made a new springtime custom for himself: standing in victory lane at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo.
After the 42-year-old star from Blairsville, Ga., completed a sweep of the 3/8-mile track’s 13th annual MLRA Spring Nationals with a dominant 50-lap triumph on Saturday night, it marked the third time in the last four years that he’s hit paydirt in the early-season event. Only last year did he go home winless.
“We’ve got a really good notebook here,” Davenport said. “We’ve kind of made it a tradition to bring a (new) car here to get prepared for (May’s Show-Me 100). This is an awesome facility and we love coming here.”
Now a winner 15 times at Wheatland since 2015, Davenport was virtually untouchable all weekend. He led all 90 feature circuits over the two nights, capturing Friday’s 40-lapper by over 7 seconds and Saturday’s headliner by a more modest, but still convincing, 2.514 seconds.
The result of Davenport’s success with a brand-new Double L Motorsports Longhorn Chassis: a cool $27,000 in earnings, including the 20-grand he collected for winning Saturday’s finale. He pushed his 2026 win total to five as he duplicated his 2024 sweep of the Spring Nationals.
Saturday was more challenging for Davenport than his preliminary-night win as Tony Jackson Jr. stayed within striking distance early and Ricky Thornton Jr. made things interesting late after he zipped through the field from his 18th starting position to reach second on lap 27.
But in the end, it was all Davenport. Thornton never offered a serious challenge as he settled for runner-up money.
“Ricky got up through there. He’s had a tough weekend for sure, but he’s really, really good,” Davenport said of RTJ, who had to rally from deep in the field on Friday as well (19th to fourth). “I was trying to pace myself. We really hurt tires more in the heat races today than we did yesterday. I was little worried about that, so I was pacing myself there and trying to keep a safe distance.”
A restart with seven laps didn’t hamper Davenport, who cruised away to the checkered flag.
Thornton quipped afterward that it was “probably the first time I’ve ever not finished a race but still ended up second,” referring to a two-car tangle between turns one and two as Davenport reached the checkered that raised questions about whether the race was officially over. (It was declared so by MLRA officials.)
Nevertheless, Thornton lamented that he has to get his qualifying straightened out if he wants a level shot at beating Davenport.
“It’s embarrassing to start the night,” Thornton said of his poor results in time trials that forced him to fight from behind all weekend. “At least we’re good when it matters. Congrats to ‘JD.’ He was really good, and I knew he was going to be really good coming here. He’s so good on entry and he can take off after that.” — Lyndal Scranton and staff reports
Exciting ending
Kyle Beard and Tanner English made contact while battling for Saturday’s Comp Cams Super Dirt Series victory at Old No. 1 Speedway — not once, not twice, but three times. Neither seemed bothered by the trading of paint when it was all said and done, a telltale sign of hard-nosed racing at its finest.
Outdueling race-long leader English in a fierce battle through lapped traffic, Beard made all the right moves down the stretch of the 30-lapper, earning his first Comp Cams victory in three years at his home track just 13 miles outside his native Trumann, Ark. He said afterward that “it means a lot to me to win here.”
“That was a good one. … I think I just got lucky,” said Beard, who led six laps — including the final five circuits — for the $10,000 victory, his first in a Super Late Model since May 2023. “I thought I passed (the lapped cars) a couple times, but then they were still right there. It was a wild one. It was a pretty good race. Definitely could get around the top in one and two pretty good and had to run the bottom in three and four.”
Indeed, Beard mounted his rallies around English via the top side of Old No. 1’s quarter-mile oval, especially in turns one and two. At one point, Beard trailed English by nearly two seconds on lap 15. Seven laps later, he had erased the deficit, and a huge run down the frontstretch on lap 22 triggered the first contact between them — Beard finding a tight window outside while English held the bottom — as their doors collided. Beard edged ahead by 0.020 seconds to take the lead.
English answered right back on lap 23, diving underneath Beard to reclaim the bottom groove — where he admittedly wanted to be — as Beard washed up in turns three and four, allowing English to retake the lead on laps 23-25.
That’s when Beard regrouped with another rally around the top. On lap 26, he used a big run through turns one and two to dart inside and move English off the bottom entering turns three and four in traffic. They banged doors once again in the sequence as Beard edged English by 0.009 seconds to lead lap 26 before clearing him for good on lap 27.
The hard-nosed duel carried into lap 29, when they made slight contact entering turn one. English stayed within striking distance until the final lap, but a slip-up through turns one and two kept him from a last-ditch bid for the lead in the final corner.
“Yeah, it’s tough to lose ‘em like that. I’ve won ‘em like that, too, so it’s OK,” English said of how lapped traffic influenced Saturday's feature. “Kyle’s really good here. He has a lot of fans here. I hope we put on a good show. I think we did. I really didn’t wanna move off that bottom. But I knew he was behind me. I figured he was gonna try to make something work.”
For English, it was his third race aboard his AK Race Car that he debuted last weekend with a finish of fourth at Ponderosa Speedway in Junction City, Ky., and then a 29th at Poplar Bluff (Mo.) Motorsports Park (after he decided to pull off early and save his equipment). So far, English likes where things are headed with the Austin Kirkpatrick-built machines.
“I can’t say enough about this car,” English said. “I’m happy to be here, happy to be racing in general. About went back to work. It’s cool to be out here racing for a living with all the support I got.” — Staff and series reports
Wheatland dominator
Jonathan Davenport turned Night One of the 13th annual MLRA Spring Nationals into a runaway on Friday night at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo.
The 42-year-old star from Blairsville, Ga., trounced runner-up Garrett Alberson of Las Cruces, N.M., by 7.5 seconds in a race that wasn’t that close most of the way. He lapped all but seven opponents in the 27-car starting field and, with his ninth win at Lucas Oil Speedway since the 2023 Spring Nationals, earned $7,000.
“It was way better than I was, apparently,” Davenport said of his car, which he said was a bit of a handful in a Thursday-night practice session. “We wasn’t very happy with it last night and still had some bugs to work out of it.
“My guys put their heads together and worked really hard today. We didn’t know (because of rain) if we were going to get to race or not. The good Lord gave us a little extra traction and we needed it all. Hats off to the track crew because we got a lot of rain today.”
In a race slowed by just a single caution flag on lap five, Davenport was absolutely dominant. His lead exceeded 8 seconds over Tony Jackson Jr. of Lebanon, Mo., by the halfway mark — equivalent to about a half-lap — but he began to slow his pace a bit as Jackson drew within five seconds by lap 28. But the notion that Jackson — or anyone else — would catch the leader was dashed as Davenport suddenly turned up the wick and pushed his lead back in excess of 8 seconds by lap 31.
Alberson, who started ninth, rallied into second by lap 34 but was nowhere close to the leader. He was able to finish three seconds clear of Jackson for second as Davenport added another flourish to his Wheatland resume.
“I don’t know if anybody had anything for J.D. Just look at the lap times. I didn’t even see him for most of the race,” Alberson said. “I didn’t know if he was still out there or not.”
Davenport’s triumph gave him at least one win during Spring Nationals for the third time in the last four years. He captured a $10,000 victory in 2023 and swept both ends of the doubleheader in ’24.
“We kind of make this a tradition,” Davenport said of coming all the way to south-central Missouri for the Spring Nationals. “We always build a new car after (Georgia-Florida) Speedweeks and we come here because we know we’re gonna get a great race track. We come here to test it and get ready for the Show-Me.”
A two-time Show-Me 100 winner, Davenport has 14 career victories at Wheatland since 2015 that have brought him over $200,000 in earning. — Lyndal Scranton and staff reports
Streaming schedule
Among upcoming Dirt Late Model special and sanctioned events available via live streaming:
Friday, April 10
• World of Outlaws Late Model Series Illini 100 at Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway (DIRTVision)
• Comp Cams Super Dirt Series at Poplar Bluff (Mo.) Motorsports Park (ArrowVision Live)
• Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series at North Georgia Speedway in Chatsworth, Ga. (Hunt the Front TV)
• Midwest LateModel Racing Association at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland Mo. (FloRacing)
• Southern All Star Dirt Racing Series at Hartwell (Ga.) Motor Speedway (ArrowVision Live)
• Mississippi State Championship Challenge Series at Super Bee Speedway in Chatham, La. (RaceON)
• Save A Lot American Crate All-Star Series at Ponderosa Speedway in Junction City, Ky. (Dirt Rich TV)
• Burlile Performance Ohio Valley Series at West Virginia Motor Speedway in Mineral Wells, W.Va. (FloRacing)
• American Crate Late Model Series at Heart O’ Texas Speedway in Waco, Texas (IMCA TV)
Saturday, April 11
• World of Outlaws Late Model Series Illini 100 at Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway (DIRTVision)
• Midwest LateModel Racing Association at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland Mo. (FloRacing)
• Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series at North Georgia Speedway in Chatsworth, Ga. (Hunt the Front TV)
• Comp Cams Super Dirt Series at Poplar Bluff (Mo.) Motorsports Park (ArrowVision Live)
• Northern Allstars Late Model Series at Montpelier (Ind.) Speedway (Hunt the Front TV)
• Valvoline American Late Model Iron-Man Series at Atomic Speedway in Alma, Ohio (Great Lakes Sprints TV)
• Rogers-Dabbs Crate Racin’ USA 604 Series at Modoc (S.C.) Speedway (Crate Racin’ USA TV)
• Grassroots Racing Revival Super Late Models at West Virginia Motor Speedway in Mineral Wells, W.Va. (FloRacing)
• Southern All Star Dirt Racing Series at Winder-Barrow Speedway in Winder, Ga. (ArrowVision Live)
• Mississippi State Championship Challenge Series at Super Bee Speedway in Chatham, La. (RaceON)
• Unsanctioned Super Late Models at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway (FloRacing)
• Unsanctioned Limited Late Models at Lake View Motor Speedway in Nichols, S.C. (Ultra Broadcasting)
• Save A Lot American Crate All-Star Series at Lake Cumberland Speedway in Burnside, Ky. (Dirt Rich TV)
• Dirt Outlaws Racing Series at Xtreme Speedway in Moulton, Ala. (Mad Speed TV)
• American Crate Late Model Series at RPM Speedway in Crandall, Texas (RaceON)
• Xtreme Late Model Series at Placerville (Calif.) Speedway (CaliDirt TV)
