ROSSBURG, OH— September 8, 2017—A record setting crowd congregated at Eldora Speedway on Thursday and Friday night for the 47th annual World 100. Only one day remains of the three-day crown jewel event but more fans are sure to flood to the Rossburg, Ohio dirt track to witness history in the making.
Friday’s program mirrored the schedule of one night prior with a full show complete with twin 25-lap features paying $10,000-to-win. Clint Bowyer Racing teammates, Don O’Neal and Darrell Lanigan, swept the night each winning their feature event.
O’Neal won the Odd Feature after a dominating performance of leading flag-to-flag over Tim McCreadie. Both drivers had a relatively easy stroll to the podium after starting on the front line of the feature event, never truly being challenged for their positions. On the other hand, Gregg Satterlee started seventh and fought his way to the podium battling against Mike Marlar and Shane Clanton in the process.
During the Even Feature, Lanigan made the pass for the lead by race long leader, Josh Richards on lap 18. Jimmy Owens was next to find his way past Richards on lap 21 but he was unsuccessful in his efforts to reel in Lanigan. Richards settled for a third-place finish. Lanigan has been unstoppable during the back-to-back nights of preliminary action, winning two out of two 25-lap features. He now has his eyes set on the larger prize, the World 100 on Saturday.
After the feature event, the big Eldora wheel was spun to set the inversion for the 100-main event. The wheel landed on zero which means the winner of heat 6 and heat 5 will start side-by-side for Saturday’s finale.
Additional Race Notes:
The biggest winner of Friday evening was surprisingly not a driver but one lucky fan who received $25,412.50 from the 50/50 drawing.
Outlaws at the World:
Shane Clanton
Shane Clanton’s solid Thursday night was backed up with an even better Friday night of preliminary action for the World 100. Clanton held the fifth fastest time during hot laps before winding up 33rd quick during qualifying. The track then went through an unexpected change as a rain shower added moisture to the surface and a short delay to the event. Once action resumed, Clanton started on the pole for his heat and wheeled his Capital Racecar straight to the checkers in front of a hard charging Satterlee. Clanton’s heat win placed him with a fourth place start for the feature. He ran third for most of the event but fell back to fifth in the last few laps.
Frank Heckenast Jr.
Frank Heckenast Jr. hustled his way through Friday’s preliminary races. Heckenast was placed on the pole for the Last Chance Showdown after finishing one spot shy of transferring into the feature from his heat race. The driver from Frankfort, Ill. went on to win the Last Chance Showdown by making a last lap, turn four, pass by Chris Simpson. His Last Chance Showdown win placed him in the 21st position to start the feature. Heckenast rebounded from his starting position to finish among the top-10 with an impressive eighth-place run where he was able to pass 12 cars in 25-laps.
Chris “Smokey” Madden headed into Friday’s preliminary action ranked fifth in World 100 points out of 104 cars entered. Madden claimed 11th quick during qualifying and went on to finish second in his heat race behind Jacob Hawkins. Madden started sixth in the 25-lap feature but slowly fell back to finish 11th. Madden and his team will be busy tweaking the No. 44 for the World 100 finale on Saturday.
Devin Moran
Devin Moran struggled to recover during Friday’s preliminary event after getting into the wall during qualifying. Moran finished 7th in his heat sending him into the Last Chance Showdown. Despite the young driver’s best efforts, he finished fifth which ultimately ended his night early. Moran will seek the help of his father and brothers to get the No. 9 machine back in pristine condition for Saturday’s crown jewel.
Brandon Sheppard and his Rocket 1 Racing team put in a lot of work on Friday afternoon in hopes to better their finishes from Thursday. The team succeeded in their efforts as Sheppard finished third quick during qualifying. He then finished fourth in his heat which transferred him into the feature where he would start from position 17. The young aggressive driver wheeled his way past ten cars to finish seventh after 25-laps.
Eldora Speedway Abbreviated Results:
Twin-25 Feature 1 (Even) – (25 Laps)
1. 14-Darrell Lanigan[6] ; 2. 20-Jimmy Owens[4] ; 3. 1R-Josh Richards[1] ; 4. 71-Hudson O’Neal[3] ; 5. 32P-Bobby Pierce[10] ; 6. 15H-Jon Henry[12] ; 7. 0-Scott Bloomquist[16] ; 8. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr. [21] ; 9. 55-Jeep VanWormer[5] ; 10. 17D-Zack Dohm[22] ; 11. 32S-Chris Simpson[23] ; 12. 28M-Jimmy Mars[19] ; 13. 101-Casey Roberts[11] ; 14. 3s-Brian Shirley[7] ; 15. 10-Eddie Carrier Jr. [15] ; 16. 18B-Shannon Babb[9] ; 17. 25-Jason Feger[17] ; 18. 18K-Brandon Kinzer[8] ; 19. 56-Tony Jackson Jr[18] ; 20. B1-Brent Larson[24] ; 21. 5N-Dustin Nobbe[2] ; 22. 72-Mike Norris[14] ; 23. 15-Steve Francis[20] ; 24. 1GK-Ryan King[13]
Twin-25 Feature 2 (Odd) – (25 Laps)
1. 5-Don O’Neal[1] ; 2. 39-Tim McCreadie[2] ; 3. 22S-Gregg Satterlee[7] ; 4. 157-Mike Marlar[8] ; 5. 25C-Shane Clanton[4] ; 6. 40B-Kyle Bronson[10] ; 7. 1-Brandon Sheppard[17] ; 8. 49-Jonathan Davenport[21] ; 9. 17M-Dale McDowell[16] ; 10. H1-Jared Miley[3] ; 11. 44-Chris Madden[6] ; 12. 22-Chris Ferguson[14] ; 13. 7R-Kent Robinson[12] ; 14. 21-Billy Moyer[19] ; 15. 50-Shanon Buckingham[15] ; 16. 1P-Earl Pearson Jr.[9] ; 17. C8-Timothy Culp[23] ; 18. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[24] ; 19. 20H-Jacob Hawkins[5] ; 20. 7B-Jeff Babcock[13] ; 21. 11R-James Rice[20]; 22. 77B-Adam Bowman[22] ; 23. 00-Connor Meade[18] ; 24. 12-Jason Jameson[11]
Qualifying: 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport, 15.222; 2. 14-Darrell Lanigan, 15.364; 3. 1-Brandon Sheppard, 15.374; 4. r1-Riley Hickman, 15.383; 5. 157-Mike Marlar, 15.394; 6. 71-Hudson O’Neal, 15.424; 7. 21-Billy Moyer, 15.430; 8. 72-Mike Norris, 15.450; 9. 5-Don O’Neal, 15.472; 10. 32P-Bobby Pierce, 15.486; 11. 44-Chris Madden, 15.502; 12. 0- Scott Bloomquist, 15.530; 13. 22S-Gregg Satterlee, 15.544; 14. 25-Jason Feger, 15.571; 15. 00- Connor Meade, 15.575; 16. 1GK-Ryan King, 15.608; 17. 1P-Earl Pearson Jr.,15.601; 18. 28M-Jimmy Mars, 15.617; 19. 18-Chase Junghans, 15.633 20. 10-Eddie Carrier Jr., 15.637; 21. 20H-Jacob Hawkins, 15.638; 22. 101-Casey Roberts, 15.642; 23. 7R-Kent Robinson, 15.644; 24. 3s-Brian Shirley, 15.651; 25. 7B-Jeff Babcock, 15.655; 26. 18K-Brandon Kinzer, 15.671; 27. 22-Chris Ferguson, 15.675; 28. 18b-Shannon Baab, 15.678; 29. c8-Timothy Culp, 15.690; 30. 33m-Tim Manville, 15.695; 31. 83-Scott James, 15.712; 32. 55-Jeep Vanwormer, 15.736; 33. 25c-Shane Clanton, 15.737; 34. 20-Jimmy Owens, 15.740; 35. h1-Jared Miley, 15.748; 36. 56-Tony Jackson Jr., 15.749; 37. 39-Tim McCreadie, 15.757; 38. 5n-Dustin Nobbe, 15.761; 39. 40B-Kyle Bronson, 15.771; 40. 1r-Josh Richards, 15.781; 41. 17m-Dale McDowell, 15.791; 42. 99jr-Frank Heckenast Jr., 15.793; 43. 77b-Adam Bowman, 15.800; 44. 15H-Jon Henry, 15.805; 45. 4-Cody Mahoney, 15.806; 46. 88-Andrew Reaume, 15.814; 47. c9-Steve Casebolt, 15.829; 48. 7m-Donald McIntosh, 15.863; 49. 50-Shannon Buckingham, 15.865; 50. 9r-Curtis Roberts, 15.873; 51. 25z-Mason Ziegler, 15.883; 52. 111-Steven Roberts, 15.588; 53. 9-Devin Moran, 15.891; 54. 17-Shannon Thornsberry, 15.899; 55. 12m-Raymond Merrill, 15.901; 56. 32s-Chris Simpson, 15.905; 57. 240-Doug Drown, 15.932; 58. 1m-Mike Mataragas, 15.935; 59. 48- Tim Lance, 15.939; 60. 15-Steve Francis, 15.957; 61. C02-Mike Whitener, 15.989; 62. 2-Nick Hoffman, 16.002; 63. 11g-Gordy Gundaker, 16.034; 64. 17D-Zack Dohm, 16.042; 65. 33-Jesse James Lay, 16.044; 66. 144-Chris Barton, 16.055; 67. 20C-Duane Chamberlain, 16.119; 68. 21JR-Billy Moyer Jr, 16.126; 69. 11R-James Rice, 16.137; 70. 95J-Jerry Bowersock, 16.150; 71. 4B-Jackie Boggs, 16.168; 72. 4BG-Bob Gardner, 16.245; 73. 2TS-Travis Stemler, 16.262; 74. 48L-Steve Lane, 16.307; 75. 1N-Casey Noonan, 16.307; 76. 2C-Joey Coulter, 16.328; 77. 51-Joey Moriarty, 16.358; 78. 32-Chad Stapleton, 16.427; 79. 39T-Rob Toland, 16.428; 80. 28-Dennis Erb Jr., 16.440; 81. 18x-Michael Page, 16.456; 82. 116-Brandon Overton, 16.460; 83. 93-Jay Johnson, 16.504; 84. 89-Dustin Mitchell, 16. 524; 85. 31AUS-Paul Stubber, 16.531; 86. b1-Brent Larson, 16.541; 87. 58-Jeremiah Hurst, 16.581; 88. 69-Johnny Huck, 16.584; 89. 79-Bryant Dickinson, 16.586; 90. 45H-Don Hammer, 16.618; 91. 12-Jason Jameson, 16.720; 92. 17E-Lance Elson, 16.802; 93. 6-Blake Spencer, 16.807; 94. 128-Jeff Alsip, 16.817; 95. 97M-Brett Miller, 16.822; 96. 1V-Vic Hill, 16.828; 97. 97-Michael Chilton, 16.859; 98. 34-Chase Porter, 17.164; 99. 79W-Troy Worrick, 17.199; 100. 45DH- Doug Hammer, 17.382; 101. 22f-Nicholas Fenner, 18.271; 102. 87-Walker Arthur, NT; 103. 28x-Drake Meeks, NT; 104. 31-Nick Latham, NT; 105. 96-Tanner English, NT