For The Tribune
BROWNSTOWN
The Ultimate Battle of the Bluegrass Super Late Model Series made its first stop of the season at Brownstown Speedway on Saturday night.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series regular Hudson O’Neal of Martinsville, Indiana, arose victorious at his home track, collecting the $3,000 prize money in his Todd Burns-owned racing entry.
O’Neal led flag-to-flag to take the win over Jason Jameson and Devin Gilpin.
“It must have been a pretty exciting race. I was just hoping it would stay as uneventful as possible,” O’Neal said. “I felt pretty good when I was trying to get by some of them lapped cars around the bottom. I was just kind of worried my crew never really gave me the signal that I was very far away from Jameson.”
The 31-lap event was named in honor of Johnny Wheeler, who passed away unexpectedly of a heart attack. The Campbellsville, Kentucky, driver was popular across the Bluegrass State with multiple track championships to his credit.
O’Neal was the polesitter for the main event and picked up the win in his heat race as well.
Bloomington’s Kent Robinson finished fourth with Chad Stapleton rounding out the top five finishers.
O’Neal and Stapleton both pulled double duty as they competed in the Indiana Pro Late Model Series portion of the show as well.
Stapleton cruised to his third win in a row with the series after starting in the third position. O’Neal would settle for seventh after slipping off the racing surface late in the race.
“My crew has this car dialed in, it kind of just drives itself,” Stapleton said. “Those 31 laps in the super race kind of killed me, so once I got out front I just cruised the middle because I was too wore out to run the top.”
Tyler Neal, Raymond Humphrey, Tyler Cain, and Issac Rainey were in the top five finishers.
Seymour’s Matt Boknecht picked up the feature win in the Modified division, holding off Jeremy and Jacoby Hines for the victory.
“Jeremy Hines is one of the best racers here at Brownstown, I really like when we can race against him,” Boknecht said. “It was a good night for racing, I’ve just got to thank my guys. The car was perfect.”
Boknecht has three wins this season at Brownstown in the Modified division and one feature win in the Super Stock division.
Colton Sullivan picked up the win in the Super Stock division, fending off current points leader Jason Hehman for his first win of the season at Brownstown.
“I knew I couldn’t give him an inch here,” Sullivan said. “These leaf springs love the bottom of the track and we just really found some good traction down there.”
Aubrey Eagan, J.T. Huffman, and David Brewer were among the top five finishers.
Cory Clay picked up the feature win with the MMSA Mini-Sprint division finishing ahead of Cody
Trammell, Austin Powell, Justin Lewin, and Colin Miller.
Brownstown Speedway will be off this coming weekend in observance of the Dirt Late Model Dream race at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.
The three-day event pays $100,000 to Saturday nights feature winner, making it one of the most prestigious wins on the circuit for nation’s top competitors.
Local competitors expected to compete are Hudson O’Neal, Devin Gilpin, Kent Robinson, and Adam Bowman.
Brownstown resumes action on June 16, with the Pure Stock Special — Don Russ Tribute race featuring the Pure Stock division, along with Indiana Pro Late Models, Modifieds, Super Stocks, and Hornets.