CONCORD, N.C. – Difficult track conditions and the late hour prompted the postponement of Wednesday night’s World of Outlaws Late Model Series “Topless Showdown by Hungry Man” A-Main at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
As the midnight hour approached with track crews still working to get the four-tenths-mile oval’s surface ready for feature action, LMS and WoO LMS officials decided to reschedule the evening’s 50-lap headliner to tonight. The event will be run following the completion of Late Model and Sprint Car time trials for the World of Outlaws World Finals.
?In the interests of the fans and competitors, we decided that the best course of action was to postpone the Topless Showdown feature event to Thursday night,? said Seamus Curley, the short-track racing manager at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. ?We battled the track conditions all night, and with curfew being an issue we just didn’t have enough time to get the surface right.
Rainchecks and pit bands from the Topless Showdown by Hungry Man will be accepted for entry on Thursday.
A massive 82-car field signed in for the Wednesday night’s program, which was moved to the eve of the World Finals after rain washed out the event on its original Oct. 14 date.
Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., was the Topless Showdown fast qualifier for the second consecutive year, logging a lap of 14.674 seconds during single-lap time trials that was just two-thousandths of a second off the dirt Late Model track record held by Billy Moyer.
Heat winners were Richards, WoO LMS points leader Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., Brady Smith of Solon Springs, Wis., Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn., Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., and Chris Madden of Gaffney, S.C. The B-Mains were captured by Dennis Franklin of Gaffney, S.C., 14-year-old Tyler Reddick of Corning, Calif., and Chris Ferguson of Mount Holly, N.C.
Francis drew the pole position for the A-Main. Richards, who sits second in the WoO LMS points standings, will start alongside his championship rival on the front row of the Topless Showdown.
Separate incidents during the evening’s first heat sent WoO LMS regular Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., and former Carolina Clash champion Jeff Cooke of Spartanburg, S.C., to a local hospital for evaluation. Frank was back at the speedway when the postponement announcement was made after receiving treatment for a facial injury, while Cooke remained at a hospital under observation.
Thursday’s World Finals program features two rounds of time trials for both divisions – one to set the heat lineups for Friday’s action, one to align Saturday’s heats. Complete programs of heats, B-Mains and A-Mains will highlight the cards on Fri., Nov. 6, and Sat., Nov. 7, with the WoO LMS standouts chasing a first-place prize of $10,000 in each evening’s 50-lap A-Main.
Saturday’s competition will be aired live on the SPEED cable network starting at 8 p.m. ET.
Heat No. 1 (10 laps – Top 3 Transfer):
Richards, J. Miller, Satterlee, Knight, Lanigan, Friese, Rine, Rice, Martin, L. Blankenship, Cooke, Frank, Harper (DNS) Wells
Heat No. 2 (10 laps – Top 3 Transfer):
Francis, McDowell, VanWormer, Hubbard, Neat, Franklin, Moran, Pedregon, Yoder, Roberts, Babb, Shaver (DNS) Landers, Weeks
Heat No. 3 (10 laps – Top 3 Transfer):
B. Smith, Dillon, Eckert, Reddick, Owens, Birkhofer, King, Coffey, Bare, Ruhlman, Hollenbeck, Winge, Mitchell (DNS) Moyer
Heat No. 4 (10 laps – Top 3 Transfer):
Bloomquist, Erb, Cook, Ivey, Horton, Korte, Feathers, Briggs, Burns, Labonte, McCreadie, J. Faircloth, Feger, Dohm
Heat No. 5 (10 laps – Top 3 Transfer):
Davenport, Chupp, Carrier, Ferguson, Stone, Hensel, Arthur, Kerr, B. Faircloth, J. Blankenship, Robinson (DNS) Meadows, Schlieper
Heat No. 6 (10 laps – Top 3 Transfer):
Madden, Pearson, Jacobsen, C. Smith, Bland, Gilliland, B. Miller, Gault, Hapka, R. Smith, Clanton, Schrader, Fuller
B-Main No. 1 (12 laps – Top 2 Transfer):
Franklin, Lanigan, Friese, Rine, Moran, Rice, Pedregon, Harper, L. Blankenship, Knight, Martin (DNS) Neat, Yoder, Roberts, Babb, Cooke, Shaver, Frank, Landers, Weeks, Wells, McDowell
B-Main No. 2 (12 laps – Top 2 Transfer):
Reddick, Owens, Birkhofer, Horton, Ivey, Ruhlman, Hollenbeck, King, Winge (DNS) Korte, Feathers, Coffey, Briggs, Bare, Burns, Labonte, McCreadie, J. Faircloth, Mitchell, Feger, Moyer, Dohm
B-Main No. 3 (12 laps – Top 2 Transfer):
Ferguson, Schlieper, Hensel, Gilliland, Gault, B. Miller, Robinson, Bland, C. Smith, Stone, Arthur (DNS) Neat, Kerr, B. Faircloth, Hapka, Blankenship, R. Smith, Clanton, Meadows, Schrader, Fuller
Topless Showdown A-Main Lineup:
Row 1: Steve Francis/Josh Richards
Row 2: Scott Bloomquist/Brady Smith
Row 3: Chris Madden/Jeep VanWormer
Row 4: Jeremy Miller/Jonathan Davenport
Row 5: Austin Dillon/Dennis Erb Jr.
Row 6: Earl Pearson Jr./Randle Chupp
Row 7: Gregg Satterlee/Austin Hubbard
Row 8: Ray Cook/Rick Eckert
Row 9: Eric Jacobsen/Eddie Carrier Jr.
Row 10: Dennis Franklin/Tyler Reddick
Row 11: Chris Ferguson/Darrell Lanigan
Row 12: Jimmy Owens/Dan Schlieper
Row 13: Tim Fuller/Shane Clanton
Row 14: Clint Smith/Russell King