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Overton wins second Firecracker 100 at Lernerville Speedway

By Mike Warren, WOO Late Model Series PR (Sarver, PA) -- Brandon Overton’s expression in Victory Lane wasn’t what you’d expect. As he kissed the Firecracker 100 trophy and held it in the air, his smile showed signs of relief instead of excitement.

The Evans, GA driver won the Firecracker 100 for the second time Saturday at Lernerville Speedway. But he thought his luck may run out before taking the checkered flag.

PHOTO CREDIT: Jacy Norgaard

“I’m glad to finish,” Overton said. “The [car] was darting like crazy and I was just waiting any minute for something to happen. Our luck’s been too good for nothing to go wrong.”

But nothing went wrong for Overton, who collected $30,000 Saturday and more than $36,000 in winnings over the weekend.

The victory comes at the same track he won his first crown jewel event at in 2017—a moment “Big Sexy” will never forget.

“[Lernerville] is special to me and this place is going to always be special to me,” Overton said. “I won my first big one here and to come back and do it with a different team means a lot to me."

Overton bided his time at the start of the Feature. He dropped to fifth but worked his way back to second in the first 30 laps.

“Big Sexy” caught Chris Madden a few laps later and powered around the outside of the #44, taking the lead on Lap 41.

Overton’s car gave him a sign telling him he couldn’t wait any longer to strike.

“I was just trying to ride at the beginning, but I kept getting run over so I was like damn I better pick up the pace some,” Overton said. “When I felt like the tires were hot and I could feel it start pulling a little bit leaving the corner I said damn I need to go get him.”

The Firecracker 100 is Overton’s sixth win in his last seven races and 16th career World of Outlaws triumph.

Madden settled for second, after trading the position with Dennis Erb Jr. in the closing stages of the race.

The Gray Court, SC driver led the first 40 laps but felt he was missing something with the adjustments his team made before the Feature.

“We missed [the setup] just a little bit in the Feature [Saturday] and you can’t miss it with Overton right now, he’s definitely on,” Madden said.

Erb crossed the line third, after running second for most of the race as Madden snuck in traffic during the last few laps. “The One-Man Band” couldn’t get the car to run where he wanted it to and felt slower cars played a role in keeping him out of the runner-up spot.

“I just need to be able to run a little bit lower on the racetrack,” Erb said. “My car just wanted to drift out a little tonight, and I think if [Rick Eckert] wasn’t in the way we would’ve cleared him and ran second.”

Darrell Lanigan, the race’s hard charger finished fourth. The three-time Series champion worked the bottom of the racetrack passing 17 cars.

The Union, KY driver knew he put himself in a tough position, after qualifying through the Last Chance Showdown.

“The car was really good tonight you just can’t start that far back in these things and win these races,” Lanigan said. “There’s too many good cars up front.”

Three-time and defending champion Brandon Sheppard finished fifth—his third top five finish of the weekend. The New Berlin, IL driver leaves Lernerville Speedway with the Series points lead—58 points ahead of Madden.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Models start its Northern swing with a doubleheader at Jackson Motorplex in Jackson, MN on July 9-10.

ABBREVIATED RESULTS

Morton Buildings Feature (100 Laps)-1. 76-Brandon Overton [4][$30,000]; 2. 44-Chris Madden [2][$15,000]; 3. 28-Dennis Erb [8][$7,000]; 4. 29-Darrell Lanigan [21][$6,000]; 5. 1-Brandon Sheppard [5][$5,000]; 6. 111V-Max Blair [13][$4,500]; 7. 72-Mike Norris [7][$4,000]; 8. 25Z-Mason Zeigler [3][$3,500]; 9. 11H-Spencer Hughes [6][$3,000]; 10. 16-Tyler Bruening [9][$2,500]; 11. B1-Brent Larson [18][$2,300]; 12. 97-Cade Dillard [1][$2,200]; 13. 22F-Chris Ferguson [16][$2,100]; 14. 7-Ricky Weiss [15][$2,000]; 15. 2-Dan Stone [23][$1,800]; 16. 22-Gregg Satterlee [22][$1,700]; 17. 48-Colton Flinner [27][$1,600]; 18. 0E-Rick Eckert [14][$1,550]; 19. 19R-Ryan Gustin [11][$1,500]; 20. 58-Mark Whitener [12][$1,500]; 21. 10-Jared Miley [28][$1,500]; 22. 0-Scott Bloomquist [19][$1,500]; 23. 99B-Boom Briggs [24][$1,500]; 24. 8-Kyle Strickler [25][$1,500]; 25. 7R-Ross Robinson [26][$1,500]; 26. 72C-Jason Covert [20][$1,500]; 27. 119-Chub Frank [10][$1,500]; 28. 1C-Alex Ferree [17][$1,500]; 29. 25-Mike Benedum [29][$1,500] Hard Charger: 29-Darrell Lanigan[+17]

Uncle Sam Feature (30 Laps)-1. 25-Mike Benedum [2][$10,000]; 2. O6-Mike Lupfer [5][$6,000]; 3. 14-Dan Angellicchio [8][$3,500]; 4. 0S-Ryan Scott [4][$2,800]; 5. 23-Ahnna Parkhurst [6][$2,500]; 6. 4-Gary Stuhler [7][$2,300]; 7. 29S-Ken Schaltenbrand [20][$2,200]; 8. 2T-Rich Wicker [12][$2,100]; 9. 11-Joshua Powell [11][$2,050]; 10. 311-Ken Monahan [13][$2,000]; 11. 9-Levi Yetter [14][$1,600]; 12. 16H-Clinton Hersh [9][$1,400]; 13. 77-Tyler Dietz [15][$1,200]; 14. 10L-Gary Lyle [3][$1,100]; 15. 66-Todd Bachman [10][$1,050]; 16. 26-Shawn Schaltenbrand [22][$1,000]

COMPLETE RESULTS:
https://worldofoutlaws.com/latemodels/6-26-21-lernerville-speedway/

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