Story By: BEN SHELTON / ROCKET1 RACING – SHINNSTON, WV – Hudson O’Neal competed in the 48th-and-final Wieland Winternationals at East Bay Raceway Park last week with his Valvoline / Seubert Calf Ranches No. 1 Rocket1 Racing / Ace Metal Works / XR1 Rocket Chassis / Durham Racing Engine Super Late Model.
During the course of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series (LOLMDS) week, the Rocket1 Racing team collected a win along with four Top-5 finishes, and five Top-10 finishes in six starts.
“We hit the ground running there on Tuesday with a win, and even though we didn’t get any more wins during the week we had a really good car. We had to rally from the tail of the field in the last race on Saturday after some bad luck in our heat, and we still came away with a 10th-place finish. This Rocket1 Racing team gave me a great piece all week, and now I’m excited to get back to Volusia Speedway (Park) this week and go after more big checks,” O’Neal said.
With Monday’s opener falling to weather, Rocket1 Racing and Hudson O’Neal returned with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series (LOLMDS) on Tuesday at East Bay Raceway Park (Tampa, Fla.) for the final Wieland Winternationals.
Against a talent-laden field of 75 entries, O’Neal topped the speed charts overall in time trials before leading flag-to-flag in his heat race. Regaining the lead from Tyler Erb on lap 11 of the feature, Hudson rolled to his fourth win of Speedweeks and 27th-career LOLMDS victory. He bagged a $5,000 payday ahead of Daulton Wilson and Jonathan Davenport.
On Wednesday, Hudson’s third-place finish in his heat pinned him on the seventh row for the $7,000-to-win A-Main. Despite suffering a flat left-rear tire on lap 24 that resulted in a visit to the infield pit, O’Neal rallied to finish 13th.
For a pair of features on Thursday, O’Neal backed up a third-place finish in his heat with a 14th-to-5th performance in the 40-lap feature.
During the same night for Monday’s rainout, Hudson clawed to a fourth-place finish in the main event after starting in sixth via heat race win.
With 72 LOLMDS competitors signed in on Friday, O’Neal passed seven cars in the 50-lap A-Main to place second, chasing Jonathan Davenport to the checkers.
The final Wieland Winternationals concluded on Saturday with Hudson scoring a 10th-place finish in the feature after having to utilize a back-up car to start on the tail of the feature after a heat race mishap resulted in heavy damage to their primary entry.
He currently sits five markers behind Ricky Thornton Jr. for the lead atop the LOLMDS point standings.
Full results from the events are available at www.LucasDirt.com.
This week – Monday – Saturday, Feb. 12-17 – find the team returning to Volusia Speedway Park (Barberville, Fla.) for the 53rd annual Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals. The week starts with three nights of DIRTcar Super Late Model events before seeing the World of Outlaws (WoO) Case Late Model Series sanctioning the final three nights.