Story By: JEREMY PETERS / ROBERTS MOTORSPORTS – DUBUQUE, IA – Garrett Alberson carried his recent momentum into Eldora Speedway on Sunday night, and the end result was his first-career win at the famed oval aboard his Roberts Motorsports / Mesilla Valley Transportation / Lucas Oil Products No. 58 Longhorn Chassis Late Model.
Alberson bested the 2024 edition of the Baltes Classic, which was worth $5,000 with the Valvoline American Late Model Iron-Man Series. While he led every lap of the feature, the win was far from easy.
“The track was a little demanding for sure. Definitely not a typical Eldora, I guess, kind of more like Dirt Track World Championship last year,” Alberson said. “I’ve been wanting to stand on this stage for so long. It’s so hard here, so many good guys. I think that heat race is the first thing I’ve ever even won here. So tonight has been really cool.”
Garrett Alberson’s holiday weekend of racing started on Friday evening at Portsmouth (Ohio) Raceway Park for the Valvoline American Late Model Iron-Man Series-sanctioned Boone Coleman Gopher 50. The New Mexico native joined a 21-car field for the $7,500-to-win event.
Starting 12th in the 50-lap feature after a rough qualifying lap, Alberson charged forward and finished in the runner-up position behind Daulton Wilson.
With the following two days of Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series (LOLMDS) competition wiped out by Mother Nature, the Roberts Motorsports team decided to head to Eldora Speedway (Rossburg, Ohio) on Sunday afternoon to prepare for the upcoming World 100.
With a talented 65-car field checked in for the $5,000-to-win Baltes Classic, Garrett laid down the quickest lap in his qualifying group and led flag-to-flag in his heat race to earn the pole position for the main event.
Unchallenged in the 30-lap feature, Alberson drove to his first victory at Eldora ahead of Carson Ferguson and Jonathan Davenport who completed the podium.
The win was his sixth overall of the 2024 campaign.
Alberson now turns his attention to a busy and lucrative week at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway. Action opens on Wednesday with the $20,000-to-win Castrol FloRacing Night in America event presented by Kubota.
On Thursday and Friday preliminary action for the 54th annual World 100 will be held. Each night the field will be divided into twin $12,000-to-win programs. Meanwhile, Saturday night’s finale is headlined by a $57,000-to-win finale as over 100 entries are expected to pursue the coveted globe trophy.