Garrett Smith picked up the biggest win of his career
Garrett Smith pulled one of the biggest surprise wins in a long time by winning the Dirt Track World Championship on Saturday night at Portsmouth Raceway Park. The young driver led all 100 laps in the season finale for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series season.
The Rocket Chassis driver from Eatonton, Georgia earned $100,000 for the victory in a race held on the 3/8 mile Portsmouth, Ohio track shown live by MavTV and FloRacing.com.
Tim McCreadie secured his second consecutive Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championship by simply starting the race.
The top-18 on the starting grid were set by heat races contested on Friday night.
B-main 1 Results: 1. Daulton Wilson, 2. Jimmy Owens
B-main 2 Results: 1. Jonathan Davenport, 2. Colten Burdette
Feature Lineup: 1. Garrett Smith, 2. Tim McCreadie, 3. Chris Ferguson, 4. Mike Marlar, 5. Brandon Overton, 6. Earl Pearson Jr., 7. Shannon Babb, 8. Spencer Hughes, 9. Devin Gilpin, 10. Brandon Sheppard, 11. Zack Dohm, 12. Ryan Gustin, 13. Ricky Thornton Jr., 14. Eddie Carrier Jr., 15. Camaron Marlar, 16. Hudson O’Neal, 17. Mason Zeigler, 18. Garrett Alberson, 19. Daulton Wilson, 20. Jonathan Davenport, 21. Jimmy Owens, 22. Colten Burdette, 23. Tyler Erb, 24. Ross Robinson, 25. Brandon Fouts
Feature Re-cap: At the start of the 100-lap main event it was Smith who went to the early lead with McCreadie, Ferguson, Overton and Marlar trailing. Babb passed by Marlar for fifth on the third lap then Overton and Babb pushed Ferguson back to fifth.
Overton took second away from McCreadie on lap 12 then immediately moved in on Smith to challenge for the lead. A lap 13 caution for the slowing car of Zeigler provided a break in the action with Smith still leading.
At lap 30, Smith continued to lead over Overton, McCreadie, Babb, Ferguson, Gilpin, Dohm and Marlar. A lap 33 caution for the slowing car of Fouts slowed the action. Overton began to harass Smith for the race lead just after the restart but the young driver held the position.
Drivers settled in to a follow-the-leader formation as the race neared the halfway mark with Smith showing the way over Overton, McCreadie, Babb and Ferguson. But as the leaders entered slower traffic Overton and McCreadie closed on to the rear spoiler of Smith. Further back, Marlar challenged Babb for fourth.
With 25 laps remaining, it was still Smith with the lead with Overton and McCreadie on his tail. Meanwhile Ferguson got by Marlar to enter the top-5. A lap 84 caution for the slowing car of Ross Robinson bunched the field and set up a late run for the finish.
One lap after the restart, another yellow flag waved when Thornton slowed with a flat tire. Another caution came out on lap 88 when Tyler Erb slowed with a flat. Under that caution period the fourth-running car of Babb rolled into the pit area for a tire change.
Dohm suffered a flat just after the lap 88 restart to again slow the pace. McCreadie got to second on the second lap 88 restart when he took that position away from Overton, who soon thereafter slowed with a flat tire.
Ferguson had a right rear to go down on lap 97 to bring out another yellow flag. Gilpin brought out another caution on lap 98 with a flat tire.
Smith continued to lead over the final two circuits as the 19-year-old driver picked up the huge win.
Feature Results: 1. Garrett Smith, 2. Tim McCreadie, 3. Mike Marlar, 4. Hudson O’Neal, 5. Earl Pearson Jr., 6. Jonathan Davenport, 7. Jimmy Owens, 8. Ricky Thornton Jr., 9. Daulton Wilson, 10. Brandon Sheppard, 11. Spencer Hughes, 12. Garrett alberson, 13. Ross Robinson, 14. Colten Burdette, 15. Eddie Carrier Jr., 16. Tyler Erb, 17. Devin Gilpin, 18. Chris Ferguson, 19. Brandon Overton, 20. Shannon Babb, 21. Zack Dohm, 22. Camaron Marlar, 23. Ryan Gustin, 24. Brandon Fouts, 25. Mason Zeigler
Please consider also reading:
Garrett Smith earns DTWC pole; Friday’s Qualifying and Heat Race results