Kevin Kovac's Take Five
Take Five: Busiest racers during Speedweeks run
In a new feature appearing regularly on DirtonDirt, senior writer Kevin Kovac will offer readers five things worth mentioning from around the Dirt Late Model landscape (index to previous Take Fives):
No. 1: This year’s record-long Georgia-Florida Speedweeks — stretching from Jan. 22-March 7 — provided an opportunity for a driver to enter a maximum of 23 events; that number includes all the World of Outlaws Late Model Series and Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series races (there were two conflicting shows Feb. 20-21 at Hendry County Motorsports Park in Clewiston, Fla., for WoO and All-Tech Raceway in Ellisville, Fla., for Lucas Oil), the entire Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla. (the first three nights were DIRTcar-sanctioned) and three regional tour events in Georgia that were run Jan. 30 at Norman Park's Needmore Speedway (Hunt the Front) and Feb. 6-7 at Sylvania’s Screven Motor Speedway (Southern All Star). Just one driver competed in every possible race: Brandon Overton of Evans, Ga., who won four times in his 23 starts, including a sweep of the Needmore and Screven features.
No. 2: A few drivers came close to entering every Speedweeks race possible: Michael Leach of Sun River, Mont., who missed only the Needmore event, and Josh Rice of Crittenden, Ky., whose lone skip was the two nights at Screven. Both drivers did all 11 Lucas Oil events during the first-ever post-Daytona 500 Speedweeks racing that included the head-to-head weekend of Hendry County and All-Tech.
No. 3: Two drivers bypassed Jan. 22-24’s WoO-sanctioned Sunshine Nationals at Volusia but then raced every night possible from Needmore through March 7’s Speedweeks finale at Golden Isles Speedway near Brunswick, Ga.: Dan Ebert of Lake Shore, Minn., and Preston Luckman of Coos Bay, Ore.
No. 4: Six drivers entered every national touring series and DIRTcar Nationals event the schedule allowed while skipping the two weekends of regional Georgia action: Lucas Oil Series regulars Hudson O’Neal of Martinsville, Ind., Brandon Sheppard of New Berlin, Ill., Max Blair of Centerville, Pa., and Kyle Bronson of Brandon, Fla., and WoO travelers Tyler Erb of New Waverly, Texas, and Dennis Erb Jr. of Carpentersville, Ill.
No. 5: The 25-year-old O’Neal topped the Speedweeks earnings list, collecting $109,320 buoyed by his Speedweeks-leading five wins in 20 starts. He was the only driver to break six figures as Overton fell just short with $99,560 in earnings. The driver with the most per-race earnings was four-time winner Nick Hoffman of Mooresville, N.C., who averaged $6,327 in 11 starts; just three other drivers surpassed $5,000 per-race with three-time Golden Isles winner Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., at $5,900 in a modest six starts, O’Neal at $5,460 and Devin Moran of Dresden, Ohio at $5,394 (15 starts).
