UNION, KY (August 12, 2020)  – Jimmy Owens continued his solid 2020 racing season by picking up the victory in the 34th Annual Ralph Latham Memorial race on Wednesday at the Florence Speedway. It was Owens’ fourth win in one of the track’s most prestigious races. The current Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Championship Point Leader extended his lead to 400 points over second place with the win.

Clanton wound up in second followed by Ricky Weiss who finished third. The Optima Batteries Hard Charger of the Race, Tim McCreadie, came from 19th to finish fourth. Hudson O’Neal debuted with the brand-new PCC Race Team, came home in fifth.

Owens was dominant in the first 36 laps of the race that went caution free until back-to-back cautions flew for debris on the track and then a multi-car accident involving several drivers. Clanton, in his first season with the LOLMDS now has three runner-up finishes in 2020. Owens’ margin of victory over Clanton was 0.643 seconds.

In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the 8th time this season and 72nd time in his career, Owens extended his point lead over Jonathan Davenport, who finished 14th in the final rundown. “We knew we had a really good car at the start of the night. To kick off the weekend like this is a big morale booster for the team.  It’s just an awesome deal. We have had good steady consistent runs this year. We’ve got some good momentum for the rest of the week now.”

Clanton finished second to Owens in the Clash at the Mag in June, took the runner-up spot again to the 3-time series champion. “I was just saving some tires and was hoping for a caution early on. We got a good restart there and got by him [Owens], but I just couldn’t get all the way back to the top in time to stay there. It’s tough to come to a place where you’ve struggled so much. We have changed a lot of things in the two weeks and it seems to have helped.”

Weiss charged through the field to finish in third. “I just put the guys behind in qualifying. We were able to salvage a good night out of it. Coming from the back we just had too much ground to make up. That caution sure helped, but we learned a lot for the rest of the weekend.”

The winner’s Ramirez Motorsports Rocket Chassis is powered by a Vic Hill Racing Engine and sponsored by Reece Monument Company, Tommy Pope Construction, Boomtest Well Service, General Tire, Red Line Oil, Ohlins Shocks, Champion Spark Plugs, and Midwest Sheet Metal.

Completing the top ten were Tyler Erb, Mike Marlar, Scott Bloomquist, Kyle Bronson, and Brandon Overton.

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Race Summary
Ralph Latham Memorial
Wednesday, August 12th, 2020
Florence Speedway – Union, KY

Lucas Oil Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Devin Moran / 15.454 seconds (overall)
Fast Time Group B: Jimmy Owens / 15.591 seconds

Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 9-Devin Moran[1]; 2. 25-Shane Clanton[3]; 3. 11R-Josh Rice[2]; 4. 2S-Stormy Scott[4]; 5. 40B-Kyle Bronson[6]; 6. 33J-Jesse Lay[7]; 7. 1B-Ross Bailes[5]; 8. 20C-Duane Chamberlain[8]; 9. 626-Brian Mullins[9]

FK Rod Ends Heat Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 22F-Chris Ferguson[1]; 2. 49G-Billy Green[6]; 3. 76-Brandon Overton[2]; 4. 39-Tim McCreadie[4]; 5. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[5]; 6. 12J-Jason Jameson[3]; 7. 56C-Colton Horner[8]; 8. (DNS) 18D-Daulton Wilson; 9. (DNS) 83F-Jensen Ford

Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 71-Hudson O’Neal[1]; 2. 0-Scott Bloomquist[2]; 3. 7W-Ricky Weiss[6]; 4. 94M-Jason Miller[4]; 5. 28X-Tyler Carpenter[7]; 6. 51M-Joey Moriarty[3]; 7. 1V-Vic Hill[5]; 8. 17T-Tim Vance[8]; 9. (DNS) 11J-Drew Armstrong

Ohlins Shocks Heat Race #4 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 20-Jimmy Owens[1]; 2. 17D-Zack Dohm[4]; 3. 1T-Tyler Erb[2]; 4. 49-Jonathan Davenport[5]; 5. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[7]; 6. 22L-Skyller Lewis[8]; 7. 28-Mike Simpson[9]; 8. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[3]; 9. (DNS) 81E-Tanner English

MyRacePass Heat Race #5 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 14-Josh Richards[2]; 2. 157-Mike Marlar[1]; 3. 17M-Dale McDowell[4]; 4. 18L-Trevor Landrum[5]; 5. 83-Scott James[3]; 6. 79-Kyle Hardy[6]; 7. 21H-Robby Hensley[7]; 8. 20B-Todd Brennan[8]; 9. 8A-Curt Addison[9]

Sunoco Race Fuels Heat Race #6 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 50-Shanon Buckingham[3]; 2. 8-Kyle Strickler[2]; 3. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[1]; 4. 32-Bobby Pierce[4]; 5. 1M-Connor Meade[7]; 6. 16-Tyler Bruening[5]; 7. 21P-Kirk Phillips[8]; 8. 32S-Chad Stapleton[6]

Tiger Rear Ends B-Main #1 Finish (12 Laps, Top 2 Transfer):  1. 39-Tim McCreadie[2]; 2. 40B-Kyle Bronson[4]; 3. 2S-Stormy Scott[1]; 4. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[5]; 5. 33J-Jesse Lay[7]; 6. 56C-Colton Horner[11]; 7. 1V-Vic Hill[12]; 8. 28X-Tyler Carpenter[6]; 9. 12J-Jason Jameson[8]; 10. 1B-Ross Bailes[10]; 11. 17T-Tim Vance[15]; 12. 626-Brian Mullins[16]; 13. 20C-Duane Chamberlain[13]; 14. 94M-Jason Miller[3]; 15. 51M-Joey Moriarty[9]; 16. (DNS) 11J-Drew Armstrong; 17. (DNS) 83F-Jensen Ford; 18. (DNS) 18D-Daulton Wilson

FAST Shafts B-Main #2 Finish (12 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[3]; 3. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[4]; 4. 83-Scott James[5]; 5. 16-Tyler Bruening[9]; 6. 79-Kyle Hardy[8]; 7. 1M-Connor Meade[6]; 8. 21H-Robby Hensley[11]; 9. 21P-Kirk Phillips[12]; 10. 28-Mike Simpson[10]; 11. 20B-Todd Brennan[14]; 12. 32S-Chad Stapleton[15]; 13. 8A-Curt Addison[17]; 14. (DNS) 81E-Tanner English; 15. (DNS) 18L-Trevor Landrum; 16. (DNS) 22L-Skyller Lewis; 17. (DNS) 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr

Lucas Oil Feature Finish (50 Laps):

Race Statistics
Entrants: 53
Lap Leaders: Jimmy Owens (Laps 1 – 50)
Wrisco Feature Winner: Jimmy Owens
Margin of Victory: 0.644 seconds
Cautions: Debris (Lap 36); Josh Richards, Devin Moran, Josh Rice, Zack Dohm (Lap 36); Bobby Pierce (Lap 46)
Series Provisionals: Billy Moyer Jr., Tanner English
Fast Time Provisional: n/a
Series Emergency Provisionals: Tyler Bruening
Big River Steel Podium Top 3: Jimmy Owens, Shane Clanton, Ricky Weiss
Optima Batteries Hard Charger of the Race: Tim McCreadie (Advanced 15 Positions)
Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Jimmy Owens
Allstar Performance Most Laps Led: Jimmy Owens (50 Laps)
Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Jimmy Owens
Eibach Springs Rookie of the Race: Tanner English
ARP Engine Builder of the Race: Vic Hill Racing Engines
Miller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Rocket Chassis
Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race: Jeff Strope (Jimmy Owens)
Dirty Girl Racewear Fastest Lap of the Race: Jimmy Owens (Lap #2 – 16.868 seconds)
STEEL-IT Tough Break of the Race: Tanner English
PFC Brakes Pole Award: Devin Moran
Time of Race: 31 minutes 47 seconds

Lucas Oil Championship Point Standings:

*Results are unofficial until Close of Business on the Tuesday following Race Day*