5/1/2019
Pearson Jr Drops in; Grabs the MLRA Win at the Thunderbird
Muskogee, OK - An unplanned visit to the Thunderbird Speedway paid off on Friday night for Earl Pearson Jr. as he captured the $3,000 to win Lucas Oil MLRA main event presented by Bravado Wireless. Following an early cancellation of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event scheduled for the Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, IL, Pearson and his Black Diamond race team made the haul to the "Historic ½ Mile" located in Muskogee, OK and led then entire distance enroute to the win.
Coming into the weekend second in the LOLMDS standings, Pearson would line up on the outside front row for the 25 lapper alongside DirtonDirt.com pole award winner Will Vaught. Pearson jumped to an early advantage as the duo crossed the stripe and was able to fully clear the XR1 Rocket of Vaught exiting turn two.
In a race that would go the distance caution free, Pearson easily cruised to the win, with his biggest competition coming from lapped traffic as the race progressed. Vaught crossed the line in the runner-up position coming in 3.025 seconds behind Pearson, who collected his 4th career win with the MLRA Series.
Earl Pearson Jr. on cruise control as he picked up his 4th career MLRA win on Friday night. Photo- Lloyd Collins FastTrack Photos
Knowing how critical the initial start would be to determining the outcome Person stated, "That was going to be the race (turn one) there ain't no doubt about it. He (Vaught) slipped up there and the track took a little bit of rubber right around the bottom, so once we got out in front I just had to stay on the bottom and run my own race." The veteran Pearson concluded saying, "Any time we're not on the Lucas Series we enjoy coming over and running the MLRA."
Perhaps some of the best racing of the night came from positions three to five. Payton Looney methodically made his way through traffic coming home in the third position, as his Atnip Motorsports entry had a great rebound following a disappointing DNF at last week's Slocum 50 at 34 Raceway. Mitch McGrath followed Looney across the line in fourth after picking up a win in his qualifying heat, with Logan Martin finishing in the fifth slot. By virtue of Martin's five position gain, he collected the Casey's General Stores Hard Charger of the Race Award.
Saturday night will present the first real short track challenge of the season for the cars and stars of the Lucas Oil MLRA. Teams will converge at the ¼ mile Caney Valley Speedway for the series forth event of 2019 and the first time at Caney since 1996. Racing action is set to get under way at 7:00pm.
For all of the latest news and information fans are encouraged to visit the series website at www.MLRARacing.com.
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Article Credit: Billy Rock