Garrett Alberson revealed how the first lap wreck during the Hillbilly 100 at Lernerville Speedway damaged his car and hindered his chances at a win.
Alberson was coming off a win on Friday night and had put together a solid Saturday night qualifying 7th in Group A. That put him in a fourth place starting position in Heat 1. He was able to advance past Max Blair and finish in third in the heat. With that third place heat finish, he started the feature in 9th.
However, it all went sideways on the first lap of the race. Going through the middle of 3 and 4, Joseph Joiner and Mike Marlar got together and Alberson had nowhere to go and slid sideway into Marlar. He then got crashed into by Daniel Hilsabeck.
In a post to Facebook, Alberson revealed that that opening lap wreck knocked the toe out and bent the ball joints and the team “didn’t really get to figure out what we had due to the handling issues that arose.” Nevertheless, he concluded, “For what it was we had a good run, started 9th and ended up 12th.”
With the win on Friday night, Alberson had closed the gap between him and Hudson O’Neal, who is fourth in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Championship Standings to 295. Even with the injured car from that first lap wreck, Alberson was able to shave off another 20 points to O’Neal following the Hillbilly 100. He now sits just 275 points behind him after O’Neal had his own troubles in the feature and managed to salvage a 16th place finish after starting in fourth.
The battle for that fourth and final playoff position looks like it will come down to the wire between Moran, O’Neal, Alberson, and Brandon Sheppard, who sits only 220 points behind O’Neal. There are only three races left to determine who the final four will be and they will all take place at Knoxville Raceway beginning on September 18th and going through the 20th for the Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals.
However, before Alberson and company head to Knoxville Raceway they will be at Eldora Speedway this upcoming weekend for the World 100. Action begins on September 4th with a $12,000-to-win Twin 25 Prelim. Another $12,000-to-win Twin 25 Prelim will take place on September 5th before the $72,000 to-win World 100 on Saturday night September 6th.
Alberson also plans to race at Volunteer Speedway for the 2nd Annual Scott Bloomquist Memorial Scorcher on September 11th and then at Davenport Speedway for the Corn State Nationals with the MARS Late Models on September 12th and 13th.
0 Comments