OCALA, Fla. – Shane Clanton won his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event of the season on Tuesday night at Bubba Raceway Park.

The victory for Clanton came in the final night of the K&N Filters Winter Nationals – Presented by OPTIMA Batteries and served as the finale of the series’ Florida Speedweeks. It was Clanton’s first series victory since September of 2019.

Clanton took the lead on lap 22 of the 40-lap main event from Bobby Pierce and went on for his fifth series victory. Pierce finished second followed by Tanner English, Tim McCreadie and Jimmy Owens.

The race saw three different leaders as Owens bolted from his pole starting spot to lead the first seven laps of the race. Pierce caught Owens in traffic, passing him for the lead on the eighth circuit. Owens tried to get back by Pierce, but made contact with the backstretch wall.

Clanton started to use the outside line as he passed Owens for second on lap 21. A lap later he got by Pierce for the lead, which he held the rest of the way.

The win for Clanton made him the eighth different winner in the first nine series races of the season.

“Our hats are off to Bubba and his guys, they gave us two grooves and a great track tonight,” Clanton said. “The top took a while to get run in. It was a little greasy up there, but at the end it came alive. We worked hard to get by Bobby. I  just made the right move at the right time I think.”

Pierce’s best series finish of the season left him .568 seconds behind Clanton at the finish.

“To run second at this track is great,” said Pierce. “This is just the third time I have ever raced on this track, it’s pretty good. I probably needed to move up there. It is hard to see your guys here in the corner, on where they’re telling you to run. I think overall Shane was just a little bit better. He’s always good racing these kinds of race tracks.”

English earned his best finish of the season with his third-place showing.

“You have just got to be up front at end of the race,” Pierce said. “Last year I ran the series for the first-time, and I learned that these guys don’t mess up. You have to be smooth and you have to take advantage of situations when you can. I passed a few cars that slipped up in turn two, but not enough to get the win. We will take this finish happily after the speedweeks we’ve had.”

The finish:

Shane Clanton, Bobby Pierce, Tanner English, Tim McCreadie, Jimmy Owens, Jonathan Davenport, Stewart Friesen, Tyler Erb, Brandon Sheppard, Ricky Thornton Jr., Brian Shirley, Dennis Erb Jr., Rick Eckert, Kyle Bronson, Mike Marlar, Devin Moran, Hudson O’Neal, Jadon Frame, Brandon Overton, Matt Cosner, Ross Robinson, Mark Whitener, Earl Pearson Jr., Tyler Bruening, Billy Moyer Jr., Josh Richards, Kyle Strickler, Devin Dixon.