2022 Rumble By The River At Port Royal

The Headline(s)

Longtime Lucas Oil veteran Earl Pearson Jr. snapped a two-year losing streak by winning the Rumble by the River at Port Royal.

How it Happened

2022 Rumble by the River (Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series)
Where: Port Royal Speedway – Port Royal, Pa. (streamed on Flo Racing)
Winner’s Purse: $50,000 (Saturday)

Earl Pearson Jr. is a four-time LOLMDS champion, but Saturday night (Aug. 27) the driver nicknamed “The Hurricane” ended up scoring his first win in 114 races. Pearson persevered by weathering no less than three banzai charges from last year’s Rookie of the Year, Ricky Thornton Jr.

🏁 They needed every inch of The Speed Palace to decide it!

👀 Earl Pearson Jr. tops @RThornton20rt!@PortRoyalSpdway | @lucasdirt | @MAVTV

📺 https://t.co/er5MlUbpF6 pic.twitter.com/97vKvgNgz6

— FloRacing (@FloRacing) August 28, 2022

Thornton, who led the opening eight laps of the feature after starting on the outside pole, ran down Thornton with nine laps to go as Pearson struggled to lap Tyler Erb. The two exchanged moves, with Pearson holding the lead until the only caution of the feature flew on lap 46 when Erb slowed in turn 4.

The caution set up a five-lap shootout that saw Thornton throw several sliders at Pearson that didn’t stick, leaving Pearson to score the race win. As Thornton explained in post-race, the yellow did not help his car’s handling in trying to make a race-winning pass.

Brandon Sheppard and Jonathan Davenport won Friday’s preliminary features.

The points race in LOLMDS remained largely stagnant, with Sheppard making up a little bit of ground on leader Tim McCreadie, finishing ninth to McCreadie’s 11th Saturday night. Friday’s prelim features did not count for series points.

Success Stories

One more note on Pearson Jr. Port Royal was a fitting place for him to end his losing streak, as he was contending for the win the last time the LOLMDS was at the Palace of Speed in April, only to fall victim in an incident with Kyle Larson.

AROUND HE GOES! WOWWWW @KyleLarsonRacin spins from the lead #MAVTVPlus @PortRoyalSpdway pic.twitter.com/Nd93dhr0sB

— MAVTV (@MAVTV) April 10, 2022

Clements, Md.’s Dale Hollidge stole the first heat race Saturday from Sheppard on the last lap with a stellar low-side pass that earned him a surprising pole position start for the Rumble by the River feature.

It wasn’t a duplicate of the win Gregg Satterlee scored with the LOLMDS tour in April, but nonetheless, a…