Kyle Larson dirt racing domincation continues with second late model start

Kyle Larson discovered a new way to dominate in dirt racing Saturday night.

In only the second dirt late model race of his career, Larson led all 50 laps of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series at Port Royal Speedway in Pennsylvania.

Larson already had won more than 30 feature races this year in sprint cars, silver crown and midgets, but he said Saturday’s victory was “no doubt, probably one of, if not the biggest, wins ever of my career.

LARSON ON NASCAR: ‘I’d love an opportunity if it came’

“I thought we would be OK, but I didn’t think I was going to win a race,” Larson said in a series release after beating Brandon Sheppard by 0.499 seconds. “To climb into something that’s way different than I have ever been in and to have success with a great team just means a lot.”

In his 2nd start in a dirt late model, @KLRteam is taking home $15,000 from @PortRoyalSpdway pic.twitter.com/7PctjvLqBr

— #LucasDirt 🏁 (@lucasdirt) August 30, 2020

Larson had finished fifth in his Late Model debut Thursday at Port Royal, where he previously won three times in sprint cars. He had set modest expectations in interviews this week, hoping just to be competitive against some of the best in dirt lade models.

Said Sheppard, who has 25 victories this season: “I felt like I was closing in on him [Larson]. I really couldn’t take off very well on the restarts and we had a bunch of restarts tonight. That wasn’t helping me. Kyle did a really good job; he does a good job in anything he drives.”

Larson earned $15,000 for the victory as well as praise from many corners in the racing world.

Kyle Larson just won against the best late model drivers in the country in only his second start. That’s impressive to say the least. Good job kid!! 👏 pic.twitter.com/PxR7kiLQJz

— Clint Bowyer (@ClintBowyer) August 30, 2020

I've expressed this thought privately before, but after tonight I'm proud to say publicly that Kyle Larson is absolutely the best race car driver I've ever seen.

— Johnny Gibson (@Gibvoice) August 30, 2020

He’s won in a Sprint Car. He’s won in a Midget. He’s won in a Silver Crown. Now, he’s won in a Dirt Late Model.

👇 Kyle Larson’s Numbers Since May:

54 Races — 31 Wins — 50 Top 6’s

2.34 AVG Finish — $400,000+ in 3+ months pic.twitter.com/xkPIPKpTXh

— Walkapedia (@Walkapedia_) August 30, 2020

Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.

Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.

On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.

One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.

After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.

The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.

“It was good racing; it was fun,” Deegan said at about the 27-minute mark in the video above. “I just had some fun doing it.”

Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.

Lawrence defends Deegan — *Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports*

“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.

“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”

As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.

But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.

“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.

“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”

Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.

“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.

“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”

The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.

Kyle Larson wins first dirt late model race in his second career start

Hunter Lawrence defends Haiden Deegan after controversial block pass at Detroit

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