Madden Leads All 40 Laps at Raceway 7; Smokes the Field

Kyle Bronson, Chris Madden and Cade Dillard in Victory Lane after competing with the World of Outlaws at Raceway 7 in Conneaut, Ohio (Photo: Emily Schwanke | World Racing Group)

CONNEAUT, Ohio — The World of Outlaws late models started their four-race streak Thursday night at Raceway 7. 

During preliminaries, Cade Dillard made an impact over everyone else by having the quickest time with a 17.267 lap around the track. The speed and time combination for Dillard continued as he started on the front row beside Chris Madden.

As soon as the green flag dropped to start the 40-lap main event, Madden jumped out to the lead. Behind Madden, Dillard felt the heat from Kyle Bronson. By the time the first lap was over, Bronson had taken Dillard for second.

Nick Hoffman, Dustin Sorenson and Brandon Overton all battled behind the leaders for fourth. Hoffman took the top side and Sorenson ran the bottom as Overton trailed behind, just waiting for one of them to mess up for him to make his move. Overton saw the mistake he was looking for and passed Hoffman for fifth on Lap 5.

Meanwhile, further back in the pack, Brandon Sheppard was after Tyler Bruening. Ryan Gustin entered the chat as well, sticking his nose in between Sheppard and Bruening. By the end of Lap 8, Sheppard had passed Bruening and Gustin followed suit.

The battle for tenth between Gustin and Sheppard was heating up as they were all over the track trying to pass each other. Up front though, Madden had hit lap traffic and Bronson was closing in on the leader. The traffic in front of Madden was thick and this was causing Bronson to close the gap between himself and Madden.

On Lap 19, late model veteran, Chub Frank, pulled his car into the infield to end his night, and chance, of winning the $10,000 prize. 

Three laps later, Sorenson and Hoffman went at it again, but this time for fourth. Hoffman, who was battling with Overton for almost 20 laps, finally got by the rookie and was putting in the work to try and make up for lost time. 

Madden was feeling the pressure from Bronson as Bronson saw an opportunity to take over the lead and was capitalizing on it. Bronson went down low and was going to slide job Madden, but a lap car in front of him proved to be an issue and he could not successfully pass Madden.

Chris Madden competing with the World of Outlaws at Raceway 7 in Conneaut, Ohio (Photo: Emily Schwanke | World Racing Group)

At this point in the race, Sheppard who was still battling with Gustin for tenth, lost his right rear due to the intense levels of battle that he was putting his car through. The tire absolutely exploded and small little pieces of tire were all over the front stretch. Sheppard went into the pit area to get a new tire put on though. He also had an issue with the rear quarter panel as well due to the tire explosion. His team fixed that though, and Sheppard was able to get back out on the 7/16 mile track.

It seemed that the battle was too intense for Gustin as well, because he went into the pits too. Gustin’s issue wasn’t something that could be fixed immediately though, as he had a hole in the radiator and had no water pressure. Gustin pulled it in the pits and got out of his car, ending his night.

The race got back underway and on Lap 29, Dave Hess Jr., who started 17th, was now up to eighth. Four spots ahead of Hess, Hoffman and Sorenson had taken over the intense battle of the night. 

The two of them went side-by-side down the back stretch and as they entered Turn 3, Hoffman tried his hardest to edge his nose under Sorenson to take over fourth, but just didn’t have enough power to overtake him.

On Lap 36, they went at it hard again. Hoffman kept with the bottom as his choice lane and this time it worked in his favor as he finally got fourth from Sorenson.

For the last four laps of the race, Bronson was reeling in Madden, but could not get past him even though Madden was going through traffic. Madden held the lead to finish the race and Bronson, Dillard, Hoffman and Sorenson finished out the top five.

“We had a good car tonight,” said Madden. “We got up to lap traffic a little too quick at the end, [but] we got it done and my guys gave me a good car. We’ve been battling and battling and we finally got here. I appreciate each and every person who works on this car and all the fans.”

By finishing in fourth, Hoffman took the series points lead by two points over Brandon Sheppard. Even though it’s only May, the points battle is already brewing. The rest of the season is sure to be interesting.