Dream cut short by rain

ROSSBURG - If Chris Madden is going to finally break through and pick up a crown jewel win at Eldora Speedway, the Gray Court, South Carolina, driver is going to have to wait three more months.

Madden led the first 14 laps of Saturday's 28th annual Dirt Late Model Dream before the skies opened for another rain delay. After waiting nearly four hours hoping for a window to complete the event, track officials decided to postpone the $128,000 to-win event until Sept. 7, which will now kick off World 100 weekend at the track.

Madden, who captured one of the 25-lap preliminary feature events earlier in the day, won the third heat race to earn the fourth starting spot in the Dream main event. Madden dove below the front row starters in turns one and two of the opening lap and immediately began to pull away from field, opening up a lead of nearly three seconds when the caution flag flew on lap 14.

Brandon Overton, who is looking for his third consecutive Dream win, followed Madden from his sixth starting position into the second position on the opening lap and was running second when the race was halted.

Hudson O'Neal, Eldora rookie Carson Ferguson and Tim McCreadie completed the top five. Kyle Strickler, Zack Dohm, Chris Ferguson, Kyle Bronson and Gregg Satterlee round out the top ten.

Thursday's Eldora Million winner Jonathan Davenport suffered a flat tire in his heat race, restarted at the back of the heat race and worked his way back to eighth, which relegated him to 14th starting spot in the B-main. Davenport charged through the last-chance event to finish in second place and earn the final spot in the 24-car main event. Davenport was running 20th when the race was stopped.

Earlier in the day on Saturday, Madden and Overton took advantage of mid-race restarts to take the lead in their respective 25-lap preliminary feature events and neither looked back in collecting $12,000.

Madden moved around race-long leader Brian Shirley on a lap 17 restart and pulled away over the final eight laps to win by 2.8 seconds.

"We have an awfully good race car right now," said Madden, who finished second in Thursday's Eldora Million. "I just want to thank all these fans for coming out and fighting this weather with us, we really appreciate you guys. Hopefully we will be back up here later and win this Dream feature."

Brian Shirley finished in second-place behind Madden, while Tyler Erb, driving for St. Marys-based Best Performance Motorsports, survived a scrape with Davenport to finish third ahead of eight-time Dream winner Scott Bloomquist and veteran Dale McDowell.

Overton entered the weekend as one of the favorites to capture not only his third-consecutive Dream but also Thursday's Eldora Million. After a poor qualifying lap and a early crash in a heat race, Overton was unable to qualify for the Eldora Million, but looked as strong as every Friday and Saturday in the Dream event.

Overton, of Evans, Georgia, passed Devin Moran on a lap 19 restart and pulled away from there to win the second 25-lap preliminary feature by more than two seconds.

"Judging off yesterday and the day before, I better just worry about making the Dream," Overton said after being asked about his chance to "three-peat". "That's just how it goes sometimes. We're steadily working our way back up. We've had a really tough weekend, but it feels good to get back up here in victory lane."

Ricky Thornton Jr. also passed Moran on the restart and finished in the second position ahead of Moran, Dohm and Michael Page.

Eldora officials are expected to release more information regarding the postponed event in the coming days.

Next up at the track is the Summertime Showdown on June 25 featuring the NRA 360 Sprint Cars, the UMP Modifieds and the Eldora Super Stocks.