BROWNSTOWN, Ind. (March 21) — Leading all but the first lap of Brownstown Speedway’s 18th annual Indiana Icebreaker, Earl Pearson Jr. of Jacksonville, Fla., returned to victory lane Saturday night, earning $10,000 in his second Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory of the season.

Picking up a win in the third heat race, Pearson started outside the front row of the 50-lap feature, overtaking polesitter Devin Moran of Dresden, Ohio, on the second lap. Successfully navigating lapped traffic, Pearson led the remaining distance, holding off Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn., for his third career Indiana Icebreaker victory.

“I knew if I could ever clear the Moran kid, I’d have a very good shot at it,” Pearson said after the race. “The racetrack was rubbered up and we all knew that. We put hard tires on and once I got in the lead there I knew I just didn’t have to make any mistakes and I’d be OK. By about lap 20 it was rubbered up and nobody could do anything then.

“I got into lapped traffic there and it gets hairy sometimes following them guys. When I had a chance at a clean pass, I went on by them. But if I didn’t, I just held back and kind of rode. All in all it was a good night for us after last night, losing the points lead. We just pulled this car out and it was the first night on it. I can’t be happier.”

Moving past second-running Moran on lap 31, Bloomquist notched a runner-up finish, with Moran holding on to finish third. Fifth-starting Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tenn., advanced one spot to finish fourth, with Don O’Neal of Martinsville, Ind., rounding out the top-five.

“I tried running high early,” Bloomquist said. “There just wasn’t nothing up there and everybody hit the bottom and it got rubbered up. It actually started gripping up on the straightaways a little bit, but still stayed pretty slick in the corners.

“The only mistake I saw made was Devin (Moran), he got in a little hot and missed the fast part of the racetrack and kind of gave us that spot. That’s something that you just take them when you can get them. But you could see even Earl (Pearson) wasn’t going to try to pass a car on the outside. Once we got rolling, it was pretty much one lane.”

With Saturday’s third-place finish, Moran now sits fourth in the Lucas Oil Series points standings. He’s hoping he’ll get another shot at a win as the tour heads south next weekend.

“The track wasn’t really that great, but we came home with a third-place finish,” Moran said. “I can’t be unhappy with that with all these guys. Now we just have to talk Dad into going down to Mississippi.”