PORT ROYAL, Pa. (May 22) — Running second behind one of the sport’s top drivers on a track that was offering little chance of passing, Chris Madden was prepared to settle for a runner-up finish in Saturday’s Billy Vacek Memorial at Port Royal Speedway. But when a mistake by race-long leader Brandon Overton gave Madden a chance to take the lead, he didn’t waste it.

Pouncing when Overton slid high in turns one and two amid traffic on lap 28 of the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series feature, the second-starting Madden of Gray Court, S.C.,  drove under Overton exiting turn two as the two cars made contact and pulled ahead down the back straightaway. He then survived Overton’s strong charge into turn three to pull ahead and complete the winning move.

The caution waved when Overton nearly spun out in his attempt to immediately take the lead back, giving Madden clear track ahead for most of the remaining distance. Madden caught traffic with less than five laps remaining, but second-place Rick Eckert of York, Pa., was only able to close the distance slightly.

Madden took the checkers with a lead of 0.778 seconds in his self-owned Rocket Chassis to complete a sweep of Port Royal’s WoO doubleheader weekend and earn his third straight series victory.

Added to his $22,500 payday in WoO’s event at Mississippi Thunder Speedway in Fountain City, Wis., on May 15 and his $10,000 win in Friday’s weekend opener at Port Royal, Madden’s hot streak has earned him a whopping $47,500 plus contingencies and bonuses in just three races and has put him in a tight points battle with reigning WoO champion Brandon Shepard of New Berlin, Ill., who finished 15th in Saturday’s race.

“This speaks a lot for our little team we’ve put together here,” said Madden, who only just started his self-owned program late in the 2020 season before deciding to hit the road on the WoO tour in 2021. “Brandon (Overton) had a better car tonight, but we’ve definitely got a head of steam going. We’re going to keep working on it and try to get it better.”

Eckert settled for second at the finish with Dan Stone of Thompson, Pa., third. Overton, who’s lap-28 near spin forced WoO officials to display the caution flag before he corrected his machine and continued rolling in the fourth position for the restart, ended up fourth at the finish with Ryan Gustin of Marshalltown, Iowa, rounding out the top five.

Madden chalked up the contact between him Overton to close racing on a track that was essentially locked down in the bottom groove.

“I hate that there with Brandon,” Madden said. “Brandon got into lapped traffic and got up out of the groove there and I was able to get by him. I guess he had a run on me and was gonna try to make a move and we got together (in turn three). It’s rubber racing, one-lane racing. I hate it. We tried to race and put on a good show for the fans, but it didn’t allow us tonight.”

After struggling to get his Rocket Chassis rolling early in Saturday’s feature, the third-starting Eckert improved drastically after the track locked-down in the bottom groove midway through race. He took advantage of Overton’s slip up to move from fourth to third on lap 28 then charged by Stone on the restart to grab second.

Eckert briefly had a run on Madden after moving into the second spot, but he couldn’t make his car stick on the fading outside groove and settled into second.

“It got a little bit one-lined there about halfway through,” Eckert said. “I wasn’t good until it got that, and once it got that way I could keep up. On that restart there … I got by Dan and I tried to sneak by Chris down here in one and two, but there just wasn’t enough left out there to go. But all in all, it’s a good run for us.”

Stone wished he could’ve held on to the second spot on the lap-28 restart, but the standout regional racer was happy to score a podium finish with the Outlaws.

“It’s a good night for us and Super Deuce Racing,” Stone said. “We’ve been getting better every week and we’re excited. … Hopefully we can keep building on this. It’s pretty awesome to be running up front with these guys. The way the season started and stuff, to be able to run side by side with these guys, it’s pretty awesome.”

Notes: The event was held in memory of Billy Vacek of Mifflintown, Pa., a well-known car builder and setup guru who was serving as a crewman for Brandon Overton at Rum Runner Racing when he died in a camper fire in 2019 at the age of 32. … Madden, who earned the 32nd WoO victory of his career, became the first repeat winner in seven WoO races at Port Royal. … Sheppard’s 15th-place finish ended his streak of five straight podium finishes. … Overton was charged with the lap-28 caution, but per series rules, he was allowed to restart in the fourth position because he never stopped rolling and fourth was where he was in line when regained control of his car and blended in with the field. … Besides the caution for Overton, the race was only slowed one other time, which was for a tangle between fifth-starting Matt Cosner and sixth-starting Donald Lingo Jr. before a lap was completed.