Billy Moyer, seen here from earlier action, topped the field Friday night to score the WoO Late Model Series feature win at Volusia Speedway Park. Photo by Mike Ruefer
Billy Moyer of Batesville, AR, added to his all time record win total in the UNOH DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Summit Racing Equipment, holding on for a hard-fought victory in Friday night’s 50-lap World of Outlaws Late Model Series A-Main at Volusia Speedway.
Righting a frustrating week of action at the half-mile oval, Moyer passed WoO LMS rookie Eric Wells of Hazard, KY, for the lead on lap 11 and never looked back. He repelled repeated late-race challenges from defending tour champion Darrell Lanigan of Union, KY, to secure the $10,200 triumph.
“We’ve had a rough (week) down here,” said Moyer, whose forgettable outings leading up to Friday’s checkered flag included the WoO LMS A-Main the previous evening when he was forced out of action on lap one by a broken tie-rod. “It feels good to finally get this one under our belt.”
Moyer, 55, made the right moves in lapped traffic to put some critical space on Lanigan and crossed the finish line 1.368 seconds ahead of York, PA’s Rick Eckert, who slipped by Lanigan on lap 48 to earn the runner-up spot for the second consecutive night. Lanigan settled for a third-place finish after starting from the pole position, Dennis Erb Jr. of Carpentersville, IL, started and finished fourth and Shane Clanton of Fayetteville, GA, placed fifth for his fifth top-five run in seven WoO LMS events this season.
The 24-year-old Wells, meanwhile, faded to a sixth-place finish after racing off the outside pole to lead laps 1-10 – one night after pacing the first 36 laps in the week’s WoO LMS opener before settling for a tour career-best fourth-place finish – and World of Outlaws points leader Josh Richards of Shinnston, WV, rallied to finish seventh after stopping on the track while running fourth on lap 23 because he had run out of tear-offs and needed to pit to retrieve a new helmet.
Moyer’s 19th career victory during the UNOH DIRTcar Nationals by Summit – more than double the total of Mooresburg, TN’s Scott Bloomquist, who sits second on the event’s win list with nine triumphs – came after he turned back a spirited bid from Lanigan.
Lanigan, 42, swapped second place with Erb once after a lap-26 restart but secured the position on lap 29. After the race’s third and final caution flag flew on lap 29 for Bloomquist’s stopped car, Lanigan gradually ratcheted up the pressure on Moyer, catching the leader on lap 38 and using the outside lane to pull alongside Moyer several times during the ensuing circuits.
Lanigan came within inches of nosing out Moyer for the lead at the start/finish line on laps 40, 42 and 44, but Moyer hung tough in his preferred inside lane. Finally, after Moyer put the lapped car driven by Donnie Moran of Dresden, Ohio, between his Victory Circle machine and Lanigan’s Rocket on lap 46, he had the cushion to carry him to victory lane.
“I seen him out there a time or two and I heard him out there a lot,” said Moyer, who recorded his fourth career WoO LMS win at Volusia, his 17 th on the tour since 2004 and his 39th overall on the series (including the tour’s original 1988-89 seasons). “I just was trying to run my little line there on the bottom. I moved up in the middle on the one end (turns three and four) a couple times and it didn’t feel too bad, but I kind of had the car set up a certain way where I just seemed like I was better right around the bottom.”
The victory marked the record 10th different year in which Moyer has won a dirt Late Model feature during the 42-year history of the UNOH DIRTcar Nationals by Summit at Volusia, a track that ranks high on his list of favorites.
“I said the first day we got here (Feb. 18) after hot laps, ‘Man, we’re at a racetrack finally,’” said Moyer, whose first-ever UNOH DIRTcar Nationals by Summit win came in a STARS-sanctioned event in 1985. “We’ve been at these other ones down here in Florida (this month) and none of them come close to as racy as this place is. I’ve always liked this place. It’s a multi-groove deal.”
Eckert, 47, made a late charge to snatch second place from Lanigan. The race’s sixth starter once again came on a bit too late to grab a victory for his ailing mother back in Pennsylvania.
“We made some changes to our (Team Zero by Bloomquist) car and we were a little better, but we didn’t show it until right there at the end,” said Eckert, who started sixth. “I got to moving around on the racetrack – I was lost down there in (turns) three and four for most of the race – and finally got me a line. I wish there would’ve been 10 more laps because it was starting to get interesting.
“The last couple nights we got better as the night went on. If we make a couple more changes tomorrow night (for Saturday’s WoO LMS finale of the DCN), then maybe I can get going on lap 35 and be able to get to the lead before the end of the race.”
Lanigan, who entered Friday’s program after putting in many man-hours overnight and during the afternoon to repair his car that was damaged significantly in a Tuesday-night crash at Volusia, couldn’t quite summon the speed to overtake Moyer.
“I just got to running that middle there and burned my tires up a little bit,” said Lanigan. “We had a good run there though. It was fun to run side-by-side (with Moyer).”
Finishing in positions 8-10 were Tim McCreadie of Watertown, NY, who started 25th after using a provisional to gain entry to the A-Main field; Steve Francis of Ashland, KY; and Brady Smith of Solon Springs, WI.
Fifty-one cars were signed in for the evening’s action.
For the second consecutive night Ohlins Shocks Time Trials were split into ‘A’ and ‘B’ groups, with the first half competing for starting positions in heats one and two and the second half racing against the clock to align heats three and four. Wells earned his first-ever WoO LMS fast-time honor, registering the fastest overall lap of the evening at 16.164 seconds.
Heat winners were Wells, Bloomquist, Moyer and Richards. The B-Mains were captured by Casey Roberts of Toccoa, GA, and Earl Pearson Jr. of Jacksonville, FL.
For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.
In Super DIRTcar Series action, Laubach hinted early in the night he was going to be strong in the Big-Block Modified feature, and he definitely showed he was quick from the start. Laubach built a lead before Johnson powered forward to pull side-by-side midway through the 30-lapper. A caution with 11 laps to go bunched the field, but Laubach drove to the cushion and held off Johnson to the checkered flag.
Peter Britten was third with H.J. Bunting III and Stewart Friesen completing the top five.
Saturday is the finale for the 2013 UNOH DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Summit Racing Equipment with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series and the Super DIRTcar Series Big-Block Modifieds at Volusia Speedway Park oval. Gates open at 5 pm with warm-ups at 6 p.m. and racing at 7:30 pm.
For more information and updates on the UNOH DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Summit Racing Equipment, click DIRTcarNationals.com.
Editor’s note: The Super DIRTcar Series Big-Block Modified portion of this story is courtesy DIRTcar Nationals Media.
UNOH DIRTcar Nationals
Volusia Speedway Park – Barberville, FL
WoO Late Model Series – Feb. 22, 2013
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2. (6) Rick Eckert/50 $5,550
3. (1) Darrell Lanigan/50 $3,650
4. (4) Dennis Erb Jr./50 $2,500
5. (8) Shane Clanton/50 $2,550
6. (2) Eric Wells/50 $2,250
7. (5) Josh Richards/50 $1,600
8. (25) Tim McCreadie/50 $1,950
9. (10) Steve Francis/50 $1,300
10. (13) Brady Smith/50 $1,100
11. (11) Scott James/50 $1,150
12. (19) Bub McCool/50 $1,550
13. (18) Earl Pearson Jr./50 $950
14. (21) Morgan Bagley/50 $950
15. (15) Billy Ogle Jr./50 $850
16. (26) Tim Fuller/50 $1,350
17. (28) Clint Smith/50 $620
18. (7) Scott Bloomquist/50 $850
19. (23) Donnie Moran/49 $730
20. (14) Ricky Weiss/49 $800
21. (27) Chub Frank/49 $550
22. (24) Tyler Reddick/42 $700
23. (20) Vic Coffey/29 $700
24. (16) Dale McDowell/25 $725
25. (9) Eric Jacobsen/25 $700
26. (17) Casey Roberts/22 $700
27. (12) Shannon Babb/22 $700
28. (22) Eddie Carrier Jr./15 $700
29. (29) Pat Doar/3 $550
Super DIRTcar Series Big-Block Modifieds
1. Rick Laubach
2. Danny Johnson
3. Peter Britten
4. H.J. Bunting III
5. Stewart Friesen
6. Brett Hearn
7. Alan Johnson
8. Francois Bernier
9. Matt Sheppard
10. Tim Fuller
11. Matt Williamson
12. Justin Haers
13. Billy VanIwegen
14. Dan Vauter
15. Bruno LaPage
16. Mario Clair
17. Neal Williams
18. Roger Chrysler
19. Randy Chrysler
20. Rob Bellinger
21. David Allen
22. Kevin Bates
23. Jamie Mills
24. Kyle Sheldon
25. Andy Bachetti
26. Jimmy Horton
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