Jimmy Owens swept the Peak World of Outlaws Finals at Charlotte with a win Saturday night. Photo by Jason Shank/Courtesy WoOLMS
Jimmy Owens of Newport, TN, completed an unprecedented sweep of the PEAK Motor Oil World of Outlaws World Finals Presented by NAPA Auto Parts with a convincing victory in Saturday night’s 50-lap World of Outlaws Late Model Series A-Main at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.
The $10,000 triumph marked the fourth consecutive year that Owens captured the Saturday-night finale of the spectacular weekend – and, as a result, shared the post-race spotlight with the newly-crowned WoO LMS champion. Darrell Lanigan of Union, KY, who finished third, was presented his second career World of Outlaws championship trophy in a confetti- and fireworks-filled ceremony moments after Owens stood on the winner’s stage.
Owens, 40, certainly didn’t have his amazing feat diminished by the dual victory lane celebrations. He earned plenty of recognition from the standing-room-only crowd of over 14,000 and the national television audience that watched the PEAK World Finals by NAPA on the SPEED cable network.
“Words can’t describe how much it means to win these two races this weekend,” said Owens, who has been victorious a record five times in 12 WoO LMS A-Mains contested during the PEAK World Finals by NAPA since the event’s birth in 2007. “It just means so much to me to pull this off. The electricity in the air with all these people here for this show is like no other race we run.”
Owens, who started third, passed Chris Madden of Gray Court, SC, for the lead on lap five and never looked back. He easily handled two restarts late in the distance to cross the finish line 1.646 seconds in front of Watertown, NY’s Tim McCreadie, who charged forward from the ninth starting spot to register a runner-up finish that moved him past Chub Frank of Bear Lake, PA, to fourth in the final WoO LMS points standings.
Lanigan swapped second place with McCreadie before finally ceding the position on lap 43 and settling for third. Madden faded to fourth at the finish after starting second and leading laps 1-4 and WoO LMS regular Clint Smith of Senoia, GA, advanced from the 10th starting spot to complete the top five.
Owens, who outdueled Lanigan and 2011 WoO LMS champion Rick Eckert of York, PA, to win Friday night’s 50-lap A-Main at the four-tenths-mile oval, was never seriously challenged in his history-making repeat effort.
“We had a good car last night but I felt like we could still do some things to make it better,” Owens said of his potent Mike Reece-owned Team Zero by Bloomquist mount. “We worked on it today and it was just awesome. We really found something for this place.”
McCreadie, 38, didn’t get a shot at racing Owens from second place on either of the race’s restarts. He reached third with his Warrior machine two circuits before the first caution flag flew, on lap 38 after Shane Clanton of Fayetteville, GA, slammed the turn-three wall. McCreadie then briefly took second from Lanigan on the ensuing restart before Lanigan nosed back ahead to sit in the runner-up spot when Dale McDowell of Chickamauga, GA, slowed to bring out a caution flag on lap 42.
The bridesmaid finish was McCreadie’s best on the WoO LMS since he was second on July 7 at Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minn. It came at an opportune time, pushing him past Frank, who finished 19th, for fourth in the points standings – a one position jump worth an extra $5,000 in points-fund cash ($35,000 versus $30,000 for fifth).
Lanigan will receive $100,000 for his WoO LMS championship, giving him over $425,000 in earnings on the 2012 tour. It’s a pretty good consolation for falling short of victory once again at The Dirt Track, where Lanigan is winless in 20 career starts.
“I think we may have been a little bit better (than Owens) before that caution (on lap 38),” said the fourth-starting Lanigan, who steered his Rocket car into second place with a lap-18 pass of Madden. “I think we were catching him a little bit, but I think the caution hurt us a little bit. We just didn’t fire after the restart.
“We were good, but we just missed it a little bit and Jimmy was good this weekend.”
Lanigan’s final championship margin was a record 228 points over Eckert, who finished 21st after relinquishing a top-five spot when his car lost power during the lap-42 caution period.
“It’s definitely been a heck of a year,” said Lanigan, who also won the WoO LMS title in 2008. “To do what we did – win (a record) 15 races, win Cedar Lake (the USA Nationals), everything else – it’s just been a phenomenal year. The first (championship) was nice, but to get your second one the way we did is definitely unbelievable.”
Don O’Neal of Martinsville, IN, finished sixth in the Childress Racing No. K71. Steve Francis of Ashland, KY, advanced from the 16th starting spot to place seventh; Josh Richards of Shinnston, WV, was a quiet eighth; WoO LMS rookie Kent Robinson of Bloomington, IN, was ninth; and Walker Arthur of Forest, VA, rounded out the top 10.
Heat winners were Owens, O’Neal, Madden, Eckert, Lanigan and McDowell. The B-Mains were captured by Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, GA, Eric Wells of Hazard, KY, and Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, TN.
The 2013 WoO LMS campaign is scheduled to kick off on Feb. 8-9 with the ‘Winter Freeze’ doubleheader at Screven Motor Speedway in Sylvania, Ga.
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World of Outlaws Late Model Series
The Dirt Track – Charlotte, NC
Peak WoO Finals – Nov. 3, 2012
1. (3) Jimmy Owens/50 $10,000
2. (9) Tim McCreadie/50 $5,650
3. (4) Darrell Lanigan/50 $3,650
4. (2) Chris Madden/50 $2,500
5. (10) Clint Smith/50 $2,550
6. (5) Don O’Neal/50 $2,200
7. (16) Steve Francis/50 $1,500
8. (7) Josh Richards/50 $1,450
9. (18) Kent Robinson/50 $1,950
10. (13) Walker Arthur/50 $1,100
11. (15) Brandon Sheppard/50 $1,100
12. (12) Jason Feger/50 $1,100
13. (23) Ray Cook/50 $1,000
14. (14) Gregg Satterlee/50 $900
15. (27) Earl Pearson Jr./50 $900
16. (28) Bub McCool/49 $800
17. (29) Vic Coffey/49 $620
18. (22) Dennis Erb Jr./49 $750
19. (26) Chub Frank/49 $1,280
20. (24) Billy Decker/49 $725
21. (1) Rick Eckert/42 $1,350
22. (6) Dale McDowell/42 $700
23. (25) Shane Clanton/37 $1,250
24. (21) Scott Bloomquist/37 $800
25. (19) Jonathan Davenport/36 $700
26. (11) Kenny Moreland/32 $700
27. (20) Eric Wells/28 $700
28. (8) R.J. Conley/16 $700
29. (17) Morgan Bagley/16 $700
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