Darrell Lanigan celebrates in victory lane after scoring the World of Outlaws Late Model Series victory at Deer Creek Speedway Saturday night. Photo by Mike Ruefer
Deer Creek Speedway has become Darrell Lanigan’s personal playground.
The defending World of Outlaws Late Model Series champion continued his decade-long mastery of the Spring Valley MN three-eighths-mile oval on Saturday night, rolling to a convincing victory in the 34th annual NAPA Auto Parts Gopher 50 Charity Late Model Race.
Lanigan, 43, of Union, KY, earned $11,650 for his fourth triumph in 11 career WoO LMS starts at Deer Creek. He has finished outside the top three just twice since he began visiting the Queensland family’s track in 2005.
“This place is awesome,” said Lanigan, whose previous wins at Deer Creek came in the NAPA Gopher 50 in 2005 and 2009 and the opening night of the 2006 Heartland Nationals. “They work (the surface) right before the feature and it’s always great racing here. It’s a good place where you can get up on the wheel and race all over the racetrack.
“We definitely feel comfortable here, and our car seems to always work good here. I just like to come to Deer Creek.”
Though Lanigan did not grab the lead at the start of the race from his pole position slot on the grid, he overtook Chris Simpson of Oxford, Iowa, for the top spot on lap 10 and never looked back. He repelled a mid-race challenge from Josh Richards of Shinnston, WV, before pulling away to defeat the WoO LMS points leader by a commanding 3.876 seconds – nearly a full straightaway – at the checkered flag.
Simpson settled for a career-best WoO LMS finish of third after driving off the outside pole to lead laps 1-9. Tour rookie Eric Wells of Hazard, KY, finished fourth and defending NAPA Gopher 50 champion Shane Clanton of Zebulon, GA, placed fifth, falling short of becoming the first driver to win the tradition-laden race in back-to-back years since Billy Moyer in 2000-01.
Racing in front of a near-capacity crowd that turned out for one of Minnesota’s most tradition-laden dirt-track events, Lanigan didn’t take long to show the speed in his Cornett-powered Rocket car.
“The outside had a little bit better jump getting in the corner at the start,” said Lanigan, who registered his WoO LMS-leading seventh victory of the 2013 season and the 48th of his career. “You had that momentum on the top, and (Simpson) got ahead. But our car was pretty good on the bottom so we just raced him hard there for the first few laps and got by him.”
Richards, who started fifth in his father Mark’s Rocket house car, slid by Simpson for second on lap 13 and two laps later nosed underneath Lanigan off turn two. The 25-year-old superstar stayed within striking distance of Lanigan until the race’s only caution flag, on lap 24 when Bub McCool of Vicksburg, MS, slowed in turn four, dulled his bid.
Lanigan immediately left Richards behind on the restart, steadily opening an advantage over his friendly rival with every circuit.
“I saw the (number) ‘1’ on the scoreboard so I knew Josh was back there behind me,” said Lanigan, who sits third in the points standings, 12 points behind second-place Clanton and 46 in arrears of Richards. “I just ran as hard as I could after that restart and I never saw him under me the rest of the way so I figured we were in pretty good shape. The car was awesome.”
Richards’s hopes of winning for the fourth time in his last five WoO LMS starts evaporated during the race’s second half.
“We had a real good car and I feel that before the caution came out we definitely had something for Darrell,” said Richards. “I really wasn’t even running 100 percent yet. But after that caution we lost just a little bit and he had clean racetrack and was a little softer on right-front tire, which helped too.
“And with about 15 (laps) to go we broke a rear bleeder off and lost the brakes. It was a handful after that. I’m just I was able to make it around the racetrack without hitting the wall.”
Richards also acknowledged that beating Lanigan at Deer Creek is undoubtedly a tall order.
“They should call this place ‘Darrell’ Creek,” quipped Richards, who won the NAPA Gopher 50 in 2011. “He always runs well here. There’s a pretty good chance he’s gonna win when we come here.”
Finishing in positions 6-10 was Rick Eckert of York, PA, who could only climb two spots after drawing the worst possible A-Main starting spot (eighth) for the second consecutive night; 20th-starter Tim Fuller of Watertown, NY; Tim McCreadie of Watertown, NY, who slipped backward from the fourth starting spot; WoO LMS rookie Morgan Bagley of Longview, Texas, who started third and held strong in fourth place until tumbling from the top five following the lap-24 caution flag; and 19th-starter Jimmy Mars of Menomonie, WI.
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. Simpson’s lap of 14.097 seconds in Group ‘A’ was not only the fastest overall – giving him his first-ever WoO LMS fast-time honor – but also established a new track record, topping the mark of 14.130 seconds turned by Steve Francis on July 8, 2009.
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Heat winners were Simpson (second career WoO LMS heat victory), Lanigan, Clanton and Bagley, who captured his first-ever WoO LMS heat triumph. All four drivers received $100 for their accomplishments from NAPA.
Chub Frank of Bear Lake, PA, and Mars topped the pair of 12-lap B-Mains.
For more information on the WoO LMS, visit worldofoutlaws.com.
World Of Outlaws Late Models
Deer Creek Speedway – Spring Valley MN
Race Results – July 6, 2013
1. (1) Darrell Lanigan/50 $11,750
2. (5) Josh Richards/50 $5,650
3. (2) Chris Simpson/50 $3,750
4. (6) Eric Wells/50 $3,300
5. (7) Shane Clanton/50 $2,650
6. (8) Rick Eckert/50 $2,350
7. (20) Tim Fuller/50 $1,950
8. (4) Tim McCreadie/50 $2,000
9. (3) Morgan Bagley/50 $1,900
10. (18) Jimmy Mars/50 $1,100
11. (17) Chub Frank/50 $1,600
12. (13) Brian Birkhofer/50 $1,000
13. (10) Jake Redetzke/49 $1,050
14. (22) Bub McCool/48 $1,450
15. (23) Clint Smith/47 $1,400
16. (24) John Mason/47 $800
17. (9) Scott Bloomquist/46 $870
18. (14) Lance Matthees/42 $750
19. (11) Brady Smith/36 $730
20. (12) Pat Doar/34 $750
21. (19) Rick Wendling/22 $700
22. (16) Jeff Provinzino/19 $700
23. (15) Jordan Yaggy/15 $725
24. (25) Justin Sass/3 $700
25. (21) John Winge/3 $700
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