SUPR LATE MODELS
USA Speedway
May 27, 2011
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Bagley pulls off hat trick with SUPR Late Model win at USA Speedway

by Bryan Wimberley
O'Reilly SUPR Series correspondent
STERLINGTON, La. (May 27) - Morgan Bagley of Longview, Tex., placed his stamp of dominance on USA Speedway Friday night, by winning a third consecutive time in a ten-week span on the O'Reilly Auto Parts Southern United Professional Racing Series tour. Bagley landed a $2,000 payday, beating B.J. Robinson of Blanchard, La., by seven car lengths at the quarter-mile oval. Bagley never relinquished the lead in the 40-lap feature, but Robinson nosed under him twice to make it interesting, before Bagley sealed the victory.

"We don't quite understand the success we have been having here. We come here and try to be well prepared, just like everywhere else. The last couple of times here, we started on the outside of the front row of the heat race, which helped us out a lot and gave us a decent starting position in the feature. Tonight we pulled in and had to start last in the heat and our team thought then, that it could be the end of our streak. We dug in, held our heads up, worked hard and got some good passing points that put us on the pole. From then on, we had a good enough car to stay up front and lead every lap -it worked out pretty good for us. At the same time, we are ready to win somewhere else. Don't get me wrong, we will try to win every time out here at USA, but we want to win somewhere else also to prove it is not some kind of a fluke deal," said Bagley.

Kevin Sitton of Baytown, Tex., debuted a new No. 20 Barry Wright Race Car and started on the front-row alongside of polesitter Bagley. Sitton would lose the runner-up spot to Robinson in the early laps of the race, but held on strong to finish a solid third.

Jeff Chanler of Minden, La., finished in his first series top 5 of the season, in fourth and Jody Prince of Sibley, La., powered his way from 9th-starting spot to grab fifth.

Bagley got the jump on Robinson, Sitton, Rob Litton and Jeff Chanler at the outset. Five laps into the feature, the field appeared orderly, with limited movement throughout the top ten drivers.

Jeff Chanler fended off Timothy Culp for fifth on lap 8, as Bagley reached lapped traffic two laps later.

Ronny Adams of Diana, Tex., slowed in turn one while running in the top ten, bringing out the first yellow of the race on lap 14 -Adams would be the first entrant to leave the feature.

At the caution pace lap, smoke emerged from the rear of the No. 11JR car driven by Bubba Mullins -he continued on.

Bagley gained the advantage on the restart over Robinson, but Robinson kept it tight, only falling back mere car lengths the next six laps. As Bagley approached the lapped car of Troy Berdan, Robinson closed to the decklid of Bagley. Both drivers negotiated traffic well, with Robinson not letting Bagley get out of his grasp with ten laps remaining.

Rob Litton slowed to bring out the final caution on lap 32, Litton and Jeff Chanler was battling for fourth when his No. 6x encountered the problem that resulted in his early departure.

Bagley again mastered the restart and shot out to just over a second lead on Robinson on lap 37. The majority of the field chose the lower groove on the rubbered up track, leaving most passing right around the hub with gained momentum underneath. Robinson eased closer to Bagley the next two laps, but couldn't seize an opportunity to draw near enough to challenge him for the victory.

The win gives Bagley three O'Reilly SUPR Series victory and five top 5 series finishes to expand his points lead over Timothy Culp.

Bagley explained, "We are happy with the progress this team has shown throughout the year with our top 5's. There have been a couple of times lately, and I will take most of the blame for, for being out of focus and sometimes things just didn't work out our way on some nights. I have to sit down and regroup with myself during those times to help keep me focused or regain it. I think we will be better from this point on now, than when we were at the beginning of the year.

Notes: Bagley's Rocket Chassis race car is powered by a Wall 2 Wall Performance Engine and sponsored by P&W Sales & Oilfield Mfg., Mr. Frank Motorsports, 360 Motorsports, Southern Transport, MSI, J&J Motorsports, Outerwears, Club 29 and Hyperco.

Bagley is the only driver to win multiple super late model features at USA Speedway in Sterlington, Bagley has won three of seven total SLM events since the speedway opened in March 2010.

Bagley is also the first driver to win three SUPR Series races in-a-row at a single track, since all-time series win leader, Kenny Merchant, won three consecutive at Champion Park Speedway in April, May & August last season.

Bagley started last in his heat, but by lap two, he was already sitting in third place. With two to go in the heat, Bagley pressured Culp for first, but was unable to complete the last-to-first feat by just five lengths. The passing points system used by the series was good enough to reward Bagley with a pole position start for the feature.

Earlier in the week, Bagley thought he might be aided with the help of Darrell Lanigan crew chief, Randall Edwards, for the SUPR Series tripleheader, due to the passing of Lanigan's father Porter, last Saturday. The former World of Outlaws Series champion, laid his father to rest this past Wednesday in a funeral service held in Kentucky. Porter Lanigan, a member of the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame, was 78.

The 40-year old, Lanigan made a last minute decision to run a $2,000-to-win, American Late Model Series race on Sunday, to get seat time at Eldora Speedway for the upcoming Dream 100 on June 10th-11th. The decision cut into Bagley's plan of having direct experience from one of the sports most profound crew chiefs, but the east Texas driver still is poised on pushing forward to a O'Reilly SUPR Series championship, with another eye on the national level at some point.

"We like racing in the O'Reilly SUPR Series, it is a great group of guys here, we enjoy travelling up and down the road racing with them. We will always race with them, every opportunity we get since it is just about in our backyard. We want to support them, because it helped us get where we are at. At the end of the day, we are working on some stuff with a good friend and big sponsor of mine, Jim Beasley of 360 Motorsports, that is can hopefully be the steps away from getting us out there on the road more next season. We all work hard and everyone is excited and pumped about this team. We know we can go out on the road and run on the national level. It will be a humbling experience to do it, but you can't ever lay down or ever give up.

Certainly if we was to receive a checkbook and someone told us to run where we wanted to at the national level, we would run the World of Outlaws Late Model Series and park right next to that Club 29 crew. Every chance I can be next to Randall Edwards and get help from him, and him actually see me going around a racetrack, then I think it is beneficial to our team to learn from those guys hands-on. They have already been instrumental to us for information and help, but that of help would benefit me the most. No matter the series, Lucas Oil or World of Outlaws, they both have great racers and in order to be the best, you have to beat the best. We want to have an opportunity to beat all of them. The best idea for us, is to try to run the World of Outlaws and travel with Lanigan and Edwards. Then hopefully when we can get to where we beat Lanigan all the time, we will try our luck with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series.

We are pretty sure we will run in Oklahoma in July, when the World of Outlaws comes down to that area. It is financially easy for us to make that trip and go race. We look forward to bunching up with Darrell (Lanigan) and Randall (Edwards) and learn a bit. We may even go to Charlotte at the end of the year for the World of Outlaws race, just really whatever this schedule allows and is financially smart to do. Wherever my car owner, Wayman McMillian, will allow us to go to, then with good intentions, a handful of national shows may be possible this season," Bagley said.

The checkered flag flew on the 24-minute feature at 11:47 pm and was slowed by just two cautions.

B.J. Robinson added another solid performance with a second place finish at USA Speedway, which now marks Robinson's fourth straight top 10 finish that includes a $1,000 win at Jones Motor Speedway in Chatham. Robinson's two previous visits to USA Speedway, resulted in 17th and 15th place finishes.

Timothy Culp of West Monroe, La., entered the Friday race at USA Speedway, only trailing Bagley by 15 points in the series points standings. Although Culp won his heat race from the pole, netting him a 6th-starting position for the feature, he never found the combination to be a serious threat in the race. Culp slipped to an 11th-place finish and lost 49 points to Bagley. Culp finished second in his last two series appearances at USA Speedway.

Allen Tippen of Minden, La., had a string of four straight top 6 finishes snapped at USA Speedway, by falling to tenth. The 8th-starting Tippen decided to bring his older GRT Race Car and never was a factor on the rubbered up surface. Tippen remains third in SUPR points, but is now 112 back of leader Bagley.

Jon Mitchell of Texarkana, Tex., was the hard charger of the race, going from 16th-to-eighth.

Two more of the race's biggest movers, was Rookie of the Year contender, Derek Perkins of Oakdale, La., going from 15th-to-ninth and 14th-starting Doug Begnaud of Cypress, Tex., who finished 7th.

Defending SUPR Series champion, Rob Litton of Alexandria, La., had a lower right radius rod break after hitting some debris deposited on the track. At the time of the incident, Litton was running fourth in the feature, but was forced to retire to a 16th place finish.

Chris Holley of Dayton, Tex., ran a Erb Racing Team back-up car to a sixth place finish. Holley's familiar No. 28 race car is temporarily out of comission from engine woes suffered at Boothill Speedway three weeks ago. Holley climbed from 10th-starting spot, to a sixth place finish at USA Speedway.

Holley will bring the No. 77H back-up to Champion Park Speedway on Saturday night, the same car he won in at CPS almost two years ago.

Greenville Speedway super late model points leader, Mike Palasini, Jr of Leland, Miss., made the trip over to USA Speedway and led early in his heat race. Palasini earned a 12th-starting position in the feature, before being an early retiree and finishing 18th.

A-Main  
1 14M Morgan Bagley Tyler, TX
2 R5 B.J. Robinson Blanchard, LA
3 20S Kevin Sitton Baytown, TX
4 11C Jeff Chanler Minden, LA
5 10P Jody Prince Sibley, LA
6 77H Chris Holley Dayton, TX
7 1 Douglas Begnaud Cypress, TX
8 5M Jon Mitchell Texarkana, TX
9 22 Derek Perkins Oakdale, LA
10 71A Allen Tippen Minden, LA
11 C8 Timothy Culp W Monroe, LA
12 12M John Mark Mills West Monroe, LA
13 117 Wesley Chandler Minden, LA
14 02 Troy Berdan Minden, LA
15 11 David Mullins W Monroe, LA
16 6X Robert Litton Alexandria, LA
17 77C Kennith Crowe Port Allen, LA
18 8 Mike Palasini Leland, MS
19 21 Darin Patrick West Monroe, LA
20 1A Ronny Adams Greenwood, LA

B-Main  
1 117 Wesley Chandler Minden, LA
2 77C Kennith Crowe Port Allen, LA
3 12M John Mark Mills West Monroe, LA
4 02 Troy Berdan Minden, LA
5 2 Allen Murray San Antonio, TX
6 85 Curt Lipsey Albany, LA
7 23B Michael Jay Brunson Dubberly, LA
8 10 Jesse Dee Mills West Monroe, LA
9 84 Nicholas Brown Hodge, LA
10 74 Paul Joyner Laird Hill, TX
11 99 Nate Jantz Texas

Heat #1  
1 20S Kevin Sitton Baytown, TX
2 71A Allen Tippen Minden, LA
3 11 David Mullins W Monroe, LA
4 1 Douglas Begnaud Cypress, TX
5 77C Kennith Crowe Port Allen, LA
6 23B Michael Jay Brunson Dubberly, LA
7 02 Troy Berdan Minden, LA

Heat #2  
1 C8 Timothy Culp W Monroe, LA
2 14M Morgan Bagley Tyler, TX
3 77H Chris Holley Dayton, TX
4 22 Derek Perkins Oakdale, LA
5 12M John Mark Mills West Monroe, LA
6 84 Nicholas Brown Hodge, LA
7 74 Paul Joyner Laird Hill, TX

Heat #3  
1 R5 B.J. Robinson Blanchard, LA
2 10P Jody Prince Sibley, LA
3 1A Ronny Adams Greenwood, LA
4 5M Jon Mitchell Texarkana, TX
5 117 Wesley Chandler Minden, LA
6 2 Allen Murray San Antonio, TX
7 85 Curt Lipsey Albany, LA

Heat #4  
1 11C Jeff Chanler Minden, LA
2 6X Robert Litton Alexandria, LA
3 8 Mike Palasini Leland, MS
4 21 Darin Patrick West Monroe, LA
5 10 Jesse Dee Mills West Monroe, LA
6 99 Nate Jantz Texas