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For much of the distance it appeared that Moyer might finally be mortal. He fell to fifth at the start, then spent nearly three-quarters of the event trying to pass Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., for third.
After Brian Birkhofer of Muscatine, Iowa, who surged from the fifth starting spot to take the lead from Frank on lap 10 and ultimately built the race's largest edge, saw his bid end on lap 50 because he caught a turn-four rut wrong and spun into the wall, Moyer could only watch as Babb completed his march from the rear by passing Francis for the top spot. Moyer was simply too busy with Frank.
"Chub dealt me fits more than anybody on the track," said Moyer, who set a new track record of 11.973 seconds around the quarter-mile oval on Friday night. "It was a hundred-lapper, so I was just trying to be there for the end. But I knew I had a pretty good car if I could ever get by (Frank), and I just couldn't do it for the longest time.
"It seemed like whenever I'd go low, he'd go low, and whenever I'd go high, he'd go high. I just couldn't get in position to get by him like the other guys did."
Moyer finally overtook Frank for third on lap 74 - the same circuit that Babb ended Francis's quick one-lap stint back in front. Moyer secured second place on lap 82 when he executed a 'slider' on Francis between turns one and two - Francis checked up to avoid hitting Moyer and lost ground, but he held on to third - and almost immediately caught Babb.
After being unable to keep the lead when he nipped Babb at the line on lap 85, Moyer was concerned that the race's 10th and final caution flag, on lap 88 for a flat tire on Frank's car, might do him in.
"I didn't want to see that yellow, because (Babb's) crew guys were telling him where I was at on the track," said Moyer, who opted to run four 30-compound Hoosier tires under the event's UMP DIRTcar 10-20-30-40 rule. "He kinda took my line on the restart, so I had to drive by the seat of my pants.
"At the end I went back down to the bottom. He probably should've stayed there, but he went up (higher) searching around (for traction) and I was able to get a run on him (for the lead coming to the white flag). I don't know if I would've beat him if he had stayed down there."
Babb, who won last year's WoO LMS event at Farmer City, mourned a final sprint to the finish that was a couple laps too long for him.
"I figured (Moyer) probably wasn't good in the stop-and-go deal on the bottom, so I took his line a little bit (after the last restart)," said Babb, who ran three 20-compound tires with a hard 40-compound shoe on the right-rear. "But 12 laps to go was a little bit too long. I was soft on the left-rear (tire), and it kinda died on me. It was good for about five laps and then I had to search (for more traction)."
Babb nearly found enough bite with an inside charge through turns three and four on the final lap, but he fell short by a matter of feet.
"I turned off of four and had good traction, but he barely beat me to the line," said Babb. "It's hard to make up a car length when your cars are equal."
With the venerable fairground track's standing-room-only crowd charged up by the exciting finish, Babb rehashed their battle in Victory Lane.
"I just told him, 'Congratulations,'" said Babb. "He's a tough old fart. He's gonna keep beating us up as long as he can."
Moyer has won multiple races at Farmer City over the years, including the 2006 WoO LMS event, but he knows he earned his money in the 'Illini 100.'
"It was fun tonight," said Moyer, the current WoO LMS points leader. "This is home for (Babb). I knew he'd run good here. On that (one-way) radio when (the officials) gave the lineups, I kept hearing him getting up through there, and I was like, 'He's coming.'
"You gotta run good here to beat him."
Finishing in positions 6-10 was Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., who maintained second place in the WoO LMS points standings; Rick Eckert of York, Pa., who debuted a new Rayburn car; Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., who used a provisional to start the A-Main; Steve Sheppard Jr. of New Berlin, Ill., who recovered from pit stops to change flat tires on laps 32 and 52; and Darren Miller of Chadwick, Ill.
The program began with twin B-Mains won by Babb and McCreadie.
Jason Feger of Bloomington, Ill., earned $1,000 for winning the 25-lap Non-Qualifiers Race, which paid out Farmer City's regular Friday-night UMP DIRTcar Super Late Model purse.
The WoO LMS returns to action on Fri., April 11, at Virginia Motor Speedway in Jamaica, Va.
Results of WoO Late Model Series 'Illini 100' (Finishing Position/Start/Driver/Laps Completed/Money Won):
1. (3) Billy Moyer/100 $20,150
2. (19) Shannon Babb/100 $10,100
3. (1) Steve Francis/100 $6,000
4. (20) Tim McCreadie/100 $5,000
5. (17) Wes Steidinger/100 $4,500
6. (6) Josh Richards/100 $3,000
7. (12) Rick Eckert/100 $2,750
8. (23) Darrell Lanigan/100 $2,500
9. (8) Steve Sheppard Jr./100 $2,300
10. (10) Darren Miller/100 $2,100
11. (13) Shane Clanton/100 $1,900
12. (2) Chub Frank/100 $1,800
13. (16) Jeep VanWormer/100 $1,700
14. (14) Clint Smith/99 $1,650
15. (24) John Blankenship/99 $1,600
16. (11) Dennis Erb Jr./86 $1,580
17. (9) Tim Fuller/78 $1,560
18. (18) Ryan Dauber/66 $1,540
19. (4) Brian Shirley/62 $1,520
20. (5) Brian Birkhofer/52 $1,500
21. (15) Brady Smith/50 $1,500
22. (22) Kevin Weaver/42 $1,500
23. (10) Chris Simpson/21 $1,500
24. (21) Tim Lance/12 $1,500
NOTE: Shannon Babb was penalized to the rear of the field for the start because he changed tires after reporting to the track for the lineup, and Ryan Dauber, Tim Lance, Kevin Weaver and John Blankenship were penalized to the rear for reporting late to the lineup
Yellow Flags: 10 (Laps 5, 14, 26, 32, 45, 50, 52, 62, 80, 88)
Lap Leaders: Frank (1-9); Birkhofer (10-50); Francis (51-54); Babb (55-72); Francis (73); Babb (74-84); Moyer (85); Babb (86-98); Moyer (99-100)
Provisional Starters: Darrell Lanigan, John Blankenship
Rookie of the Race: Vic Coffey ($250)
WoO LMS 'Bonus Bucks' Winner: Wes Steidinger ($500)
Integra Shocks Crew Chief of the Race ($100): Steve Norris (Moyer)
Chick Hawk Racing Hot Lap Award: Chub Frank (half-off tire warmers)
B-Main No. 1 (12 laps - Top 2 Transfer): 1. Shannon Babb, 2. Tim Lance, 3. John Blankenship, 4. Scott Bull, 5. Eric Smith, 6. Donny Walden, 7. Danny Johnson, 8. B.J. McCammon, 9. Joe Isabell, 10. Junior Shickel, 11. Brandon Sheppard, 12. Mike Petersak, 13. Darrell Lanigan
B-Main No. 2 (12 laps - Top 2 Transfer): 1. Tim McCreadie, 2. Kevin Weaver, 3. Matt Taylor, 4. Jason Feger, 5. Vic Coffey, 6. Ted Loomis, 7. Jimmy Dehm, 8. Chris Dick, 9. Jeremy Conaway, 10. Russ Adams, 11. Daren Friedman, 12. John Rogers, 13. Ryan Unzicker
Drivers Not Starting B-Mains: Jordan Bland, Cory Daugherty, Jayme Zidar, Kyle Logue, Tony Izzo Jr., Richie Hedrick, Rich Bell, Ace Ihm, Jill George, Joe Harlan
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