|
Kevin Kovac
CONCORD, N.C. (October 30) - Southern stars Jimmy Owens and Dale McDowell shared the spotlight on Thursday night, grabbing fast-time honors in the two rounds of World of Outlaws Late Model Series time trials that opened the second annual VAULT World Finals at The Dirt Track @ Lowe's Motor Speedway.
A field of 78 dirt Late Models jammed the pit area for the blockbuster doubleheader, which also attracted 47 machines for the companion Advance Auto Parts Sprint Car Series meet.
Owens, 36, of Newport, Tenn., controlled the first round of time trials, roaring around the four-tenths-mile oval in 14.825 seconds to earn his first WoO LMS fast-time honor of 2008. The performance behind the wheel of Mike Reece's Bloomquist Chassis car gained him the pole position starting spot for the first VAULT World Finals heat race on Friday night.
McDowell, 42, of Chickamauga, Ga., denied Owens a sweep of the qualifying night, topping the second round of time trials with a lap of 14.832 seconds. The former WoO LMS regular will start Sanford Goddard's Warrior Chassis house car from the pole position in the first heat on Saturday night after nipping Owens, whose lap of 14.945 seconds left him just short of duplicating the double fast-time accomplishment turned in by Steve Shaver of Vienna, W.Va., during last year's World Finals.
Owens's powerful evening helped him erase memories of a frustrating outing in the previous night's WoO LMS Armour Vienna Sausage Showdown. After his primary car was sidelined by terminal engine problems during heat action, Owens jumped in his backup machine to start the 50-lap A-Main thanks to a fast-time provisional but was the first retiree.
McDowell, meanwhile, was strong for the second consecutive night. He backed up a third-place finish in the Showdown and appears primed to chase his first WoO LMS victory since Sept. 23, 2005, at Kentucky Lake Motor Speedway in Calvert City, Ky.
Thursday's first round of time trials set the lineups for Friday night's heats, while the second round of qualifying was used to align Saturday night's heats.
WoO LMS points leader Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., earned a pole position starting spot in a Friday-night heat and an outside-pole start in a Saturday-night prelim with his steady qualifying laps of fifth and eighth. He will clinch his first career WoO LMS championship by starting Friday night's 50-lap A-Main.
Thursday night's program concluded with the 'Breaking the VAULT' dashes - a series of nine match races among the top-five drivers in the WoO LMS points standings and five of the fastest qualifiers from the evening. The winner of each lap-and-a-half dash earned $300 and had the opportunity to select his next opponent, building the drama to a final two-and-a-half-lap 'championship' race that was captured by Don O'Neal of Martinsville, Ind.
Lanigan made a bid to sweep the dashes, ripping off five straight wins by defeating in succession Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., McDowell, Josh McGuire of Grayson, Ky., Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., and Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga. But Lanigan's run ended with $1,500 in earnings after Owens knocked him off in Round 6.
Owens pocketed only one $300 win before falling in Round 7 to O'Neal, who proceeded to defeat Earl Pearson Jr. of Jacksonville, Fla., in Round 8 and Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., in the extended-distance finale. O'Neal earned a total of $1,600 for his efforts in the Rattliff Motorsports mount.
O'Neal is scheduled to start from the pole position in heat action on both Friday and Saturday night. His time was second-fastest in the first round and third-fastest in the second round.
"Hopefully we can start off the heat race tomorrow night better than we did last year," said O'Neal, recalling the wild flip during last year's Friday-night World Finals heat competition that left him with a weekend-ending concussion.
The Integra Shocks 'Crew Chief Challenge' scheduled for the end of Thursday night's program was canceled due to the falling temperatures. The competition will be rescheduled to take place during February's Alltel DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla.
The VAULT World Finals continue on Friday and Saturday, with hot laps scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. and racing set to take the green flag at 6:30 p.m.
Saturday night's VAULT World Finals program will be televised live by the SPEED cable network from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET, and Friday night's action will taped for broadcast on SPEED on Sat., Nov. 8, from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET.
Round 1 Time Trial Results For Fri., Oct. 31 Heat Races (Position/No./Driver/Hometown/Best Lap):
1. 20-Jimmy Owens/Newport, TN 14.825
2. 71-Don O'Neal/Martinsville, IN 14.943
3. 44P-Earl Pearson Jr./Jacksonville, FL 14.954
4. 1-Josh Richards/Shinnston, WV 15.054
5. 29-Darrell Lanigan/Union, KY 15.059
6. 41-Josh McGuire/Grayson, KY 15.075
7. 7M-Matt Miller/Waterville, OH 15.080
8. 24-Rick Eckert/York, PA 15.096
9. 25-Shane Clanton/Locust Grove, GA 15.098
10. 44M-Chris Madden/Gaffney, SC 15.115
11. 1G-Dale McDowell/Chickamauga, GA 15.137
12. 0-Scott Bloomquist/Mooresburg, TN 15.165
13. 30-Steve Shaver/Vienna, WV 15.179
14. 99-Donnie Moran/Dresden, OH 15.215
15. 24M-Jeremy Miller/Gettysburg, PA 15.216
16. 18-Shannon Babb/Moweaqua, IL 15.247
17. 45-Ricky Elliott/Seaford, DE 15.259
18. 75-Jonathan Davenport/Blairsville, GA 15.261
19. 19-Steve Francis/Ashland, KY 15.290
20. 55-Jeep VanWormer/Pinconning, MI 15.297
21. 17d-Davey Johnson/Latrobe, PA 15.307
22. 39-Tim McCreadie/Watertown, NY 15.311
23. 6W-Ricky Weeks/Rutherfordton, NC 15.327
24. 12B-Jordan Bland/Campbellsville, KY 15.328
25. s9-Dan Schlieper/Sullivan, WI 15.369
26. 19T-Tim Fuller/Watertown, NY 15.380
27. 1*-Chub Frank/Bear Lake, PA 15.390
28. 20R-Chad Ruhlman/Beemus Point, NY 15.412
29. 2J-Jeff Rine/Danville, PA 15.423
30. 3A-Austin Dillon/Welcome, NC 15.447
31. 5E-Michael England/Glasgow, KY 15.452
32. 15d-Dean Bowen/Whiteville, NC 15.453
33. 5R-Justin Rattliff/Campbellsville, KY 15.466
34. 00K-Randy Korte/Highland, IL 15.472
35. 18M-Jeff Smith/Gastonia, NC 15.482
36. 44-Clint Smith/Senoia, GA 15.494
37. 28-Eddie Carrier Jr./Salt Rock, WV 15.513
38. 3s-Brian Shirley/Chatham, IL 15.514
39. 44L-Justin Labonte/Trinity, NC 15.526
40. 22F-Chris Ferguson/Mount Holly, NC 15.527
41. 21d-Dan Stone/Thompson, PA 15.557
42. 17A-Tim Allen/Kannapolis, NC 15.558
43. 18E-Eric Wells/Hazard, KY 15.568
44. 1c-Wayne Chinn/Tipp City, OH 15.582
45. 6T-Tim Dohm/Cross Lanes, WV 15.592
46. 11-Austin Hubbard/Seaford, DE 15.594
47. E1-Mike Balzano/Parkersburg, WV 15.595
48. 54-G.R. Smith/Cornelius, NC 15.636
49. 32c-Vic Coffey/Leicester, NY 15.637
50. 4T-Tommy Kerr/Maryville, TN 15.639
51. 3c-Chesley Dixon/Swainsboro, GA 15.654
52. 5J-Eric Jacobsen/Sea Cliff Beach, CA 15.655
53. 11H-Jackie Boggs/Grayson, KY 15.658
54. 20J-Jerry Bowersock/Wapakoneta, OH 15.698
55. 53-Ray Cook/Brasstown, NC 15.699
56. 22G-Gregg Satterlee/Rochester Mills, PA 15.701
57. H1-Jared Miley/South Park, PA 15.702
58. 00H-Chuck Harper/Beverly, WV 15.724
59. 7J-Jeff Isabell Sr./Pennellville, NY 15.730
60. 9K-Mike Knight/Ripley, NY 15.772
61. A1-Duke Whiseant/Texarkana, AR 15.836
62. 16c-Curt Spalding/Hartford, MI 15.912
63. 4F-Jeremy Faircloth/Swainsboro, GA 15.954
64. 16-Tony Izzo Jr./Yutica, IL 16.072
65. 22J-Jill George/Cedar Falls, IA 16.179
66. L8-Norman Short Jr./Georgetown, DE 16.221
67. 18W-Rick Whaley/Millsboro, DE 16.326
68. 17J-John Winge/Riggold, GA 16.333
69. 57-Wes Burton/Kannapolis, NC 16.576
70. s2-Bruce Hall/North Wilkesboro, NC 16.652
71. 7JR-Jeff Isabell Jr./Pennellville, NY 16.672
72. 00M-Rob McLaughlin/Stanley, NC 16.744
73. 0H-Lewis Hudson II/Waynesboro, VA 17.885
74. 27F-Ben Faircloth/Swainsboro, GA N/T
75. 31-Bob Gordon/Keyser, WV N/T
76. 32r-Jim Rasey/Southington, OH N/T
77. 27J-Danny Johnson/Phelps, NY 15.291 (DQ - light)
78. 6J-Joe Isabell/Pennellville, NY 16.019 (DQ - light)
Round 2 Time Trial Results For Sat., Nov. 1 Heat Races (Position/No./Driver//Best Lap):
1. Dale McDowell 14.832
2. Jimmy Owens 14.945
3. Don O'Neal 15.045
4. Davey Johnson 15.091
5. Shannon Babb 15.095
6. Shane Clanton 15.101
7. Donnie Moran 15.109
8. Darrell Lanigan 15.127
9. Chris Madden 15.149
10. Tim Fuller 15.163
11. Tim McCreadie 15.169
12. Tony Izzo Jr. 15.187
13. Danny Johnson 15.219
14. Josh Richards 15.221
15. Chub Frank 15.261
16. Steve Shaver 15.265
17. Dan Schlieper 15.270
18. Matt Miller 15.280
19. Josh McGuire 15.292
20. Steve Francis 15.301
21. Mike Balzano 15.306
22. Michael England 15.323
23. Ricky Weeks 15.333
24. Jonathan Davenport 15.342
25. Vic Coffey 15.350
26. Rick Eckert 15.380
27. Ricky Elliott 15.387
28. G.R. Smith 15.395
29. Jeremy Miller 15.437
30. Earl Pearson Jr.15.448
31. Eric Jacobsen 15.461
32. Eric Wells 15.468
33. Jared Miley 15.473
34. Clint Smith 15.475
35. Scott Bloomquist 15.497
36. Dan Stone 15.499
37. Jeff Rine 15.508
38. Tommy Kerr 15.541
39. Jeff Smith 15.575
40. Tim Allen 15.590
41. Eddie Carrier Jr. 15.604
42. Chad Ruhlman 15.609
43. Austin Hubbard 15.630
44. Ray Cook 15.641
45. Mike Knight 15.643
46. Austin Dillon 15.694
47. Justin Rattliff 15.715
48. Jeff Isabell Sr. 15.737
49. Chuck Harper 15.743
50. Jerry Bowersock 15.765
51. Chris Ferguson 15.768
52. Duke Whiseant 15.770
53. Jackie Boggs 15.791
54. Wayne Chinn 15.794
55. Jordan Bland 15.795
56. Jeremy Faircloth 15.830
57. Jeep VanWormer 15.836
58. Curt Spalding 15.902
59. Brian Shirley 15.905
60. Dean Bowen 15.929
61. Wes Burton 15.941
62. Randy Korte 15.966
63. Justin Labonte 15.999
64. Chesley Dixon 16.009
65. Rick Whaley 16.047
66. Joe Isabell 16.208
67. Jeff Isabell Jr. 16.241
68. Jill George 16.339
69. John Winge 16.351
70. Norman Short Jr. 16.666
71. Bruce Hall N/T
72. Tim Dohm N/T
73. Ben Faircloth N/T
74. Bob Gordon N/T
75. Lewis Hudson N/T
76. Gregg Satterlee 15.641 (DQ - light)
Results of 'Breaking the VAULT' Match Races:
Round 1: Darrell Lanigan ($300) defeats Chub Frank
Round 2: Lanigan ($300) defeats Dale McDowell
Round 3: Lanigan ($300) defeats Josh McGuire
Round 4: Lanigan ($300) defeats Steve Francis
Round 5: Lanigan ($300) defeats Shane Clanton
Round 6: Jimmy Owens ($300) defeats Lanigan
Round 7: Don O'Neal ($300) defeats Owens
Round 8: O'Neal ($300) defeats Earl Pearson Jr.
Round 9: O'Neal ($1,000) defeats Josh Richards
|
