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Kevin Kovac
SHAWANO, Wisc. (August 4) - Billy Moyer was perfect in Wednesday night's blockbuster World of Outlaws Late Model Series event at Shawano Speedway.
Twenty-one years after falling short of victory in the national tour's only previous appearance at the half-mile fairgrounds oval, the three-time WoO LMS champion from Batesville, Ark., capped a sweep of the evening's action with a convincing win in the 50-lap A-Main that was run before a capacity crowd.
"To come out and set a track record (in time trials), win the heat and win the main - you can't do no better than that," said the 52-year-old Moyer, who dominated the first incarnation of the WoO LMS (1988-89) run under late WoO Sprint Car Series founder Ted Johnson but experienced a rare finish outside the top five in the tour's stop on June 5, 1989, at Shawano. "That's a storybook deal right there."
Moyer, who started second in his Victory Circle car, outran polesitter Brady Smith of Solon Springs, Wis., to turn one at the initial green flag and never relinquished the lead. He raced unchallenged for the entire distance, beating Smith to the finish line by a margin of 4.991 seconds - nearly a full straightaway - in a race that was slowed by a single caution flag on lap 23.
Smith, 33, held off repeated challenges from fourth-starter Jimmy Mars of Menomonie, Wis., to secure the runner-up payoff in his Team Zero by Bloomquist mount. Mars settled for third place in his MB Customs machine, followed by defending WoO LMS champion Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., and Shane Clanton of Fayetteville, Ga., both in Rocket cars. Richards slipped by Clanton for fourth with an outside move off turn four on lap 41 but didn't have enough time to catch Smith and Mars.
Moyer, who won a DIRTcar Summer Nationals event at Shawano in 2002, pushed his WoO LMS alltime-best career win total to 37 with his runaway triumph. He has registered 15 of his victories since 2004, when the tour was restarted under the World Racing Group banner following a 15-year hiatus.
"It was a lot fun there tonight," said Moyer, who earned $10,225 for his second win in nine WoO LMS starts this season. "When the car's working that good it's always a lot more fun than when you gotta work your butt off to get to the end.
"There were little flaws (in the car) there at times - it can always be better - but it got the job done. I'm real happy with the car and (Clements) engine combination we have right now."
With Moyer racing alone at the head of the pack, he had only a brief moment of trepidation while lapping WoO LMS rookie Austin Hubbard of Seaford, Del., on lap 44. The two cars got close enough in turn one to make Moyer's heart skip a beat.
"He changed his line just about the time I got behind him," Moyer said of Hubbard. "It wasn't a big deal. It seemed like my tires were a little bit better cold and the longer we ran we equaled out, so I didn't want to waste any time there (lapping Hubbard) because I felt like the tires were fading. I forced the issue a little bit to get going."
Moyer, whose other WoO LMS win in 2010 came in April's 'Illini 100' at Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway, got himself some momentum to take into this weekend's 23rd annual USA Nationals presented by United States Steel Corporation at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wis. He is a five-time winner of the $50,000-to-win event, which this year is part of the WoO LMS for the first time since 2005.
Both Smith and Mars, 38, hailed Moyer's performance. They spent the race in a personal battle for second place - not to mention the honor of their home state's fans.
"We didn't have nothing for Billy," said Smith, who had never before raced at Shawano. "He was just better than we were. I couldn't keep up with him.
"Jimmy and I raced our butts off for second and we're just glad we held him off. I just tried to hold my line, be smooth and not make a mistake."
Mars, who won the last WoO LMS event held in Wisconsin on July 8 at Superior Speedway, thought he might have had a faster car than Smith but simply couldn't find a way to sneak by his Badger State rival.
"I would've liked to have gotten into second and seen if we had anything for (Moyer)," said Mars. "But Brady did a good job. We had a couple shots there, but he did what he needed to do to hold me off."
Smith's second runner-up finish of the 2010 WoO LMS left him one spot short of a heartwarming victory. He was in search of a win for Reed Leupke of Bonduel, Wis., a 4-year-old Brady Smith fan who is battling leukemia. Leupke attended Wednesday's race with his parents and picked the pole position in the pre-feature draw for Smith, who earlier this year gave Leupke a tour of his race shop.
Brian Birkhofer of Musatine, Iowa, started and finished sixth after his mid-race attempts to overtake Richards were rebuffed. Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., made a solid charge from the 16th starting spot to place seventh after finding a unique line around the tricky track that allowed him to pick up four spots during the race's second half. Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., saw his streak of nine consecutive top-three finishes snapped with a quiet eighth-place run, while Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., and Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., rounded out the top 10.
Shawano standout Nick Anvelink of Navarino, Wis., finished 12th, earning the $500 'Bonus Bucks' cash for being the highest-finishing driver who hasn't won a WoO LMS A-Main and wasn't ranked among the top 12 in the points standings.
The race's lone caution flag, on lap 23, was put out after Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., slowed with oil-pressure problems in his new engine. He retired to the pit area, finishing 22nd.
Moyer established a new track record during the 32-car Ohlins Shocks Time Trials session, lapping the big track in 19.630 seconds to overtake the standard of 19.800 seconds held since 2003 by Darren Miller. It was Moyer's first fast-time on the tour this season - and ironically, he was also the fast-timer for the only previous WoO LMS event run at Shawano in 1989.
Heat winners were Moyer, Richards, Brady Smith and Mars. The B-Mains were captured by A.J. Diemel of Bonduel, Wis., and Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., who fell from a heat-race transfer spot when his car's left-front suspension broke with two laps remaining.
The WoO LMS moves to the western side of Wisconsin for the remainder of the week to headline the 23rd annual USA Nationals presented by U.S. Steel on Aug. 5-7 at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond. A $50,000 top prize will be on the line in Saturday night's 100-lap event, which carries a purse of over a quarter-million dollars.
Details and ticket information on the USA Nationals is available by logging on to www.cedarlakespeedway.com.
For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.
Results of WoO Late Model Series at Shawano Speedway (Finishing Position/Start/Driver/Laps Completed/Money Won):
1. (2) Billy Moyer/50 $10,225
2. (1) Brady Smith/50 $5,000
3. (4) Jimmy Mars/50 $3,000
4. (3) Josh Richards/50 $3,100
5. (5) Shane Clanton/50 $2,500
6. (6) Brian Birkhofer/50 $1,700
7. (16) Tim McCreadie/50 $2,000
8. (12) Darrell Lanigan/50 $1,900
9. (8) Steve Francis/50 $1,800
10. (10) Tim Fuller/50 $1,600
11. (7) Rick Eckert/50 $1,550
12. (13) Nick Anvelink/50 $1,500
13. (18) Chub Frank/50 $1,450
14. (19) Terry Anvelink/50 $950
15. (14) Don O'Neal/50 $850
16. (9) Dennis Erb Jr./50 $800
17. (15) Austin Hubbard/49 $1,520
18. (17) A.J. Diemel/49 $750
19. (24) Jill George/29 $730
20. (22) Chris Oertel/24 $700
21. (23) Brent Robinson/23 $1,200
22. (11) Clint Smith/22 $1,225
23. (20) Ronny Lee Hollingsworth/22 $700
24. (21) Russell King/11 $1,200
Time of Race: 22 Mins., 03.638 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 4.991 Secs.
Yellow Flags: 1 (Lap 23)
Lap Leaders: Moyer (1-50)
Provisional Starters: Robinson, George
Rookie of the Race: Hubbard ($250)
WoO LMS 'Bonus Bucks' Winner: N. Anvelink ($500)
Ohlins Shocks Time Trial Results (Position/No./Driver/Hometown/Best Lap):
1. 21-Billy Moyer/Batesville, AR 19.630
2. 19-Tim Fuller/Watertown, NY 19.631
3. 15-Steve Francis/Ashland, KY 19.634
4. 29-Darrell Lanigan/Union, KY 19.646
5. 15b-Brian Birkhofer/Muscatine, IA 19.694
6. 1-Josh Richards/Shinnston, WV 19.876
7. 18-Ronny Lee Hollingsworth/Northport, AL 19.893
8. 28M-Jimmy Mars/Menomonie, WI 20.053
9. 28E-Dennis Erb Jr./Carpentersville, IL 20.099
10. 1d-Don O'Neal/Martinsville, IN 20.110
11. 2-Brady Smith/Solon Springs, WI 20.115
12. 3-Brent Robinson/Smithfield, VA 20.158
13. 58-A.J. Diemel/Bonduel, WI 20.224
14. 24-Rick Eckert/York, PA 20.266
15. 1*-Chub Frank/Bear Lake, PA 20.357
16. 25-Shane Clanton/Fayetteville, GA 20.368
17. 15A-Nick Anvelink/Navarino, WI 20.376
18. 25H-Kerry Hansen/Spencer, WI 20.397
19. 19H-Austin Hubbard/Seaford, DE 20.414
20. 39-Tim McCreadie/Watertown, NY 20.426
21. 22-Jill George/Cedar Falls, IA 20.451
22. 56-Russell King/Bristolville, OH 20.572
23. 44-Clint Smith/Senoia, GA 20.905
24. 51-Chris Oertel/Marshfield, WI 20.945
25. 8-Robert Cullen/Chilton, WI 21.084
26. 66-Ron Berna/Abrams, WI 21.156
27. 57-Mark Mitchell/Bonduel, WI 21.171
28. 1b-Doug Blashe/Marion, WI 21.368
29. 32-Terry Anvelink/Navarino, WI 21.399
30. 21F-Todd Frank/Seymour, WI 21.447
31. 24N-Gary Nelson/Shawano, WI 21.724
32. 42-Todd Casper/Gresham, WI 22.296
Heat No. 1 (10 laps - Top 4 Transfer): Moyer, Birkhofer, Erb, N. Anvelink, Diemel, T. Anvelink, Cullen, George
Heat No. 2 (10 laps - Top 4 Transfer): Richards, Eckert, Fuller, O'Neal, Berna, Hansen, T. Frank, King
Heat No. 3 (10 laps - Top 4 Transfer): B. Smith, Francis, C. Smith, Hubbard, C. Frank, Hollingsworth, Mitchell, Nelson
Heat No. 4 (10 laps - Top 4 Transfer): Mars, Clanton, Lanigan, McCreadie, Oertel, Robinson, Blashe, Casper
B-Main No. 1 (12 laps - Top 3 Transfer): Diemel, T. Anvelink, King, Berna, George, Cullen, Hansen (DNS) T. Frank
B-Main No. 2 (12 laps - Top 3 Transfer): C. Frank, Hollingsworth, Oertel, Robinson, Mitchell, Blashe, Nelson, Casper
2010 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Point Standings as of Aug. 4 - 34 A-Mains completed (rank/driver/points/deficit to leader):
1. Josh Richards 4594
2. Darrell Lanigan 4558 (-36)
3. Tim McCreadie 4546 (-48)
4. Steve Francis 4412 (-182)
5. Shane Clanton 4334 (-260)
6. Austin Hubbard 4282 (-312)
7. Rick Eckert 4276 (-318)
8. Tim Fuller 4240 (-354)
9. Chub Frank 4124 (-470)
10. Clint Smith 4066 (-528)
11. Russell King 3822 (-772)
12. Brent Robinson 3470 (-1124)
13. Brady Smith 2932 (-1662)
14. Jill George 2610 (-1984)
15. Brian Birkhofer 1704 (-2890)
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