Razor-Close Battle For $100,000 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Points Title Heads Down Homestretch
Former Champs Lanigan, Richards & McCreadie Ready For Dramatic Showdown
CONCORD, NC - Aug. 30, 2010 - Eight more races. Three former champions. One big prize.
The dramatic battle for the 2010 World of Outlaws Late Model Series points title heads into its homestretch this week, visiting Mohawk International Raceway in Akwesasne, N.Y., on Wednesday night (Sept. 1) and Tri-City Speedway in Franklin, Pa., on Saturday and Sunday (Sept. 4-5) for three events that will loom large in determining the driver who cashes the $100,000 champion’s check at season’s end.
Entering Mohawk’s rain-postponed 100-lap ‘Battle At Eastern Door,’ 2008 champ Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., leads the WoO LMS points standings by a scant two-point margin over defending titlist Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., with 38 of 46 scheduled events completed. Also still firmly in the hunt is 2006 champion Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., who sits 46 points behind Lanigan in third place.
The points race is shaping up as one of the closest in the history of the WoO LMS – a thrilling showdown between three full-fender superstars, each aiming to become the first driver to win a second title since the national tour was reincarnated in 2004 under the World Racing Group banner.
“It looks like the points are gonna go right down to the last night (the World Finals on Nov. 4-6 at The Dirt Track at Charlotte) again this year,” said Richards, the 22-year-old sensation who won last year’s championship by 14 points over Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky. “We’d much rather have a big, comfortable lead and just race the rest of the year not having to think about points, but this is what we’re facing. It’s gonna be nerve-racking for all of us, but it’ll be exciting for the fans.”
Lanigan, 40, is carrying the most momentum into this week’s critical swing, which includes the last extra-distance, $20,000-to-win event of 2010 and a pair of 50-lap A-Mains that comprise Tri-City’s sixth annual ‘Oil Region Labor Day Classic.’ He just grabbed the points lead for the first time this season in the tour’s last stop, using a fourth-place finish on Aug. 24 at Brewerton (N.Y.) Speedway to overtake Richards, who placed 11th after struggling with an incorrect tire-compound choice.
The change at the top of the WoO LMS standings came after an epic month-and-a-half-long run by Lanigan, who was on the verge of falling out of the title conversation when he found himself saddled with a 78-point deficit to Richards following the July 3 event at Tazewell (Tenn.) Speedway. Lanigan responded with an amazing comeback, accumulating five wins, four seconds, two thirds and a fourth-place finish over the next 14 A-Mains to hop past both McCreadie and Richards.
But even with his confidence soaring, the preternaturally low-key Lanigan refuses to discuss the WoO LMS points race in any detail. He’s just trying to go with the flow.
“We’re just gonna keep trying to win races,” said Lanigan, who has captured five of the last 10 A-Mains to run his 2010 checkered flag total to a single-season career-high total of six, tying him with Richards as this year’s winningest driver. “We’re thinking about the points, but we don’t want to worry about them. We’ve got our car working real good right now and we just want to keep rolling.”
Richards, of course, hasn’t blown the points lead; Lanigan has simply snatched it with an impeccable stretch of success. While Richards has won only once in the last 18 races after emerging victorious five times in the season’s first 20 A-Mains, he’s regularly finished among the top five during Lanigan’s hot streak.
“We’ve been running good, but Darrell’s been running better,” said Richards, who had led the points standings for 25 consecutive races before being supplanted by Lanigan. “We’re aggravated that we lost the lead, but at least we still have a shot. There’s time left. We just have to work harder and get our car better.”
There’s no panic in the cool, calm Richards. He’s been in this situation before – almost exactly one year ago, in fact, when a subpar outing in the finale of Tri-City’s ‘Oil Region Labor Day Classic’ cost him the points lead to Francis. The youngster proved his mettle by rallying to beat Francis for the title in the season-ending World Finals.
“After last year, we know it’s not over because we lost the lead,” said Richards, who has held at least a share of the points lead after 31 of this season’s 38 events. “Hey, Darrell may just run away with it the way he’s been running, but we’re not gonna give up. All of us have had our runs this year – Darrell, McCreadie, us. Hopefully we can get on another one to end the year strong.”
It’s been nearly two months since the 36-year-old McCreadie held hottest-driver status on the WoO LMS, so he needs to heat up – quickly – if he’s going to claim the championship in his first season as a tour regular since he captured the crown in 2006. Since capping a stretch of three wins in five starts with a ‘Gopher 50’ triumph on July 7 at Minnesota’s Deer Creek Speedway that pulled him within 16 points of Richards in the standings, McCreadie has gone winless and slipped 46 points behind.
McCreadie was especially frustrated at the end of last week’s WoO LMS Northeast swing, which was dotted with tracks where he ran well during his DIRTcar big-block and 358-Modified days. He registered a third-place finish on Aug. 23 at Quebec’s Autodrome Drummond but struggled in two other events, leaving him treading water rather than closing the gap in the points chase.
“We’re just not running good enough – we haven’t in awhile,” said McCreadie, who owns four victories in 2010 and has held at least a share of the points lead after five events (he was tied twice with Richards). “Somehow we’re still not out of it (the points battle), but we have to get better.”
McCreadie should be in position to make some headway on Wednesday night in Mohawk’s ‘Battle At Eastern Door.’ A second-place finish in a heat race on Aug. 20 will let him draw for a starting spot in the first three rows of the richest dirt Late Model event ever run in the state of New York. Lanigan will also draw for a top-spot starting slot (he won a heat on qualifying night), while Richards is already set to start 10th after finishing fourth in a prelim on Aug. 20.
As for the half-mile Tri-City Speedway, all three championship contenders will be shooting for their first career WoO LMS victory in one of the $10,000-to-win 50-lappers that are part of the ‘Oil Region Labor Day Classic.’ Lanigan has come closest to paydirt at Tri-City, leading the second A-Main in 2006 until tangling with a lapped car on the final lap and tumbling to an eighth-place finish; he also scored a runner-up finish in last year’s ‘Classic’ finale. Richards, meanwhile, has personal-best Tri-City finishes of second (2006 and 2009), while McCreadie has finished as high as fourth (2008) and never worse than eighth in seven career WoO LMS starts at the track.
For more information on Mohawk International Raceway and Tri-City Speedway:
* Mohawk International Raceway on Wed., Sept. 1: Visit www.MohawkInternationalRaceway.com or call 518-358-3225.
* Tri-City Speedway on Sat., Sept. 4, and Sun., Sept. 5: Visit www.tricityspeedway.com or call 814-676-3000.
Additional information on the WoO LMS is available by logging on to www.worldofoutlaws.com.
2010 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Point Standings as of Aug. 24 – 38 A-Mains completed
1. Darrell Lanigan 5060
2. Josh Richards 5058
3. Tim McCreadie 5014
4. Steve Francis 4872
5. Shane Clanton 4794
6. Rick Eckert 4766
7. Austin Hubbard 4718
8. Tim Fuller 4684
9. Chub Frank 4582
10. Clint Smith 4530
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World of Outlaws Late Model Series News & Notes: Elliott Breaks Through With Unique New Team & Other Memorable Moments From Northeast Swing
CONCORD, NC - Aug. 27, 2010 -
FINALLY: A unique new dirt Late Model team provided Ricky Elliott the magic he needed to end a long pursuit of victory on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series.
While earning a reputation as one of the top regional threats to win a WoO LMS A-Main since he began entering selected events late in the 2004 season, Elliott had continually fallen short – sometimes just short – of an Outlaw checkered flag driving for car owners such as Lou Johnson, Butch Warrington, Charles Jarvis, Joe Beyea, the late Jack Starrette and, this year, himself. But on Tuesday night at Brewerton (N.Y.) Speedway, the former DIRTcar big-block Modified regular from Seaford, Del., broke through for his first career WoO LMS triumph in his third start behind the wheel of the Super Deuce Racing Rocket.
Who could have predicted such a quick ascension to Victory Lane for Elliott, 44, and the Super Deuce team, an operation fielded by a consortium of four friends from the Indianapolis area and Beyea, who operates Beyea’s Custom Headers in Genoa, N.Y.? After all, it consists of just one 2007-vintage car, one Custom engine and a modest enclosed trailer and truck – and Elliott is basically a place-setter for the team, which wanted an experienced hand to shake down the No. 2 machine before former IRL and USAC star Andy Michener assumed its controls as planned.
But at least one person had little doubt about the team’s prospects for success: Elliott, who landed the ride thanks to his previous relationship with Beyea and Super Deuce crew chief Randy Kisacky, a well-known DIRTcar big-block Modified mechanic from Johnson City, N.Y., who has dabbled with dirt Late Model racing in recent years. Elliott felt a special chemistry around the team as soon as they debuted together in a WoO LMS event on June 20 at Cornwall (Ont.) Motor Speedway and it only grew stronger last week, when he returned to the seat for the Outlaws’ Northeast swing after the team sat idle for a two-month span during which Michener’s expected late-July debut didn’t materialize because he was busy starting a new job.
“The more we race, the better this team gets,” said Elliott, whose outings prior to Brewerton included a 14th at Cornwall, a third on Aug. 19 at Rolling Wheels Raceway in Elbridge, N.Y., and a second-place heat finish on Aug. 20 at Mohawk International Raceway in Akwesasne, N.Y. (Mohawk’s 100 ‘Battle At Eastern Door’ was postponed by rain to Wed., Sept. 1). “Randy Kisacky and Mark Zekalowski (a mechanic who helps Elliott) are working so well together to get this car dialed in. I don’t have to worry about thinking about setting the car up – I’m just giving them the feedback and they’re making engineering moves on it. It takes a lot of pressure off me and lets me concentrate on driving.”
The primary figure behind Super Deuce Racing is team manager/principal owner Leo Milus, a 52-year-old health care IT who grew up near Binghamton, N.Y., but has lived in Indianapolis since 1984. Milus got his start in dirt-track racing as a teenager in the early ‘70s when he befriended Kisacky, who maintained his uncle’s dirt Late Model for competition at tracks around New York’s Southern Tier. Kisacky would go on to become a successful big-block Modified car owner for such standout Binghamton-area drivers as Chuck Akulis and Charlie Castle, and Milus spent many weekends traveling to events with Kisacky and Kisacky’s brother-in-law Tom Boyd.
After a short stint in 1983 working for DIRTcar Racing (then DIRT Motorsports) as the assistant general manager of Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown, N.Y., Milus relocated to the Midwest. In the early ‘90s he became the VP and general manager of Gaerte Race Engines, where he developed a close relationship with Michener, who was rising through the USAC national Midget ranks on his way to opportunities with IndyCar and NASCAR teams. Michener’s career was short-circuited nine years ago, however, by serious injuries he suffered in a NASCAR Nationwide Series test crash at Homestead-Miami Speedway and he drifted away from the sport – until the past year, that is, when one of his periodic conversations with Milus got the racing fires burning in both men once again.
With support from his wife Spencer, Milus decided to bring together several talented individuals and friends – including, of course, his old Binghamton buddies Kisacky and Boyd – to go dirt Late Model racing in what he called “a shared passion.” He spearheaded the creation of an ownership group that includes Bryan Barnhill, Kevin Kirby and Pete Simpson – three Midwesterners who have worked with Leo on different information technology ventures nationally and internationally – and Beyea, enlisted the mechanical and organizational expertise of Kisacky and Boyd and purchased a dirt Late Model from Steve Nuttall of Eden, Md., to serve as the centerpiece of Super Deuce Racing.
In almost storybook fashion, just two months after the team first hit the track Elliott had them in Victory Lane. Milus and his Indianapolis-based partners weren’t there to witness the memorable night at Brewerton, however, because they had to fly home for work commitments after Mohawk’s rainout on Aug. 21.
“Leo was texting me all night long,” said Kisacky, who currently maintains the Super Deuce dirt Late Model at his shop outside Binghamton. “He was in a bar in Indianapolis with the other owners and they had a computer and were listening to the race on DIRTVision. After we won Leo said they started partying it up.”
Milus and his partners will be back on the scene in person on Wednesday night (Sept. 1) when the WoO LMS returns to Mohawk International for the rescheduled $20,000-to-win ‘Battle At Eastern Door’ event. And Elliott, who will redraw for one of the top-six starting spots in the A-Main, will roll into that race riding sky-high after experiencing the biggest moment of his dirt Late Model racing career.
“Late Models have done a lot for me,” said Elliott, whose previous best WoO LMS finish was a second, on July 8, 2005, at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway and Nov. 2, 2007, at The Dirt Track at Charlotte. “They’ve breathed new life into me. I mean, I’m 44 years old. I’m pretty old for a driver, but these cars make me want to come to the track. I love Modified racing, but it just got to be stale for me. I needed a change of pace and these cars have provided it.”
CHANGE AT THE TOP: Another superb week on the WoO LMS for Darrell Lanigan – wins at Rolling Wheels and Quebec’s Autodrome Drummond on Aug. 23 and a fourth-place finish at Brewerton – pushed the 2008 tour champion into the points lead for the first time this season.
Lanigan, 40, moved a scant two points ahead of defending champ Josh Richards, who saw his run of 25 straight races atop the standing come to an end after an incorrect tire-compound choice contributed to his 11th-place finish at Brewerton. Just eight events remain in the chase for the $100,000 points crown.
There was one moment at Brewerton, however, that nearly cost Lanigan his shot at the points lead. With seven laps remaining in the ‘Dirt Demon 50’ he tangled in turn three with Dan Stone of Thompson, Pa., while battling for fourth place; Lanigan survived the contact and continued, but Stone saw his impressive charge from the 24th starting spot (he used a provisional to get in the A-Main) end with right-front suspension damage that sent him sliding across the track.
The normally mild-mannered Stone was enraged by the incident, which he clearly blamed on Lanigan. Stone, who was making an inside move on Lanigan when the cars came together, climbed out of his machine after it came to rest, walked to the middle of the track and motioned angrily toward Lanigan when the field passed under caution. The next lap Stone got Lanigan to stop his car on the inside of turns three and four, leaned into Lanigan’s window and let his feelings be known.
“He said I took him out,” Lanigan said of Stone. “Trust me, I’m not taking a chance of wrecking myself. That would be stupid with everything I have on the line.
“I didn’t even see him (come up the inside of the track). If I did I would’ve given him the spot. We’re in a points race and I can’t afford to get myself in trouble.”
PLENTY OF MANPOWER: For large portions of the past two years, Clint Smith has had one of the smallest crews on the WoO LMS – just one employee, Darrell (‘Don Vito’) Cooper.
On Tuesday night at Brewerton, however, Smith found himself with arguably the largest group of helpers in the pit area. He had four experienced mechanics scurrying around his car, including his normal fulltimers Cooper and Brian Imler; Jay Cardy, the Australian dirt Late Model racer who recently arrived in the States to spend several weeks helping Smith for the third straight summer; and Brad Baum, the 2007 WoO LMS Crew Chief of the Year who returned for his second stint as a Smith crewman this season after splitting with Russell King’s team the previous night at Autodrome Drummond.
Smith put together one of his best runs of the season at Brewerton, vaulting from the 18th starting spot to sixth place by lap 21 before settling for a fifth-place finish. It was his second consecutive top-five performance – he registered his second runner-up finish of 2010 at Drummond – but he wasn’t totally satisfied. Smith felt he had a shot at preventing his WoO LMS winless streak from reaching 108 straight races if, during a lap-21 caution period, series officials hadn’t slightly moved out two uke tires in turn one to stop cars from ducking too low and throwing water back on the track. After the tires were repositioned in the interest of safety, Smith couldn’t quite run the inside groove as he had en route to the front.
OPEN-WHEELS ADDITIONS: DIRTcar big-block and 358-Modified star Dale Planck of Homer, N.Y., went to Mohawk International Raceway last Friday night to compete in the companion 358-Mod action and provide some help to his car owner and teammate Carey Terrance, who had arranged his first career dirt Late Model start in WoO LMS veteran Chub Frank’s backup car.
Planck ended up winning Friday’s 358-Modified feature at Mohawk – and after spending some time at Terrance’s nearby shop following Saturday’s rainout with Frank and Frank’s cousin Rick ‘Boom’ Briggs, he also landed a dirt Late Model ride for Drummond and Brewerton in Briggs’s backup machine.
An accomplished 39-year-old driver known for his smooth driving style, Planck admitted before taking his first-ever dirt Late Model laps at Drummond that he “wasn’t this nervous the first time I tried driving a Sprint Car.” But he adapted quickly to the full-fender cars, scoring admirable lead-lap finishes of 12th at Drummond and 13th at Brewerton.
Planck’s WoO LMS debut impressed Briggs. “He’s a helluva driver,” said Briggs, who experienced problems and did not finish both A-Mains. “I wish I could have him drive one of my cars all the time.”
The two drivers did discuss the possibility of having Planck tag the back of a B-Main in Briggs’s backup car when the WoO LMS returns to Mohawk on Sept. 1.
STUCK AT THE CASINO: Following the postponement of last Saturday night’s ‘Battle At Eastern Door’ at Mohawk, virtually every WoO LMS team as well as Northeast-swing travelers Stone and Briggs parked their rigs at the nearby Akwesasne Mohawk Casino to wait out the wet weather that inundated the region. (Tim Fuller headed back to his shop in Edwards, N.Y., with Clint Smith and Russell King.) No one wanted to cross the border until receiving confirmation that Monday’s show at Autodrome Drummond would happen. (That word came on Monday morning, sending a caravan of haulers toward Drummondville, Que., 145 miles to the Northeast.)
With rain falling non-stop from Saturday evening through Monday morning, the teams kept their race cars locked up and spent their time watching movies in their rigs, eating at the casino buffet and gambling. There was ample opportunity for Outlaws to drop money at the tables and slot machines.
“We’ve had too much time on our hands,” quipped former WoO LMS champion Steve Francis. “I just gave all my money to Amanda (his wife) so I can’t go lose any more.”
ETCETERA:
* Elliott’s voice cracked in Victory Lane at Brewerton when he dedicated his win to Jack Starrette, a prolific dirt Late Model owner and sponsor from Augusta, Ga., who died on Aug. 19 at the age of 78 from severe injuries suffered when he fell from a front-end loader at the Starrette Trucking sand pit. Elliott received sponsorship support from Starrette and drove a Starrette-owned car several times over the past three years.
“I race with a heavy heart,” said Elliott. “I lost one of my best friends, Jack Starrette. I met him about seven years ago when I first started in Late Models. He started helping me about three years ago and I drove some cars for him. He was just the nicest man I ever met in my entire life. He was a very inspirational type of person, a family guy, and he helped everybody and never asked for anything in return.”
* Perhaps the most unexpected occurrence during Mohawk’s qualifying night came when Dan Stone had his time-trial lap wiped out because he was disqualified for weighing in 18 pounds light. It was the first time the burly driver had ever been penalized for failing to make weight.
“He hasn’t had a problem with being light since the first grade,” joked Stone’s father Warren. “He was too big for Pee-Wee football when they weighed him.”
* The Northeast swing appeared to be Tim McCreadie’s opportunity to make up ground in the WoO LMS points chase, but he only treaded water during the week. He managed just one top-five finish (third at Drummond) and remained third in the points standings, cutting his deficit to the leader by just two markers (48 to 46 points).
* Rick Eckert enjoyed one of his most solid swings of the season, finishing second at both Rolling Wheels and Brewerton and sixth at Drummond. His runner-up placings came in different Team Zero by Bloomquist cars; he switched rides for Brewerton, entering a machine with a smaller powerplant that proved perfect for the slick late-race track conditions.
* Clint Smith put Aussie Jay Cardy in his backup car at Drummond, allowing the 23-year-old native of West Perth, Australia, to make history as the first driver from Down Under to start a WoO LMS A-Main. He was an early retiree and finished 21st.
* There was a JIR Motorsports sighting during the Northeast swing. The Pennellville, N.Y.-based team that fielded cars on the 2008 WoO LMS for three Isabell family members – Joey, Jeff Jr. and team owner Jeff Sr. – as well as Danny Johnson and Sean Beardsley made a low-key return at Rolling Wheels with Jeff Isabell Sr. behind the wheel of a No. 5 Rocket car that was Tony Stewart’s Prelude to the Dream ride last year.
Isabell Sr., who finished 14th at the Rolling Wheels, also provided an engine to young central New York crate Late Model racer (and former JIR Motorsports crewman) Alan Fink, who recently purchased a car formerly driven by Ohio’s John Mason. The grandson of Brewerton Speedway general manager Harvey Fink finished 19th at Rolling Wheels and 18th at Brewerton.
NEXT UP: The WoO LMS returns to Mohawk International Raceway on Wednesday night (Sept. 1) to complete the ‘Battle At Eastern Door’ weekend. The richest dirt Late Model event ever run in the state of New York will draw to a close with a B-Main and 100-lap headliner.
The national tour then heads to Tri-City Speedway in Franklin, Pa., for the sixth annual ‘Oil Region Labor Day Classic,’ a two-day extravaganza of speed set for Sept. 4-5. Complete shows topped by 50-lap, $10,000-to-win A-Mains will be contested on both Saturday and Sunday evenings.
For more information on the upcoming events, visit www.mohawkinternationalraceway.com and www.tricityspeedway.com.
Additional info on the WoO LMS is available by logging on to www.worldofoutlaws.com.
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Ricky Elliott’s First-Ever World of Outlaws Late Model Series Victory Comes On Tuesday Night At Brewerton Speedway
BREWERTON, NY - Aug. 24, 2010 - Ricky Elliott is a winner on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series – finally.
The 44-year-old driver from Seaford, Del., made his long-awaited breakthrough on Tuesday night, ending his dogged pursuit of victory on the national tour with a dramatic win in the second annual ‘Dirt Demon 50’ at Brewerton Speedway.
Driving the Super Deuce Racing Rocket No. 2, Elliott outdueled WoO LMS stars Rick Eckert of York, Pa., Shane Clanton of Fayetteville, Ga., and Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., to join the elite group of racers with an Outlaw triumph on their resume. He secured the lead from Clanton lap 39 and held off Eckert’s late-race bid to bank a payday of $10,575, including the $500 ‘Bonus Bucks’ cash for being the highest-finishing driver who hadn’t previously won a series event and wasn’t ranked among the top 12 in the points standings.
“This is absolutely fantastic,” said Elliott, whose list of near-wins in limited WoO LMS appearances over the past six years included a previous personal-best finish of second on July 8, 2005, at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway. “Any time you win a race it’s great, but this is my first World of Outlaws win so for me it ranks right up there with winning the big-block (Modified Super DIRTcar Series event at The Dirt Track at) Charlotte (in 2004). It’s one of the biggest thrills of my racing career.”
Elliott dedicated his win to the memory of the late Jack Starrette, a prolific dirt Late Model owner and sponsor from Augusta, Ga., who died on Aug. 19 at the age of 78 from severe injuries suffered when he fell from a front-end loader at the Starrette Trucking sand pit. Elliott received sponsorship support from Starrette and drove a Starrette-owned car several times over the past three years.
Eckert, 44, crossed the finish line 0.548 of a second behind Elliott in second place, just a car length ahead of the charging Clanton. The 34-year-old Clanton, who advanced from the seventh starting spot to lead laps 19-36 and lap 38, settled for third place.
Lanigan started from the pole position and led the race’s first 18 laps, but he slipped to fourth at the finish. That was good enough, however, to push him into the WoO LMS points lead by two markers over defending champion Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., who struggled to an 11th-place finish after an incorrect tire-compound choice caused him to tumble backward from the third starting spot and eventually pit for a tire change on lap 34.
Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., completed the top five, charging forward to finish fifth after starting 18th. It was his second consecutive top-five run.
Elliott’s triumph came in just his third WoO LMS A-Main start of 2010 behind the wheel of a car fielded by four partners from the Indianapolis area, including former Empire State resident Leo Milus, and currently maintained by veteran DIRTcar big-block Modified mechanic Randy Kisacky of Johnson City, N.Y. He steered the machine to a 14th-place finish on June 20 at Cornwall (Ont.) Motor Speedway and a third on Aug. 19 at Rolling Wheels Raceway in Elbridge, N.Y.
The Super Deuce Racing mount is slated to eventually be driven by former IndyCar and USAC star Andy Michener, but Elliott was commissioned to help the new team get headed in the right direction. He proved the Custom-powered car is more than capable with a virtually flawless performance at the one-third-mile, D-shaped Brewerton oval, sweeping the night by preceding his feature win with a fast-time award and heat-race victory.
“We had a great car tonight and that’s because we have some really good people working on it,” said Elliott, a former DIRTcar big-block Modified regular. “With Randy Kisacky – who knows this track because he comes here all the time (for Modified races) – and Mark Zekalowski – a buddy of mine from Charlotte, N.C., who’s come back up here to help me – putting their brain-power together, we have something going on.”
Elliott, who started fourth, kept his car glued to Brewerton’s inside groove to come out on top of an entertaining race slowed by five caution flags. His insistence on running the hub was the key to his success.
“I knew I had to hold the bottom,” said Elliott, who won using American Racer tires. “I wanted to move up bad when Shane passed me (for second on lap 14), but I said, ‘No, I’m just gonna hang out here on the bottom.’ It just got slicker and slicker and slicker and I got a good rhythm going, and that got me into the lead.
“Then I hit the (uke) tire down (on the inside of turn two) with two (laps) to go and I said, ‘Oh ----, I’m gonna give it away,’” he added. “Fortunately I held on to it and was able to stay ahead of Eckert and Clanton.”
Eckert, who started sixth in his Team Zero by Bloomquist car, couldn’t take advantage of Elliott’s misstep.
“Ricky and I looked like we had about equal cars,” said Eckert, who reached second place when he swept past Clanton on a lap-39 restart. “When he caught that uke tire off two with a couple laps to go I thought he was gonna try to give it to me. I was gonna wheel it out there and try to go around him, but he collected it right up.”
Eckert remained close to Elliott rounding turn four with the white flag flying, but Elliott snuck by the lapped car driven by Jill George of Cedar Falls, Iowa, on the homestretch to give himself just enough breathing room. Eckert cleared George between turns one and two but spent the remainder of the circuit primarily racing Clanton.
“I was right with (Elliott) off four on the last lap, but he caught Jill and knocked her out of the way on the frontstraightway and I got held up there behind her for a second,” said Eckert, who recorded his second runner-up finish during the three-race WoO LMS Northeast swing. “Then I turned in under her (in the first corner) and Clanton went around the pair of us on the top, so I had to fend him off for the last lap. It had to be pretty exciting for the fans.”
Clanton made his last-ditch effort with a Rocket car that was less than 100 percent.
“We had a pretty good race car,” said Clanton. “We got the lead and I thought I was O.K., but me and (Austin) Hubbard got together (as Clanton lapped Hubbard on lap 31) and it knocked the toe-in out a little bit. I guess it bent a spindle and it quit steering.”
DIRTcar big-block star Billy Decker of Unadilla, N.Y., finished sixth, running just outside the top five for virtually the entire distance. Vic Coffey of Caledonia, N.Y., salvaged a seventh-place finish after starting the night in a hole because a dead battery caused him to miss time trials, while John Lobb of Frewsburg, N.Y., placed a solid eighth. Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., struggled to a ninth-place finish after drawing a caution flag on lap 11 and then pitting to change a tire and Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., rounded out the top 10.
The most serious of the event’s five caution flags involved Lanigan and Dan Stone of Thompson, Pa., who used a provisional to start 24th but was making an inside-lane bid for fourth place on lap 43 when he tangled with Lanigan in turn three. Stone’s car sustained a broken right-front suspension from the contact with Lanigan, sending Stone straight across the track and causing Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., who had run in the top five for the entire race, to spin to avoid him. Fuller’s night ended moments later when the nose of his car was bent by a hit from Russell King of Bristolville, Ohio, who slid sideways into the pileup.
Elliott was quickest of the 29 cars that were signed in for Ohlins Shocks Time Trials, lapping the bullring in 14.619 seconds. It was his third career fast-time honor on the WoO LMS but first since 2005, when he topped qualifying on Feb. 17 at Volusia Speedway Park in Barbersville, Fla., and June 30 at Bridgeport (N.J.) Speedway.
Heat winners were Elliott, Richards and Lanigan, and Lobb captured the B-Main.
The WoO LMS will take a short break before returning to upstate New York on Wed., Sept. 1, for the postponed 100-lap ‘Battle At Eastern Door’ event at Mohawk International Raceway in Akwesasne, N.Y. The tour then heads to Tri-City Speedway in Franklin, Pa., on Sept. 4-5 for a pair of 50-lap, $10,000-to-win programs that comprise the annual Oil Region Labor Day Classic.
For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.
Results of WoO Late Model Series (Finishing Position/Start/Driver/Laps Completed/Money Won):
1. (4) Ricky Elliott/50 $10,575
2. (6) Rick Eckert/50 $5,500
3. (7) Shane Clanton/50 $3,500
4. (1) Darrell Lanigan/50 $3,100
5. (18) Clint Smith/50 $2,500
6. (5) Billy Decker/50 $1,700
7. (17) Vic Coffey/50 $1,400
8. (19) John Lobb/50 $1,350
9. (10) Tim McCreadie/50 $1,800
10. (8) Chub Frank/50 $1,600
11. (3) Josh Richards/50 $1,650
12. (20) Larry Wight/50 $1,000
13. (9) Dale Planck/50 $950
14. (15) Greg Oakes/50 $900
15. (14) Steve Francis/50 $1,450
16. (11) Austin Hubbard/49 $1,550
17. (22) Dale Caswell/49 $770
18. (12) Alan Fink/49 $800
19. (16) Jill George/46 $730
20. (24) Dan Stone/42 $700
21. (2) Tim Fuller/42 $1,200
22. (21) Russell King/37 $1,200
23. (23) Rick ‘Boom’ Briggs/32 $700
24. (13) Dave Zona/20 $725
Time of Race: 40 Mins., 33.514 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 0.548 Secs.
Yellow Flags: 5 (Laps 11, 21, 34, 39, 43)
Lap Leaders: Lanigan (1-18); Clanton (19-36); Elliott (37); Clanton (38); Elliott (39-50)
2010 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Point Standings as of Aug. 24 – 38 A-Mains completed (rank/driver/points/deficit to leader):
1. Darrell Lanigan 5060
2. Josh Richards 5058 (-2)
3. Tim McCreadie 5014 (-46)
4. Steve Francis 4872 (-188)
5. Shane Clanton 4794 (-266)
6. Rick Eckert 4766 (-294)
7. Austin Hubbard 4718 (-342)
8. Tim Fuller 4684 (-376)
9. Chub Frank 4582 (-478)
10. Clint Smith 4530 (-530)
-end-
Lanigan Storms To Sixth Victory Of Season On Monday Night At Quebec’s Autodrome Drummond
DRUMMONDVILLE, QUE - Aug. 23, 2010 - Darrell Lanigan’s spectacular 2010 World of Outlaws Late Model Series campaign rolled on Monday night with a conquest north of the border.
The 40-year-old star from Union, Ky., stormed to victory in the tour’s rescheduled 50-lap A-Main at Autodrome Drummond, thrilling the French-Canadian fans with an impeccable performance that saw him master both the top and bottom grooves of the four-tenths-mile oval.
And on the strength of his second straight and sixth overall WoO LMS triumph of the season, Lanigan tied Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., as the tour’s winningest driver in 2010 and pulled within 12 points of the defending series champion in the chase for the $100,000 Outlaw title. Richards, who has held the points lead for 25 consecutive races, finished fourth.
Lanigan, who started fourth, used the inside lane to outduel Richards for third place on lap six and Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., for second on lap eight, then switched to the outside line to overtake race-long pacesetter Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., for the lead on lap 35. The 2008 WoO LMS champion survived two caution flags over the remaining distance to register his 18th career win on the series and first-ever on Canadian soil.
“The track was excellent tonight,” said Lanigan, who earned $10,600 for winning an event that was postponed by rain on its original June 19 date. “I want to congratulate (the track crew) on the job they did. I figured it was gonna rubber up and be one lane right in the middle, but man, you could race all over that thing.”
Smith, who started from the pole position, crossed the finish line 1.868 seconds behind Lanigan in the runner-up spot, nipping the late-charging Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., for the position by the length of a nosepiece. Richards settled for fourth after surviving homestretch contact with McCreadie on lap 47 and ninth-starter Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., who won the inaugural WoO LMS event at Drummond in 2007, placed fifth.
Fuller, who blasted off the outside pole to lead the race’s first 34 laps, slowed with a cut right-rear tire on lap 40 after tumbling from second to fourth immediately following a lap-38 restart. He returned after a pit stop and rallied to salvage an eighth-place finish.
Lanigan was able to run down Fuller and grab the lead before the former DIRTcar big-block Modified regular was hampered by the leaking tire. Lanigan faked a move to the inside and then put his GottaRace.com Rocket car against the outside berm to sweep in front.
“I got to Fuller and showed him my nose on the bottom,” said Lanigan, who also won on Thursday night at Rolling Wheels Raceway in Elbridge, N.Y. “I knew he was gonna drop down and block me, so I just went around the top.
“You couldn’t ask for a better car,” the WoO LMS stalwart added after his fifth win in the last nine tour events. “Everything’s just going right for us right now. It’s unbelievable.”
Smith, 45, took advantage of Fuller’s late-race misfortune to reach second place and then held the spot to the checkered flag. The runner-up matched the struggling racer’s best previous finish this season, on March 27 at Lone Star Speedway in Kilgore, Texas.
“I felt like I let one get away because I felt we had a good enough (Rocket) car to win,” said Smith, who is winless in his last 107 WoO LMS starts dating back to his last score, on June 17, 2008, at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway. “We just missed a little bit on setup. We should’ve put more gear back in it. I was struggling a little off the corner.”
The 36-year-old McCreadie, meanwhile, wasn’t very talkative after his last-lap bid to pass Smith fell short, leaving him with a solid but disappointing third-place finish. He started sixth but fell back to ninth by lap two, forcing him to come from behind.
“We were just a touch harder than everybody on tires,” said McCreadie, explaining his slow start. “It just took a little while to get going. That’s just about it I guess.”
McCreadie’s lap-47 pass of Richards to snare third gained him two points on the championship leader, but the third-place driver in the standings still faces a 48-point deficit to Richards with nine races remaining on the 2010 schedule.
Rick Eckert of York, Pa., who won Drummond’s 2008 WoO LMS event and finished second in 2007, placed sixth. Shane Clanton of Fayetteville, Ga., started and finished seventh, while Fuller was eighth, Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., improved one spot to finish ninth and eighth-starter Austin Hubbard of Seaford, Del., rounded out the top 10.
DIRTcar big-block and 358-Modified star Dale Planck of Homer, N.Y., made his dirt Late Model debut as a teammate to Rick ‘Boom’ Briggs of Bear Lake, Pa., and finished on the lead lap in 12th place. He earned the $500 ‘Bonus Bucks’ cash for being the highest-finishing driver who hasn’t won a WoO LMS A-Main and isn’t ranked among the top 12 in the series points standings.
The race’s only caution flags flew on lap 38 for DIRTcar 358-Modified driver Carey Terrance of Hogansburg, N.Y., who spun Chub Frank’s backup car in turn one after coming together with Smith as he was being lapped, and on lap 40 for Fuller’s flat tire.
Richards earned his series-leading sixth fast-time honor of 2010, turning a lap of 17.188 seconds during the 24-car Ohlins Shocks Time Trials session. His clocking was well off the dirt Late Model track record of 15.884 seconds set in 2007 by Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill.
Heat winners were Richards, Smith and Eckert. No B-Main was contested.
The WoO LMS completes its late-summer Northeast swing on Tuesday night (Aug. 24) at Brewerton (N.Y.) Speedway, which hosts the second annual ‘Dirt Demon 50’ with a $10,000 top prize on the line. The race
For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.
Results of WoO Late Model Series at Autodrome Drummond (Finishing Position/Start/Driver/Laps Completed/Money Won):
1. (4) Darrell Lanigan/50 $10,600
2. (1) Clint Smith/50 $5,575
3. (6) Tim McCreadie/50 $3,600
4. (3) Josh Richards/50 $3,100
5. (9) Steve Francis/50 $2,600
6. (5) Rick Eckert/50 $2,250
7. (7) Shane Clanton/50 $1,900
8. (2) Tim Fuller/50 $1,800
9. (10) Chub Frank/50 $1,700
10. (8) Austin Hubbard/50 $1,850
11. (12) Russell King/50 $1,550
12. (11) Dale Planck/50 $1,500
13. (18) Larry Wight/49 $950
14. (17) Jill George/47 $900
15. (24) Philip Potts/46 $850
16. (21) Michael Trapp/45 $800
17. (13) Dan Stone/44 $770
18. (15) Carey Terrance/36 $750
19. (16) Peter Mantha Jr./28 $730
20. (14) Rick ‘Boom’ Briggs/15 $700
21. (19) Jay Cardy/8 $700
22. (20) Brant Hardin/2 $700
23. (22) Zach Frields/0 $725
24. (23) Derik Reese/0 $700
* Earnings include Winners Circle program and cash contingency award bonuses
Time of Race: 21 Mins., 39.804 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 1.868 Secs.
Yellow Flags: 2 (Laps 38, 40)
Lap Leaders: Fuller (1-34); Lanigan (35-50)
2010 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Point Standings as of Aug. 23 – 37 A-Mains completed (rank/driver/points/deficit to leader):
1. Josh Richards 4930
2. Darrell Lanigan 4918
3. Tim McCreadie 4882
4. Steve Francis 4752
5. Shane Clanton 4650
6. Rick Eckert 4620
7. Austin Hubbard 4600
8. Tim Fuller 4576
9. Chub Frank 4452
10. Clint Smith 4390
-end-
