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Miller & Rine Ready To Challenge Outlaws At Bedford


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World of Outlaws Late Model Series News & Notes: Streaking Miller & Rine Ready To Challenge Outlaws At Bedford; Home State Show For WV's Richards

 

 

CONCORD, NC – May 27, 2010 –

 

 

 

 

 

 

PENNSY POWER: Bedford (Pa.) Speedway co-promoter J.R. Kiefer knows that a major aspect of all World of Outlaws Late Model Series events is the showdown between the traveling stars and the regional/local standouts – and when the national tour visits his half-mile fairgrounds oval on Friday night (May 28), he expects those battle lines will be in full effect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I always like to see the local guys get a shot at the Outlaws," said Kiefer, who is overseeing a 50-lap, $10,000-to-win WoO LMS show at Bedford for the fourth consecutive year. "The Outlaws are some of the best there is and it's tough to beat them, but there's gonna be some guys who just might give them a run for the money (on Friday)."

 

 

 

 

 

 

That group of home-state talents is headed by Jeremy Miller of Gettysburg, Pa., and Jeff Rine of Danville, Pa., two streaking drivers who have already tasted victory this season at Bedford and seem well-equipped to challenge the Outlaws.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miller, 39, has proven his ability to go toe-to-toe with the sport's biggest names, having won a WoO LMS A-Main on April 11, 2008, at Virginia Motor Speedway and come close to reaching Victory Lane on several occasions, most recently last June when he finished second at Big Diamond Raceway in Minersville, Pa. Now in his second season campaigning self-owned equipment after breaking out during his stint driving for Charles Buckler, the reserved Miller enters Friday's action coming off a big weekend that included feature wins on May 21 at Bedford and May 23 at Susquehanna Speedway in Newberrytown, Pa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pair of triumphs snapped Miller out of a frustrating early-season slump just in time for the arrival of the WoO LMS at Bedford. Prior to the weekend breakthrough he had just one top-10 finish in his first eight starts of the season, including WoO LMS appearances at Virginia Motor (DNQ for Commonwealth 100), Delaware International Speedway (20th) and Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway (23rd).

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 32-year-old Rine, meanwhile, is arguably the hottest dirt Late Model racer in the Keystone State this season. He has won a Northeast-leading seven features in 12 starts, including four times at his hometrack, Selinsgrove (Pa.) Speedway; twice at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway; and once at Bedford (April 30). He also finished fourth in last Friday night's weekly show at Bedford.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rine's past record in WoO LMS competition is more modest that Miller's, however. The proprietor of Wing Dynamics (as he ironically points out on his Web site, "Yes, I make Sprint Car wings!") has made 15 tour starts over the past three years, qualifying for six A-Mains and scoring a single top-10 finish. His career-best Outlaw outing came on June 24, 2009, at Big Diamond, where he set fast time, won a heat race and finished 10th in the A-Main.

 

 

 

 

 

 

CLOSE TO THE HOUSE: Josh Richards is ready for the WoO LMS's lone visit to his home state in 2010.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The defending tour champion leads the charge this weekend to West Virginia Motor Speedway, the massive five-eighths-mile oval in Mineral Wells that hosts the two-day 'RaceFest World Championships' on Saturday and Sunday (May 29-30). Highlighting the track's return to the national spotlight after two full seasons of inactivity will be a 30-lap A-Main paying $8,000 to win on Saturday night and a 40-lap headliner offering a $10,000 top prize on Sunday evening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Richards, 22, brings plenty of momentum to WVMS, which sits just over 80 miles west of his residence in Shinnston, W.Va. He's off to one of the best starts in WoO LMS history, with four victories already to his credit (he's the only driver who's won more than once in '10) and a hefty points lead of 56 markers over Darrell Lanigan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

With 14 A-Mains completed this season, Richards has recorded 10 top-five and 12 top-10 finishes and earned $74,575. That's markedly better than his 14-race totals en route to the 2009 WoO LMS championship; he had one win, seven top-five and 10 top-10 finishes and ranked third in the points standings (trailing leader Steve Francis by 44 points) with $53,820 in earnings at this same juncture last season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the keys to Richards's success, of course, is his virtually unmatched ability to qualify well (he missed transferring through a heat just once in 40 events last season and hasn't had to run a B-Main yet this year) and avoid disaster, whether it be terminal mechanical problems or race-ending crashes. So far this year he has completed all 800 A-Main laps – and dating back to 2009, he's finished on the lead lap in 41 consecutive events.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What's more, Richards always seems to be on the track at the end of an A-Main. With the exception of one instance in each of the past two years in which a last-lap incident prevented him from crossing under the checkered flag, the last time Richards retired early from a full WoO LMS points event due to a mechanical malfunction was July 27, 2007, at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, after he broke a jackshaft on lap 26 and did not return.

 

 

 

 

 

 

THEY'RE BACK: This weekend's 'RaceFest' marks the first WoO LMS action at WVMS since Oct. 1-2, 2004, when the tour contested a doubleheader (50 laps on Oct. 1, 100 laps on Oct. 2) that was swept by Jackie Boggs of Grayson, Ky.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seven current WoO LMS regulars competed in the last tour events run at WVMS, including Richards, who registered finishes of 10th (50-lapper) and 18th (100-lapper) at the tail-end of what was his first season as a dirt Late Model racer. Richards ran a limited number of WoO events that year as a teammate to his father's primary driver, Bart Hartman of Zanesville, Ohio, who finished second and sixth, respectively, in the '04 'RaceFest' A-Mains and has plans to enter this weekend's twinbill in his own familiar yellow No. 75.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve Francis fared the best in the 2004 events at WVMS, finishing third in both A-Mains. Rick Eckert also enjoyed a solid weekend, setting fast time both nights and placing sixth in the 50-lapper and fourth in the 100-lapper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other current Outlaws in the '04 'RaceFest' field were Chub Frank (fourth in the 50, 23rd in the 100), Tim McCreadie (15th, eighth), Darrell Lanigan (17th, 16th) and Clint Smith (18th, 11th).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shane Clanton, meanwhile, made his first-ever start at WVMS on May 16 when he entered an O'Reilly All-Star Late Model Series event that was ultimately postponed by rain before the feature got the green flag. Six other WoO LMS followers – Tim Fuller, Brady Smith, Russell King, Austin Hubbard, Brent Robinson and Jill George – will test their skills at WVMS for the first time this weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

NINE MONTHS LATER: Driving through Bedford's pit gate on Friday will bring back great memories for Tim Fuller, whose victory in last August's WoO LMS A-Main there was his third straight in a sizzling streak that would reach a tour record-tying four in-a-row the following night at Hagerstown Speedway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

If Fuller is going to repeat his Bedford success of a year ago, he'll have to do it without the fresh powerplant he had hoped to bolt inside his Rocket No. 19 for action in this weekend's pair of big tracks. Fuller reported on Wednesday that the new, higher-horsepower motor from the Gypsum Express team's in-house engine shop that was originally scheduled for completion by this weekend is not yet fully assembled.

 

 

 

 

 

 

CARRYING SOME MOMENTUM?: Chub Frank, who won the first-ever WoO LMS event at Bedford in 2007, has some positive feelings about his chances of ending his season-long struggles on the tour when he hits the track on Friday night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frank spent last weekend's break from the WoO LMS schedule by visiting Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa., for a night of testing and racing. He tried some ideas and rode off with a victory in last Friday night's 25-lap feature, giving him two wins in as many appearances this season at the four-tenths-mile oval that hosts the fourth annual Firecracker 100 presented by GottaRace.com on June 24-26.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"We ran a different car (the 2005-vintage Rocket he brought out last August) this time and it was a lot better," Frank said in his weekly press release. "I think we might have found something that will work for us, but we're not gonna know for sure until we get out on the road."

 

 

 

 

 

 

HE LIKES THE PLACE: Rookie sensation Austin Hubbard would seem to have the goods to be a serious contender on Friday night at Bedford.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Consider that the 18-year-old was fastest in time trials for last year's WoO LMS show – his first career fast-time honor on the tour – and finished a solid sixth in the 50-lapper driving his father Mike's No. 11. In addition, Hubbard returns to Bedford this year as the chauffeur of Dale Beitler's familiar No. 19, which was driven to victory by Steve Francis in the track's 2008 WoO show.

 

 

 

 

 

 

MOONLIGHTING: Coleby Frye of Dover, Pa., has put his own dirt Late Model driving career on hold this season to travel the WoO LMS as a fulltime crewman on the Beitler Motorsports team, but he's not totally stepping out of the cockpit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

With his family-owned equipment still at his disposal, the 25-year-old Frye used last weekend's WoO LMS schedule break to make his first start of the season in a special event at Susquehanna Speedway in Newberrytown, Pa. He had an uplifting outing, leading the early laps of the feature before settling for a second-place finish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LATE MODELS VS. SPRINT CARS: The Memorial Day weekend showdown at West Virginia Motor Speedway will serve as the kick-off of the new LaCrosse Footwear Extreme Tough Challenge, which pits Outlaw vs. Outlaw – drivers from the WoO LMS and Sprint Car Series – in a unique points race.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beginning Memorial Day Weekend, there will be 16 events – eight per series – where drivers who are competing full-time in the WoO LMS and Sprint Car Series earn points in the Extreme Tough Challenge. The top-five finishers among the full-timers in each race will be awarded points, from 5 decreasing to 1, and those drivers who earn the most points regardless of series will be rewarded during the season-ending World of Outlaws World Finals at the Dirt Track at Charlotte. The top five will share a $15,000 point fund, with the winning driver will receiving $5,000 and the Extreme Tough Challenge champion trophy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday night's 30-lap A-Main will be counted as this weekend's Extreme Tough Challenge points race for the WoO LMS unless a postponement pushes action to only Sunday evening. LaCrosse reps, however, will be on hand both nights at WVMS, distributing keepsake posters, overseeing hat and t-shirt giveaways and getting fans involved through a unique Extreme Tough competition that provides a chance to win a pair of LaCrosse boots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visit www.extremetoughchallenge.com for all of the up-to-date news and standings on the new series of events.

 

 

 

 

 

 

BEDFORD SPEEDWY EVENT INFORMATION: Gates are scheduled to open at 4 p.m. on Fri., May 28, with hot laps set for 6 p.m. and racing to start at 7 p.m.

 

 

 

 

 

 

General admission is $30, with children ages 5-12 admitted for $5. Pit passes will be $40.

 

 

 

 

 

 

More information is available by visiting www.bedfordspeedway.com or calling 814-623-0500.

 

 

 

 

 

 

WEST VIRGINIA MOTOR SPEEDWAY EVENT INFORMATION: Gates are scheduled to open at 3 p.m. and hot laps are set to begin at 6:30 p.m. on both May 29 and 30. Saturday night's program will also include a Steel Block Mafia/Steel Block Bandit event paying $2,500 to win, TSMA Modifieds and Hot Mods, and Sunday night's undercard includes the $3,000-to-win TSMA Modified 'Dickson Classic' plus Hot Mods and TSMA Stock Cars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two-day general admission tickets to 'RaceFest' are now available for purchase at a reduced rate on-line at www.wvspeedway.com or by calling the speedway office at 304-758-2934 or 304-771-5661. Advance ticket prices are $40 (adults) and $10 (kids 6-11), and weekend pit passes are available for $55. All pre-sale tickets will be held at the speedway's will-call window for pickup.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fan unable to attend the entire weekend can purchase single-day tickets at the gate on each race night. Saturday-only general admission prices are $22 and $5 (kids 6-11) and Sunday-only tickets are $25 and $5 (kids 6-11), with pit passes $35 on Saturday and $38 on Sunday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spectators interested in camping on the speedway grounds during the weekend can also reserve a spot by calling the track office at 304-771-5661 or e-mailing wvmotorspeedway@verizon.net.

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2010 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Point Standings as of May 15 – 14 A-Mains completed (rank/driver/points/deficit to leader):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Josh Richards 1978 (-0)

 

 

2. Darrell Lanigan 1922 (-56)

 

 

3. Tim McCreadie 1908 (-70)

 

 

4. Steve Francis 1858 (-120)

 

 

5. Austin Hubbard 1836 (-142)

 

 

6. Tim Fuller 1828 (-150)

 

 

7. Brady Smith 1798 (-180)

 

 

8. Rick Eckert 1772 (-206)

 

 

9. Chub Frank 1762 (-216)

 

 

10. Shane Clanton 1734 (-244)

 

 

11. Clint Smith 1718 (-260)

 

 

12. Russell King 1586 (-392)

 

 

13. Brent Robinson 1500 (-478)

 

 

14. Jill George 1012 (-966)

 

 

15. Brian Birkhofer 830 (-1148)

 

 

16. Dale McDowell 748 (-1230)

 

 

17. Billy Moyer 696 (-1282)

 

 

18. Shannon Babb 682 (-1296)

 

 

19. Dan Schlieper 660 (-1318)

 

 

20. Tony Knowles 638 (-1340)

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