World of Outlaws Late Model Series News & Notes

[rebelracewriter]

World of Outlaws Late Model Series News & Notes: Richards Adds To Win Total On Busy Off-Weekend For World of Outlaws Regulars

 

CONCORD, NC - Sept. 27, 2010 -

 

EVEN DOZEN: Josh Richards isn’t sitting still as he awaits his final showdown with Darrell Lanigan for the 2010 World of Outlaws Late Model Series championship. He’s adding to his win total – and bank account.

 

Racing close to his Shinnston, W.Va., home on the first of three consecutive off-weekends from WoO LMS competition, Richards climbed behind the wheel of the Ernie D’s Enterprises Rocket No. 25 – his ride for most non-Outlaw events – last Saturday night and captured the 50-lap dirt Late Model portion of the unsanctioned Winchester 200 at Winchester (Va.) Speedway. The 22-year-old star pocketed $11,000 for his evening’s work, which included a $1,000 bonus for winning the 25-lap semi-feature that put him on the pole in the headliner.

 

The five-figure triumph was a perfect way to keep Richards’s mind off his impending points battle with Lanigan that concludes with three races at The Dirt Track at Charlotte in Concord, N.C. – the World of Outlaws Late Model Showdown on Oct. 13 and the World Finals on Nov. 4-6. Richards, who is shooting for a second consecutive WoO LMS crown, is currently second in the points standings, just two points behind Lanigan, the 2008 series champ.

 

“I’m not even thinking about the points right now,” said Richards, who also scored a sixth-place finish in a 25-lap preliminary feature last Friday night at Winchester. “We’re working hard in the shop to make sure we have everything ready for Charlotte, but until we get there I’m just worrying about winning every race I can.”

 

Richards enjoyed himself immensely at Winchester, a three-eighths-mile bullring that his special-event team owner, Ernie Davis, has frequented throughout his years in the sport. The victory made him the first West Virginia driver to win the long-standing Winchester 200 and gave him 12 overall wins this season, moving him closer to his career-high total of 15 wins established in 2009.

 

“The car was phenomenal again,” Richards said of his Roush-Yates Ford-powered machine, which he has steered to four of his wins in 2010. “It was really fun to drive. We threw some things at it on Friday night and I knew it would be good (on Saturday night). Once the track slowed down we really shined.

 

“It’s cool to finally win the Winchester 200 – and it’s really awesome to win it for Ernie. I think it was the first time Ernie’s won that race, so, considering how long he’s been racing there, that’s a pretty big deal.”

 

Richards, whose seven WoO LMS victories this season has him tied with Lanigan for the top spot on the tour’s 2010 win list, was joined in Winchester’s field by fellow series regulars Rick Eckert of York, Pa., and Austin Hubbard of Seaford, Del. After Richards, Eckert and Hubbard finished 6-8, respectively, in Friday’s preliminary feature, Eckert went on to place third in Saturday’s 50-lapper while the 18-year-old Hubbard failed to make the A-Main starting field after crashing in the semi-feature.

 

SETTLING FOR SECOND: Shane Clanton of Fayetteville, Ga., towed his red-and-black Georgia Bulldogs-themed car to Columbus (Miss.) Speedway for last weekend’s ‘Magnolia State 100’ and came close to winning the state’s biggest dirt Late Model event for the third time in four years.

 

The 35-year-old Clanton, who sits fifth in the WoO LMS points standings, set fast time and won a heat race last Friday night and paced the field early in Saturday night’s 100-lapper at the high-banked, one-third-mile oval. But after trading a pair of contact-filled slide-jobs with Mississippi’s David Breazeale on laps 15-16, Clanton was left with rear spoiler damage that caused him to cede the lead to eventual winner Mike Marlar of Winfield, Tenn. Clanton spent the remainder of the distance battling handling problems but gutted out a runner-up finish.

 

“We knew we had a good race car before the damage got done,” said Clanton, who craved the $25,010 first-place prize but still pocketed a $10,000 check. “We were holding on after that. Without a rear spoiler you get so loose getting in the corner.”

 

MORE MISFORTUNE: Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., who has been Clanton’s traveling partner down the highway for much of the 2010 WoO LMS campaign, handed his buddy second-place money at Columbus after experiencing some late-race heartbreak.

 

Francis, who passed Clanton for second on a lap-60 restart, was within striking distance of Marlar when his Valvoline-sponsored car slowed with just five laps remaining due to a broken engine crankshaft. The 2007 WoO LMS champion, who is fourth in the 2010 points standings, was credited with an 11th-place finish in the attrition-filled race.

 

“I feel like we had a pretty good shot at it,” Francis said of his chances of overtaking Marlar in the final circuits. “We had a great car, and I think we had a little more tire than him. His tires were worn pretty good and he was sliding up the racetrack.

 

“We just had no luck. That pretty much describes how our year has gone this year.”

 

Francis stayed on the road following his Columbus disappointment, heading to Nebraska for some warranty service on his S&S hauler. He planned to spend a couple days there working on the Rocket car he drove at Columbus; the machine will be re-skinned with new graphics and the No. 39 for NASCAR Sprint Cup star Ryan Newman, who is scheduled to drive it in the seventh annual Lucas Oil Knoxville Late Model Nationals this weekend (Sept. 30-Oct. 2) at Knoxville (Ohio) Raceway. Francis will drive his crew chief Tim Logan’s car in the three-day event, which includes $7,000-to-win preliminary features on Thursday and Friday nights and a 100-lap finale on Saturday evening paying $40,000 to win.

 

Francis wasn’t the only Outlaw who experienced bad luck at Columbus. Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., also ran into trouble, suffering terminal engine trouble while holding fourth place on lap 39. The driver known as ‘Cat Daddy’ was scored 16th in the final rundown, dulling the momentum he had gained with four top-five finishes in his last five WoO LMS starts.

 

WESTERN PENNSY INVASION: A trio of WoO LMS regulars – Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., Russell King of Bristolville, Ohio, and Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y. – entered last weekend’s Fall Classic at McKean County Raceway in East Smethport, Pa.

 

Alas, none of the series travelers had memorable visits to the one-third-mile track. Frank fared the best, battling forward from the 13th starting spot to finish seventh in Saturday night’s 50-lap Priority Care RaceFAN 50. Fuller, meanwhile, qualified through a B-Main and finished 12th in his first-ever start at MCR, while King, who last year joined Frank as a winner of the RaceFan 50, was credited with 24th after being eliminated in an opening-lap accident.

 

The sensation of the event was 17-year-old Larry Wight of Phoenix, N.Y., whose father, John, also fields Fuller’s Gypsum Express cars. A DIRTcar big-block and 358-Modified racer who has increased his dirt Late Model action this year with an eye on chasing the WoO LMS Rookie of the Year crown in the near future, Wight drove his No. 99L to a heat-race victory and career-best full-fender finish of third in Saturday night’s 50-lapper.

 

The $13,000 RaceFAN 50 winner’s prize was collected by Brady Smith of Solon Springs, Wis., who followed the WoO LMS in 2009 and for the first half of the 2010 season.

 

OPEN-WHEEL ACTION: Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., used the break in the WoO LMS schedule to return to his roots, going big-block Modified racing at Fonda (N.Y.) Speedway.

 

McCreadie, who is third in the WoO LMS points standings, drove the Four Star Racing machine to finishes of third in Saturday night’s 40-lap feature and second in the 100-lap finale on Sunday.

 

BIG WEEKEND: Six WoO LMS travelers are entered in this weekend’s Knoxville Late Model Nationals, including Francis; Richards, whose Mark Richards Racing Enterprises Rocket team will also field a car for two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champ Tony Stewart; Lanigan (the only Outlaw regular who didn’t race last weekend); Eckert; Hubbard; and rookie Jill George of Cedar Falls, Iowa, whose plans to compete in the Liberty 100 at West Liberty (Iowa) Speedway were dashed by rain that postponed that postponed Saturday's headline action (she is scheduled to start sixth in a B-Main on Oct. 16).

 

GET YOUR TICKETS: Ticket information on The Dirt Track’s World of Outlaws Late Model Showdown (Wed., Oct. 13) and World Finals – the season-ending blockbuster weekend on Nov. 4-6 that also includes the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series and, for the first time, the Super DIRTcar big-block Modified Series – can be obtained by logging on to www.charlottemotorspeedway.com or calling 1-800-455-FANS.

 

Fans are reminded that have only have until this Thursday (Sept. 30) to take advantage of an attractive advance-ticket offer for the World Finals that provides a free pit pass with the purchase of every $69 weekend ticket.