Post by LMR on 05/08/15 at 11:02pm
World of Outlaws Late Model Series
Ponderosa Speedway
May 8, 2015
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Eckert Ends World of Outlaws Late Model Series Winless Streak With Victory In Ponderosa Speedway’s First-Ever Series Event
Former Series Champion Tops Clanton & Frank in Friday's A-Main to Earn First WoO LMS Victory in Nearly Two Years
WoOLMS PR
JUNCTION CITY, Ky. (May 8) - It took a visit to a track he had never even seen before for Rick Eckert to finally return to World of Outlaws Late Model Series victory lane.
Racing in front of a record crowd at Ponderosa Speedway in the track's first-ever WoO LMS event, Eckert of York, Pa., overtook race-long leader Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., amid heavy traffic on lap 30 of Friday's main event and later survived heavy pressure from Shane Clanton of Zebulon, Ga., and Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., in the closing laps of the 50-lap race.
After a lap-45 caution gave him clear track ahead, Eckert pulled away from Clanton and Frank and cruised through the final five laps on his way to earning $10,775 for his first WoO LMS victory since July 9, 2013.
"I was getting tired of hearing about that (winless streak)," said Eckert, the 2011 WoO LMS champion whose most recent series victory came at Gillette (Wyo.) Thunder Speedway. "I snuck by Darrell there in traffic. When you're the leader, traffic's bad. I knew when I got to traffic there I seen Shane's nose, but thankfully that caution came out."
Clanton settled for the runner-up spot, 0.707 seconds behind Eckert at the finish. He survived lap-32 contact with Lanigan, who nearly spun while looking low in an attempt to retake the lead from Eckert. The damage to Lanigan's car forced him out of the race and dropped him to a 21st-place finish.
The 12th-starting Frank finished third, matching his best WoO LMS finish of the season. Three-time WoO LMS champion Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., finished fourth, moving him ahead of Lanigan for second in the series standings, 96 points behind Clanton. Dale McDowell of Chickamauga, Ga., rounded out the race's top five finishers.
Eckert's long-awaited victory marks his first triumph since joining forces with Paul Crowl and Shawn and Lisa Martin of Viper Motorsports to field a Cornett-powered MasterSbilt by Huey machine on the WoO LMS tour this season. The new team struggled out of the gates this season, logging just four top 10s and no top fives in the year's first 10 WoO LMS races. But the team has hit their stride of late with Friday's victory giving Eckert back-to-back top-five WoO LMS finishes for the first time since August.
"We really struggled at the beginning of the year," said Eckert, who last season finished second in the final WoO LMS standings while filling in for Richards in the Rocket Chassis house car. "I just couldn't fit in these cars. We kept working on them, working on them, and the last couple weeks we made some big strides."
Clanton did all he could to keep pace with Eckert during the race's final laps, but his Weldbank Energy Capital Race Car was hampered by front-end damage from the contact with Clanton earlier in the race. The second-place result gives Clanton 11 tops fives and 12 top 10s in 13 WoO LMS races this season.
"Overall it was a good night to finish second with a torn-up race car," said Clanton, who hasn't won since winning four of seven races to start the WoO LMS season. "Hats off to Eckert. He needed that one as much as we did. We drove our heart out, just come up a little short."
Looking to end a lengthy winless streak of his own, Frank charged forward during the second half of the race and appeared ready to challenge both Clanton and Eckert before the lap-45 caution gave the front-runners clear track. He was unable to mount a serious challenge on Clanton in the run to the finish, but the third-place result was a major improvement over his finishes of 12th and 17th during last weekend's WoO LMS doubleheader in North Carolina.
"We had a good pretty good car tonight," said Frank, who hasn't won on the WoO LMS since Aug. 22, 2009. "The track actually was pretty racy. It got racy even though it had a little rubber on it and you could race on it pretty good. Restarts were key for us. The car's back, so we're looking forward to doing some more racing."
James Rice of Verona, Ky., advanced from his 14th starting spot to finish in the sixth position, while Eric Wells of Hazard, Ky., rallied from 24th to seventh after having to use a provision to start the race. Kent Robinson of Bloomington, Ind., was eighth at the finish with 19th-starting Brandon Kinzer of Allen, Ky., and 16th-starting Michael Chilton of Salvisa, Ky., rounding out the top 10 finishers.
The race was slowed by five cautions with a spin by Kinzer bringing out the first yellow flag with two laps completed. A lap-11 yellow waved for the slowing machine of Dustin Linville of Bryantsville, Ky., who won a heat race and was running sixth before a broken driveshaft ended his run.
A scramble following Lanigan's lap-31 troubles led to the race's third caution and a four-car pileup back in the pack brought out another caution one lap later. The final caution on lap 45 occurred when Mason Zeigler of Chalk Hill, Pa., slowed with a flat right-rear tire.
The World of Outlaws Late Model Series concludes its weekend doubleheader on Saturday with a visit to Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tenn. The third annual Mountain Outlaw 50 Presented by NAPA features a complete WoO LMS program with a 50-lap, $10,000-to-win A-Main. Visit www.smokymountainspeedway.com for more information.
For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.
A-Main
1 7v Rick Eckert York, PA (50) $10,000
2 25 Shane Clanton Zebulon, GA (50)
3 1* Chub Frank Bear Lake, PA (50)
4 1 Josh Richards Shinnston, WV (50)
5 17M Dale McDowell Chickamaugua, GA (50)
6 11r James Rice Verona, KY (50)
7 18 Eric Wells Hazard, KY (50)
8 7R Kent Robinson Bloomington, IN (50)
9 18 Brandon Kinzer Allen, KY (50)
10 97 Michael Chilton Salvisa, KY (50)
11 22 Gregg Satterlee Rochester Mills, PA (50)
12 39 Tim McCreadie Watertown, NY (50)
13 99Jr Frank Heckenast Jr. Orland Park, IL (50)
14 11jr Josh Rice Verona, KY (50)
15 14M Morgan Bagley Tyler, TX (49)
16 25z Mason Zeigler Chalk Hill, PA (45)
17 157 Mike Marlar Winfield, TN (42)
18 16n Brad Neat Dunnville, KY (32)
19 18c Chase Junghans Manhattan, KS (32)
20 76 Brandon Overton Appleton, GA (32)
21 29 Darrell Lanigan Union, KY (30)
22 16 Justin Rattliff Campbellsville, KY (30)
23 D8 Dustin Linville Bryantsville, KY (11)
24 15 Steve Francis Ashland, KY (10)
B-Main #1
1 15 Steve Francis
2 18K Brandon Kinzer
3 76 Brandon Overton
4 4 Victor Lee
5 99B Boom Briggs
6 C9 Steve Casebolt
7 7 Brian Smith
8 14M Morgan Bagley
9 11 Austin Smith
10 17 Shannon Thornsberry
11 5T Timmy Taylor
B-Main #2
1 18c Chase Junghans
2 99jr Frank Heckenast Jr
3 11jr Josh Rice
4 31x Johnny Wheeler
5 15J Greg Johnson
6 47 Chris Combs
7 77 Jordan Yaggy
8 18 Eric Wells
9 35 Dennis Barton
dns 3 J.L. Muse
dns 33 Aaron Hatton
dns 15r Jeff Rawlings
Heat #1
1 25 Shane Clanton
2 7V Rick Eckert
3 22 Gregg Satterlee
4 16 Justin Rattliff
5 15 Steve Francis
6 76 Brandon Overton
7 7 Brian Smtih
8 17 Shannon Thornsberry
9 5T Timmy Taylor
dns C9 Steve Casebolt
Heat #2
1 25z Mason Zeigler
2 29 Darrell Lanigan
3 7R Kent Robinson
4 11R James Rice
5 18K Brandon Kinzer
6 99B Boom Briggs
7 11 Austin Smith
8 14M Morgan Bagley
9 4 Victor Lee
dns 5 Don O'Neal
Heat #3
1 D8 Dustin Linville
2 157 Mike Marlar
3 16N Brad Neat
4 39 Tim McCreadie
5 18c Chase Junghans
6 11jr Josh Rice
7 15J Greg Johnson
8 18 Eric Wells
9 33 Aaron Hatton
dns 35 Dennis Barton
Heat #4
1 17M Dale McDowell
2 1 Josh Richards
3 1* Chub Frank
4 97 Michael Chilton
5 99jr Frank Heckenast Jr
6 31x Johnny Wheeler
7 47 Chris Combs
8 77 Jordan Yaggy
9 3 J.L. Muse
dns 15r Jeff Rawlings
Group A Qualifying
1 7V Rick Eckert 14.006
2 29 Darrell Lanigan 14.205
3 25 Shane Clanton 14.206
4 25z Mason Zeigler 14.243
5 16 Justin Rattliff 14.251
6 18K Brandon Kinzer 14.252
7 22 Gregg Satterlee 14.287
8 11R James Rice 14.307
9 76 Brandon Overton 14.330
10 7R Kent Robinson 14.416
11 15 Steve Francis 14.465
12 99B Boom Briggs 14.465
13 C9 Steve Casebolt 14.497
14 4 Victor Lee 14.655
15 7 Brian Smith 14.766
16 11 Austin Smith 14.803
17 17 Shannon Thornsberry 15.001
18 14M Morgan Bagley 15.157
19 5T Timmy Taylor 16.190
20 5 Don O'Neal no time
Group B Qualifying
1 16N Brad Neat 14.159
2 17M Dale McDowell 14.237
3 D8 Dustin Linville 14.323
4 1 Josh Richards 14.348
5 18c Chase Junghans 14.415
6 1* Chub Frank Best 14.490
7 157 Mike Marlar 14.520
8 31x Johnny Wheeler 14.527
9 39 Tim McCreadie 14.558
10 97 Michael Chilton 14.562
11 18 Eric Wells 14.564
12 47 Chris Combs 14.727
13 15J Greg Johnson 14.819
14 99jr Frank Heckenast Jr 14.823
15 11jr Josh Rice 14.980
16 77 Jordan Yaggy 15.094
17 33 Aaron Hatton 15.101
18 3 J.L. Muse 15.388
19 35 Dennis Barton 16.013
20 15r Jeff Rawlings no time
Event Photos courtesy of Jim Denhamer
all results unofficial