World of Outlaws Late Model Series
Wayne County Speedway
May 24, 2013
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Hess Outruns Former World of Outlaws Late Model Series Champs For Buckeye 50 Victory At NAPA Wayne County Speedway
Pennsylvania Driver Captures Coveted First-Ever Triumph On National Tour



by Kevin Kovac
ORRVILLE, OH – May 24, 2013 – Dave Hess Jr. ran the race of his life on Friday night at NAPA Auto Parts Wayne County Speedway.

The 28-year-old driver from Waterford, Pa., grabbed the lead on lap two and never looked back en route to capturing the World of Outlaws Late Model Series Buckeye 50 Presented by Southeast Equipment – his coveted first-ever triumph on the national tour.

Not even a lap-36 caution flag could derail Hess, who pulled away from three former WoO LMS champions – Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., and Rick Eckert of York, Pa. – during the race’s late stages to pocket $10,550.

Hess’s victory came in the 58th WoO LMS event he’s entered and 38th A-Main he’s started since 2004. His previous best finish was a second on Aug. 31, 2008, at Tri-City Speedway in Franklin, Pa.

“We’ve been trying a long time to win one of these World of Outlaws shows,” said Hess, who has driven family-owned equipment throughout his career. “We’ve come close before, and I knew the way the car’s been (in recent years) it was just a matter of time (that a win would come) if we got some luck.

“But I didn’t think (the win) would be here,” he added. “I thought it would be at one of my better tracks. We haven’t even been here in a couple years, but the car was great.”

Richards, 25, advanced from the seventh starting spot to run second from lap 11 to the finish, but he only managed to briefly duck underneath Hess twice late in the distance. The two-time WoO LMS champion crossed the finish line 1.262 seconds behind Hess.

Lanigan, who started sixth but lost two spots on the race’s first lap when he bounced through a rut in turn one, recovered to finish third. He turned back the late-race challenges of the eighth-starting Eckert, who settled for fourth. Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., completed the top five after climbing forward from the 12th starting spot to match his top finish of the season.

Hess, who started from the pole position, was outgunned for the lead at the initial start by WoO LMS rookie Eric Wells of Hazard, Ky. But Hess pushed his Craiger-powered Rocket past Wells for the top spot on lap two and maintained firm control for the remainder of the distance.

Running hard on the top side of the three-eighths-mile oval, Hess kept Richards and the rest of the star-studded field at bay. He understood that he had to be flawless to reach the checkered flag first.

“You gotta have your car perfect, have the right tires on and then drive a perfect race,” said Hess, noting the ingredients for success in a WoO LMS event. “You know guys like Josh Richards and Darrell Lanigan, they ain’t gonna make mistakes. So if you make any, it’ll put you behind.

“My cars felt real great around that top of one and two, but that berm was pretty tall so if you got into it very hard it really got you out of a shape. It scared me a few times, but I knew I had to push it as hard as I could because Josh and Darrell would be coming.”

Hess threw every last bit of caution to the wind following the race’s final restart, which came on lap 36 after George Lee of Loudonville, Ohio, slowed to bring out a yellow flag.

“It seemed like every restart the car would just be great for about six, seven, eight laps, and then it would start laying down just a little bit and losing a little bit of traction,” said Hess. “I knew I just had to push it as hard as I could on that last restart and hope I could build enough cushion to hold ‘em off.”

Richards showed his nose to Hess entering turn one on the lap-36 restart, but he never got his Rocket Chassis house car close enough to challenge Hess again over the remaining circuits.

“We had a really good car but I was a little too tight to run up on the cushion off of (turn) two,” said Richards, who recorded his series-leading 11 th top-five finish in 14 A-Mains this season. “That’s where he would really get a run.”

“Dave’s a really great race car driver and I’m glad to see those guys get a win. He did a great job.”

Richards’s runner-up finish allowed him to extended his WoO LMS points lead to 32 markers over Shane Clanton of Zebulon, Ga., who finished 15th after rearend problems in his Kennedy Motorsports machine forced him to retire on lap 38 while battling for fifth place.

Bub McCool of Vicksburg, Miss., tied his best finish of the season with a sixth after starting 16th. Wells slipped to seventh in the final rundown after running in the top five until Frank’s lap-44 pass knocked him back. Morgan Bagley of Longview, Texas, placed eighth, third-starter Gregg Satterlee of Rochester Mills, Pa., was ninth and a Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., finished 10th after starting 23rd because a heat-race flat tire forced him to use a provisional spot.

Four caution flags slowed the event. Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., brought out the first, on lap five, when he slammed into the barrier of tractor tires off the backstretch. Later, Russ King of Bristolville, Ohio, slowed on lap 15; Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., spun in turn two on lap 16 shortly before retiring; and Lee slowed on lap 36 with a smoking car.

Thirty cars were signed in for the event, which was contested on an unseasonably cool evening. Temperatures never climbed much above 50 and dipped into the 30s by the end of the program.

Doug Drown of Wooster, Ohio, turned the quickest lap in Ohlins Shocks Time Trials, clocking in at 16.807 seconds to earn his first-ever WoO LMS fast-time honor.

Drown, Lanigan and Satterlee were victorious in heat races, and Ron Davies of Warren, Pa., won the B-Main.

Walker Arthur of Forest, Va., saw his night come to an abrupt end after his car dug into the cushion between turns one and two and rolled several times during his time-trial effort. He wasn’t injured.

The WoO LMS continues its Memorial Day weekend tripleheader on May 25-26 with the running of the second annual Jackpot 100 Presented by NAPA Auto Parts at Tyler County Speedway in Middlebourne, W.Va. A 30-lap, $6,000-to-win A-Main is scheduled for Saturday night (May 25) and a 70-lap finale carrying a $15,000 first-place prize will be contested on Sunday evening (May 26).

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

Fans can also follow the WoO LMS on Twitter at Twitter.com/WoOLateModels and Facebook at Facebook.com/WorldofOutlaws .

Results of World of Outlaws Late Model Series at NAPA Auto Parts Wayne County Speedway
(Finishing Position/Start/Driver/Laps Completed/Money Won):
1. (1) Dave Hess Jr./50 $10,550
2. (7) Josh Richards/50 $5,650
3. (6) Darrell Lanigan/50 $3,700
4. (8) Rick Eckert/50 $3,150
5. (12) Chub Frank/50 $2,550
6. (16) Bub McCool/50 $2,300
7. (2) Eric Wells/50 $2,200
8. (11) Morgan Bagley/50 $1,850
9. (3) Gregg Satterlee/50 $1,200
10. (23) Tim Fuller/50 $1,700
11. (5) Doug Drown/50 $1,050
12. (9) Russ King/50 $1,000
13. (18) Corey Conley/50 $950
14. (17) Ryan Markham/49 $900
15. (4) Shane Clanton/38 $1,500
16. (13) Davey Johnson/35 $800
17. (20) George Lee/35 $770
18. (22) Shane McLoughlin/32 $750
19. (14) Tim McCreadie/21 $1,380
20. (21) Zack Dohm/15 $700
21. (15) J.R. Gentry/15 $700
22. (24) Steve Casebolt Jr./7 $700
23. (10) Clint Smith/5 $1,250
24. (19) Ron Davies/3 $700
* Earnings include Winners Circle program and cash contingency award bonuses
Time of Race: 25 Mins., 38.302 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 1.262 Secs.
Yellow Flags: 4 (laps 5, 15, 16, 36)
Lap Leaders: Wells (1); Hess (2-50)
Provisional Starters: Fuller, Casebolt
Rookie of the Race: Wells ($250)
WoO LMS ‘Bonus Bucks’ Winner: Hess ($500)

Heat No. 1 (10 laps – Top 6 Transfer): Drown, Wells, Richards, C. Smith, Johnson, McCool, Davies, Bond, Bates (DNS) Arthur
Heat No. 2 (10 laps – Top 6 Transfer): Lanigan, Clanton, Eckert, Bagley, McCreadie, Markham, Z. Dohm, McLoughlin, Bellman, Fuller
Heat No. 3 (10 laps – Top 6 Transfer): Satterlee, Hess, King, Frank, Gentry, C. Conley, Lee, Duncan, Aber, Casebolt
B-Main (12 laps – Top 4 Transfer): Davies, Lee, Dohm, McLoughlin, Casebolt, Duncan, Bond, Aber, Bates (DNS) Bellman, Fuller, Arthur

Time Trial Results (Position/No./Driver/Hometown/Best Lap):
1. 63-Doug Drown/Wooster, OH 16.807
2. 25-Shane Clanton/Zebulon, OH 17.036
3. 44H-Dave Hess Jr./Waterford, PA 17.140
4. 18-Eric Wells/Hazard, KY 17.143
5. 19-Tim Fuller/Watertown, NY 17.186
6. 22-Gregg Satterlee/Rochester Mills, PA 17.189
7. 1-Josh Richards/Shinnston, WV 17.197
8. 29-Darrell Lanigan/Union, KY 17.233
9. 56-Russ King/Bristolville, OH 17.260
10. 44-Clint Smith/Senoia, GA 17.300
11. 14M-Morgan Bagley/Longview, TX 17.378
12. 14-Corey Conley/Wellsburg, WV 17.390
13. 1J-Davey Johnson/Latrobe, PA 17.427
14. 24-Rick Eckert/York, PA 17.448
15. 14G-J.R. Gentry/Wooster, OH 17.553
16. 007-Rick Bond/Mansfield, OH 17.656
17. 39-Tim McCreadie/Watertown, NY 17.702
18. 240-Charlie Duncan/Millersburg, OH 17.792
19. 57J-Bub McCool/Vicksburg, MS 17.818
20. 5M-Ryan Markham/Ashland, OH 17.829
21. 61-George Lee/Loudonville, OH 17.857
22. 87-Walker Arthur/Forest, VA 17.880
23. 17-Zack Dohm/Cross Lanes, WV 17.886
24. 1*-Chub Frank/Bear Lake, PA 17.914
25. 71d-Ron Davies/Warren, PA 17.943
26. 9-Shane McLoughlin/Nashport, OH 18.026
27. c9-Steve Casebolt Jr./Richmond, IN 18.184
28. 11-Kyle Bates/Cambridge, OH 18.292
29. 59-Larry Bellman/Wooster, OH 18.414
30. 81-Blane Aber/Wooster, OH 19.129

2013 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Point Standings as of May 24
14 A-Mains completed (rank/driver/points/deficit to leader):
1. Josh Richards 1988
2. Shane Clanton 1956 (-32)
3. Darrell Lanigan 1916 (-72)
4. Rick Eckert 1894 (-94)
5. Tim McCreadie 1816 (-172)
6. Eric Wells 1790 (-198)
7. Tim Fuller 1786 (-202)
8. Morgan Bagley 1748 (-240)
9. Chub Frank 1746 (-242)
10. Bub McCool 1744 (-244)
11. Scott James 1714 (-274)
12. Clint Smith 1632 (-356)
13. Dillon Wood 1426 (-562)
14. Billy Moyer 960 (-1028)
15. Brandon Sheppard 942 (-1046)