Tri-City Speedway
Moyer's jump to high side lifts him at Tri-City
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt.com chief writer
Billy Moyer (21) makes his winning move. (mikerueferphotos.photoreflect.com)
GRANITE CITY, Ill. (July 4) — Billy Moyer's first high-side move into the lead was negated by a caution. So the Hall of Fame driver from Batesville, Ark., driver simply did it again at Tri-City Speedway. Winning his second UMP DIRTcar Summernationals start in a row, the new track record-holder took command with a stirring move on the 22nd lap and cruised the rest of the way for a $10,000 victory. | Complete Summernationals coverage | Slideshow
"They came out to see a race," Moyer said of the fans during his victory lane interview, "and they saw one tonight."
Front-row starters Dennis Erb Jr., the series points leader from Carpentersville, Ill., and Wes Steidinger of Fairbury, Ill., finished second and third at Tri-City while ninth-starting Wendell Wallace of Batesville and seventh-starting Darren Miller of Milledgeville, Ill., rounded out the top five in the 15th leg of the tour.
Moyer, who stepped off the series following his June 25 victory at Lake Ozark Speedway in Eldon, Mo., returned with a flourish by lowering the track record at the third-mile oval. After winning a heat race — and changing his car's rear end after breaking an axle on the last lap of the prelim — Moyer looked ordinary while running fourth the first 10 laps of the feature.
But then Moyer came alive, taking the third spot from polesitter Jeep Van Wormer and moving up to third for a lap-13 restart. On that restart, Moyer boldly rode the rugged high side from third-to-first to sweep into the lead, but when Jason Feger spun, Moyer's move was called back and he restarted behind the leading Steidinger and Erb once again.
On the next start, Moyer toughed it out on the cushion again, taking the second spot from Erb and trying to catch Steidinger, who tried the high side a couple of times himself. Moyer nearly got underneath a high-running Steidinger exiting turn four on the 19th lap, but he was pinched off and lost momentum. But Moyer was right back on Steidinger as they approached the slower car of Billy Laycock at the race's midpoint, setting up Moyer's dramatic move.
Going into turn one, Steidinger committed to the low groove while Moyer peeked high around Laycock. The three cars were three abreast in the middle of the backstretch — Steidinger low, Laycock in the middle, and Moyer high — as the leaders enveloped the lapped car. But Steidinger carried too much momentum into turn three and washed up as Moyer handled the cushion once again and blitzed into the lead.
Moyer put his No. 21 on cruise control and was ahead by a quarter-lap when the race's final caution appeared on lap 34 for a turn-four tangle among the top-five runners Jeep Van Wormer and Darren Miller, who had just topped Steidinger back to fifth. Moyer wasn't challenged the rest of the way as the runner-up Erb increased his series points lead over fourth-starting Brian Shirley, who never ran better than fifth and made an infield foray in the final laps that left him in eighth, his second-worst finish on the series.
Feature notes
The feature was slowed by seven cautions, none for serious incidents. On the second of two failed starts, Jordan Bland ended up backwards in turn four and had to restart on the tail. Another caution appeared on the second lap for the Don O'Neal's damaged rear suspension and a flat for Bland. Brian Birkhofer slowed to bring out a lap-five caution. A lap-14 caution appeared for debris and a lap-16 caution appeared when Jason Feger spun between turns three and four. The last caution was for the Van Miller-Miller scramble. ... Kevin Weaver, added as an extra provisional, started 22nd and rallied to finish seventh; he qualified well but a tire peeled off the rim in his heat race. ... On Saturday, the series heads to Fairbury (Ill.) American Legion Speedway for its 16th event. The feature pays $10,000 to the winner.
UMP @ Tri-City: (1) Billy Moyer, (2) Dennis Erb Jr., (3) Wes Steidinger, (4) Wendell Wallace, (5) Darren Miller, (6) Jeep Van Wormer, (7) Kevin Weaver, (8) Brian Shirley, (9) Ryan Unzicker, (10) Randy Korte, (11) Steve Sheppard Jr., (12) Jesse Stovall, (13) Rodney Melvin, (14) Billy Laycock, (15) Jason McBride, (16) Will Vaught, (17) Jason Feger, (18) Jordan Bland, (19) Brent Kreke, (20) Mark Voigt, (21) Brian Birkhofer, (22) Don O'Neal, (23) Billy Faust. Fast qualifier (among 51 cars): Moyer, 14.144 seconds. Heat race winners: Moyer, Erb, Steidinger, Shirley, Van Wormer. C-Main winners: Kyle Steffens, Faust. B-Main winners: Unzicker. Provisional starters: Korte, Sheppard, Faust, Weaver, Voigt.
B-Main
Ryan Unzicker outran polesitter and fellow front-row starter Billy Laycock for a victory. Jason Feger got the third and final transfer spot while Mark Voigt was left on the outside looking in. A couple of cautions for debris and a first-lap melee that involved several cars slowed the action.
Finish: Ryan Unzicker, Billy Laycock, Jason Feger, Mark Voigt, Tim Lance, Mark Oller, Kevin Weaver, Mark Burgtorf, Claude Walker, Cory Daugherty, Michael Kloos, Billy Faust, Kyle Steffens. Scratched: Randy Korte.
Lineup (top three transfer):
Row 1: Laycock, Unzicker
Row 2: Salter, Kloos
Row 3: Voigt, Oller
Row 4: Feger, Walker
Row 5: Burgtorf, Daugherty
Row 6: Steffens, Wolfmeier
Row 7: Faust, J. Beyers
Row 8: Lance, Steffens
Row 9: Faust, Lance
Row 10: Wolfmeier, Collins
Row 11: Weaver
C-Mains
Kyle Steffens and Bill Faust won C-Mains in races that sent the top three finishers to the B-Main (an upgrade from the originally announced two transferrees).
First C-Main finish: Kyle Steffens, Tim Lance, Brian Wolfmeier, Steve Unterbrink, Dick Taylor, Bruce Unterbrink, Matt Weidner, Mike Schulte, Steve Sheppard Jr.
Second C-Main finish: Billy Faust, Bryan Collins, Kevin Weaver, Jeff Beyers, John Seets, Craig Smith, Mike Hammerle, Don Cisco III, Brandon Sheppard, Dan Jacober, Rick Rhodes.
Fifth heat
Polesitter Jeep Van Wormer raced ahead of fellow front-row starter Brian Birkhofer on the first lap and edged away for a victory. Birkhofer got too high exiting turn four on the third lap, giving the second spot to Jesse Stovall, who finished a solid second. Birkhofer as unchallenged in maintaining the third and final transfer spot. Fourth-starting Randy Korte appeared to have handling problems and parked his car in the infield in the closing laps. Matt Weidner spun in turn three on the first lap to force a complete restart.
Finish: Jeep Van Wormer, Jesse Stovall, Brian Birkhofer, Mark Voigt, Cory Daugherty, Tim Lance, Matt Weidner, Mike Hammerle, Randy Korte, Rick Rhodes, Rusty Griffaw.
Fourth heat
Brian Shirley started outside the front row and dominated for an easy win. Wendell Wallace, who took second from polesitter Rodney Melvin in the closing laps, finished a half-straightaway behind in second while Melvin got the third and final transfer spot in the caution-free event. Michael Kloos finished fourth. Back in the back, Bruce Unterbrink and Mike Schulte banged together hard heading for the checkered flag, but both drivers maintained control.
Finish: Brian Shirley, Wendell Wallace, Rodney Melvin, Michael Kloos, Mark Burgtorf, Jeff Beyers, Bruce Unterbrink, Mike Schulte, Don Cisco III, John Seets.
Third heat
Fourth-starting Wes Steidinger grabbed the lead from Steve Sheppard Jr. on the seventh lap, just as Sheppard's left-rear wheel ripped off the hub. Steidinger cruised the rest of way for a victory ahead of a sixth-starting Will Vaught, who lost the second spot in the final laps to third-starting Billy Faust. Faust, however, limped to the checkered flag as a flat left-rear tire sent him spinning between turns three and four on the final lap. That lifted Jason McBride into the third and final transfer spot, and Rick Salter avoided the last-lap scramble to finish fourth. Sheppard started outside the front row and roared to a straightaway lead at the halfway point, but Steidinger ran right with him before his left-rear wheel ripped off the car in turn four. The race's first caution appeared Salter's turn-four spin on the sixth lap, but Dewayne Kiefer was charged with the caution for making contact and he restarted on the tail. Polesitter Jeremy Conaway faded and pulled off during the caution period to clean up Sheppard's car.
Finish: Wes Steidinger, Will Vaught, Jason McBride, Rick Salter, Claude Walker, Billy Faust, Dewayne Kiefer, Jeremy Conaway, Dan Jacober.
Second heat
Fourth-starting Dennis Erb Jr. scraped past polesitter Darren Miller exiting turn four before an early caution and led the rest of the way in the middle groove. Miller, who ran the high side early, dropped down and chased Erb the rest of the way to finish second. Front-rwo starter Jordan Bland got the third and final transfer spot. Cautions slowed the early laps, including one for when Bryan Collins spun in turn four while making a move toward the front.
Finish: Dennis Erb Jr., Darren Miller, Jordan Bland, Ryan Unzicker, Jason Feger, Brian Wolfmeier, Bryan Collins, Brandon Sheppard, Dick Taylor, Chad Zobrist.
First heat
A dominating Billy Moyer built a half-straightaway lead on the first lap and roared to an easy 10-lap victory, but smoke trailing his car on the last lap was bad news. Moyer was towed out of the infield and told crew chief Steve Norris to get a backup rear end ready for his Victory Circle M1 Chassis. Don O'Neal and Brent Kreke, who also had smoke trailing his car, got the other two transfer spots. Billy Laycock was fourth. Fourth-starting Kevin Weaver was out on the second lap with a flat tire. Norris confirmed later that the team indeed swapped rear ends because of a broken axle, making the switch nearly before heat races were complete.
Finish: Billy Moyer, Don O'Neal, Brent Kreke, Billy Laycock, Mark Oller, Kyle Steffens, Steve Unterbrink, Craig Smith, Kevin Weaver. Scratched: Donald Beyers.
Qualifying
In a revision made following time trials, Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., was listed as the fastest among 51 qualifiers in the UMP DIRTcar Summernationals event at Tri-City. Two-time series race winner Darren Miller of Milledgeville, Ill., was initially tabbed as fast qualifier, but that was changed after a discovery of mistakes made with the official times, taken via transponder. Moyer's time of 14.144 seconds lowered the track record at the third-mile oval on an evening when the 26-race tour drew its biggest car count.
Moyer will start on the pole of a heat race. Other drivers starting on the pole of heats, according to group qualifying: Miller, Jeremy Conaway of Springfield, Ill., four-time UMP weekly champ Rodney Melvin of Benton, Ill, and the previous series race winner, Jeep Van Wormer of Pinconning, Mich.
The first group's times were mostly incorrect because the warm-up laps were being recorded instead of the official lap; that changed the times for several drivers. Moyer's crew had questioned his original time of more than 15 seconds, saying they'd clocked their driver on the stopwatch at 14.1. UMP series director Sam Driggers OK'd the revision after talking with the track's official timer. The track doesn't use time trials for its weekly events.
The top three finishers from each of five heat races will transfer to the feature, while finishers 4-6 will go to the B-Main. Everyone else will run in one of two C-Mains, which will send two cars apiece to the B-Main. The top three finishers in the B-Main advance to the feature along with three provisionals for a 21-car field.
Pre-race notes
The 51 Late Models entered are the most on the Summernationals tour this year. ... Reigning series champion Dennis Erb Jr. of Carpentersville, Ill., enters the event with a three-point lead on Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill. ... The previous two series events at Morgan County Speedway in Jacksonville, Ill., and Macon (Ill.) Speedway were rained out and rescheduled as non-points events on Aug. 15-16. ... Leading the series newcomers at Tri-City is former Dirt Track World Champion Wendell Wallace of Batesville, Ark., racing just after the departure of his long-time crew chief Todd Moser, who now works with Kentucky driver Brandon Kinzer. Other newcomers: Bryan Collins of Elsberry, Ill., Don Cisco III of Oreana, Ill., Billy Laycock of Marine, Ill., Claude Walker of Moro, Ill., Mark Oller of Highland, Ill., Brian Wolfmeier of House Springs, Mo., and John Seets of Brighton, Ill. ... Two sets of brothers are also newcomers: Jeff and Donald Beyers of Pana, Ill., along with Illinois drivers Bruce (Greenville) and Steve Unterbrink (Moro). ... Randy Korte is driving a Rocket Chassis that hit the track for the first time on Tuesday at Peoria. ... Jesse Stovall is back on the series, fresh off a Thursday night MARS-DLRA victory at I-44 Speedway in Lebanon, Mo. ... Other drivers returning to the series: Lake Ozark Speedway winner Billy Moyer and Darren Miller, a back-to-back series winner at I-57/I-64 Raceway in Mount Vernon, Ill., and Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway. ... Ken Schrader is in action at Tri-City in the modified division. ... Tri-City drew 172 (up from 164 originally counted) total race cars among four divisions, breaking the previous 2008 record of 153 cars. The track employed virtually every transponder for scoring. ... The track is scheduled to have a fireworks display following the night's racing action. ... Kevin Weaver's transponder didn't pick up his first two attempts to time trial, causing a couple of brief delays in qualifying. ... Bruce Unterbrink's car also had problems getting an official time.
Time trials (unofficial)
Don O’Neal (71), Martinsville, Ind., 14.443
Kyle Steffens (8), St. Charles, Mo., 14.744
Craig Smith (81), Godfrey, Ill., 15.409
Donald Beyers (127), Pana, Ill., 15.570
Second group
