Duck River Raceway Park
Pileup of top three lifts Wells to Duck River win
By Kevin Kovac
World of Outlaws Late Model Series
Leader Josh Richards was knocked from contention in this frontstretch wreck. (dt52photos.com)
WHEEL, Tenn. (April 28) — Eric Wells will never forget his first-ever World of Outlaws Late Model Series victory.
The tour rookie from Hazard, Ky., inherited the lead on lap 47 when the top three cars were swept up in a tangle with a lapped machine, then outran defending WoO champion Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., to capture Sunday night's 50-lapper at Duck River Raceway Park. | Slideshow | Video
“We had a pretty good car from the drop of the green,” said Wells, who earned a career-high paycheck of $10,800. “I don’t think I had the car to win if not for the misfortune of (the top three), but sometimes you gotta have luck on your side and tonight we did. I couldn’t be any happier to win a World of Outlaws race this early in our first season (as a regular).”
Wells, 24, suddenly found himself in the top spot after race-long leader Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., second-place Scott James of Lawrenceburg, Ind., and third-place Rick Eckert of York, Pa., crashed together on the homestretch while lapping Mark Gant of Savannah, Tenn. The Bluegrass State driver sidestepped the scramble and never flinched over the final three circuits of the rough-and-tumble race, pulling away in his father David’s Team Zero by Bloomquist mount to defeat Lanigan’s Rocket by 0.696 of a second.
Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., finished third in the Sweeteners Plus Warrior car, a few lengths behind Lanigan. Tyler Reddick, a 17-year-old native Californian who now races out of DuQuoin, Ill., recorded a WoO career-best finish of fourth in a Team Zero by Bloomquist car and Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., placed fifth in the Kennedy Motorsports Capital Race Car after starting 23rd because a broken battery box during heat action forced him to use a provisional starting spot.
Wells fulfilled the promise he showed in February when he registered a pair of top-five finishes during the season-opening eight-race stretch of WoO competition in Georgia and Florida. His triumph made him the fifth driver in WoO history to win while chasing the Rookie of the Year honor, joining Fuller (’07), Brian Shirley (’07), Austin Hubbard (’10) and Bub McCool (’12).
“Coming here today I was pretty down on (racing at Duck River) with the weather conditions and the muddy pits and everything,” said Wells, alluding to a night of action that many doubted would happen due to the heavy rain that saturated the quarter-mile oval and its grounds on Saturday and into Sunday morning. “I definitely have a different outlook on it tonight. I’ve been telling everybody I’m not really sure about this track, but I think it might be alright now.”
Wells, who started 12th, appeared to be in line for a fourth-place until the dramatic turn of events on lap 47. He couldn’t believe his eyes when, about a half-straightaway ahead of him, Richards tangled with Gant off turn four, nosed into the outside wall just past the flagstand and collected James and Eckert.
“I seen a mess here on the frontstretch and the track was blocked,” said Wells, whose previous career-high WoO finish was fourth, on Feb. 21 at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla. “I got on the brakes and tried to stay out of trouble. I just headed for the infield to try and stay out of it and keep our stuff in one piece. We slipped through that one and ended up with a win.”
While Wells had plenty of time to think about the high-profile challengers behind him during the red-flag period that followed the multi-car accident, he was flawless over the race’s final three circuits.
“Being up front I could run my own line,” said Wells, whose victory came in his 20th series start. “On that restart we fired up good, and the last three laps everything went our way.”
Lanigan, 42, settled for a runner-up finish after starting fifth and spending much of the distance running quietly just outside the top five. He competed just hours after traveling to Duck River from Florence, Ky., where he was by his fiancee Erin Dailey’s side as she gave birth Sunday morning to the couple’s first child, a 7-pound, 14-ounce girl named Liala.
Richards, 25, absorbed the event’s toughest blow, finishing ninth after the lap-47 incident erased his dominant performance. With the exception of a brief challenge from rookie Dillon Wood of New Smyrna Beach, Fla., who reached second place on a lap-29 restart and stayed close to Richards until stopping on lap 37 due to a broken yoke on his car’s transmission, no one threatened the two-time tour champion and current points leader.
“I feel like we definitely had the best car, but the lapped car got into us,” said Richards, who was seeking his third WoO win of 2013. “I was underneath one of the lapped cars and he kept on turning down, turning down, and we got together and we all crashed.
“It was definitely a bad night. It’s hard to get in position to have a car that good and win a race, but you can’t let it get to you. We’ll go home, fix the front clip and see what we can do at the next races.”
Shane Clanton of Zebulon, Ga., who entered Sunday’s program off a series victory Friday at Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tenn., that pulled him within four points of Richards in the WoO standings, stood to benefit greatly from Richards’s late-race problem. He was set to restart in sixth place — even after pitting to change a flat left-rear tire on lap 29 — but a right-rear flat tire forced him to pit again before the final restart and he finished 13th.
Notes: The Wells Motorsports Bloomquist Race Car is powered by a Roush Yates Engine and sponsored by Cox Wrecker Service, Convenient Lube and Allstar Performance and carries support for the Will Kinzer Foundation for Autism Research. ... Thirteen of 24 starters completed 50 laps. ... Bub McCool of Vicksburg, Miss., was running second in the feature when a broken oil line forced him out. ... Eight caution flags slowed the event, most for slowed or stopped cars. ... Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., finished sixth despite pitting to change a flat tire on laps 17 and 29. ... WoO rookie Morgan Bagley of Longview, Texas, advanced from the 17th starting spot to finish seventh. ... Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., who switched to his backup car after his primary machine was struck by terminal motor trouble during time trials, survived to finish eighth. ... The event attracted a near-capacity crowd despite rain continuing to threaten the area on Sunday night. A brief shower did hit the track just before the start of the first heat, delaying the program about 90 minutes. ... Darrell Lanigan’s 11.970-second time trial set the track recording, eclipsing the previous standard of 12.171 seconds set last November by Vic Hill of Mosheim, Tenn. ... WoO competitors continue a four-weekend stretch of racing in the Southeast with a May 3-4 doubleheader in Georgia at Lavonia Speedway and Swainsboro Raceway.
World of Outlaws @ Duck River: (1) Eric Wells, (2) Darrell Lanigan, (3) Tim McCreadie, (4) Tyler Reddick, (5) Tim Fuller, (6) Chub Frank, (7) Morgan Bagley, (8) Clint Smith, (9) Josh Richards, (10) Josh Putnam, (11) Scott James, (12) Rick Eckert, (13) Shane Clanton, (14) Mark Gant, (15) Dillon Wood, (16) Bub McCool, (17) Brad Skinner, (18) Ray Cook, (19) Jay Brinkley, (20) David Seibers, (21) Mark Fields, (22) Scott Bloomquist, (23) Scott Cook, (24) Steve Casebolt. Fast qualifier (among 30 cars): Lanigan, 11.970 seconds. Heat race winners: Richards, Eckert, McCool. Consolation winner: Putnam. Provisional starters: Fuller, S. Cook.
