ALMA, Ohio (May 8) — Devin Moran went nearly four years between Super Late Model special event victories at Atomic Speedway before ending that lengthy drought with a $22,000 triumph in the track's Fireball 50 on April 22. He didn’t wait even four weeks before returning to victory lane at the historic 3/8-mile track this time.
In his first time racing at Atomic since his impressive victory there last month, Moran, 26, of Dresden, Ohio, raced to another big payday Saturday night, earning $13,004 for a flag-to-flag performance in the Valvoline Iron-Man Northern Series-sanctioned Dan Reno-Jackie Boggs Memorial.
The second-starting Moran survived a close back-and-forth battle with fourth-starting Josh Rice midway through the 50-lap feature and cruised to a dominant victory after Rice left the race following heavy contact with the turn-four wall when he over shot his lap-32 slidejob attempt to take the lead.
Moran was never challenged after Rice’s demise, lapping all but the top four finishers on his way to taking the checkers with an advantage of more than seven seconds. Jacob Hawkins of Fairmont, W.Va, topped his older brother Jared Hawkins for the second spot, while Tyler Erb of New Waverly, Texas, finished fourth, although he didn’t complete the final lap after sliding over the turn-two banking while battling for second. Rod Conley of Wheelersburg, Ohio, was two laps down in the fifth position.
“Heck of a race there with Josh.” Moran said of his battle with the 24-year-old Rice, who was looking for his second big win in a row after winning May 1’s Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event at Florence Speedway in Union, Ky. “The track was so treacherous. You had to be right up against the wall there. I was way too tight. Might fender was rubbing and stuff, but you just had to man up and do it. It was wild for sure.”
Moran cruised through the race’s opening laps, pulling to a comfortable advantage over second-running Jacob Hawkins through a series of early cautions. But after Rice cleared Hawkins for second on lap 10, he began cutting into Moran’s lead and closed to within striking distance at lap 15 as the leaders set a torrid high-side pace.
A lap-16 caution gave Moran clear track and allowed him a temporary respite from Rice’s advances. But when the pair caught the tail of the field for the second time by lap 25, Rice again began looking to make a move for the lead.
On lap 30, Rice used a turn-one slide job to briefly pull out front, but Moran quickly crossed over and took the spot back down the back straightaway.
Just as Moran slipped high getting into turn three and nearly hit the wall on lap 32, Rice threw another slidejob to charge ahead for the lead. But his momentum carried him too high, sending hard him into the turn-four wall with the right-rear corner of his car.
Moran corrected his machine and dove underneath Rice to pull back out front, while Rice slowed and limped his damaged machine back to the pit area without causing a caution. Moran ran unchallenged the remainder the distance.
“I thought I was going to do the same thing (and hit the wall like Rice) because I went into three and literally just buried the nose,” Moran said of the lap-32 exchange. “I thought I was in trouble there. But I turned down off of it and got back by him. Man, it was just a wild race.”
The second-finishing Hawkins had a front-seat view of the wild battle between Moran and Rice. He agreed with Moran's assessment of the action.
"Devin and Josh, they both put on a show," Hawkins said. "They're animals. Just to run with them, that feels good."
Notes: Moran's April 22 victory came on the Castrol FloRacing Night in America tour. His previous Late Model win at the track came in World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series action on May 26, 2017. ... Moran's victory came in his second appearance on the Kentucky-based Iron-Man Series; he finished second in the tour's season opener at West Virginia Motor Speedway on April 25. ... Rice ended up 12th in the final rundown. ... The race was slowed by four cautions, the final appearing with 16 laps completed.
