Tri-City Speedway
Moyer staves off rallies for Lucas win at Tri-City
From series reports
Billy Moyer celebrates. (Shawn Crose)
GRANITE CITY, Ill. (July 18) — Hall of Famer Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., led all 50 laps at Tri-City Speedway to capture his fourth Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series as he fought off series points leader Earl Pearson Jr., track points leader Billy Faust and Billy Drake in the final nine laps. Moyer, whose three previous series victories came during Florida Speedweeks at East Bay Raceway Park near Tampa, earned $10,000. | Slideshow
Pearson, of Jacksonville, Fla., extended his points lead with a second-place finish while Lebanon, Ill.'s Faust was third for his best-ever series finish after being among several drivers battling for the second spot. Billy Drake of Bloomington, Ill., and Brian Birkhofer of Muscatine, Iowa, rounded out the top five at the third-mile oval just northeast of St. Louis. Moyer earned his second straight victory at Tri-City, following up another $10,000 win two weeks earlier in UMP DIRTcar Summernationals action at the former half-mile track.
"If they didn't like that, then they don't like racing," the 50-year-old Moyer said in victory lane. "I was all for making this track shorter, you can race anywhere on it and Kevin (Gundaker) has done a great job here. Sometimes you change things and you outsmart yourself so Steve (Norris) and the crew kept the same setup on the car and it worked out great."
Brian Shirley and Moyer started on the front row with Shirley getting a good jump before Moyer swept around him exiting turn four to lead the opening lap of the race. Faust, Pearson and Drake held top-five spots early while Moyer opened up a slight advantage over the field as a three-car tussle for second among Shirley, Faust and Pearson saw the trio go three-wide for two laps on laps five and six.
Moyer, who lowered the track's qualifying record two weeks earlier, entered lapped traffic by lap nine as his five-length advantage began to take a hit by Shirley. Shirley's No. 3s closed the gap as Faust, Pearson and Drake soon joined the fray.
As all eyes were on the developing race for the lead, the first of three cautions appeared for a slowing Wayne Chinn that would halt the action for the first time with 15 laps complete. On the restart, Moyer fired off turn four as Shirley, Faust, Pearson and Drake were racing hard as each was using a different route around the oval.
Moyer, with clear track ahead, edged away to a comfortable lead while the others battled behind him. At the halfway mark Moyer was in control with Shirley second as Faust, Pearson and Drake and 18th-starting Kevin Claycomb mixed it up behind him.
On lap 27 the race for second tightened further and Pearson took third from Faust a lap later. Pearson's move to the high groove helped him take second from Shirley on lap 34, and his momentum cut into Moyer's lead. But Drake was also making up ground in the low groove and pulled even with Pearson by the time the final caution appeared on lap 41 for a slowing Steve Casebolt.
Moyer got another great restart as Pearson, Drake and Faust would be his main contenders in the closing circuits. With five laps remaining, Pearson again looked outside and pulled alongside Moyer twice in the final five laps. He couldn't never quite move ahead while Faust also made his late-race bid for the point.
Faust nearly slipped ahead in the final laps, but he lost just enough momentum when he slid up too high to fall behind Pearson and Moyer, who barely held on for the victory.
"Billy did what he had to do," Pearson said. "To run second to him is no shame." Faust narrowly missed pulling off a major upset at his home track. "I just got too excited there. We had two laps to go and I thought I had the car to pass them on the outside, but I slid up in (turn) three and that cost me. When you run against these guys you can't make any mistakes and I learned a valuable lesson out there, but we're happy with third against this field of cars."
FInishing sixth and seventh were Shirley and Scott Bloomquist, who managed to fight his way up to seventh after having to start on the tail because of a a pre-feature rules infraction. Bloomquist's tire didn't meet the series hardness requirement when checked before the feature in the lineup chute; he was allowed to change it but lost his original starting spot.
Notes: Moyer's Victory Circle M1 Chassis is powered by Clements Racing Engine and sponsored by Banner Valley Hauling, BSB Mfg., J&J Steel, Car City, Watters Auto Land, Karl Chevrolet, Redline Oil, PRC, Universal Concrete, Minx Show Palace and Imperial Motors. ... The race will be televised during the off-season on the Speed cable network. ... Kevin Claycomb's 18th-to-eighth run netted him the PBM/Erson Cams Hard Charger honors. ... Pearson's 4,530 points lead Steve Casebolt (4,155), Bart Hartman (4,135) and Drake (3,870). ... The series is scheduled to run Saturday night at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo., for a $10,000-to-win event.
Lucas Oil @ Tri-City: (1) Billy Moyer, (2) Earl Pearson Jr., (3) Billy Faust, (4) Billy Drake, (5) Brian Birkhofer, (6) Brian Shirley, (7) Scott Bloomquist, (8) Kevin Claycomb, (9) Bart Hartman, (10) Freddy Smith, (11) Dan Schlieper, (12) Scott James, (13) Terry Casey, (14) Justin Rattliff, (15) Steve Casebolt, (16) John Mason, (17) Mark Voigt, (18) Mike Marlar, (19) Wayne Chinn, (20) Bryan Collins, (21) Rodney Melvin, (22) Chad Zobrist, (23) Rusty Griffaw, (24) Randy Korte, (25) Kevin Cole. Fast qualifier (among 38 cars): Schlieper, 15.226 seconds. Heat race winners: Faust, Shirley, Drake, Moyer. Consolation winners: Zobrist, Claycomb. Provisional starters: Chinn, Mason, Griffaw.
