Muskingum County Speedway
Francis back on track with WoO victory at Muskingum
By Kevin Kovac
World of Outlaws Late Model Series
Francis celebrates at Zanesville. (Kevin Kovac)
ZANESVILLE, Ohio (July 24) — Steve Francis let out a giant sigh of relief after capturing the Alltel Ohio Speedweek opener on Thursday night at Muskingum County Speedway. The Pepsi 40 victory, after all, snapped a 19-race winless streak for the defending World of Outlaws Late Model Series champion.
“We needed this like nobody knows,” said Francis, whose only previous WoO triumph this season came on April 19 in the Circle K Colossal 100 at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. “We’ve just been off for awhile – making dumb decisions, missing stupid things. We finally were able to put it all together tonight.”
Francis, 40, of Ashland, Ky., was the class of the field in the first-ever WoO event at Ronnie Moran’s 3/8-mile oval. He steered his Dale Beitler-owned Reliable Painting-Valvoline Rocket car forward from the fifth starting spot to take the lead from Earl Pearson Jr. of Jacksonville, Fla., on lap 14 and was never threatened thereafter. A caution flag for a multicar tangle on lap 35 gave Francis pause because it put the hard-charging, 18th-starting Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., on his rear bumper, but he easily glided away on the restart to defeat the 2007 WoO Rookie of the Year by nearly a half-straightaway margin.
“The car was real good tonight from the start, like it was on a rail,” said Francis, who earned $7,150 for his first touring-series victory at Muskingum County since an Xtreme DirtCar Series win in 2003. “I was just able to drive into the corner and stick to the bottom like we were on glue. Tires could’ve been an advantage for us tonight — they definitely performed flawless, there’s no doubt about that. But more than anything, we really got our car good again. It was kind of a combination of the two — when the two come together, it’s a good night.”
Pearson settled for a third-place finish after leading laps 12-13 in NASCAR Sprint Cup star Bobby Labonte’s LifeLong Locks MasterSbilt car. He went with a “safer” Hoosier Tire choice than Francis and Fuller and couldn’t quite match their speed.
WoO points leader Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., advanced from the seventh starting spot to take fourth in the GottaRace.com Rocket — his 17th top-five finish in the last 18 tour events — and polesitter Steve Shaver of Vienna, W.Va., placed fifth in the Cosgrove Racing Rocket. Lanigan overtook Shaver for fourth with just four laps remaining and extended his points lead to 120 points over 13th-place finisher Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., who started fourth but faded dramatically as a result of an incorrect tire-compound choice.
Fuller, 40, appeared to be the only driver capable of stopping Francis from reaching victory lane, but his stirring drive through the pack in the Gypsum Express Rocket following a consolation race victory stalled at second place.
A two-time winner on the recent WoO Wild West Tour, Fuller reached the runner-up spot on lap 32 without the benefit of a caution flag after one for an opening-lap spin between turns three and four by Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga. His full straightaway deficit to Francis was wiped out by a lap-35 caution flag, but he was unable to take advantage of the break on the restart.
“If that caution period had lasted a couple less laps, then maybe I would have had a shot at Francis,” said Fuller, who made his first-ever start at Muskingum County. “But he was just real good. That car of his was hooked. I know, because I had a front-row seat to see it. We just picked the right tire tonight — that’s it in a nutshell,” added Fuller, who went with a harder tire (a Hoosier LM-40 compound) on his car’s right-rear corner. “I had nothing to lose starting so far back, so we gambled with our tire choice and it worked.”
Fuller’s tire selection was on the leader's mind during the race’s final caution period, which was triggered by an incident between turns three and four that involved Mike Marlar of Winfield, Tenn., Vic Coffey of Leicester, N.Y., Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., and Matt Miller of Waterville, Ohio.
“I knew what tire Fuller had on and I knew he was second,” Francis said. “That did worry me because I knew he had gone harder than everybody else. I thought he might be able to come at me right there at the end.”
A challenge from Fuller never materialized, however, and Francis cruised to his 16th career WoO victory. He’s now tied with Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn., and Rick Eckert of York, Pa., for the status of the tour’s winningest driver since 2004.
“Hopefully we can get on a little bit of a roll now,” said Francis. “This is about the time last year that I started on my roll, so we’ll try to build on this to do it again. I think Lanigan might be too far ahead this year (in the points standings) for us to win the championship again, but there’s still second place (on the WoO) and there’s still a lot of money to win in big races. We’re concentrating on getting our cars to where we want them for Lernerville (Speedway’s $40,000-to-win Firecracker 100 on July 29) and other big races coming up.”
Finishing in positions 6-10 were Donnie Moran of Dresden, Ohio, whose father owns and operates Muskingum County Speedway; Bart Hartman of Zanesville, Ohio, who drove over the track’s berm to avoid the lap-35 accident; Robbie Blair of Titusville, Pa., who faded after leading laps 1-12; Marlar; and Shane McLoughlin of Nashport, Ohio.
Among the early retirees was Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., who was working his way forward from the 19th starting spot when a broken panhard bar mount eliminated him on lap 35. He fell to fourth in the WoO points standings behind Francis thanks to the DNF.
Alltel Ohio Speedweek continues Friday, July 25, at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, with the Subway 50 paying $10,000 to win. NASCAR Sprint Cup star and Eldora owner Tony Stewart will drive his Old Spice-Bass Pro Shops Rocket No. 20 in the event.
World of Outlaws @ Muskingum County: (1) Steve Francis, (2) Tim Fuller, (3) Earl Pearson Jr., (4) Darrell Lanigan, (5) Steve Shaver, (6) Donnie Moran, (7) Bart Hartman, (8) Robbie Blair, (9) Mike Marlar, (10) Shane McLoughlin, (11) Shannon Babb, (12) John Blankenship, (13) Josh Richards, (14) Lance Elson, (15) Shane Clanton, (16) Doug Dodd, (17) Rick Eckert, (18) Clint Smith, (19) Rick Aukland, (20) Vic Coffey, (21) Joe Isabell, (22) Eddie Carrier Jr., (23) Chub Frank, (24) Mike Marlar, (25) Corey Conley. Fast qualifier (among 49 cars): Blair, 16.955 seconds. Heat race winners: Blair, Richards, Carrier, Lanigan. Consolation winners: C. Smith, Fulller. Provisional starters: Blankenshiop, Isabell, Dodd.
