Sharon Speedway
Moyer falters, Moran capitalizes at Sharon
By Kevin Kovac
World of Outlaws Late Model Series
Moran talks about his victory. (Kevin Kovac)
HARTFORD, Ohio (July 26) — Donnie Moran caught the breaks he needed to win the World of Outlaws Late Model Series event at Sharon Speedway. On an evening that saw two rounds of rain delay the racing action for over four hours, Moran benefited from Billy Moyer’s misfortune and survived heavy track conditions that exacted a toll on his equipment en route to capturing the third leg of Alltel Ohio Speedweek. | Slideshow
Moran, 45, of Dresden, Ohio, inherited the lead on a lap-44 restart when Batesville, Ark.’s Moyer slowed with mechanical trouble. The driver known as the Million Dollar Man went on to triumph by 0.814 of a second over Ricky Elliott of Seaford, Del., whose runner-up placing matched his career-best WoO finish.
It was the first WoO win of the 2008 season for Moran, who pumped his career victory total on the tour to four. He also continued his longtime penchant for success at Sharon, a Buckeye State track where Moran has shined on both its former half-mile configuration and current 3/8-mile layout.
“This is like a second home to me,” said Moran, who earlier this year also topped an Independent Racing Series (IRS) event at Sharon. “Even before Dave (Blaney) was involved here (as a co-owner) and the track was real big, I always liked coming to Sharon. But since they changed it to a smaller oval, for some reason the configuration really fits my driving style.”
Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga., settled for a second consecutive third-place finish on the tour after bidding for the lead midway through the race in the RSD Enterprises Rocket. Defending WoO champion Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., finished tight to Clanton’s rear bumper in fourth after starting 11th in Dale Beitler’s Rocket, and polesitter Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., was fifth in a J.P. Drilling GRT car that ended the race with its suspension at less than 100 perfect functionality.
Moran acknowledged afterward that the sudden departure of Moyer, whose Victory Circle car tossed its fan belts after he had led laps 17-44, was ultimately the key to his win. The 50-year-old Moyer had advanced from the fourth starting spot to grab the lead from Moran on lap 17 and appeared primed to register his series-leading fifth victory of the season.
“On a couple late restarts (laps 36 and 44), Billy couldn’t open (distance) up on me like he could earlier,” said Moran. “But if he didn’t have a problem (on the second of three lap-44 restarts), I’d say he probably would’ve won. We won, though, and that’s the story.”
Moran still had a major worry following the rough-and-tumble race’s ninth and final caution flag, on lap 44. His car’s left-rear suspension was left out of whack, likely as a result of the blazing-fast track conditions.
“The top four-link bolt came out there on the birdcage,” said Moran, who started third. “It never come out completely, though. It just ripped the threads out of the nut, which was real fortunate for us. It’s not surprising that something like this happened the way the track was tonight. There’s such severe loads on the cars anymore from trying to get as much traction as possible, and then when you get a racetrack with Mother Nature coming into play, it just creates that much more stress and fatigue on everything on the cars.
“When I first started racing these cars sat real flat and you had to baby the gas,” he added. “Now this is my 30th year of racing and I call these things Traction Monsters. You just get in there, hike up, and go. You better be elbows up or you’re gonna get beat, and you better hope your stuff survives the conditions.”
Moran seized the lead for the first time on lap six from 2006 WoO champion Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., who paced laps 1-5 off the outside pole before fading and eventually retiring his overheating Sweeteners Plus machine on lap 17. Moran lost the top spot to Moyer in lapped traffic on lap 17 and watched Clanton overtake him for second on a lap-22 restart, but Clanton’s miscue on lap 31 allowed Moran to slip back into the runner-up slot and position himself for later glory.
Clanton, 32, appeared capable of threatening Moyer until his slap of the turn-two wall cost him two positions and left his car with too much damage to seriously challenge for the win. “I just got above that cushion into the fluff and got sucked right into the wall,” said Clanton, who started sixth. “I hit it pretty hard. We’re just lucky it stayed together the rest of the race.”
Making his first appearance in New Yorker Joe Beyea’s Rocket No. 121 since last month’s WoO Great Northern Tour, the 42-year-old Elliott also slipped by Clanton on lap 31. But he couldn’t summon enough speed to pass Moran for a first-ever tour win. “He had on a little bit softer tires than us and just fired better (on the final restart),” said Elliott, who used American Racer rubber as opposed to Moran’s Hoosier tires. “The longer we went, the better we were, but Moran was good and deserved to win. I’m real happy with a second. I think it shows that this (Beyea) deal we have here is working out pretty well. This was only the fourth Late Model race for Randy (Kisacky, a noted DIRTcar big-block Modified crew chief who is wrenching the Beyea car), and you can see how well he’s working together with my regular crew chief Wayne Benson to get this car going right.”
WoO points leader Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., padded his advantage with a sixth-place finish. He fell behind at the start of the night when a flat left-rear tire during his time-trial run forced him to start scratch in his heat, but he rallied to qualify and then quietly marched forward from the 15th starting spot in the feature.
Finishing in positions 7-10 were Matt Miller of Waterville, Ohio; Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., who came from the rear of the field after pitting on lap three to change a flat left-rear tire; Rick Eckert of York, Pa.; and Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., who pitted for servicing on lap 17.
Notes: Moran's MasterSbilt Race Car is sponsored by Custom Cutters and Eddie's Sunoco. ... Rick Eckert’s ninth-place run came after he played musical cars during the night. He time-trialed his Rayburn; fell in at the back of the pack for his heat after switching to his GRT mount; won a consolation race with the GRT but developed engine woes; and went back to the Rayburn for the feature. ... Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., who sits second in the WoO points standings, took a bit hit in his pursuit of Darrell Lanigan for the title. He was racing for sixth place on the final lap with Lanigan, Matt Miller and Babb when a scrape with Miller sent the 20-year-old sensation spinning in turn two. The last-lap incident, which also collected Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., left Richards with a 16th-place finish. ... Rain hit the track minutes after the heat races were completed, delaying the action. The strongest storms initially missed Sharon Speedway, but a heavy downpour did come around 10 p.m. to further delay the program. ... Fast qualifier Jeremy Miller, who led last year’s WoO event at Sharon until the final laps, saw his fortunes go south in the feature. He was running sixth on lap 44 when a broken connecting rod bolt in his car’s engine caused him to stop on the homestretch in a cloud of smoke. ... The event will be televised later on the Speed cable network. ... Alltel Ohio Speedweek concludes on Sunday night at Eriez Speedway near Erie, Pa.
World of Outlaws @ Sharon: (1) Donnie Moran, (2) Ricky Elliott, (3) Shane Clanton, (4) Steve Francis, (5) Clint Smith, (6) Darrell Lanigan, (7) Matt Miller, (8) Shannon Babb, (9) Rick Eckert, (10) Chub Frank, (11) Brent Rhebergen, (12) David Scott, (13) Gregg Satterlee, (14) Vic Coffey, (15) John Blankenship, (16) Josh Richards, (17) Tim Fuller, (18) Billy Moyer, (19) Jeremy Miller, (20) Dutch Davies, (21) Russell King, (22) Tim McCreadie, (23) Dan Stone, (24) Brian Birkhofer, (25) Mickey Wright. Fast qualifier (among 39 cars): Miller, 16.116 seconds. Heat race winners: Moyer, Matt Miller, Elliott, McCreadie. Consolation winners: Frank, Eckert. Provisional starters: Blankenship, Coffey, King.
