WoO quickly replaces Labor Day weekend races
By Kevin Kovac
World of Outlaws Late Model SeriesWorld of Outlaws Late Model Series officials have reset the national tour’s schedule for the upcoming Labor Day weekend, inking dates at Tyler County Speedway in Middlebourne, W.Va., on Sept. 3, and Roaring Knob Motorsports Complex in Markleysburg, Pa., on Sept. 4.
The new events were announced on Monday to replace the circuit’s originally scheduled Oil Region Labor Day Classic on Sept. 3-4 at Tri-City Speedway in Franklin, Pa., which was closed indefinitely by its owners late last week.
The cancellation of Tri-City’s doubleheader has actually produced an even richer holiday weekend for the the series, which will headline the lucrative second annual Black Diamond 125 that was already scheduled for Sept. 3 at Tyler County. The three-part Black Diamond 125 provides an opportunity for a driver to earn $30,000 in a single night.
Roaring Knob’s WoO LMS show on Sept. 4, meanwhile, will feature a 50-lap A-Main paying $10,000 to win. It will mark the tour’s first-ever visit to the 3/8-mile oval.
The Black Diamond 125 will lead off the holiday weekend on Sept. 3, bringing the WoO back to the hardscrabble quarter-mile oval for the first time since May 2009. The event will deviate from the traditional WoO format — and thus award all drivers showup points in the championship battle — but offer one of the richest payoffs of the 2011 series schedule.
More than $157,000 will on the line for Super Late Model competitors during Tyler County’s Black Diamond 125 weekend, which also includes the 51-lap, $8,000-to-win West Virginia State Championship for the UFO Race Championship Series on Sept. 2. Practice for Late Model teams will also be held Sept. 1 as part of the weekend’s opening night action that features support-division racing.
After a successful inaugural event in 2010 that drew one of the largest fields of Super Late Models anywhere in the country, the Black Diamond 125 will once again be comprised of three races in one night. The event’s field will be split into two groups and a full racing program — 15-lap heats, 15-lap consolation races and 24-car, 40-lap preliminary features paying $10,000 to win — will be run for each. The top-eight finishers in each preliminary feature will move on to the Sweet Sixteen finale, a 45-lap showdown that offers a $20,000 first-place prize.
Each 40-lap preliminary feature and the Sweet Sixteen finale boasts a full purse, including cool $1,000 payoffs for last place. Tow money will also be available for non-qualifiers and no entry fee will be charged for competitors who pre-enter by Aug. 15.
“We’re real excited to add the World of Outlaws Late Model Series to the ‘Black Diamond 125,’” said Circle Track Management Group’s Darren Dodd, who promotes the Tyler County oval alongside Frank Wilson. “We think having the World of Outlaws join the Black Diamond 125 is something that’s going to bring more attention to the event and help it continue to grow. The fans loved the format we introduced last year, and adding more well-known national names to the mix of regional and local drivers should produce great racing for everyone on hand.”
A raindate of Mon., Sept. 5 — Labor Day — has been established for the Black Diamond 125, reserving the Sunday date for the WoO invasion of Roaring Knob.
Roaring Knob’s Sunday program will have some interesting wrinkles of its own. The evening’s action will be sponsored by Joy Mining Machinery, the sponsor of the Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota Tundra that two-time defending WoO champion Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., is driving in 11 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series events this season. Joy Mining Machinery is headquartered outside Pittsburgh in Warrendale, Pa., about two hours northwest of Roaring Knob. More news on Roaring Knob’s inaugural WoO LMS will be released as the date draws closer.
