Cleveland Speedway
Weaver plucks Shamrock after tight duel with Ogle
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt.com managing editor
Randy Weaver (116) battles Billy Ogle Jr. (201) for Saturday's lead at Cleveland, Tenn. (Chad Wells)
CLEVELAND, Tenn. (March 9) — Randy Weaver took the lead from Billy Ogle Jr. a half-dozen times Saturday at Cleveland Speedway. And after seemingly every pass, Ogle clawed his way back past the fellow home-state driver to regain the point.
That is until lap 29, when Weaver — after the drivers made contact grinding through turn four — took over for good and grabbed a $10,000 victory in the Southern All Star-sanctioned Shamrock. | Notebook | Slideshow | Video
The pole-starting Weaver made it two in a row at the third-mile oval going back to last November’s Gobbler as he moved into a tie for sixth on the all-time winner’s list for Dirt Late Model racing’s longest-operating series.
“I’m telling you, you know, you’ve got the best in the business here tonight. We proved we had a pretty good car in that heat race — if the driver didn’t mess up,” said Weaver, piloting a nearly brand new GRT Race Car. “Early on with (leader) Dale (McDowell) I knew I had a better car. I didn’t know if it was tire choice or what, and then I got to fooling around with him so much, Billy snuck by us. Then, me and Billy, we grew up at that old Atomic Speedway. I tell you, that was a heckuva race. I appreciate these fans. I hope it was a good show.”
Fans, who nearly ran out of fingers and toes in counting the unofficial lead changes in the battle of slide jobs, cheered the Crossville, Tenn., driver's victory lane comments on a cool evening that opened the season at Cleveland.
Eighth-starting Mike Marlar of Winfield, Tenn., won another position-swapping duel with Ogle late in the race to get third in the caution-free 50-lap feature that lasted less than 13 minutes. Ogle, of Knoxville, was third in the Shamrock for the second straight year as Tennesseans swept the top three spots in the March special for the first time since 2004 when Patrick Duggan of Lenoir City, Skip Arp of Georgetown and Scott Sexton of Pigeon Forge finished 1-2-3.
McDowell, of nearby Chickamauga, Ga., led the first 14 laps but settled for a close fourth while David Payne of Murphy, N.C., was a solid fifth but never in the mix with the top four cars, who stayed in a tight pack much of the race.
Weaver hounded McDowell early in the race, but it was the fourth-starting Ogle who slipped around Weaver and then McDowell on the 15th lap to take over. Weaver stalked Ogle for the next 15 laps, several times diving under him in turn two only to see Ogle’s crossover moves take him right back out front.
“It was almost just like, when you get a run, you had to be committed,” said Weaver, whose 21 Southern All Star victories tied him with former racer Duayne Hommel. “Then once you committed, you had to sit up there off the corner for about two days. It was almost like you just started to wave him back by — then we’d go back and forth.”
Ogle’s last attempt to regain the lead ended when he slid into Weaver’s car in turn four. A puff of smoke appeared when the frontrunners banged tires, but Weaver edged away and avoided any serious challenges the rest of the way.
Two laps later, McDowell slid into a lapped car in turn two, knocking his car sideways and making contact with Ogle’s machine. McDowell checked up to allow Ogle to right his car, and that allowed Marlar to briefly overtake them as the three swapped spots most of the rest of the way in vainly trying to catch Weaver.
“That was a lot of passing. I kind of was on the wrong end of it. I felt like I was kind holding a couple of ‘em up,” Ogle said. “I was kind struggling off the corner. I couldn’t put my gas down real good, but I’m happy with third. If you would've asked me if I’d have taken a third before the night, I would have definitely took it. I just wish I could’ve held on to the lead longer (but) I’m happy with third.
“It was fun, but we hit a couple of times. I thought I might’ve cut a tire down. Nothing was wrong with the car but a little sheetmetal. We kept going. Me and Randy kind of rubbed there off of (turn) four pretty hard. We were just racing — like I told him, I didn’t mean to get into him. My car just wasn’t that good in the bottom. I couldn’t hold it down.”
While battling with McDowell for third, Marlar was keeping a close eye on the Weaver-Ogle duel midway through the 50-lapper.
“He run a heckuva race. It was deal there, (Weaver) and Billy were racing so hard, it was like ‘Oh, are they going to lock horns here or not?’ They had a really good race going with him and Billy, then Billy and I got to racing there really hard.”
Everyone survived, but Weaver survived best in taking the checkers more than a half-straightaway ahead of Marlar.
Notes: Weaver’s GRT Race Cars is powered by a Cornett-built Ford powerplant and sponsored by Outlaw Race Parts, A.F. Stone Professional Medical Services, Stone Land Clearing and Excavating, Ohlins Shocks, Hoosier Tire and VP Racing Fuel. ... He also gave credit to crew members Josh Gunther and Grant Pearl. "I’m telling you, they make it easy for me,” he said. ... Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tenn., lowered the track record in qualifying with a 12.756-second lap at the third-mile oval, breaking Dale McDowell’s 2009 mark of 12.813 seconds. But Owens wasn’t a factor the rest of the night, falling from first to fourth in his heat race and dropping out early in the main event ... Former Shamrock winner Shane Clanton of Fayetteville, Ga., was battling for second in the first heat when he got into the frontstretch wall; he failed to transfer through a consolation race. ... Steve Casebolt of Richmond, Ind., ran second most of the fourth heat, but he lost power heading for the checkers, limping across the line in fourth in his D&R Motorsports No. c9; Casebolt started the Team Dillon Racing No. 64 in the main event, making a single lap in the car of Oregon pilot Billy Workman Jr. ... Among drivers failing to make the feature: Kurt English, Lavon Sparks, Kayne Hickman, Dylan Ames, Bo Shirley, Tyler Millwood, Vic Hill, Austin Smith, Jason Wilson and Donald McIntosh, who is piloting a Rocket Chassis purchased from Pat Doar that still carries the Wisconsin driver’s graphics package. ... Tommy Bailey and Phil Coltrane scratched after hot laps while Bret Holmes went up in smoke at the conclusion of the first heat. ... The Southern All Stars go back to action March 16 with a $4,000-to-win event at East Alabama Motor Speedway, the tour’s first visit to Phenix City, Ala., since 1984.
Shamrock: (1) Randy Weaver, (2) Mike Marlar, (3) Billy Ogle Jr., (4) Dale McDowell, (5) David Payne, (6) Ray Cook, (7) Clint Smith, (8) Eric Wells, (9) Jake Knowles, (10) Jonathan Davenport, (11) Chris Madden, (12) Skip Arp, (13) Michael Asberry, (14) Riley Hickman, (15) Mike Weeks, (16) Jason Hiett, (17) Logan Yates, (18) Derek Ellis, (19) Mark Rosner, (20) Scott Bloomquist, (21) Jimmy Owens, (22) Mark Vineyard, (23) William Thomas, (24) Steve Casebolt. Fast qualifier (among 39 cars): Owens, 12.756 seconds. Heat race winners: Weaver, McDowell, Payne, Ogle. Consolation winners: Madden, Hiett. Provisional starters: Thomas, Rosner.
