Farmer City Raceway
Back-to-back winner Miller rules Farmer City
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt.com chief writer
Darren Miller celebrates at Farmer City. (Shawn Crose)
FARMER CITY, Ill. (June 20) — Darren Miller put an emphatic end to the lack of repeat winners on the UMP DIRTcar Summernationals. Diving under polesitter Randy Korte to take the lead on the fourth lap, the front-row starting Miller raced virtually unchallenged the rest of the way at Farmer City Raceway for his second consecutive victory on the month-long, 25-race tour. | DirtonDirt.com's Summernationals coverage | Slideshow
Miller, the 31-year-old driver from Milledgeville, Ill., added $10,000 to the $6,000 he won a night earlier in Mount Vernon, Ill., and erased any lingering demons from a bitter Summernationals loss at Farmer City two years earlier. Sixth-starting Jimmy Mars of Menomonie, Wis., cut down Miller's near-straightaway lead to nearly nothing but never took a serious stab at Miller as the leaders worked the low groove through lapped traffic. Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill., overtook Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., in the race's late stages to finish third while Moyer, April's World of Outlaws winner at Farmer City, finished fourth, the same position he's finished in each of his four Summernationals stars. Brian Birkhofer of Muscatine, Iowa, started and finished fifth at the quarter-mile, black-dirt oval in central Illinois. Korte, of Highland, Ill., faded to sixth.
Shirley's third-place finish unofficially moved him back into the points lead over Dennis Erb Jr., who started 11th and advanced just two positions in the caution-free 40-lapper.
Korte held the top spot the first three laps while Miller, running high early in the race, made his move by diving underneath the leader entering turn one on the fourth lap. Miller drifted back to the high groove and began pulling away as Korte slipped by the fourth behind Moyer and Mars on the sixth lap. Miller built a half-straightaway lead after 10 laps while Mars worked on Moyer, eventually making a low side pass on the 13th lap.
With Miller facing lapped traffic near the race's midpoint, Mars closed within a length of the leader. But that was as close as he'd get as Miller maintained a safe advantage while picking off occasional lapped cars one at a time.
The victory was Miller's first at Farmer City, where he appeared to be on his way to a Summernationals victory in 2006 when contact exiting turn two from second-running Steve Hillard knocked his car out of control on the backstretch, allowing the winner Hillard and a handful of other cars past before Miller could right his car.
UMP @ Farmer City: (1) Darren Miller, (2) Jimmy Mars, (3) Brian Shirley, (4) Billy Moyer, (5) Brian Birkhofer, (6) Randy Korte, (7) Wes Steidinger, (8) Scott Bull, (9) Dennis Erb Jr., (10) Jeep Van Wormer, (11) Steve Sheppard Jr., (12) Brian Diveley, (13) Kevin Weaver, (14) Eric Smith, (15) Kyle Logue, (16) Jason Feger, (17) Jordan Bland, (18) Will Vaught, (19) Daren Friedman, (20) Ryan Dauber, (21) Matt Taylor. Fast qualifier (among 50 cars): Moyer, 12.846 seconds. Heat race winners: Korte, Miller, Shirley, Moyer, Birkhofer. C-Main winners: Patrick Sheltra, Ryan Unzicker. B-Main winner: Weaver. Provisional starters: Vaught, Feger, Friedman.
B-Main
Outside front-row starter Kevin Weaver led all the way on the high side for a 12-lap victory and a starting berth in the feature event. Following him was seventh-starting Matt Taylor, who tried to multiple grooves in trying to catch Weaver. Taylor was second while polesitter Ryan Dauber held off Daren Friedman for the third and final transfer spot. Among those failing to transfer was Brady Smith, winner of last year's series event at Farmer City, as well as three-time Farmer City Summernationals winner Don O'Neal, who was fifth. Smith ran among the top five but dropped out.
Finish: Kevin Weaver, Matt Taylor, Ryan Dauber, Daren Friedman, Don O'Neal, Frank Heckenast Jr., Mike Mataragas, Terry English, Ryan Unzicker, Tim Lance, Jason McBride, Donny Walden, Chris Simpson.
C-Mains
Starting outside the front row, Patrick Sheltra won the first C-Main with Chris Simpson getting the second transfer spot for the B-Main. Third-starting Ryan Unzicker outran Rocky Griffin in the second C-Main.
First C-Main: Patrick Sheltra, Chris Simpson, Dewayne Kiefer, Joe Harlan, Jimmy Dehm, Jim Felker Jr., Nick Vandenbergh, Travis Wallbaum, Toby Hallett.
Second C-Main: Ryan Unzicker, Rocky Griffin, Derek Chandler, George Scheffler, Aaron Ricketts, Roger Brickler, Rich Bell, Brandon Sheppard, Russ Adams.
Fifth heat
Rebounding from a poor qualifying effort, Randy Korte won a groove-swapping mid-race battle with polesitter Jordan Bland to take the lead and the victory after starting fifth. Debris on the track on the white-flag lap set up a one-lap shootout, and that cost Bland the second spot as Brian Diveley made a high-side pass and nipped him at the line. Diveley benefitted most from the caution, because he'd lost the third spot to Scott Schmitt on the last lap before the yellow flew, but he was restored to third for the restart ahead of Schmitt. Bland got the third and final transfer spot while Schmitt was in a too-close-to-call three-wide finish with Don O'Neal and tail-starting Frank Heckenast Jr. Unofficially, it appeared Heckenast was fourth.
Finish: Randy Korte, Brian Diveley, Jordan Bland, Frank Heckenast Jr., Don O'Neal, Scott Schmitt, Chris Simpson, Derek Chandler, Jimmy Dehm, Brandon Sheppard.
Fourth heat
Polesitter Brian Shirley dominated the fourth heat, winning by nearly a quarter-lap over Scott Bull, who had his hands full throughout the race. Jeep Van Wormer got the third and final transfer spot, holding off a low-running Daren Friedman in the final laps.
Finish: Brian Shirley, Scott Bull, Jeep Van Wormer, Daren Friedman, Jason Feger, Jason McBride, Rocky Griffin, Dewayne Kiefer, Roger Brickler, Butch Smith.
Third heat
Darren Miller, starting outside the front row, became the first non-polesitter to win a heat in cruising to victory. Second-row youngster Wes Steidinger and Kyle Logue got the other two transfer spots while Terry English was fourth. Polesitter Donny Walden faded to finish sixth behind Brady Smith, last year's Summernationals winner whose car was smoking in the final laps.
Finish: Darren Miller, Wes Steidinger, Kyle Logue, Terry English, Brady Smith, Donny Walden, Patrick Sheltra, Aaron Rickets, Joe Harlan, Rich Bell.
Second heat
Polesitter Brian Birkhofer cruised to an easy victory in the second heat. Fellow front-row starter Eric Smith ran second most of the way, but lost that spot to fifth-starting Steve Sheppard Jr. in the closing laps. Smith got the third and final transfer spot while Kevin Weaver, who was unhappy after the race about contact Sheppard made in turn two on the second lap while going into third, was a distant fourth. Matt Taylor and Will Vaught finished behind Weaver.
Finish: Brian Birkhofer, Steve Sheppard Jr., Eric Smith, Kevin Weaver, Matt Taylor, Will Vaught, George Scheffler, Jim Felker Jr., Russ Adams, Toby Hallett.
First heat
Polesitter Billy Moyer roared away from fellow front-row starter for an easy victory in the first 10-lap heat race. Mars was left to fend off challenges from last-row starter Dennis Erb Jr., the series points leader who was up to third after just three laps. Erb got the final transfer spot. Ryan Dauber was a distant fourth in a race with a single caution for a complete restart after Clay Watters slowed on the first lap.
Finish: Billy Moyer, Jimmy Mars, Dennis Erb Jr., Ryan Dauber, Tim Lance, Mike Mataragas, Nick Vandenbergh, Ryan Unzicker, Travis Wallbaum, Clay Watters.
Qualifying
Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., was the unofficially fastest of 50 qualifiers at Farmer City Raceway in the seventh leg of the UMP DIRTcar Summernationals as the series drew its biggest car count of the year. Moyer, who posted a lap of 12.846 seconds, will start on the pole of a heat race as will four other drivers: Brian Birkhofer of Muscatine, Iowa; Donny Walden of Towanda, Ill.; Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill.; and Jordan Bland of Campbellsville, Ky.
For the first time on the 2008 series, drivers are split up among five heat races. Three drivers from each heat will transfer to the main event with finishers 4-6 transferring to the B-Main. Everyone else will go to one of two C-Mains.
Pre-race notes
Dennis Erb Jr. enters the race as the series leader with 458 points. Next is Brian Shirley (441), Will Vaught (429), Wes Steidinger (412) and Jeep Van Wormer (387). ... Among newcomers to the Summernationals at Farmer City: Jimmy Mars, Chris Simpson, Kyle Logue, Jim Felker Jr., Matt Taylor and Joe Harlan. ... Among series returnees: Billy Moyer (who had a trio of fourth-place finishes in the first three events) and Brian Birkhofer. ... Logue is driving as a teammate to Butch Smith. ... Don O'Neal is back on the series after a broken water pump caused engine damage at Highland, Ill., and repairs couldn't be made until parts were shipped from Jay Dickens's Mississippi shop. He then missed Thursday's race in Mount Vernon to work on the brakes of the team's trailer. He plans to run the remainder of the series. ... Steve Sheppard Jr. is leading Farmer City's weekly points over Eric Smith, Matt Taylor, Wes Steidinger and Scott Bull. ... Moyer and O'Neal are both gunning to become the first four-time series winners at Farmer City. ... Darren Miller will try to break a series winner's jinx tonight. No series winner has come back to finish better than seventh following the victory.
