By Brian Dunlap
WoO LMS Public Relations Davenport, Iowa (August 10, 2004)
The World of Outlaws Late Model Series made the trip to Davenport, Iowa to race at Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds Speedway Saturday August 10th, and it was another non-stop action packed night of racing. The crowed of nearly 3000 went to there feet as local favorite Brian Birkhoffer took the lead on lap four and held on to it, winning the top prize of the night a check for $10,000.
Dale McDowell in the #17M Larry Shaw Race Cars/S&H Motorsports/Dover Cylinder Head/Racetek/Petroff Towing/ J&J Steel/New Vision Graphics/Rocket Chassis Pontiac Grand Prix took an early lead off of green flag but it was short lived as Birkhoffer used his Dallfedt Transportation/J&J Steel/Simon Trucking Monte Carlo to challenge McDowell on the outside. Birkhoffer was able to go high around McDowell in turns three and four and use his high-side momentum to power down the front chute and take the lead away from McDowell. As Birkhoffer took the lead with McDowell falling in second, Billy Moyer, Rick Eckert, and Steve Boley rounded out the top five on lap four.
Lap five showed the #9 Miller Brothers Coal/Hawkeye Trucking/Pro Power/Rayburn Chevrolet Monte Carlo of Dan Schlieper moving around Boley and challenging the #24 Raye Vest Excavating/Rocket Chassis Ford Taurus of Eckert. Shannon Babb and Earl Pearson Jr. followed Schlieper on around Boley.
With 10 laps on the books Schlieper was still knocking on Eckert’s back door and was ready to take the fourth position at any moment. Pearson kept trying Babb for sixth, but Babb would pull ahead of Pearson and maintain his position by the time both cars entered turn the corner. Pearson soon found his groove on the low side and went low under Babb and advanced in to sixth.
Birkhoffer began to catch lap traffic by lap 18 which allowed McDowell to gain ground. McDowell however was not able to gain enough ground to challenge for the lead again as Birkhoffer quickly sorted out the lap traffic and moved on through.
Birkhoffer found himself in to lap traffic again on lap 27 and was able to nose his way through that quickly as well. McDowell on the other hand was not as lucky as was tied up briefly allowing Birkhoffer to gain an even bigger lead.
Schlieper was able to complete a pass on Eckert in turns three and four to move in to fourth lap 32 which put him in a position to work on Moyer for a spot on the podium.
Series points leader Steve Francis found himself sitting in sixth position as he went around Pearson on lap 35. Bloomquist moved in behind Francis once again as he got by Pearson on the next lap.
The first caution of the night was brought out with eight laps remaining for the #29 of Darrell Lanigan slowing in turn two. This collected the field and would make it an all out shoot-out with cars jockeying for position the next eight laps.
As the field resumed racing the top four running order remained unchanged but Eckert, Francis, and Bloomquist went three wide battling for fifth position. There running order remained the same as they fell in running nose to tail with Pearson not far behind.
Bloomquist continued to work on Francis for 6th finally and gets the job done with only two laps remaining. Bloomquist continued to charge hard as he was able to pull off a fifth place finish passing Eckert at the line, as the filed took the checkered flag.
“I am surprised I won, the car was way too tight and I couldn’t drive it in like I like to, but I guess it worked” remarked race winner Brian Birkhoffer. Birkhoffer went on to thank the World of Outlaws and Simmons Promotions for putting a race together at a close to home that he runs well at.
Second place finisher Dale McDowell commented after the race “I thought I might have had something for Brian (Birkhoffer) in the middle there but he had a better car at the end, its hard compete with racers of his caliber when your at their home track.” McDowell went on to state “we will just take our notes home and see if we cant pick it up a notch when the we come back.”
Billy Moyer ran third most of the race, which helped him out in the series overall points race. “We will take the third and go on to the next, we kind of dug ourselves a hole in the points race early on so this finish will help out, we just should have tighten the car up a little more for the feature” remarked Moyer.
The World of Outlaws will make the trip to Sarver, Pennsylvania for their next show at Lernerville Speedway Friday August the 13th. Ticket information can be found on the Lernerville Speedway web site at www.lernerville.com, or you can call Lernerville Speedway directly at (724) 353-1511.
FEATURE (50L):
1 15B - Brian Birkhoffer
2 17M - Dale McDowell
3 21 - Billy Moyer
4 9 - Dan Schlieper
5 O - Scott Bloomquist
6 24 - Rick Eckert
7 15 - Steve Francis
8 1P - Earl Pearson Jr.
9 18 - Shannon Babb
10 26 - Steve Boley
11 75 - Bart Hartman
12 1* - Chub Frank
13 32D - Darren Miller
14 7 - Matt Miller
15 39 - Tim McCreadie
16 44 - Clint Smith
17 E1 - Mike Balzano
18 25 - Kerry Hanson
19 12 - Rick Aukland
20 1 - Josh Richards
21 23 - John Blankenship
22 29 - Darrell Lanigan
23 17B - Jeff Bair
24 17 - Luke Merfeld
TIME TRIALS:
1 1P - Earl Pearson Jr. 20.392
2 1 - Josh Richards 20.397
3 26 - Steve Boley 20.426
4 32D - Darren Miller 20.500
5 21 - Billy Moyer 20.501
6 39 - Tim McCreadie 20.502
7 25 - Kerry Hanson 20.559
8 7 - Matt Miller 20.605
9 17M - Dale McDowell 20.657
10 15 - Steve Francis 20.669
11 44 - Clint Smith 20.722
12 15B - Brian Birkhoffer 20.762
13 O - Scott Bloomquist 20.784
14 24 - Rick Eckert 20.788
15 9 - Dan Schlieper 20.795
16 18 - Shannon Babb 20.797
17 17B - Jeff Bair 20.835
18 29 - Darrell Lanigan 20.839
19 1* - Chub Frank 20.871
20 12 - Rick Aukland 21.007
21 75 - Bart Hartman 21.128
22 12T - Jeff Tharp 21.130
23 E1 - Mike Balzano 21.228
24 23 - John Blankenship 21.279
25 18Z - Rusty Zook 21.412
26 21H - Brian Harris 21.417
27 56 - Andy Eckrich 21.476
28 99 - Johnny Johnson 21.587
29 48 - Tim Lance 21.604
30 99D - Darrell Defrance 21.670
31 17 - Luke Merfeld 21.679
32 23D - Dana Wills 22.135
33 1D - Mitch Way 22.555
34 26R - Wayne Brau 22.766
35 OO - Mark Schumacher 23.044
36 Z2 - Hal Russell 23.222
LAST CHANCE 1: Bart Hartman, Darrell Lanigan, Jeff Bair.
LAST CHANCE 2: Chub Frank, Rick Aukland, Luke Merfeld.
HEAT 1: Dale McDowell
HEAT 2: Rick Eckert
HEAT 3: Steve Boley
HEAT 4: Brian Birkhoffer
DASH: Dale McDowell, Brian Birkhoffer, Rick Eckert, Steve Boley.
WoO LMS Public Relations Davenport, Iowa (August 10, 2004)
The World of Outlaws Late Model Series made the trip to Davenport, Iowa to race at Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds Speedway Saturday August 10th, and it was another non-stop action packed night of racing. The crowed of nearly 3000 went to there feet as local favorite Brian Birkhoffer took the lead on lap four and held on to it, winning the top prize of the night a check for $10,000.
Dale McDowell in the #17M Larry Shaw Race Cars/S&H Motorsports/Dover Cylinder Head/Racetek/Petroff Towing/ J&J Steel/New Vision Graphics/Rocket Chassis Pontiac Grand Prix took an early lead off of green flag but it was short lived as Birkhoffer used his Dallfedt Transportation/J&J Steel/Simon Trucking Monte Carlo to challenge McDowell on the outside. Birkhoffer was able to go high around McDowell in turns three and four and use his high-side momentum to power down the front chute and take the lead away from McDowell. As Birkhoffer took the lead with McDowell falling in second, Billy Moyer, Rick Eckert, and Steve Boley rounded out the top five on lap four.
Lap five showed the #9 Miller Brothers Coal/Hawkeye Trucking/Pro Power/Rayburn Chevrolet Monte Carlo of Dan Schlieper moving around Boley and challenging the #24 Raye Vest Excavating/Rocket Chassis Ford Taurus of Eckert. Shannon Babb and Earl Pearson Jr. followed Schlieper on around Boley.
With 10 laps on the books Schlieper was still knocking on Eckert’s back door and was ready to take the fourth position at any moment. Pearson kept trying Babb for sixth, but Babb would pull ahead of Pearson and maintain his position by the time both cars entered turn the corner. Pearson soon found his groove on the low side and went low under Babb and advanced in to sixth.
Birkhoffer began to catch lap traffic by lap 18 which allowed McDowell to gain ground. McDowell however was not able to gain enough ground to challenge for the lead again as Birkhoffer quickly sorted out the lap traffic and moved on through.
Birkhoffer found himself in to lap traffic again on lap 27 and was able to nose his way through that quickly as well. McDowell on the other hand was not as lucky as was tied up briefly allowing Birkhoffer to gain an even bigger lead.
Schlieper was able to complete a pass on Eckert in turns three and four to move in to fourth lap 32 which put him in a position to work on Moyer for a spot on the podium.
Series points leader Steve Francis found himself sitting in sixth position as he went around Pearson on lap 35. Bloomquist moved in behind Francis once again as he got by Pearson on the next lap.
The first caution of the night was brought out with eight laps remaining for the #29 of Darrell Lanigan slowing in turn two. This collected the field and would make it an all out shoot-out with cars jockeying for position the next eight laps.
As the field resumed racing the top four running order remained unchanged but Eckert, Francis, and Bloomquist went three wide battling for fifth position. There running order remained the same as they fell in running nose to tail with Pearson not far behind.
Bloomquist continued to work on Francis for 6th finally and gets the job done with only two laps remaining. Bloomquist continued to charge hard as he was able to pull off a fifth place finish passing Eckert at the line, as the filed took the checkered flag.
“I am surprised I won, the car was way too tight and I couldn’t drive it in like I like to, but I guess it worked” remarked race winner Brian Birkhoffer. Birkhoffer went on to thank the World of Outlaws and Simmons Promotions for putting a race together at a close to home that he runs well at.
Second place finisher Dale McDowell commented after the race “I thought I might have had something for Brian (Birkhoffer) in the middle there but he had a better car at the end, its hard compete with racers of his caliber when your at their home track.” McDowell went on to state “we will just take our notes home and see if we cant pick it up a notch when the we come back.”
Billy Moyer ran third most of the race, which helped him out in the series overall points race. “We will take the third and go on to the next, we kind of dug ourselves a hole in the points race early on so this finish will help out, we just should have tighten the car up a little more for the feature” remarked Moyer.
The World of Outlaws will make the trip to Sarver, Pennsylvania for their next show at Lernerville Speedway Friday August the 13th. Ticket information can be found on the Lernerville Speedway web site at www.lernerville.com, or you can call Lernerville Speedway directly at (724) 353-1511.
FEATURE (50L):
1 15B - Brian Birkhoffer
2 17M - Dale McDowell
3 21 - Billy Moyer
4 9 - Dan Schlieper
5 O - Scott Bloomquist
6 24 - Rick Eckert
7 15 - Steve Francis
8 1P - Earl Pearson Jr.
9 18 - Shannon Babb
10 26 - Steve Boley
11 75 - Bart Hartman
12 1* - Chub Frank
13 32D - Darren Miller
14 7 - Matt Miller
15 39 - Tim McCreadie
16 44 - Clint Smith
17 E1 - Mike Balzano
18 25 - Kerry Hanson
19 12 - Rick Aukland
20 1 - Josh Richards
21 23 - John Blankenship
22 29 - Darrell Lanigan
23 17B - Jeff Bair
24 17 - Luke Merfeld
TIME TRIALS:
1 1P - Earl Pearson Jr. 20.392
2 1 - Josh Richards 20.397
3 26 - Steve Boley 20.426
4 32D - Darren Miller 20.500
5 21 - Billy Moyer 20.501
6 39 - Tim McCreadie 20.502
7 25 - Kerry Hanson 20.559
8 7 - Matt Miller 20.605
9 17M - Dale McDowell 20.657
10 15 - Steve Francis 20.669
11 44 - Clint Smith 20.722
12 15B - Brian Birkhoffer 20.762
13 O - Scott Bloomquist 20.784
14 24 - Rick Eckert 20.788
15 9 - Dan Schlieper 20.795
16 18 - Shannon Babb 20.797
17 17B - Jeff Bair 20.835
18 29 - Darrell Lanigan 20.839
19 1* - Chub Frank 20.871
20 12 - Rick Aukland 21.007
21 75 - Bart Hartman 21.128
22 12T - Jeff Tharp 21.130
23 E1 - Mike Balzano 21.228
24 23 - John Blankenship 21.279
25 18Z - Rusty Zook 21.412
26 21H - Brian Harris 21.417
27 56 - Andy Eckrich 21.476
28 99 - Johnny Johnson 21.587
29 48 - Tim Lance 21.604
30 99D - Darrell Defrance 21.670
31 17 - Luke Merfeld 21.679
32 23D - Dana Wills 22.135
33 1D - Mitch Way 22.555
34 26R - Wayne Brau 22.766
35 OO - Mark Schumacher 23.044
36 Z2 - Hal Russell 23.222
LAST CHANCE 1: Bart Hartman, Darrell Lanigan, Jeff Bair.
LAST CHANCE 2: Chub Frank, Rick Aukland, Luke Merfeld.
HEAT 1: Dale McDowell
HEAT 2: Rick Eckert
HEAT 3: Steve Boley
HEAT 4: Brian Birkhoffer
DASH: Dale McDowell, Brian Birkhoffer, Rick Eckert, Steve Boley.
