Survives Late Charge From Stone To Reach Victory Lane At New York Track For Second Consecutive Year
LITTLE VALLEY, NY – Aug. 22, 2013 – Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., showed the fast way around Little Valley Speedway for the second consecutive year, leading all 50 laps of Thursday night’s World of Outlaws Late Model Series A-Main for his milestone 50th career win on the national tour.
But while Lanigan cruised alone out front for virtually the entire distance to score his series-leading ninth triumph of 2013, his final margin of victory was a slight 0.377 of a second. That’s because Dan Stone of Thompson, Pa., made a gallant late-race charge, overtaking both Rick Eckert of York, Pa., and Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., over the final seven circuits and closing within a car length of Lanigan at the checkered flag.
Richards settled for third place after starting from the pole position, maintaining his comfortable lead in the WoO LMS points standings with 11 races remaining on the schedule. The two-time series champion ended the night with a 62-point advantage over Lanigan, who moved past Shane Clanton of Zebulon, Ga., for second in the title battle.
Clanton stayed within two points of Lanigan in the standings by finishing fourth after rallying from a lap-six bounce over the inside berm in turn two that caused him to fall from fourth to eighth in the running order. Eckert settled for fifth after climbing as high as second early in the distance.
Lanigan, 43, almost precisely duplicated his run to victory in last year’s inaugural WoO LMS event at the paper-clip-shaped half-mile oval. He once again roared off the outside pole to pace the field from start to finish, earning himself a $10,650 payoff.
The defending WoO LMS champion even was back behind the wheel of the Rocket car he used for much of his record-breaking success on last year’s tour. The machine was knocked out of action in June by serious damage it sustained in a heat-race crash during the DIRTcar UMP-sanctioned Dream weekend at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway, but Lanigan decided to fix it up because he hasn’t been totally satisfied with the performance of two new cars he has been campaigning this summer.
“We just finally made a couple weeks time and got it back together this week,” Lanigan said of the car, which needed new front and rear clips. “We rebuilt the whole car and got it back to new, and it’s definitely back to where it was. Sometimes you get a good car, a car you really like, and this is definitely one of the good ones.”
After beating the polesitting Richards, 25, to the first turn to grab the lead at the initial green flag, Lanigan dominated most of the race, building an edge of as much as a half-straightaway. He was never seriously challenged, but Stone did threaten him.
Stone, 37, settled into fourth place early in the A-Main after starting sixth. He was still running in the position with 10 laps to go when he began tossing his Rocket car around the top side of Little Valley’s tight corners. He passed Eckert for third on lap 43, overtook Richards for second on lap 45 and erased Lanigan’s two-second lead before running out of time.
“I knew somebody was coming,” said Lanigan. “I looked at the board and knew it was a different car (than had been in the top three throughout the race). I just kind of figured (Stone) had a harder tire on, but I come to find out that he was just running a different groove. I guess he found that high groove before anybody else did. I didn’t even think about going up there. It seemed crumbly to me, but he definitely got up there and made it work.
“It’s kind of hard to tell where the guy is behind you and what he’s doing,” he continued, “but I knew if I just ran my line on the bottom it was gonna be hard to pass.”
Beating Stone to the finish line put Lanigan in the WoO LMS history book as the first driver to win 50 A-Mains.
“That’s a big accomplishment to get 50 wins,” said the preternaturally calm Lanigan. “That’s definitely a bunch of wins (with) the Outlaws.”
Stone, meanwhile, was happy with his second runner-up finish of 2013 on the WoO LMS after taking just a bit too long to get rolling.
“I didn’t get tired midway through the race, but I kind of got hypnotized or something running behind those guys and wasn’t running where I needed to be,” said Stone, who owns two career WoO LMS A-Main victories. “Once we caught that lapped traffic I tried (the outside lane) and I was like, ‘Ugh! I should’ve been here the whole time.’
“We really ran Lanigan down after getting to second. I can’t believe it. Maybe two more laps would’ve been enough, but 50 laps should be long enough so congratulations to him – man, he’s just good everywhere he goes.
“To be running up there,” he added, “we’re definitely happy. It’s a good night of pay for us.”
Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., finished sixth after battling closely with Clanton and Eckert during the race’s final circuits. Bub McCool of Vicksburg, Miss., advanced from the 20th starting spot to place seventh; WoO LMS rookie points leader Eric Wells of Hazard, Ky., was eighth; Dutch Davies of Warren, Pa., was the highest-finishing local driver in ninth; and Jason Dupont of Cyclone, Pa., rounded out the top 10.
Just two caution flags slowed the event. Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., brought out the first yellow flag on lap 11 when he stopped with terminal mechanical trouble on, and Mike Knight of Ripley, N.Y., relinquished fourth place on lap 16 due to a parts failure.
Clanton topped the evening’s 28-car field in Ohlins Shocks Time Trials, earning his second fast-time honor of 2013 with a lap of 21.867 seconds.
Heat winners were Clanton, Knight and Lanigan, and Coleby Frye of Dover, Pa., captured the B-Main.
The WoO LMS will be idle for one day before returning to action on Saturday night (Aug. 24) in the fourth annual Raye Vest Memorial at Winchester (Va.) Speedway.
For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.
Fans can also follow the WoO LMS on Twitter at Twitter.com/WoOLateModels and Facebook at Facebook.com/WorldofOutlaws .
Results of World of Outlaws Late Model Series at Little Valley Speedway (Finishing Position/Start/Driver/Laps Completed/Money Won):
1. (2) Darrell Lanigan/50 $10,650
2. (6) Dan Stone/50 $5,000
3. (1) Josh Richards/50 $3,700
4. (4) Shane Clanton/50 $3,050
5. (3) Rick Eckert/50 $2,650
6. (11) Tim McCreadie/50 $2,400
7. (20) Bub McCool/50 $1,950
8. (7) Eric Wells/50 $2,100
9. (13) Dutch Davies/50 $1,700
10. (9) Jason Dupont/50 $1,200
11. (19) Coleby Frye/50 $1,050
12. (10) Tim Fuller/50 $1,550
13. (23) Chub Frank/50 $1,500
14. (22) Vic Coffey/50 $950
15. (17) Billy Decker/50 $850
16. (8) Morgan Bagley/49 $1,350
17. (12) Bump Hedman/49 $820
18. (18) Brent Rhebergen/49 $750
19. (16) Greg Oakes/35 $730
20. (21) Dick Barton/30 $700
21. (14) Rick ‘Boom’ Briggs/27 $700
22. (5) Mike Knight/16 $750
23. (15) Clint Smith/11 $1,250
24. (24) David Scott/6 $725
* Earnings include Winners Circle program and cash contingency award bonuses
Time of Race: 25 Mins., 4.484 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 0.377 Secs.
Yellow Flags: 2 (laps 11, 16)
Lap Leaders: Lanigan (1-50)
Provisional Starters: Frank, Scott
Rookie of the Race: Wells ($250)
WoO LMS ‘Bonus Bucks’ Winner: Davies ($500)
Ohlins Shocks Time Trial Results (Position/No./Driver/Hometown/Best Lap):
1. 25-Shane Clanton/Zebulon, GA 21.867
2. 9K-Mike Knight/Ripley, NY 22.045
3. 29-Darrell Lanigan/Union, KY 22.114
4. 40-Dutch Davies/Warren, PA 22.125
5. 24-Rick Eckert/York, PA 22.214
6. 1-Josh Richards/Shinnston, WV 22.252
7. 18W-Eric Wells/Hazard, KY 22.258
8. 14M-Morgan Bagley/Longview, TX 22.258
9. NO7-Jason Dupont/Cyclone, PA 22.265
10. 21d-Dan Stone/Thompson, PA 22.300
11. 99b-Rick ‘Boom’ Briggs/Bear Lake, PA 22.307
12. b22-Bump Hedman/Sugar Grove, PA 22.325
13. 22-Greg Oakes/Franklinville, NY 22.353
14. 39-Tim McCreadie/Watertown, NY 22.367
15. 9-Chad Ruhlman/Bemus Point, NY 22.400
16. 14b-Dick Barton/Ashville, NY 22.406
17. 91-Billy Decker/Unadilla, NY 22.508
18. 44-Clint Smith/Senoia, GA 22.546
19. 32c-Vic Coffey/Caledonia, NY 22.576
20. 1*-Chub Frank/Bear Lake, PA 22.596
21. 07R-Brent Rhebergen/Clymer, NY 22.611
22. 19-Tim Fuller/Watertown, NY 22.624
23. 57J-Bub McCool/Vicksburg, MS 22.638
24. 32F-Coleby Frye/Dover, PA 22.682
25. 3-David Scott/Garland, PA 22.734
26. 7-John Lobb/Frewsburg, NY 22.872
27. 03-Doug Eck/Corry, PA 22.929
28. 32-Terry Porter/Erie, PA 23.148
Heat No. 1 (10 laps – Top 6 Transfer): Clanton, Stone, Wells, Fuller, D. Davies, Oakes, Barton, Coffey, Scott, Porter
Heat No. 2 (10 laps – Top 6 Transfer): Knight, Eckert, Bagley, McCreadie, Briggs, Decker, McCool, Frank, Lobb
Heat No. 3 (10 laps – Top 6 Transfer): Lanigan, Richards, Dupont, Hedman, C. Smith, Rhebergen, Frye, Ruhlman, Eck
B-Main (12 laps – Top 4 Transfer): Frye, McCool, Barton, Coffey, Scott, Frank, Lobb, Eck, Porter, Ruhlman
World of Outlaws Late Model Series Contingency Award Winners (awards presented to noted finisher/qualifier or next highest displaying decal:
Ohlins Shocks ($50 cash to fast qualifier): Mike Knight
Eibach Springs (one free spring to each B-Main winner): Bub McCool
VP Race Fuels ‘Nice Jugs’ Award: (One VP 5-gallon container to fastest qualifier who misses A-Main): John Lobb
Wrisco Aluminum (3 sheets of aluminum to A-Main winner only): Darrell Lanigan
Armor All (One case of product to highest-finishing non-WoO team in A-Main): Jason Dupont
Comp Cams ($50 certificate to A-Main winner): Josh Richards
QuarterMaster ($100 certificate to A-Main winner): Shane Clanton
MSD Ignition ($50 cash to A-Main winner): Josh Richards
STP ($50 cash to 2nd-place finisher in A-Main): Shane Clanton
XS Power ($50 cash to 3rd-place finisher in A-Main): Tim McCreadie
Roush Yates ($50 cash to 4th-place finisher in A-Main): Josh Richards
JE Pistons ($50 cash to 5th-place finisher in A-Main): Rick Eckert
Dominator ($50 cash to 6th-place finisher in A-Main): Tim McCreadie
American Race Wheels ($50 cash to 7th-place finisher in A-Main): Bub McCool
VP Race Fuels ($50 cash to 8th-place finisher in A-Main): Eric Wells
Edelbrock Manifolds ($50 cash to 9th-finisher in A-Main): Jason Dupont
Comp Cams ($50 cash to 10th-place finisher in A-Main): Jason Dupont
XS Power ($60 product certificate to 11th-place finisher in A-Main): Tim Fuller
Cometic Gasket ($50 cash to 12th-place finisher in A-Main): Tim Fuller
JRI Shocks ($50 cash to 13th-place finisher in A-Main): Chub Frank
Super Flow Dynos ($50 cash to 14th-place finisher in A-Main): Vic Coffey
QuarterMaster ($25 certificate to 15th-place finisher in A-Main): Billy Decker
JE Pistons (one complete set of JE Pro Seal rings to 16th-place finisher in A-Main, redeemable w/next purchase of set): Morgan Bagley
Klotz Lubricants ($50 cash to 17th-place finisher in A-Main): Bump Hedman
Roush Yates ($50 gift card to 18th-place finisher in A-Main): Greg Oakes
QuarterMaster ($50 certificate to 19th-place finisher in A-Main): Greg Oakes
Arizona Sport Shirts ($100 certificate to 20th-place finisher in A-Main): Dick Barton
JE Pistons (one complete set of JE Pro Seal rings to 21st-place finisher in A-Main, redeemable w/next purchase of set): Rick ‘Boom’ Briggs
Roush Yates ($50 gift card to 22nd-place finisher in A-Main): Mike Knight
MSD Ignition ($25 cash to 24th-place finisher in A-Main): David Scott
XS Power ‘Power Move of the Race’ ($60 product certificate): Dan Stone
Roush Yates ($25 gift card to driver who leads most laps in the A-Main): Darrell Lanigan
Reliable Painting Award (one free tire): Rick Eckert
2013 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Point Standings as of Aug. 22 – 37 A-Mains completed (rank/driver/points/deficit to leader):
1. Josh Richards 5122
2. Darrell Lanigan 5060 (-62)
3. Shane Clanton 5058 (-64)
4. Rick Eckert 4960 (-162)
5. Tim McCreadie 4768 (-354)
6. Tim Fuller 4714 (-408)
7. Eric Wells 4690 (-432)
8. Chub Frank 4616 (-506)
9. Bub McCool 4592 (-530)
10. Morgan Bagley 4534 (-588)
11. Clint Smith 4334 (-788)
12. Dan Stone 2076 (-3046)
The World of Outlaws Late Model Series is brought to fans across the country by many important sponsors and partners, including: American Racing Custom Wheels (Official Custom Wheel), Arizona Sport Shirts (Official Apparel Company), Armor All (Official Car Care Products), Hoosier Racing Tires (Official Racing Tires), KMC (Official Custom Truck Wheel), STP (Official Fuel Treatment), Vicci (Official Uniform), VP Racing Fuel (Official Racing Fuel), DirtonDirt.com (Hard Charger Award) and McCarthy’s One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning (Raye Vest Memorial Pill Draw Award); in addition to contingency sponsors: Butlerbuilt, Cometic Gasket, Comp Cams, Dominator Race Products, Edelbrock, Eibach Springs, JE Pistons, JRI Shocks, Klotz Synthetic Lubricants, MSD Ignition, Ohlins Shocks, QuarterMaster, Roush Yates Performance Parts, Superflow Dynos, Wrisco Aluminum and XS Power Racing Batteries; along with manufacturer sponsors Capital Race Cars, Integra Shocks, GRT Chassis, Jake’s Carts, Racing Electronics, Rocket Chassis, TNT Rescue, and Warrior Chassis.