7/9/2005
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Donnie Moran Motors from 7th to 1st in Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Win at K-C Raceway
CHILLICOTHE, OH (July 9, 2005)-Donnie Moran of Dresden, OH passed race leader, Steve Shaver with nine laps to go and went on to win his second Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event of the season on Saturday Night, July 9 at Jim Nier's K-C Raceway in Chillicothe, OH. Moran, who started seventh on the grid took full advantage of the double file restarts as he roared past Shaver three laps after the last restart and went on to take the $7,000 win in "The Night the Stars Come Out" 50 Lap Main Event. Moran was driving the PBM Performance Products/Eddie's Sunoco/SMS Race Engines/MasterSbilt Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Shaver of Vienna, WV who led 40 of the 50 laps was second in the Richard Construction/Draime Engines/Rocket Monte Carlo with Bart Hartman of Zanesville, OH a close third in the Urgent Cash/Cornett Engines/Rocket Grand Prix. Finishing fourth was Earl Pearson, Jr. of Jacksonville, FL in the Dunn Benson/Lucas Oil/Larry Wallace Racing Engines/Rocket Ford Taurus with Hall of Famer Freddy Smith of Seymour, TN taking fifth in the White Oaks Motorsports/Gaerte Engines GRT Dodge Intrepid.
Steve Shaver was the man early in the race grabbing the point right from the start of the 50 lap affair as he immediately began to stretch out his lead over the field. Rod Conley would run in second with Freddy Smith in third. Those three would run that way until Bart Hartman picked up the pace and passed Smith for third on lap seven. Up front it was all Shaver, as the veteran driver was motoring around the 3/8ths mile high banked oval extending his lead lap after lap and was lapping cars by the ninth circuit. By lap 12 Shaver had built a 10 car length lead over Rod Conley with Hartman running third followed by a close battle between the two Hall of Famers, Freddy Smith and Donnie Moran, who was up to fifth. While Shaver was working his way through traffic, Rod Conley was running a good race holding down a solid second place until the 26th lap when Hartman went by him for the runner-up slot.
Just past the halfway mark it was all Shaver as the West Virginia pilot was dominating the event. Hartman was in second with Conley third, Smith fourth and Moran in fifth. By the 33rd circuit Shaver was up to almost a 1/2 a lap lead over Hartman as he was handling traffic with what seemed like ease still dusting the field at this point, but as the case several times in racing it is not over until it is over. After a caution for the spun car of Jeff Gress, Shaver found himself leading the Delaware double file restart. With Shaver out front on the restart Hartman and Conley would restart side by side behind him. Hartman would challenge Shaver repeatedly going side by side on several occasions with Shaver in the race for the lead, the final caution would fly after 38 laps were complete when 2004 K-C Raceway Late Model Track Champion, Keith Berner stalled three.
On the final restart Shaver would still be out front but again his huge lead was had now gone and he Hartman and now Moran to deal with. Moran had moved to third with 12 laps to go and would start alongside Hartman on the restart. Moran would banzai into turn one when the green came back out again to go racing. Moran would chase Shaver down the backstretch trying to overtake him. This would go on for two laps until Moran was finally able to slide up the track going into turn number clearing Shaver with room to spare and that would enough to put him in the lead for good and pull away from Shaver in the final laps to take his second Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of '05.
Shaver who led the most laps would finish second with Hartman a close third. Earl Pearson, Jr. would make some noise late in the race coming up pass Freddy Smith late in the going to take fourth with Smith taking fifth.
Completing the top ten were Matt Miller, who started 23rd, Scott James, Rod Conley, Don O'Neal and R.J. Conley.
In preliminary action Moran was the Fast Timer for the 32 entrants on hand with a lap of 14.368 seconds. The Heat Race Winners were Rod Conley, Steve Shaver and Freddy Smith. The B-Main was won by Rick Aukland.
Coming up this weekend will be back to back Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series events on Friday Night, July 15 at the Potomac Speedway in Budds Creek, Maryland will be a $7,000 to win main event and on Saturday Night, July 16 the series will be at the Virginia Motor Speedway in Saluda, Virginia for a $10,000 to win race. Saturday's race will be taped for broadcast on ESPN2.
Race Summary Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Saturday Night, July 9, 2005 K-C Raceway-Chillicothe (Alma), OH
Fast Qualifier: Donnie Moran 14.368 seconds
Heat #1: Rod Conley, R.J. Conley, Donnie Moran, Eric Myers, Jason Montgomery, Steve Casebolt, Jr., Matt Miller, Skip Watterman, Rick Aukland, Brett Foster, Jason Flory
Heat #2: Steve Shaver, Bart Hartman, Keith Berner, Eddie Carrier, Jr., Brady Smith, Tim Dohm, John Mason, Scott Wolfe, Kristin Flory, Tony Throckmorton, Craig Gibson
Heat #3: Freddy Smith, Earl Pearson, Jr., Don O'Neal, Delmas Conley, Scott James, Mark Frazier, Chad Smith, Cortney Clewell, Kyle Scheer,. Jeff Gress
B-Main: Rick Aukland, Chad Smith, Skip Watterman, John Mason, Cortney Clewell, Scott Wolfe, Kristin Flory, Kyle Scherr, Tony Throckmorton, Brett Foster, Craig Gibson, Matt Miller, Jeff Gress
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Main Event: (50 Laps): Donnie Moran, Steve Shaver, Bart Hartman, Earl Pearson, Jr., Freddy Smith, Matt Miller, Scott James, Rod Conley, Don O'Neal, R.J. Conley, Steve Casebolt, Jr., Eddie Carrier, Jr., Brady Smith, Eric Myers, Jason Montgomery, Tim Dohm, John Mason, Chad Smith, Delmas Conley, Keith Berner, Jeff Gress, Mark Frazier, Skip Watterman, Rick Aukland
Race Statistics: Entries: 32 Cautions: 2 Red Flags: 0 Lap Leaders: Steve Shaver 1-40 Donnie Moran 41-50 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Provisionals: Matt Miller and Jeff Gress Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Rookie of the Race: Scott James Weld Wheels Hard Charger of the Race: Matt Miller (started 23rd and finished in 6th) advanced 17 positions
Submitted By: Jeremy Shields