Pike County Speedway
Moyer's march continues with $20,000 at Pike
By Kevin Kovac
World of Outlaws Late Model Series
Joe Isabell wasn't injured after his barrel-rolling accident. (Kevin Kovac)
MAGNOLIA, Miss. (March 29) — Billy Moyer added a stop in Mississippi to his spectacular 2008 victory tour, hitting paydirt in Saturday night’s inaugural World of Outlaws Late Model Series March Through Dixie 100 at Pike County Speedway. The sizzling dirt Late Model legend from Batesville, Ark., pocketed $20,150 for his convincing triumph in the first-ever WoO event at promoter J.F. Gasquet’s high-banked, 3/8-mile oval. | Premium video | Prelims
It was Moyer’s eighth overall win of the young 2008 campaign — all behind the wheel of the same Banner Valley Hauling-sponsored Victory Circle M1 Chassis he helped develop — and his second straight in WoO competition. He won the last tour event run six weeks ago, on Feb. 16 at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla. Moyer, 50, is simply on an incredible roll.
“I’m just enjoying this as long as it lasts,” said Moyer, who leads the WoO points standings on the strength of two wins and a third-place finish in three events. “You just never know what tomorrow is gonna bring in this sport. The competition level is second to none, with so many great cars out here.
“Believe me, I’ve been on both ends of the wave. I’ve been on the top, like we are right now, and I’ve been on the bottom, kicking and trying to figure out how I got to the bottom as hard as I was working.”
The driver known as Mr. Smooth led all but one lap of the extra-distance affair. He surged forward from the fourth starting spot to grab the lead from polesitter James Ward of Lettsworth, La., on lap two and never looked back, racing virtually unchallenged for the remainder of a race slowed by only three caution flags.
A three-time WoO champion (1988, 1989, 2005), Moyer crossed the finish line with a 1.045-second edge on 2004 tour titlist Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn. Bloomquist, who started sixth, slipped by Ward for second place on a lap-42 restart but couldn’t summon enough speed in his homebuilt Team Zero mount to seriously threaten Moyer.
Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., finished third in NASCAR Sprint Cup star Clint Bowyer’s Rayburn car, just over two seconds behind Bloomquist at the checkered flag.
Ward, a 37-year-old Gulf Coast standout, held on to place fourth in Dick Allen’s MasterSbilt machine. He earned the $500 WoO Bonus Bucks cash for being the highest-finishing driver who hasn’t won a WoO feature and isn’t ranked among the top 12 in the points standings.
Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga., hustled his RSD Enterprises Rocket around the outside of the track to finish fifth after starting 13th, righting a season that he started with DNFs in each of the first two events.
Competing at a track where he was last victorious in the mid-‘90s, Moyer survived an opening-lap scrape with Ward to continue his early-season hot streak. “The 3 (Ward) got into my left front and I almost thought I was gonna sell the farm and wreck it,” Moyer said of his closest call. “Luckily Scott was behind me as well as some other guys who’ve been around the block a time or two, so they didn’t get in the back of me and cause a big melee.”
Moyer escaped the contact and grabbed the lead from Ward. He proceeded to build more than a straightaway advantage by the time the race’s first caution flag flew, on lap 42 for Ruston, La., driver Kenny Merchant’s stopped car, and didn’t have much trouble maintaining command once Bloomquist took up the chase following the restart. Even while keeping a relatively conservative pace, Moyer kept Bloomquist at arm’s length.
“The track was pretty racy, but the last half (of the race) I was pretty much on the bottom,” said Moyer, whose car was powered by a Clements engine. “I figured (Bloomquist) was pretty darn close to me so I wanted to stay where I thought the traction was on the racetrack. I searched around a little, but I kinda played some defense because I knew the tires we had on weren’t gonna have much left at the end of the race.”
Bloomquist, 44, pegged Moyer’s Hoosier tire choice as the likely deciding factor in the 100.
“We saw what tire he ran and knew he was the only one out there with that tire, (which had) a different type of rubber,” Bloomquist said. “When he fired as good as he did (at the initial start) with that tire, I knew he’d be tough.
“I thought we might have a shot when we started gaining on him in three and four (at mid-race), but we weren’t quite good enough. We gave it a good shot — and I think for the tires we ran and the combination we had, it was a good night for us.”
Moyer registered his record 33rd career WoO victory. Eleven of his wins have come since 2004 when the World Racing Group rekindled the tour — a period during which Bloomquist’s 16 wins leads all drivers.
The one driver who appeared to have an opportunity to battle Moyer and Bloomquist for supremacy was Babb, who recovered from a difficult opening circuit to record a season-best finish.
“I don’t know what happened on the start,” said Babb, who started third. “I got bunched up behind (Ward). Maybe he had hard tires on and didn’t fire, because I kinda wanted to push him down the straightaway. That cost me some spots and I thought, We are definitely in trouble.
“But we come back there with an alright run. It’s been awhile since the last time we raced, so it’s great to get a third, especially behind Billy, who’s been phenomenal this year, and Scott, who’s no slouch either.”
Babb pulled off one of the most memorable moves of the race to seize third place, going to the outside of turns three and four on lap 44 to pass Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., and Ward in one deft sweep. He couldn’t run down the leaders, but his rally spiced up the event.
“The track was actually really racy,” said Babb. “They had a helluva good racetrack, but it was one of those deals where you had to hit it just right to slingshot by a guy.”
Notes: Fourth-finishing Darrell Lanigan started 10th. ... The night’s wildest moment came on the opening lap of the first consolation race when rookie contender Joe Isabell of Pennellville, N.Y., barrel-rolled down the backstretch after a mid-pack scramble caused his JIR Motorsports car to slide sideways and dig into the track. The 18-year-old driver’s completely-demolished car came to rest with its front end over the turn-three wall and its rear end suspended on the concrete, but he escaped the wreck uninjured. ... Next up for the series is the $20,000-to-win Illini 100 at Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway, the richest Dirt Late Model racing in Illinois history.
March Through Dixie 100: (1) Billy Moyer, (2) Scott Bloomquist, (3) Shannon Babb, (4) James Ward, (5) Shane Clanton, (6) Darrell Lanigan, (7) Rick Eckert, (8) Chub Frank, (9) Eddie Carrier Jr., (10) Chris� Wall, (11) Tim Fuller, (12) Ray Moore, (13) Steve Francis, (14) Josh Richards, (15) Jimmy Mars, (16) Boom Briggs, (17) Clint Smith, (18) John Blankenship, (19) Mike Boland, (20) Rob Litton, (21) Bub McCool, (22) David Breazeale, (23) Kenny Merchant, (24) Brian Shirley. Fast qualifier (among 36 cars): Fuller, 16.196 seconds. Heat race winners: Bloomquist, Ward, Babb, Moyer. Consolation winners: Francis, Blankenship. Provisional starters: C. Smith, McCool.
