FK Rod Ends Arizona Speedway
Moriarty holds off Shaw for $1,500 CDM victory
QUEEN CREEK, Ariz. (Nov. 16) — Outside front-row starter Joey Moriarty of Phoenix, Ariz., led all the way Saturday at Arizona Speedway for a $1,500 Championship Dirt Motorsports victory, his third in the last seven series races.
Moriarty, whose previous CDM victories came July 6 and Sept. 28 at Tucson (Ariz.) International Raceway, took the checkers a half-length ahead of Don Shaw of Ham Lake, Minn.
Shaw, among upper Midwestern drivers who compete in Arizona in his off-season, rallied to finish second after a broken torque arm in his heat race forced him to start on the tail of the 15-car field.
R.C. Whitwell of Tucson, Ariz., was a close third followed by Mike Balcaen of Winnipeg, Manitoba, who was competing for the first time since suffering a heart attack six weeks earlier. Lonnie Parker Jr. of El Mirage, Ariz., rounded out the top five.
Notes: Moriarty’s MB Customs chassis is sponsored by Total Seal Piston Rings. … R.C. Whitwell spun on the seventh lap but rallied back into contention. … Beside Whitwell’s spin, the only other caution came with seven laps remaining when Bucky Andrews came to a stop with engine problems. … Among spectators was John Kennedy, the National Dirt Racing League founder who will co-sanction nine January races with CDM at Tucson and El Paso, Texas. … CDM competitors return to action Nov. 22-23 with a two-race weekend at Cocopah Speedway in Yuma, Ariz., co-sanctioned by the West Coast Late Model Shootout. The races pay $1,200- and $2,000-to-win.
CDM @ Arizona Speedway: (1) Joey Moriarty, (2) Don Shaw, (3) R.C. Whitwell, (4) Mike Balcaen, (5) Lonnie Parker Jr., (6) Mercedes Abercrombie, (7) Bruce Duckett, (8) Brad Williams, (9) Sean Bray, (10) Bucky Andrews, (11) Wes Hall, (12) Bud Grossenbacher, (13) Jerry Fincher, (14) James Laing, (15) Troy Ruebke. Heat race winners (among 15 cars): Whitwell, Williams, Moriarty. Dash winner: Balcaen.
