Moyer A Master At Winternationals
Billy Moyer (21), shown at Bubba Raceway Park, won Tuesday's UMP late model feature at Volusia Speedway Park. (Al Steinberg photo)
BARBERVILLE, Fla. — Billy Moyer resumed his winning ways at Volusia Speedway Park Tuesday night, rolling to victory in the second 30-lap DIRTcar UMP Late Model feature of the 41st UNOH DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Summit Racing Equipment.
The 54-year-old dirt late model legend controlled the short sprint, leading the entire distance after starting from the outside pole position. He outgunned polesitter Steve Francis for the top spot and never looked back.
Moyer earned $7,000 for his eighth victory since 1998 at Volusia — more than any other driver has registered at the half-mile oval over that span.
“We’ve been here a few times,” said Moyer, “so it makes us feel good to be able to get one more.”
Moyer turned back threats from Francis and Darrell Lanigan to put his Victory Circle car in the post-race spotlight.
Lanigan, 41, chased Moyer throughout the race’s second half but couldn’t muster the necessary speed to make a serious bid, leaving his Rocket mount second at the finish. The WoO LMS regular was 0.369 of a second behind Moyer when the checkered flag flew.
The 44-year-old Francis, who won the UNOH DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Summit UMP Late Model opener the previous night, settled for third place in the Barry Wright house car. He ran second behind Moyer until being overtaken by Lanigan on a lap-18 restart.
Rick Eckert who started third but slipped to fifth at the initial green flag, slid by Shannon Babb for fourth on the lap-18 restart and stayed there to the finish in his Team Zero by Bloomquist car. Dennis Erb, Jr. started and finished fifth, also in a Bloomquist chassis.
The feature’s aborted start proved to be key to Moyer’s triumph. After a tangle in turn-two involving Billy Decker, Don O’Neal, and Scott Bloomquist wiped out the original green flag, Moyer turned the tables on Francis with a strong high-side charge into the catbird’s seat.
“He got me on the first start and I got him on the second start,” Moyer said of Francis. “The first start my car didn’t take off very well. I was able to get him back on the outside because the track’s so fast out there.”
Seventy-five cars were signed in for the second consecutive night. Group qualifying was utilized to set the starting lineups for six heat races.
Erb recorded the fastest overall qualifying lap at 15.644 seconds on the half-mile oval.
The finish:
Billy Moyer, Darrell Lanigan, Steve Francis, Rick Eckert, Dennis Erb, Jr., Jimmy Mars, Shannon Babb, Tim McCreadie, Jonathan Davenport, Frankie Heckenast, Jr., Eric Wells, Tyler Reddick, John Blankenship, Morgan Bagley, Chub Frank, Jared Landers, Jimmy Owens, Mason Zeigler, Brian Shirley, Billy Moyer, Jr., Jason Feger, Brandon Sheppard, Scott Bloomquist, Don O’Neal, Billy Decker
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Short URL: http://www.nationalspeedsportnews.com/?p=44358
Posted by NSSN Staff
on Feb 22 2012 Filed under Dirt Late Models, Latest Headlines, Other Dirt Series, Top Stories.
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