CONCORD, NC – Nov. 3, 2007 – Donnie Moran has a penchant for coming up big in historic dirt Late Model events.
 
The Dresden, Ohio, superstar did it in 2001 when he won the only dirt Late Model race that offered a $1 million top prize, and he made his mark on the division’s history again on Saturday night by capturing the first-ever dirt Late Model feature televised live on a cable network.
 
With a huge crowd of over 14,000 looking on from the grandstands and a national television audience watching on SPEED, Moran held off 2007 World of Outlaws Late Model Series champion Steve Francis to win the second 50-lap A-Main of the inaugural ‘Outlaws World Finals’ at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
 
“God must work in mysterious ways,” Moran said with a smile when asked about his success in milestone events. “We won the first $100,000 purse race ever (for dirt Late Models), we won the Million (at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway) – and now here we are racing for the first time ever on live T.V., and we won again.
 
“I can’t explain why we’ve done so well in these special shows. I’m just thankful I’ve got good people behind me, a good, wonderful family that supports me, and it’s all worked out exceptionally well.”
 
Moran, 45, started from the pole position in his PBM Performance Products MasterSbilt car, but that didn’t give him an easy path to victory. He slipped back as far as fifth before rallying to grab the lead on lap 18 from Earl Pearson Jr. of Jacksonville, Fla., then lost the top spot to Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga., on lap 29 before making another comeback to regain command for good on lap 37.
 
Ashland, Ky.’s Francis, who clinched his first career WoO LMS with a fourth-place finish in Friday night’s 50-lap A-Main, slid by Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., and Clanton for second place on lap 38 and spent the remaining circuits chasing Moran. Francis tossed his Valvoline Rocket to the outside of Moran rounding turns three and four on the final lap, but Moran slid in front of Francis on the straightaway and triumphed by a mere 0.154 of a second.
 
WoO LMS Rookie of the Year Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., charged from the 22nd starting spot to finish a strong third in his Gypsum Express Rocket, followed by 19th-starter Steve Shaver of Vienna, W.Va., in the Drywall Systems Rocket and Lanigan in his familiar gottarace.com Rocket.
 
“I knew he was there because I could hear him a little bit,” Moran said of Francis, who started 10th. “But I just tried to keep my composure, work my line and hopefully keep it there to the end.
 
“Him and I have raced together since I was in my early 20s and he was a teenager, and we’re not gonna wreck each other. But we’re gonna give everything we have, and that’s what he did on the last lap. What did he have to lose?”
 
Indeed, Francis, 40, was racing without any concern about points for the first time all season, and he let it all hang out on the final circuit after being unable to shake Moran from his desired bottom groove.
 
“We couldn’t go on the restarts very good, but once we got going I could run (Moran) down,” said Francis. “He was in the (inside) lane I wanted to be in, though, and I couldn’t really do anything with him, so on the last lap I threw a ‘Hail-Mary’ at him to try whatever it took to win.
 
“My only shot was a ‘Hail-Mary’ on the last lap, but we fell a little short. I had to lift when he slid up because I was gonna catch him in the (rear) corner – and that was gonna be ugly.”
 
Moran was resilient in his march to victory, refusing to give up during the moments when it looked like a checkered flag might not be in the cards for him.
 
“The dirt is unpredictable and it was changing the whole race,” said Moran, analyzing his drive. “The bottom wasn’t there, then it came in, then it kinda went away a little bit, and then it came in again. It would kind of come and go, and that’s why we fell back a few times and then got going again.
 
“A lot of it has to do with the time of year. There’s a lot of moisture in the air at night when it’s cool like it was tonight, so sometimes when you have a little bit longer caution (period) and everybody will run in one position around the track, then the dew will settle in on another part of the racetrack and put some traction there. Somebody might find it, and that makes the lane change.
 
“That’s dirt racing.”
 
Moran became the 19th different winner in 44 WoO LMS events this season. His best previous finish in 13 A-Main starts on the tour in 2007 was second, on July 28 at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio.
 
Officially, Moran recorded his second career win on the WoO LMS. But his first score came during the first incarnation (1988-1989) of the tour – on Aug. 26, 1988, at Bolivar, Mo. – so he received the $500 WoO LMS ‘Bonus Bucks’ prize for being the highest-finishing driver who hadn’t won a tour event since 2004 and wasn’t ranked among the top 12 in the points standings, pushing his earnings for the night to $10,725.
 
It was also Moran’s first-ever win at The Dirt Track. He had finished as high as second at the four-tenths-mile oval.
 
“We’ve been good here in the past, and we were good all weekend,” said the happy Moran, who joined ‘Outlaws World Finals’ Sprint Car winner Steve Kinser for post-race photos. “We were close to the front last night and blew a tire, but we learned a little bit about the tires and made some changes and the thing was great tonight.”
 
Francis also participated in the post-race ceremonies, taking to the stage with WoO Sprint Car champion Donny Schatz to receive a formal championship crowning. He will pick up a $100,000 check for winning the title during the WoO LMS ‘Night of Champions’ Awards Banquet on Dec. 6 in Orlando, Fla.
 
“A win would’ve topped the weekend,” said Francis, who finished second in the WoO LMS points standings in 2004 and 2005. “With Lee (Logan, Francis’s chief mechanic) winning the pit crew (competition) on Thursday and then us winning the championship, it would’ve been awesome if we could’ve just pulled off that other eight foot we needed there to beat Moran for the win.
 
“But we’re just happy to run the way we did and prove tonight on national TV that (the title) was not a fluke, that what we’ve done this year was the real thing.”
 
Fuller, 40, made the biggest advance forward in the A-Main, picking up 19 positions to finish third in his first career feature start at The Dirt Track. A winner two years ago in an Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series big-block Modified feature at the speedway, Fuller reached third on lap 40 and was just 0.728 of a second behind Moran at the checkered flag.
 
“The way this weekend had gone, I didn’t think we were even gonna get a top 10 starting where we did,” said Fuller, who failed to qualify on Friday and had to pass several cars to grab the last transfer spot in Saturday’s second B-Main. “But (Scott) Bloomquist proved last night that you can pass (coming back from a pit stop to win), and we were able to move up through the pack.
 
“We were so bad in time trials (on Thursday night) because we didn’t tighten up enough, so tonight we tightened the car up as much as we do for normal features and it was pretty good. We also had a little bit harder tire on the left-rear and it kept driving.”
 
Shaver also registered a top-five finish after qualifying through a B-Main, raising his spirits after a rearend problem knocked him out of Friday night’s A-Main. His ‘World Finals’ had started off strong when he set fast time in both rounds of time trials on Thursday.
 
Lanigan was a disappointed fifth-place finisher. He climbed as high as third and felt he had a car capable of winning, but his bid was short-circuited because he ran the top groove a bit too long.
 
Pearson led laps 4-17 after starting fourth, but he faded to a sixth-place finish in Bobby Labonte’s MasterSbilt mount.
 
“I just pushed it a little too hard and blistered the right-rear tire,” said Pearson. “Once I did that I moved around a little bit, but the car was never any good again.”
 
Finishing in positions 7-10 was Bloomquist, who pitted to change right-side tires on lap five but wasn’t able to duplicate his Friday-night charge; Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., who ran as high as fourth; Clanton, who started third and led laps 29-36 but fell from contention after turn-two contact with Lanigan on lap 39 cost him several spots; and Steve Lucas of Cross Lanes, W.Va.
 
Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill., raced off the outside pole to lead laps 1-3, but he gradually faded and finished 21st, one lap down.
 
Three caution flags slowed the event – for Chad Ruhlman of Bemis Point, N.Y., spinning on lap five; Jackie Boggs of Grayson, Ky., slowing on lap 20; and a tangle on lap 24 involving David Scott of Garland, Pa., and Michael England of Glasgow, Ky., who was scheduled to start fifth after a heat win but was forced to the rear of the field because he brought out a backup car.
 
Heat winners were Clanton, Pearson, Shirley, Moran, Babb and England, and Shaver and Rick Eckert of York, Pa., captured the B-Mains.
 
For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.
 
Results of WoO Late Model Series ‘World Finals’ A-Main No. 2 (Finishing Position/Start/Driver/Laps Completed/Money Won):
 
1. (1) Donnie Moran/50 $10,725
2. (10) Steve Francis/50 $5,125
3. (22) Tim Fuller/50 $3,250
4. (19) Steve Shaver/50 $2,600
5. (8) Darrell Lanigan/50 $2,000
6. (4) Earl Pearson Jr./50 $1,700
7. (18) Scott Bloomquist/50 $1,400
8. (6) Shannon Babb/50 $1,300
9. (3) Shane Clanton/50 $1,200
10. (11) Steve Lucas/50 $1,100
11. (7) Josh Richards/50 $1,050
12. (20) Rick Eckert/50 $1,000
13. (9) Dan Schlieper/50 $950
14. (13) Ricky Elliott/50 $900
15. (14) Scott James/50 $850
16. (21) Matt Miller/50 $800
17. (5) Michael England/50 $770
18. (25) David Scott/50 $750
19. (17) Eric Jacobsen/50 $730
20. (15) Ricky Weeks/49 $700
21. (2) Brian Shirley/49 $700
22. (26) Ben Adkins/49 $700
23. (24) Clint Smith/41 $750
24. (23) Chub Frank/19 $700
25. (12) Jackie Boggs/19 $700
26. (16) Chad Ruhlman/5 $700
 
Note: Michael England switched to a backup car for the feature and started from the rear of the field
 
Time of Race: 23 Mins., 56.903 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 0.154 Secs.
Yellow Flags: 3 (Laps 5, 20, 24)
Lap Leaders: Shirley (1-3); Pearson (4-17); Moran (18-28); Clanton (29-36); Moran (37-50)
Provisional Starters: Frank, C. Smith (WoO); Scott, Adkins (track)
Rookie of the Race: Fuller ($250)
WoO LMS ‘Bonus Bucks’ Winner: Moran ($500)
National Interstate Insurance Fast Time Award: Steve Shaver ($100)
National Interstate Insurance Hard Luck Award: C. Smith ($50)
Integra Shocks Crew Chief of the Race ($100): Brian Redmon (Donnie Moran)
 
Heat No. 1 (10 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Shane Clanton, 2. Josh Richards, 3. Ricky Elliott, 4. Steve Shaver, 5. Randy Weaver, 6. Jeremy Miller, 7. Clint Smith, 8. Doug Dodd, 9. Austin Hubbard, 10. Chris Combs, 11. Tim Dohm, 12. Larry Blankenship (DNS) Josh McGuire
 
Heat No. 2 (10 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Earl Pearson Jr., 2. Darrell Lanigan, 3. Scott James, 4. Matt Miller, 5. Chub Frank, 6. Eddie Carrier Jr., 7. Randy Korte, 8. Ben Adkins, 9. Jeep VanWormer, 10. Matt Lux, 11. Jordan Bland, 12. Bob Gordon
 
Heat No. 3 (10 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Brian Shirley, 2. Dan Schlieper, 3. Ricky Weeks, 4. Freddy Smith, 5. Brian Ledbetter, 6. Jared Hawkins, 7. Chuck Harper, 8. David Scott, 9. Alex Ferree, 10. Tommy Kerr, 11. Austin Dillon, 12. Dan Stone
 
Heat No. 4 (10 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Donnie Moran, 2. Steve Francis, 3. Chad Ruhlman, 4. Rick Eckert, 5. Jeff Smith, 6. Tim Fuller, 7. Jeff Cooke, 8 Wayne Chinn, 9. Jay Smith, 10. Tony Knowles, 11. Damon Kotke, 12. Jason Dunn
 
Heat No. 4 (10 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Shannon Babb, 2. Steve Lucas, 3. Eric Jacobsen, 4. Rodney Combs, 5. Ronnie DeHaven Jr., 6. Mike Balzano, 7. Tim Allen, 8. Jerry Bowersock, 9. Jayme Zidar, 10. Junior Pearce, 11. John Lewellyn
 
Heat No. 6 (10 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Michael England, 2. Jackie Boggs, 3. Scott Bloomquist, 4. Jeff Rine, 5. Jonathan Davenport, 6. Brian Barber, 7. Kerry Jones, 8. Anthony Huber, 9. Ken Schrader, 10. Steve Blackburn, 11. Walker Arthur, 12. Troy Erickson
 
B-Main No. 1 (12 laps – Top 2 Transfer): 1. Steve Shaver, 2. Matt Miller, 3. Chub Frank, 4. Freddy Smith, 5. Eddie Carrier Jr., 6. Clint Smith, 7. Jeremy Miller, 8. Jared Hawkins, 9. Randy Korte, 10. Randy Weaver, 11. Doug Dodd, 12. David Scott, 13. Ben Adkins, 14. Jeep VanWormer, 15. Chuck Harper, 16. Austin Hubbard, 17. Brian Ledbetter (DNS) Alex Ferree
 
B-Main No. 2 (12 laps – Top 2 Transfer): 1. Rick Eckert, 2. Tim Fuller, 3. Jeff Smith, 4. Jeff Rine, 5. Wayne Chinn, 6. Rodney Combs, 7. Ronnie DeHaven Jr., 8. Mike Balzano, 9. Brian Barber, 10. Jonathan Davenport, 11. Jayme Zidar, 12. Jeff Cooke, 13. Tim Allen, 14. Anthony Huber, 15. Kerry Jones, 16. Jay Smith (DNS) Jerry Bowersock, Ken Schrader
 
Final 2007 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Point Standings - 44 features completed (rank/driver/wins/top-5s/top-10s/earnings/points/deficit to leader):
 
1. Steve Francis 4-27-40-$143,575-5,976 (-0)
2. Chub Frank 6-19-34-$129,780-5,850 (-126)
3. Clint Smith 4-17-30-$121,075-5,778 (-198)
4. Shane Clanton 2-13-30-$92,047-5,758 (-218)
5. Rick Eckert 0-12-27-$81,810-5,744 (-232)
6. Josh Richards 4-12-26-$105,707-5,740 (-236)
7. Darrell Lanigan 2-11-28-$89,155-5,474 (-502)
8. Tim Fuller 1-11-16-$74,065-4,478 (-1498)
9. Brian Shirley 1-5-14-$64,004-4,312 (-1664)
10. Shannon Babb 5-13-18-$102,295-3,941 (-2035)
11. Eddie Carrier Jr. 0-2-5-$26,880-2,949 (-3027)
12. Chris Madden 2-8-12-$91,015-2,580 (-3396)
13. Roy Mitchell 0-0-0-$13,290-2,458 (-3518)
14. Billy Moyer 1-9-12-$42,575-2,448 (-3528)
15. Brian Birkhofer 0-1-8-$24,810-2,079 (-3897)
16. Dan Stone 1-1-3-$18,445-1,790 (-4186)
17. Jimmy Mars 0-5-7-$27,930-1,773 (-4203)
18. John Blankenship 0-0-0-$10,830-1,738 (-4238)
19. Donnie Moran 1-2-4-$34,460-1,544 (-4432)
20. Jeremy Miller 0-2-3-$19,225-1,527 (-4449)
 
LISTEN ONLINE: If fans can’t get to a track to see the series, they can experience the excitement of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series live on DIRTvision.com through the DIRT Radio Network.
 
To listen to the free audio broadcasts, log on to www.dirtvision.com and click on the DIRT Radio Network logo.
 
Listeners will need Windows Media Player 9 or higher to listen to the DIRT Radio Network. For technical support or questions, e-mail [email protected].
 
The World of Outlaws Late Model Series is brought to fans across the country by several sponsors and partners, including National Interstate Insurance Company and contingency sponsors Wrisco Industries, Crane Cams, Ohlins Shocks, Quarter-Master, Hawk Brake, MSD Ignitions, Eibach Springs and Integra Shocks.