4/16/2021
RacinBoys
Moyer Sr. Tops Papich in MLRA Battle at Davenport Speedway
By Billy Rock (Davenport, IA) -- For the third consecutive night, the Lucas Oil MLRA crowned a different winner, as veteran Billy Moyer Sr. collected the $5,000 top prize on the ¼ mile Davenport Speedway in Davenport, IA.
The win was anything but easy for “Mr Smooth” as he fought door to door for well over half of the 40 lapper with DirtonDirt.com pole sitter and Illini Racing Supply Fast Time Award winner Jason Papich. Papich took his Longhorn chassis to the point at the drop of the green flag, circling the low line of the speedway, while Moyer Sr. cruised around the top side. Moyer Sr. snuck by for the lead on the races fifth circuit, stealing the lead by the narrowest of margins at the line.
PHOTO CREDIT: Lloyd Collins/Fast Track Photos
The duo waged war lap after lap in one of the most competitive MLRA battles in recent history at Davenport. The first StopTech Brakes caution of the race waved on lap 17 as then third running Bobby Pierce slowed down the back stretch with a flat right rear tire. Moyer led the field back to the green followed by Papich and Brian Shirley, and with the green flag back in the air, the battle stayed hot for the top spot until the second and final caution flew with just 18 laps remaining when Jordan Yaggy spun at the top of turn two.
With the race going green for the remainder of the event, Moyer slowly began to distance himself from Papich who began to feel the pressure for second from Shirley in the closing laps. At the line it was Moyer collecting the win by nearly a straight-a-way over Papich who was able to hold off the efforts of Shirley. Ashton Winger moved up to fourth from his tenth starting position, enough to take over the Midwest Sheet Metal Point lead after three events. Terry Phillips had his best MLRA showing of the week to round out the top five.
Davenport MLRA Podium: Brian Shirley 3rd, Billy Moyer Sr. 1st, Jason Papich 2nd. Photo Credit" Lloyd Collins, FastTrack Photos.
Following the win in Cedar Creek Beef Jerky Victory Lane Moyer described the intense battle with Papich. “We ran side-by-side for a long time, it was pretty cool. His car would go around the bottom side and I was a little better on top. It was a lot of fun, the track was in great shape and last night was too. It’s a lot of fun when they are slick and smooth and you can run side by side. You can’t ask for anything more than that.”
“I think the bottom was going away a little bit more after that last restart and it slowed him down a little bit and the top basically stayed the same. It was fun, but you had to just watch what you were doing in turn one and at both ends because you were just right on the edge of going off the end,” concluded Moyer.
Papich matched his career best MLRA finish with his runner-up effort and is excited with the start his team has after the first three series events. “Tim (Douglas) put some set-up on there that we never really messed with. We knew that it might be around the bottom just from some recent races and that the top and bottom might be pretty even. Boy we had a hell of a race it felt like for a while. Down around the bottom I could just hook it and get into that rut a little bit where there was some traction and drive off. I wasn’t as good down here in one and two, but then it rubbered up on top, so fortunately Shirley gave me a little room and I was able to get up top and just hang onto it.”
Third finishing Shirley had a good bounce back run following his recent hard crash at the Brownstown Speedway, and a positive start heading into the MLRA weekend finale at the 34 Raceway. “Big Billy there (Moyer) and Papich they were real sporty. We were hanging tough with them there for a little while, but you know we’re just trying to get some laps here and get some things back underneath us and get our feet wet. All in all it was a good night and a good start for the weekend, so we will try and see what we can do the next two nights.”
On tap this weekend: Drivers and teams will now converge upon the 34 Raceway in West Burlington, IA for one of the series marquee weekends of the season this Friday and Saturday April 16th & 17th. Honoring the life of Late Model racer Brent Slocum, Friday nights first annual Prelude to the Slocum will pay $5,000 to win followed by Saturday nights $10,555 to win “Slocum 50”.
Davenport Speedway Contingencies 4/15/21
Casey's "Hard Charger of the Race" – Tony Jackson Jr. (+15)
DirtonDirt.com "Pole Award" -Jason Papich
Dynamic Drivelines "Crew Chief of the Race" -Steve Norris
Gorsuch Performance Solutions “10th Place Finisher” -Dennis Erb Jr.
Hooker Harness "11th Place Finisher" -Rich Bell
Illini Racing Supply “Fast Time Award-Jason Papich
Midwest Sheet Metal "Points Leader Spoiler Challenge" – Ashton Winger
Performance Bodies "Performer of the Race" -Billy Moyer Sr.
RacingJunk “Hard Luck Award” – Jeremiah Hurst
StopTech Brakes “6th Place Finisher”-Tyler Bruening
Sunoco "Rookie of the Race" – Mason Oberkramer
Swift Springs “Move of the Race”-Chad Simpson
A Feature 1 40 Laps | Lucas Oil Products
- 21-Billy Moyer Sr[2]; 2. 91P-Jason Papich[1]; 3. 3S-Brian Shirley[3]; 4. 12W-Ashton Winger[10]; 5. 75-Terry Phillips[5]; 6. 16T-Tyler Bruening[9]; 7. 91T-Tony Toste[4]; 8. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[23]; 9. 25F-Jason Feger[6]; 10. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[21]; 11. 21B-Rich Bell[15]; 12. 59-Garrett Alberson[22]; 13. 25-Chad Simpson[26]; 14. 32-Chris Simpson[18]; 15. 74-Mitch McGrath[17]; 16. 93-Mason Oberkramer[8]; 17. 00-Jesse Stovall[16]; 18. 77Y-Jordan Yaggy[13]; 19. 99-Frank Heckenast Jr[11]; 20. 49T-Jake Timm[24]; 21. 15-Justin Duty[20]; 22. 3W-Brennon Willard[25]; 23. 55K-Chris Kratzer[19]; 24. 58-Jeremiah Hurst[12]; 25. 32-Bobby Pierce[7]; 26. 18B-Shannon Babb[14]
B Feature 1 12 Laps | Hoosier
- 74-Mitch McGrath[2]; 2. 55K-Chris Kratzer[1]; 3. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[6]; 4. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[4]; 5. 76-Blair Nothdurft[3]; 6. 4G-Bob Gardner[8]; 7. 11-Jeff Herzog[5]; 8. 44W-David Webster[9]; 9. 14M-Reid Millard[12]; 10. 93J-Jay Johnson[10]; 11. 3W-Brennon Willard[7]; 12. (DNS) 19-Ryan Gustin
B Feature 2 12 Laps | Sunoco
- 32S-Chris Simpson[3]; 2. 15-Justin Duty[1]; 3. 59-Garrett Alberson[4]; 4. 29D-Spencer Diercks[7]; 5. 25-Chad Simpson[2]; 6. 20-Rodney Sanders[5]; 7. 11R-Justin Reed[8]; 8. 40C-Joel Callahan[10]; 9. 3C-Mike Collins[11]; 10. 88L-Larry Clawson[12]; 11. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[9]; 12. 49T-Jake Timm[6]
Heat 1 10 Laps | Casey's
- 91P-Jason Papich[1]; 2. 75-Terry Phillips[4]; 3. 16T-Tyler Bruening[3]; 4. 77Y-Jordan Yaggy[5]; 5. 55K-Chris Kratzer[6]; 6. 76-Blair Nothdurft[8]; 7. 11-Jeff Herzog[7]; 8. 3W-Brennon Willard[9]; 9. 44W-David Webster[10]; 10. 19-Ryan Gustin[2]
Heat 2 10 Laps | Midwest Sheet Metal
- 3S-Brian Shirley[2]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[1]; 3. 99-Frank Heckenast Jr[3]; 4. 21B-Rich Bell[4]; 5. 74-Mitch McGrath[6]; 6. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[5]; 7. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[7]; 8. 4G-Bob Gardner[9]; 9. 93J-Jay Johnson[8]; 10. 14M-Reid Millard[10]
Heat 3 10 Laps | My Race Pass
- 21-Billy Moyer Sr[1]; 2. 25F-Jason Feger[2]; 3. 12W-Ashton Winger[3]; 4. 18B-Shannon Babb[4]; 5. 15-Justin Duty[5]; 6. 32S-Chris Simpson[6]; 7. 20-Rodney Sanders[8]; 8. 29D-Spencer Diercks[7]; 9. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[10]; 10. 3C-Mike Collins[9]
Heat 4 10 Laps | Performance Bodies
- 91T-Tony Toste[2]; 2. 93-Mason Oberkramer[1]; 3. 58-Jeremiah Hurst[3]; 4. 00-Jesse Stovall[6]; 5. 25-Chad Simpson[4]; 6. 59-Garrett Alberson[7]; 7. 49T-Jake Timm[5]; 8. 11R-Justin Reed[9]; 9. 40C-Joel Callahan[10]; 10. 88L-Larry Clawson[8]
Submitted By: Kirk Elliott
