5/19/2006
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Billy Moyer Best in Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Event at Farley
FARLEY, IA (May 19, 2006)- Billy Moyer of Batesville, AR took the lead on lap 16 from Dan Schlieper and then went on to lead the rest of the 50 lap Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event on Friday Night at the Farley Speedway earning $10,000 for his triumph. Moyer had to hold off Schlieper and Rick Eckert after a yellow flag with 11 laps to go for the victory.
Moyers second Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of the year came aboard his J&J Steel/Car City/Banner Valley Hauling/Petroff Towing/Karl Chevrolet/Watters Auto Land/Rd Line Oil/Chase Race Decals/Platinum Motors and Rvs/McCarthy Heating and Air/Pro Power Engines/C.J. Rayburn GTO. Schlieper of Sullivan, WI finished second in his Miller Brothers Coal/Pro Power Engines/C.J. Rayburn Monte Carlo with Eckert of York, PA coming home third in the Raye Vest Excavating/Cornett Engines/Rocket Ford Fusion. Completing the top five was 13th starting Denny Eckrich of Tiffin, IA in the Precision Performance/Grove Automotive/Barry Wright Grand Prix and pole sitter Scott James of Lawrenceburg, IN in the Powell Motorsports/Baylor Trucking/Jay Dickens Race Engines/Rocket GTO. There were a total of 53 cars on hand for the series second ever visit to the Simmons Promotions Inc. promoted facility.
The 50 lap A-main event would go green with Scott James and Moyer leading the way, but a first lap caution for a spin in turn two negated the start. On the second attempt to get the race underway Schlieper quickly make his presence known as he bolted into the lead ahead of Moyer, James, Kerry Hansen and Rick Eckert. Schlieper would start to stretch his lead over the strong field of participants as he went to a four car length lead by lap five. Eckert would race past Hansen for fourth on lap nine and then start to pressure James for the third position.
Steve Francis, who started eighth, was on the move up to fourth by Hansen on the 10th circuit. Moyer then began to pick up the pace and tracked down Schlieper as the race for lead began to heat up. With 15 laps in the books Schlieper was showing way, but by only one car length over Moyer with James running third and Eckert and Francis trailing. On the 16th lap Moyer would make the pass on Schlieper to take over the top spot. Moyer then proceeded to open a six car length advantage over Schlieper as Eckert would go by James to take over the third spot.
Moyers lead at the halfway mark was 10 lengths over Schlieper and Eckert who were battling it out for the second spot. Moyer would then start to encounter heavy lapped traffic after Schlieper had sliced his lead down to five car lengths. Schlieper closed right in on Moyer and got within one car length of Moyer. Meanwhile Eckert was also in the hunt now as he closed on the two frontrunners. A tight three car race for the lead was going on but Moyer started to control the tempo of the race again and pulled to a three car length advantage by lap 34.
With 15 laps to go Moyer was showing the way followed by Schlieper, Eckert, James and Denny Eckrich, who was on the move from his 13th starting spot. The yellow flag would come out for Brady Smiths flat tire on lap 39. On the restart a three car entanglement occurred in turn one slowing the field for the final time. With 11 laps remaining Moyer would have Schlieper and Eckert lined up behind him in single file formation. On the restart Moyer would quickly open up a three car length lead pulling away from Schlieper who continued to hold off Eckert for second. Also on the restart Eckrich passed James for fourth. Moyers drive to the finish was uninterrupted as he crossed the line first to earn his second career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win. Schlieper finished second followed by Eckert, Eckrich and James.
In victory lane at Farley, Moyer who is a native of Iowa was cheered on in commenting about how nice it was to come back to his home state and win. It always feels good to come back and run as well as we did tonight, it took us a little bit of time to get to Dan, but the car handled real well for most of the race and once we got the lead I felt real comfortable about things. As far as the last restart knowing Schlieper was right behind him on the restart Moyer commented, The car fired real well on the restart and I just wanted to make sure to hit turn one good and not push in two and we made it through that first lap there on that restart and we just tried to drive consistent all the way to the finish line. Completing the top ten were Steve Francis, Earl Pearson, Jr., Don ONeal, Chub Frank and Darren Miller.
In preliminary action Denny Eckrich was the Comp Cams fast time award winner with a lap of 18.909 seconds around the half mile oval. The PBM Performance Products Heat Race Winners were Scott James, Dennis Erb, Jr., Dan Schlieper, Kerry Hansen, Rick Eckert and Billy Moyer. The Mason Racin Rebel Shock Dyno First B-Main went to Jimmy Mars and the Penske Shocks Second B-Main was won by Andy Eckrich. The K&N Engineering Clean Pass of the Race went to Shannon Babb for his performance in the second B-Main as he came from the 10th starting spot to finish second earning the final transfer spot into the evenings A-Main.
Race Summary Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Farley Speedway-Farley, IA Friday Night, May 19, 2006
Comp Cams Fast Time: Denny Eckrich 18.909
PBM Performance Products First Heat: (10 Laps-Top 3 Advance): Scott James, Chub Frank, Denny Eckrich, Jimmy Mars, Jay Johnson, Damon Eller, Steve Ihm, Johnny Spaw, Steve Johnson
PBM Performance Products Second Heat: (10 Laps-Top 3 Advance): Dennis Erb, Jr., Steve Francis, Darren Miller, Freddy Smith, John Mason, Mike Fryer, Billy Tuckwell, Matt Furman, Tim Dohm
PBM Performance Products Third Heat: (10 Laps-Top 3 Advance): Dan Schlieper, Brian Birkhofer, Matt Miller, Brady Smith, Mike Mataragas, Ron Baker, Scott Lemke, Jeff Larson, Curt Martin
PBM Performance Products Fourth Heat: (10 Laps-Top 3 Advance): Kerry Hansen, Brian Harris, Ronny Lee Hollingsworth, Corey Conley, John VanDenBerg, Jeff Tharp, Shannon Babb, Jeff Hayunga, Steve Casebolt
PBM Performance Products Fifth Heat: (10 Laps-Top 3 Advance): Rick Eckert, Don ONeal, Dave Eckrich, Andy Eckrich, Craig Jacobs, Michael England, Johnny Johnson, Jill George, Chris Simpson
PBM Performance Products Sixth Heat: (10 Laps-Top 3 Advance): Billy Moyer, Earl Pearson, Jr., Donnie Moran, Steve Boley, Chad Simpson, Jason Rauen, Jon Rogers, Bobby Moyer
Mason Racin Rebel Shock Dyno First B-Main: (12 laps-Top 2 Advance): Jimmy Mars, Brady Smith, Damon Eller, Scott Lemke, Curt Martin, Jay Johnson, Mike Mataragas, Steve Johnson, John Mason, Tim Dohm, Jeff Larson, Johnny Spaw, Steve Ihm, Freddy Smith, Ron Barker, Mike Fryer
Penske Shocks Second B-Main: (12 Laps-Top 2 Advance): Andy Eckrich, Shannon Babb, Steve Boley, Corey Conley, Chad Simpson, Michael England, Jon Rogers, Johnny Johnson, Jason Rauen, Craig Jacobs, Jill George, Jeff Tharp, John VanDenBerg, Steve Casebolt
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series A-Main: (50 Laps): Billy Moyer, Dan Schlieper, Rick Eckert, Denny Eckrich, Scott James, Steve Francis, Earl Pearson, Jr., Don ONeal, Chub Frank, Darren Miller, Dave Eckrich, Donnie Moran, Matt Miller, Jimmy Mars, Steve Casebolt, Kerry Hansen, Brady Smith, Tim Dohm, Andy Eckrich, Dennis Erb, Jr., Brian Harris, Brian Birkhofer, Ronny Lee Hollingsworth, Shannon Babb
Race Statistics Entries: 53 Yellow Flags: 3 Lap Leaders: Dan Schlieper 1-15, Billy Moyer 16-50 Allstar Performance Performer of the Race: Denny Eckrich (started 13th and finished fourth) advanced 9 positions K&N Engineering Clean Pass of the Race: Shannon Babb Hawk Brake Tough Break Award: Brian Birkhofer Quarter Master Move of the Race: Billy Moyer Weld Wheels Award: Steve Casebolt On the Edge Graphics Fastest Non-Qualifier: Mike Mataragas Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Rookie of the Year: Steve Casebolt Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Provisionals: Tim Dohm and Steve Casebolt
Submitted By: Jeremy Shields