Streaking Moyer Outduels Babb For Dramatic
$20,000 Victory In Inaugural ‘Illini 100’ At Farmer
City Raceway
By: Kevin Kovac
 FARMER
CITY, IL – April 5, 2008 – The streaking Billy
Moyer thrilled a record crowd to win Saturday night’s inaugural
World of Outlaws Late Model Series ‘Illini 100’ at
Farmer City Raceway.
The 50-year-old dirt-track legend from Batesville, Ark., pocketed
$20,150 – the biggest dirt Late Model prize ever paid out
in the state of Illinois – for capturing a wildly competitive
event that featured eight lead changes among five drivers and
was in doubt until the checkered flag.
It was the third straight WoO LMS victory for Moyer, a three-time
tour champion who is enjoying an early-season run for the ages.
On the WoO LMS alone, he’s already earned $53,450 in four
events.
“Everything is just awesome right now,” said Moyer,
who started third but led just three laps of the ‘Illini
100,’ including the final two. “We’re just riding
it out as long as we can.”
Moyer’s triumphant performance dashed the hopes of Moweaqua,
Ill.’s Shannon Babb, a former Farmer City regular who was
hoping to give his hometown fans a reason to party. Babb, 34,
was forced to start last rather than his scheduled 19th spot
in the 24-car field because he changed two tires after reporting
to the track for the A-Main lineup, but he appeared ready to
score a memorable victory when he grabbed the lead from defending
WoO LMS champion Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., on lap 55.
 Alas,
Moyer found another gear in his Clements-powered Victory Circle
M1 Chassis – a machine he has helped develop – and
nosed into the lead for the first time on lap 85. Babb regained
command the following circuit, but Moyer used the inside groove
to slip in front on lap 99 and then repelled Babb’s final-corner
challenge to cross the finish line less than a half car length
ahead.
Babb, driving NASCAR Sprint Cup star Clint Bowyer’s Traeger
Grills Rayburn car, settled for second behind his racing mentor.
“He’s had a real good year and I’m tickled to
death for him,” a gracious Babb said of Moyer. “It
was a lot of fun to race for the win with him. I wish we would’ve
won, but I’m happy to run second to him.”
Francis finished a close third in Dale Beitler’s Reliable
Painting Rocket, right in the tire tracks of Moyer and Babb.
He started from the pole position and led twice, for laps 51-54
and lap 73, but couldn’t stay there largely because he was
“a little tight in the middle of the corner.”
Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., came from the 20th starting
spot to finish fourth in the Sweeteners Plus Rocket after being
unable to overtake Francis in the final laps, and 2006 Farmer
City Raceway track champion Wes Steidinger of Fairbury, Ill.,
who started 17th, made a late-race move to place a WoO LMS career-best
fifth in his Rayburn mount.
For much of the distance it appeared that Moyer might finally
be mortal. He fell to fifth at the start, then spent nearly three-quarters
of the event trying to pass Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., for
third.
After Brian Birkhofer of Muscatine, Iowa, who surged from the
fifth starting spot to take the lead from Frank on lap 10 and
ultimately built the race’s largest edge, saw his bid end
on lap 50 because he caught a turn-four rut wrong and spun into
the wall, Moyer could only watch as Babb completed his march
from the rear by passing Francis for the top spot. Moyer was
simply too busy with Frank.
“Chub dealt me fits more than anybody on the track,”
said Moyer, who set a new track record of 11.973 seconds around
the quarter-mile oval on Friday night. “It was a hundred-lapper,
so I was just trying to be there for the end. But I knew I had
a pretty good car if I could ever get by (Frank), and I just
couldn’t do it for the longest time.
“It seemed like whenever I’d go low, he’d go low,
and whenever I’d go high, he’d go high. I just couldn’t
get in position to get by him like the other guys did.”
Moyer finally overtook Frank for third on lap 74 – the same
circuit that Babb ended Francis’s quick one-lap stint back
in front. Moyer secured second place on lap 82 when he executed
a ‘slider’ on Francis between turns one and two –
Francis checked up to avoid hitting Moyer and lost ground, but
he held on to third – and almost immediately caught Babb.
After being unable to keep the lead when he nipped Babb at the
line on lap 85, Moyer was concerned that the race’s 10th
and final caution flag, on lap 88 for a flat tire on Frank’s
car, might do him in.
“I didn’t want to see that yellow, because (Babb’s)
crew guys were telling him where I was at on the track,”
said Moyer, who opted to run four 30-compound Hoosier tires under
the event’s UMP DIRTcar 10-20-30-40 rule. “He kinda
took my line on the restart, so I had to drive by the seat of
my pants.
“At the end I went back down to the bottom. He probably
should’ve stayed there, but he went up (higher) searching
around (for traction) and I was able to get a run on him (for
the lead coming to the white flag). I don’t know if I would’ve
beat him if he had stayed down there.”
Babb, who won last year’s WoO LMS event at Farmer City,
mourned a final sprint to the finish that was a couple laps too
long for him.
“I figured (Moyer) probably wasn’t good in the stop-and-go
deal on the bottom, so I took his line a little bit (after the
last restart),” said Babb, who ran three 20-compound tires
with a hard 40-compound shoe on the right-rear. “But 12
laps to go was a little bit too long. I was soft on the left-rear
(tire), and it kinda died on me. It was good for about five laps
and then I had to search (for more traction).”
Babb nearly found enough bite with an inside charge through turns
three and four on the final lap, but he fell short by a matter
of feet.
“I turned off of four and had good traction, but he barely
beat me to the line,” said Babb. “It’s hard to
make up a car length when your cars are equal.”
With the venerable fairground track’s standing-room-only
crowd charged up by the exciting finish, Babb rehashed their
battle in Victory Lane.
“I just told him, ‘Congratulations,’” said
Babb. “He’s a tough old fart. He’s gonna keep
beating us up as long as he can.”
Moyer has won multiple races at Farmer City over the years, including
the 2006 WoO LMS event, but he knows he earned his money in the
‘Illini 100.’
“It was fun tonight,” said Moyer, the current WoO LMS
points leader. “This is home for (Babb). I knew he’d
run good here. On that (one-way) radio when (the officials) gave
the lineups, I kept hearing him getting up through there, and
I was like, ‘He’s coming.’
“You gotta run good here to beat him.”
Finishing in positions 6-10 was Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va.,
who maintained second place in the WoO LMS points standings;
Rick Eckert of York, Pa., who debuted a new Rayburn car; Darrell
Lanigan of Union, Ky., who used a provisional to start the A-Main;
Steve Sheppard Jr. of New Berlin, Ill., who recovered from pit
stops to change flat tires on laps 32 and 52; and Darren Miller
of Chadwick, Ill.
The program began with twin B-Mains won by Babb and McCreadie.
 Jason
Feger of Bloomington, Ill., earned $1,000 for winning the 25-lap
Non-Qualifiers Race, which paid out Farmer City’s regular
Friday-night UMP DIRTcar Super Late Model purse.
The WoO LMS returns to action on Fri., April 11, at Virginia
Motor Speedway in Jamaica, Va.
For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.
Results of WoO Late Model Series ‘Illini 100’ (Finishing
Position/Start/Driver/Laps Completed/Money Won):
1. (3) Billy Moyer/100 $20,150
2. (19) Shannon Babb/100 $10,100
3. (1) Steve Francis/100 $6,000
4. (20) Tim McCreadie/100 $5,000
5. (17) Wes Steidinger/100 $4,500
6. (6) Josh Richards/100 $3,000
7. (12) Rick Eckert/100 $2,750
8. (23) Darrell Lanigan/100 $2,500
9. (8) Steve Sheppard Jr./100 $2,300
10. (10) Darren Miller/100 $2,100
11. (13) Shane Clanton/100 $1,900
12. (2) Chub Frank/100 $1,800
13. (16) Jeep VanWormer/100 $1,700
14. (14) Clint Smith/99 $1,650
15. (24) John Blankenship/99 $1,600
16. (11) Dennis Erb Jr./86 $1,580
17. (9) Tim Fuller/78 $1,560
18. (18) Ryan Dauber/66 $1,540
19. (4) Brian Shirley/62 $1,520
20. (5) Brian Birkhofer/52 $1,500
21. (15) Brady Smith/50 $1,500
22. (22) Kevin Weaver/42 $1,500
23. (10) Chris Simpson/21 $1,500
24. (21) Tim Lance/12 $1,500
NOTE: Shannon Babb was penalized to the rear of the field
for the start because he changed tires after reporting to the
track for the lineup, and Ryan Dauber, Tim Lance, Kevin Weaver
and John Blankenship were penalized to the rear for reporting
late to the lineup
Yellow Flags: 10 (Laps 5, 14, 26, 32, 45, 50, 52, 62,
80, 88)
Lap Leaders: Frank (1-9); Birkhofer (10-50); Francis (51-54);
Babb (55-72); Francis (73); Babb (74-84); Moyer (85); Babb (86-98);
Moyer (99-100)
Provisional Starters: Darrell Lanigan, John Blankenship
Rookie of the Race: Vic Coffey ($250)
WoO LMS ‘Bonus Bucks’ Winner: Wes Steidinger
($500)
Integra Shocks Crew Chief of the Race ($100): Steve Norris
(Moyer)
Chick Hawk Racing Hot Lap Award: Chub Frank (half-off
tire warmers)
B-Main No. 1 (12 laps – Top 2 Transfer): 1. Shannon
Babb, 2. Tim Lance, 3. John Blankenship, 4. Scott Bull, 5. Eric
Smith, 6. Donny Walden, 7. Danny Johnson, 8. B.J. McCammon, 9.
Joe Isabell, 10. Junior Shickel, 11. Brandon Sheppard, 12. Mike
Petersak, 13. Darrell Lanigan
B-Main No. 2 (12 laps – Top 2 Transfer): 1. Tim McCreadie,
2. Kevin Weaver, 3. Matt Taylor, 4. Jason Feger, 5. Vic Coffey,
6. Ted Loomis, 7. Jimmy Dehm, 8. Chris Dick, 9. Jeremy Conaway,
10. Russ Adams, 11. Daren Friedman, 12. John Rogers, 13. Ryan
Unzicker
Drivers Not Starting B-Mains: Jordan Bland, Cory Daugherty,
Jayme Zidar, Kyle Logue, Tony Izzo Jr., Richie Hedrick, Rich
Bell, Ace Ihm, Jill George, Joe Harlan
Non-Qualifiers Race Finish (25 laps): 1. Jason Feger ($1,000);
2. Eric Smith ($700); 3. Danny Johnson ($500); 4. Ted Loomis
($400); 5. Matt Taylor ($325); 6. Donny Walden ($275); 7. Jeremy
Conaway ($250); 8. Chris Dick ($225); 9. Jimmy Dehm ($200); 10.
Daren Friedman ($175); 11. Joe Isabell ($150); 12. Mike Petersak
($150); 13. Johnny Waters ($150); 14. Russ Adams ($150); 15.
Junior Shickel ($150); 16. Brandon Sheppard ($150); 17. B.J.
McCammon ($150); 18. Ryan Unzicker ($150); Scott Bull –
DNS; Vic Coffey – DNS; Jon Rogers – DNS
2008 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Point Standings as
of April 5 - 4 features completed (rank/driver/wins/top-5s/top-10s/earnings/points/deficit
to leader):
1. Billy Moyer 3-4-4-$53,450-594 (-0)
2. Josh Richards 1-2-3-$17,800-554 (-40)
3. (tie) Rick Eckert 0-1-3-$11,550-542 (-52)
3. (tie) Steve Francis 0-2-3-$11,400-542 (-52)
5. Darrell Lanigan 0-0-4-$8,300-540 (-54)
6. Shannon Babb 0-3-3-$18,800-536 (-58)
7. Chub Frank 0-1-2-$10,250-526 (-68)
8. Clint Smith 0-1-1-$6,110-500 (-94)
9. John Blankenship 0-0-1-$5,240-488 (-106)
10. Shane Clanton 0-1-1-$7,300-478 (-116)
11. Tim Fuller 0-0-0-$5,040-476 (-118)
12. Brian Shirley 0-0-1-$5,120-466 (-128)
13. Darren Miller 0-0-3-$5,700-404 (-190)
14. (tie) Eddie Carrier Jr. 0-0-2-$4,750-396 (-198)
14. (tie) Tim McCreadie 0-1-1-$7,050-396 (-198)
16. (tie) Joe Isabell 0-0-0-$480-300 (-294)
16. (tie) Danny Johnson 0-0-0-$900-300 (-294)
18. Dennis Erb Jr. 0-0-0-$2,390-293 (-301)
19. Jimmy Owens 0-1-2-$4,300-276 (-318)
20. Jeep VanWormer 0-0-0-$1,920-274 (-320)
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 customerservice@dirtvision.com.
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