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Shannon Babb goes from last to first, gets edged at checkers by Mr. Smooth in Farmer City Raceway's Illini 100!!! By: Racenut @ www.midwestdirttrackfacts.com FARMER CITY, IL (April 5) - After the chilly, blustery Friday night preliminaries, Saturday turned out to be a beautiful evening for racing in Farmer City, IL. This race was the highest paying dirt late model race in the history of the state of Illinois. With the winner's share being $20,000 and just to earn a starting spot would earn $1,500, which is more than most winners earn on a regular show, the hype of this race was huge. This hype definitely proved itself very much warranted, with the great World of Outlaws series drivers battling the locals, putting on a great show for the overflow crowd. The time trials on Friday night left Billy Moyer now in charge of the track record, now at 11.973 seconds, with eight drivers turning a total of fifteen laps under Ryan Dauber's two year old record of 12.348 seconds. Heats were also run on Friday, setting most of the starting field for the feature. Saturday night saw the six heat winners draw for position, with 2007 World of Outlaws Champion Steve Francis on the pole and Chub Frank set for the outside front row. There were a near-record fifty-five cars in attendance taking time trials. More than twenty-five years had passed since the last 100-lapper at this historic old fairgrounds, and this one was set to be a real barn-burner. But first, there were two semi features to run, with the top two finishers from each advancing to the feature event. The first semi saw fifth place starting local favorite Shannon Babb taking the win over Tim Lance, John Blankenship, Scott Bull, Eric Smith, Donny Walden and Danny Johnson. The second semi went to Tim McCreadie over Kevin Weaver, Matt Taylor, Jason Feger, Vic Coffey, Ted Loomis and Jimmy Dehm. Flash forward to feature time. Steve Francis and Chub Frank on the front row, followed by Billy Moyer and Brian Shirley on row two, with Brian Birkhofer and Josh Richards filling out row number three. Local favorite, and last year's World of Outlaw Farmer City Raceway winner Shannon Babb moved from his nineteenth starting position to the rear for changing a tire after coming to the grid. After the driver introduction, and a four-wide World of Outlaws Late Model Salute to the fans, the race was on. Chub Frank took the early start, with Francis and Moyer in tow. Lap five saw a yellow for the slowing Tim Fuller. Back to green, and four laps later, with Frank and Francis side-by-side, Brian Birkhofer slid between the two and took the lead. Lap fourteen saw the yellow again with Chris Simpson stopping, then again on lap twenty-five with the spinning Clint Smith. Lap thirty-two saw the yellow again for a stopped Steve Sheppard Jr and Darrell Lanigan. This time they got twelve laps in, with Birkhofer still in charge before the yellow flew again for Ryan Dauber. Right after the half-way flags were shown, leader Brian Birkhofer had a flat left rear coming off turn number four, giving the lead to Steve Francis. The fans had already been watching Shannon Babb come from the rear, as on lap forty Babb went to seventh, sixth two laps later, then on lap 48 he had slid into third place behind Francis. Now, with Birky handing the lead to Francis, Babb was in second, the two ran side by side for two laps, this yellow being for Steve Sheppard Jr, and then the two leaders were side-by-side for two more laps before Babb went to the lead. Another yellow on lap sixty-two for Brian Shirley with a right rear flat. Lap seventy one saw Francis pull back to the lead for one lap and the duo went almost side-by-side until lap eighty, when John Blankenship brought out the yellow. All this time, Mr. Smooth, Billy Moyer had sat quietly in third and fourth place the whole race. Babb was still leading on lap eighty two when Moyer worked his way into second, and took the lead momentarily on lap eighty four. One more yellow flag slowed the race again at lap eighty eight. Moyer sat right on Babb's tail, until the white flag was unfurled and he gassed it around Babb, leading the final lap, with Babb pulling up alongside at the checkers, coming only inches from the win. The fans seemed extremely happy with the finish of this race, no matter the outcome. Watching Babb come through the pack, and Moyer gassing it at the end for the win, made the capacity crowd just stand in awe, and cheer. Following Moyer and Babb to the line, was Francis, Tim McCreadie, Wes Steidinger, Josh Richards, Rick Eckert, Darrell Lanigan, Steve Sheppard, Jr, and Darren Miller. Final Rundown: 21 Billy Moyer 18 Shannon Babb 19 Steve Francis 39 Tim McCreadie J1 Wes Steidinger 1 Josh Richards 24 Rick Eckert 29 Darrell Lanigan 5S Steve Sheppard Jr 32D Darren Miller 25 Shane Clanton 1* Chub Frank 55 Jeep VanWormer 44 Clint Smith 23 John Blankenship 28 Dennis Erb, Jr 19T Time Fuller 64 Ryan Dauber 3S Brian Shirley 15B Brian Birkhofer 2 Brady Smith B12 Kevin Weaver 32 Chris Simpson 75 Tim Lance Wes Steidinger picked up an extra $500 for being the highest finisher not in the top twenty of the World of Outlaws late model points. There was also a $1,000 to win non-qualifiers race, and it was a hard fought battle with Jason Feger holding off Eric Smith, Danny Johnson, Ted Loomis, Matt Taylor, Donny Walden, Jeremy Conaway, Chris Dick, Jimmy Dehm, and Daren Friedman as the top ten finishers. The modifieds also ran Saturday night with forty-six drivers on hand for $1,000 to win feature. Heat races went to Matt Huddleston, Jeff Leka, Kevin Hastings, Chad Osterhoff, and Lance Dehm. Semis went to Mike Spatola and Don Kiger. In the feature, Chad Osterhoff took off in the lead, with Gary Cook Jr and Jeff Curl in tow. At the end, it was Gary Cook Jr with the win, followed by Jeff Leka, Chad Osterhoff, Denny Schwartz, Jeff Curl, Eric Bruce, Lance Dehm, Matt Huddleston, Nick Allen and Justin Delong. Friday night's show was complete before 11 pm with Saturday night's standing room only crowd seeing the final checkers of the night before 10 pm. |