Lanigan Rules Independence to Claim 10th World of Outlaws Late Model Series Victory of the Season

 

Two-time Champion tops Heckenast to Win Independence for Third Straight Year

INDEPENDENCE, Iowa – July 24, 2014 – Darrell Lanigan is fast at most all of the tracks on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series schedule, but he may be best at Independence Motor Speedway.

Lanigan, the two-time WoO LMS champion and current series points leader, claimed Independence’s WoO LMS event for the third straight year Thursday night, topping Frank Heckenast Jr. of Frankfort, Ill., at the 3/8-mile oval to earn $10,650 for his 10th WoO LMS victory of the season.

The second-starting Lanigan, 44, of Union, Ky., led every lap of the 50-lap race to extend his lead atop the national tour’s all-time wins list with his 63rd-career WoO LMS A-Main victory. Lanigan’s self-designed Club 29 Race Car crossed the finish line 3.2 seconds ahead of Heckenast, who also drove a Club 29 car in an event slowed by a single caution on lap 18.

Rick Eckert of York, Pa., advanced from sixth to finish third in the Rocket Chassis house car. Third-starting Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., used a high-side charge to move his Rocket Chassis to second early in the race before fading back to fourth at the finish. Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., finished fifth in his Longhorn Chassis.

Starting from the outside of the front row, Lanigan pulled ahead of Heckenast on the start of the 50-lap race and used the middle groove of the racetrack to quickly build a comfortable lead on the low-running Heckenast.

The high-running McCreadie briefly closed in on Lanigan when he took second around lap 10, but he faded following the lap-18 restart.

The resurgent Heckenast pressured Lanigan as the leaders raced through traffic around race’s halfway point, but Lanigan’s superior experience showed as he knifed his way through traffic and pulled away in the second half of the race.

“He’s got a good car and he’s definitely coming on here at the end of the year,” Lanigan said of Heckenast. “I never did see his nose there, but I had a guy on the backstretch giving my signals. He gave me a big signal there at the end, so I just kinda bided my time with those lapped car.”

Heckenast, who switched to a Club 29 car in late June, fell short of claiming his first career WoO LMS victory, but the 26-year-old driver strengthened his command of the WoO LMS Rookie of the Year chase with his solid performance.

“Everything went our way and we had a pretty good night,” said Heckenast, who recorded his first top-five of the season in a WoO LMS A-Main. “Darrell, he’s got a lot of experience racing in traffic and being out front. I don’t have the confidence just yet to move around on the racetrack.

“He was so much better through traffic, so he’d get out on me. But after the restart … my car was really good. I hung with him there for a while and didn’t wanna show him everything. But he’s so good, he normally gets faster from lap 40 to 50.”

The third-place finish leaves Eckert still looking for first WoO LMS victory of the season, but the 2011 series champion was pleased with his team’s progress.

“It’s not from lack of effort because we’ve been working hard to get there,” Eckert said of the frustration of his current winless streak. “We couldn’t race by them tonight, but we were pretty close. We’ll take that.

“The guys have been working real hard and giving me a good car. Tonight was about as good as we’ve got. We had a really decent car, so I think we can work from that.”

The WoO LMS moves to Fairbury (Ill.) American Legion Speedway on Friday to kick off the Prairie Dirt Classic weekend at the popular quarter-mile oval. Friday night’s preliminary action will set the lineup for Saturday’s $25,000-to-win main event.

For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.

Fans can also follow the WoO LMS on Twitter at Twitter.com/WoOLateModels and Facebook at Facebook.com/WorldofOutlaws .

Results of World of Outlaws Late Model Series at Independence Motor Speedway (Finishing Position/Start/Driver/Laps Completed/Money Won):

1. (2) Darrell Lanigan $10,650

2. (1) Frank Heckenast Jr. $5,850

3. (6) Rick Eckert $3,650

4. (3) Tim McCreadie $2,150

5. (4) Billy Moyer $2,200

6. (12) Jimmy Mars $1,700

7. (13) Tim Fuller $1,400

8. (10) Shane Clanton $1,850

9. (19) Eric Wells $1,750

10. (8) Morgan Bagley $1,700

11. (15) Brian Birkhofer $1,050

12. (5) Chase Junghans $1,550

13. (7) Wendell Wallace $1,450

14. (17) Clint Smith $1,450

15. (16) Boom Briggs $1,450

16. (18) Tyler Bruening $800

17. (23) Dustin Virkus $770

18. (21) Jason Rauen $750

19. (9) Spencer Diercks $730

20. (11) Chad Smith $700

21. (14) Chub Frank $700

22. (20) Curt Martin $700

23. (22) Chris Simpson $700

24. (24) Mike Fryer $700

* Earnings include

Winners Circle

program and cash contingency award bonuses

Time of Race: 16 Mins., 26 Secs.

Margin of Victory: 3.2 Secs.

Yellow Flags: 1 (lap 18)

Lap Leaders: Lanigan (1-50)

Provisional Starters: Dustin Virkus, Mike Fryer

WoO LMS ‘Bonus Bucks’ Winner: Wendell Wallace ($500)

Ohlins Shocks Time Trial Results (Position/No./Driver/Hometown/Best Lap):

1. 98-Jason Rauen/Farley, Iowa, 14.00

2. 21-Billy Moyer/Batesville, Ar., 14.04

3. 29-Darrell Lanigan/Union, Ky., 14.08

4. 24-Rick Eckert/York, Pa., 14.37

5. 25-Chad Simpson/Mount Vernon, Iowa, 14.40

6. 18c-Chase Junghans/Manhattan, Kan., 14.40

7. 99jr-Frank Heckenast Jr./Frankfort, Ill., 14.41

8. 1*-Chub Frank/Bear Lake, Pa., 14.41

9. 28m-Jimmy Mars/Menomonie, Wis., 14.41

10. 1-Wendell Wallace/Batesville, Ark., 14.42

11. 39-Tim McCreadie/Watertown, N.Y., 14.46

12. 29d-Spencer Diercks/Davenport, Iowa, 14.51

13. 25-Shane Clanton/Zebulon, Ga., 14.55

14.14m-Morgan Bagley/Longview, Texas, 14.56

15. 15b-Brian Birkhofer/Muscatine, Iowa, 14.58

16. 19-Tim Fuller/Watertown, N.Y., 14.60

17. 44-Clint Smith/Senoia, Ga., 14.76

18. 32-Chris Simpson/Oxford, Iowa, 14.63

19. 99B-Boom Briggs/Bear Lake, Pa., 14.71

20. 18-Eric Wells/Hazard, Ky., 14.80

21. 16-Tyler Bruening/Decorah, Iowa, 15.50

22. 45-Curt Martin/Independence, Iowa, 14.90

23. Mike Fryer/Freeport, Ill., 15.08

24. Dustin Virkus/Clarkfield, Minn., 15.09

25. 2-Rory Metcalf/West Union, Iowa, 15.38

Heat No. 1 (10 laps – Top 6 Transfer): Heckenast, Eckert, Wallace, Clanton, Fuller, Rauen, Briggs, Martin, Metcalf.

Heat No. 2 (10 laps – Top 6 Transfer): Moyer, McCreadie, Bagley, Chad Simpson, Frank, Smith, Wells, Fryer.

Heat No. 3 (10 laps – Top 6 Transfer): Lanigan, Junghans, Diercks, Mars, Birkhofer, Bruening, Chris Simpson, Virkus.

B-Main (12 laps – Top 4 Transfer): Wells, Martin, Rauen, Chris Simpson, Virkus, Metcalf, Fryer.

World of Outlaws Late Model Series Contingency Award Winners (awards presented to noted finisher/qualifier or next highest displaying decal):

Ohlins Shocks ($50 cash to fast qualifier): Billy Moyer

Comp Cams ($50 certificate to A-Main winner): Frank Heckenast Jr.

MSD Ignition ($50 cash to A-Main winner): Frank Heckenast Jr

Quartermaster ($100 certificate to A-Main winner): Frank Heckenast Jr

Wrisco (three sheets of aluminum/certificate to A-Main winner): Darrell Lanigan

STP ($50 cash to 2nd-place finisher in A-Main): Billy Moyer

Penske Racing Shocks ($50 to 3rd-place finisher in A-Main): Boom Briggs

Roush-Yates ($50 cash to 4th-place finisher in A-Main): Tim McCreadie

Mobil 1 ($50 cash to 4th-place finisher in A-Main): Billy Moyer

JE Pistons ($50 cash to 5th-place finisher in A-Main): Tim McCreadie

Lincoln Welders ($50 cash to 6th-place finisher in A-Main): Shane Clanton

American Racing Wheels ($50 cash to 7th-place finisher in A-Main): Brian Birkhofer

VP Racing Fuels ($50 cash to 8th-place finisher in A-Main): Shane Clanton

Edelbrock ($50 cash to 9th-place finisher in A-Main): Morgan Bagley

Comp Cams ($50 cash to 10th-place finisher in A-Main): Morgan Bagley

Cometic ($50 cash to 12th-place finisher in A-Main): Chase Wells

JRI Shocks ($50 cash to 13th-place finisher in A-Main): Boom Briggs

Superflow Dynos ($50 cash to 14th-place finisher in A-Main): Clint Smith

Quartermaster ($25 certificate to 15th-place finisher in A-Main): Justin Virkus

JE Pistons (one set of rings certificate to 16th-place finisher in A-Main): Justin Virkus

Roush-Yates ($50 certificate to 18th-place finisher in A-Main): Chub Frank

Quartermaster ($50 certificate to 19th-place finisher in A-Main): Justin Diercks

Arizona Sports Shirts ($100 certificate to 20th-place finisher in A-Main): Curt Martin

Mobil 1 (20% off certificate to 20th-place finisher in A-Main): Chub Frank

JE Pistons (one set of rings certificate to 21st-place finisher in A-Main): Curt Martin

Roush-Yates ($50 certificate to 22nd-place finisher in A-Main): Curt Martin

MSD Ignition ($25 cash to 24th-place finisher in A-Main): Darrell Lanigan

Armor All (one case of product to highest-finishing non-WoO driver): Frank Heckenast Jr.

Reliable Painting (one free tire to highest pill draw for full-time WoO driver): Clint Smith

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Category: Independence, Iowa