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Richards Wins DCN Opener

021713 WOOLMS VL 650x329

Richards Rampages To Victory In UNOH DIRTcar Nationals by Summit UMP Super Late Model Opener At Volusia Speedway Park

Two-Time World of Outlaws Late Model Series Champion Charges Forward From 10th Starting For $7,000 Score

By Kevin Kovac, WoO LMS P.R. Director

BARBERVILLE, FL – Feb. 18, 2013 – Josh Richards was a man on a mission Monday night at Volusia Speedway Park.

Rampaging forward from the 10th starting spot, Richards passed Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., for the lead on lap 18 and marched on to a convincing victory in the 30-lap DIRTcar UMP Super Late Model A-Main that opened the full-fender portion of the 42nd UNOH DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Summit Racing Equipment.

Richards, 24, earned $7,000 for his sixth career triumph during the UNOH DIRTcar Nationals but first since 2010 when he captured the World of Outlaws Late Model Series season opener. He won the national tour’s lidlifter held during Volusia’s mid-winter racing meet every year from 2007-2010.

Francis, 45, settled for a runner-up finish in the Bowyer Motorsports Barry Wright car after starting from the pole position and leading laps 1-17. He ended the race trailing Richards’s Valvoline-sponsored Rocket Chassis house car by 1.387 seconds.

Donnie Moran of Dresden, Ohio, started and finished third in a MasterSbilt machine. Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn., also finished in the same position he started, driving his self-built Team Zero car under the checkered flag in fourth place after outdueling Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., who completed the top five in the Sweeteners Plus Warrior.

Continuing his strong return as a dirt Late Model regular after spending most of the 2012 season competing on the NASCAR Nationwide Series, Richards needed just six laps to crack the top five in Monday’s feature. He held fourth when the race’s lone caution flag – for a homestretch spin by Jason McBride of Carbondale, Ill. – slowed the action on lap 15.

Richards made short work of his remaining rivals after the restart, charging around the outside of Bloomquist and Moran within one circuit and doing the same to Francis on lap 18.

After falling short of Victory Lane at Volusia in 2011 and ’12, Richards was excited to reclaim the spotlight.

“I was a little nervous coming in here because we weren’t that good last year,” said Richards, who moved into a tie for seventh on the alltime UNOH DIRTcar Nationals by Summit Late Model win list with legendary drivers Larry Moore and Freddy Smith. “Even qualifying (on Monday) I didn’t feel great, but we qualified well so I was like, ‘Well, OK, we’re not that far off.’ We made a few changes for the heat race and we kind of got shuffled back and we had some fuel-pressure problems, but we still ran second on Scott (Bloomquist).

“For the feature we made some changes, and it was one of those things where we just went out there and ran hard. It was awesome to get up through there and get a win from 10th.”

Richards, who one year ago started from the pole position in the opening-night UNOH DIRTcar Nationals by Summit feature but tumbled to an eighth-place finish, registered his third victory in the last 10 days. He also won WoO LMS A-Mains on Feb. 9 at Screven Motor Speedway in Sylvania, Ga., and Feb. 17 at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla.

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Francis, who was victorious in the first Late Model feature of last year’s UNOH DIRTcar Nationals by Summit, was no match for Richards after the race was slowed at its halfway point.

“I didn’t really need that caution there,” said Francis. “But Josh and Mark (Richards) and them guys, their car has been good anyway. We knew in the heat race he was good. He started 10th back there (in the A-Main), but when I looked up at the board and saw he was second, I knew we were probably a sitting duck.”

Finishing in positions 6-10 was Don O’Neal of Martinsville, Ind.; Brady Smith of Solon Springs, Wis., who made the race’s biggest advance coming from the 20th starting spot; outside polesitter Ron Davies of Warren, Pa., who celebrated his 55th birthday on Monday; fifth-starter Eddie Carrier Jr. of Salt Rock, W.Va.; and Stormy Scott of Las Cruces, N.M., who made his first-ever start at Volusia.

With 48 cars signed in for action, group qualifying was utilized to set the starting lineups for six heat races in the first of three DIRTcar UMP Late Model programs during the UNOH DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Summit.

Pearson registered the fastest overall qualifying lap at 15.550 seconds, Other group fast-timers were Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y. (15.704), Billy Ogle Jr. of Knoxville, Tenn. (15.818), Billy Moyer (15.688) of Batesville, Ark., Dennis Erb Jr. of Carpentersville, Ill. (15.627) and Eric Jacobsen of Sea Cliff Beach, Calif. (15.675).

Heat winners were Carrier, McCreadie, Moran, Bloomquist, Davies and Francis. The B-Mains were captured by Fuller, Brady Smith and Scott James of Bright, Ind., and Kent Robinson of Bloomington, Ind., topped the 5-lap Bulrush Dash for non-qualifiers.

The DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Summit continues on Tuesday night (Feb. 19) with another UMP Late Model program topped by a 30-lap A-Main. The UMP Modifieds will also compete in triple 20-lap features to close out the division’s week-long meet.

Race time is 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

For more information on the DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH, log on to www.DIRTcarNationals.com.

DIRTcar UMP Late Model 30-Lap A-Main Finish (Finish Pos./Start Pos./Driver/Laps Completed):

1. (10) Josh Richards/30
2. (1) Steve Francis/30
3. (3) Donnie Moran/30
4. (4) Scott Bloomquist/30
5. (6) Tim McCreadie/30
6. (8) Don O’Neal/30
7. (20) Brady Smith/30
8. (2) Ron Davies/30
9. (5) Eddie Carrier Jr./30
10. (14) Stormy Scott/30
11. (23) Brandon Sheppard/30
12. (11) Jared Landers/30
13. (18) Bobby Pierce/30
14. (7) Pat Doar/30
15. (17) Earl Pearson Jr./30
16. (19) Tim Fuller/30
17. (25) Dennis Erb Jr./30
18. (12) Eric Jacobsen/29
19. (16) Gregg Satterlee/29
20. (24) Dan Stone/29
21. (15) Todd Frank/28
22. (9) Clint Smith/15
23. (26) Jason McBride/14
24. (13) Mason Zeigler/6
25. (21) Scott James/3
26. (22) Shane Clanton/2

Heat No. 1 (8 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Eddie Carrier Jr., 2. Pat Doar, 3. Mason Zeigler, 4. Tim Fuller, 5. Shane Clanton, 6. Stacy Boles, 7. Jason McBride, 8. Michael Walker

Heat No. 2 (8 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Tim McCreadie, 2. Don O’Neal, 3. Stormy Scott, Billy Ogle Jr., Kenny Pettyjohn, Justin Rattliff, Kent Robinson, Mike Benedum

Heat No. 3 (8 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Donnie Moran, 2. Clint Smith, 3. Todd Frank, 4. Billy Moyer Jr., 5. Brandon Sheppard, 6. Chad Stapleton, 7. Billy Moyer (DNS) Casey Roberts

Heat No. 4 (8 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Scott Bloomquist, 2. Josh Richards, 3. Gregg Satterlee, 4. Brady Smith, 5. Dennis Erb Jr., 6. Jerry Lierly, 7. Chuck Julien, 8. Mike Hammerle

Heat No. 5 (8 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Ron Davies, 2. Jared Landers, 3. Earl Pearson Jr., 4. Shannon Babb, 5. Dan Stone, 6. Jimmy Mars, 7. Mike Norris, 8. Chub Frank

Heat No. 6 (8 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Steve Francis, 2. Eric Jacobsen, 3. Bobby Pierce, 4. Scott James, 5. Ricky Weiss, 6. Joey Coulter, 7. Chad Hollenbeck, 8. Scott Phillips

B-Main No. 1 (10 laps – Top 2 Transfer): 1. Tim Fuller, 2. Shane Clanton, 3. Stacy Boles, 4. Kenny Pettyjohn, 5. Kent Robinson, 6. Jason McBride, 7. Mike Benedum, 8. Michael Walker, 9. Justin Rattliff, 10. Billy Ogle Jr.

B-Main No. 2 (10 laps – Top 2 Transfer): 1. Brady Smith, 2. Brandon Sheppard, 3. Dennis Erb Jr., 4. Chuck Julien, 5. Billy Moyer Jr., 6. Mike Hammerle, 7. Chad Stapleton (DNS) Jerry Lierly, Billy Moyer, Casey Roberts

B-Main No. 3 (10 laps – Top 2 Transfer): 1. Scott James, 2. Dan Stone, 3. Jimmy Mars, 4. Ricky Weiss, 5. Chub Frank, 6. Mike Norris, 7. Chad Hollenbeck, 8. Joey Coulter, 9. Shannon Babb (DNS) Scott Phillips

021813 VolusaLive1

LIVE UPDATES 2/18: UNOH DIRTcar Nationals by Summit UMP Late Models Night 1 At Volusia Speedway Park

BARBERVILLE, FL – Feb. 18, 2013 – The World of Outlaws Late Model Series is idle until Thursday night, but most of the Outlaws are racing tonight in the DIRTcar UMP-sanctioned opener of the 42nd UNOH DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Summit Racing Equipment at Volusia Speedway Park.

A 30-lap A-Main paying $7,000 to win is on tap this evening — and fans can watch all the action live by purchasing a DIRTcar Nationals video subscription at www.DIRTVision.com.

For live updates of news, pit notes and results from tonight’s action, click the ‘Full Story’ link below. Be sure to refresh your browser throughout the night to see the latest information.

Hard-charging Rocket Man

10:50 p.m. – Josh Richards was a man on a mission, surging forward from the 10th starting spot to win the 30-lap DIRTcar UMP Late Model A-Main.

The 24-year-old passed race-long pacesetter Steve Francis for the lead on lap 18 and never looked back. He beat Francis to the finish line by 1.387 seconds.

A-Main Finish: 1. Josh Richards, 2. Steve Francis, 3. Donnie Moran, 4. Scott Bloomquist, 5. Tim McCreadie, 6. Don O’Neal, 7. Brady Smith, 8. Ron Davies, 9. Eddie Carrier Jr., 10. Stormy Scott, 11. Brandon Sheppard, 12. Jared Landers, 13. Bobby Pierce, 14. Pat Doar, 15. Earl Pearson Jr., 16. Tim Fuller, 17. Dennis Erb Jr., 18. Eric Jacobsen, 19. Gregg Satterlee, 20. Dan Stone, 21. Todd Frank, 22. Clint Smith, 23. Jason McBride, 24. Mason Zeigler, 25. Scottt James, 26. Shane Clanton

Feature set

10 p.m. – Tim Fuller, Brady Smith and Scott James won the B-Mains, completing qualifying for the 30-lap A-Main.

Provisional spots have gone to defending UNOH DIRTcar Nationals by Summit champion Dennis Erb Jr. (2012 DCN points) and Shannon Babb (2012 UMP national points). If Babb, who dropped out of the third B-Main in a cloud of smoke while running second, is unable to start the A-Main, the UMP points provisional would go to Jason McBride.

The UMP Modified ‘Gator Championship’ feature is halfway through its 30-lap distance. The Late Model A-Main will hit the track after the open-wheel division reaches the checkered flag.

A-Main Lineup:

Row 1: Steve Francis/Ron Davies
Row 2: Donnie Moran/Scott Bloomquist
Row 3: Dennis Erb Jr./Tim McCreadie
Row 4: Pat Doar/Don O’Neal
Row 5: Clint Smith/Josh Richards
Row 6: Jared Landers/Eric Jacobsen
Row 7: Mason Zeigler/Stormy Scott
Row 8: Todd Frank/Gregg Satterlee
Row 9: Earl Pearson Jr./Bobby Pierce
Row 10: Tim Fuller/Brady Smith
Row 11: Scott James/Shane Clanton
Row 12: Brandon Sheppard/Dan Stone
Row 13: Dennis Erb Jr./Shannon Babb

Heat-race notes

9:25 p.m. – Billy Moyer and his son, Billy Jr., started side-by-side on the front row of the second heat, but both ran into trouble. Moyer Jr. was called for a jump on an opening-lap restart and both Moyers were penalized to the second row; then the father and son collided, setting off a turn-four scramble that sent Brandon Sheppard spinning. The elder Moyer collected himself to run second until spinning in turn two on lap five and immediately heading to the pit area, and Moyer Jr. finished fourth to miss the cut… Casey Roberts was scheduled to start on the front row of the third heat but was a scratch… Jimmy Mars ended up spinning in turn two on the opening lap of the fifth heat. His car’s nosepiece was damaged and he failed to qualify… The biggest battle of the heats was for the final transfer spot in the sixth prelim. Sixteen-year-old Bobby Pierce held off veteran Scott James for the position…

Heats completed

9:15 p.m. – Scott Bloomquist, Ron Davies and Steve Francis were victorious in heats 4-6, respectively, completing the first round of preliminary racing action for the UMP Late Models. Results from the heats are below:

Heat No. 4 (8 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Scott Bloomquist, 2. Josh Richards, 3. Gregg Satterlee, 4. Brady Smith, 5. Dennis Erb Jr., 6. Jerry Lierly, 7. Chuck Julien, 8. Mike Hammerle

Heat No. 5 (8 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Ron Davies, 2. Jared Landers, 3. Earl Pearson Jr., 4. Shannon Babb, 5. Dan Stone, 6. Jimmy Mars, 7. Mike Norris, 8. Chub Frank

Heat No. 6 (8 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Steve Francis, 2. Eric Jacobsen, 3. Bobby Pierce, 4. Scott James, 5. Ricky Weiss, 6. Joey Coulter, 7. Chad Hollenbeck, 8. Scott Phillips

Mid-heats break

8:45 p.m. – With three of the night’s six eight-lap heats, officials are taking a short break to bring the fields of the next three qualifiers from the upper pit area to the infield.

Dennis Erb Jr., who won a WoO LMS event at Volusia last year, Tim McCreadie and Donnie Moran were victorious in heats 1-3, respectively. The complete orders of finish are below:

Heat No. 1 (8 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Eddie Carrier Jr., 2. Pat Doar, 3. Mason Zeigler, 4. Tim Fuller, 5. Shane Clanton, 6. Stacy Boles, 7. Jason McBride, 8. Michael Walker

Heat No. 2 (8 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Tim McCreadie, 2. Don O’Neal, 3. Stormy Scott, Billy Ogle Jr., Kenny Pettyjohn, Justin Rattliff, Kent Robinson, Mike Benedum

Heat No. 3 (8 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Donnie Moran, 2. Clint Smith, 3. Todd Frank, 4. Billy Moyer Jr., 5. Brandon Sheppard, 6. Chad Stapleton, 7. Billy Moyer (DNS) Casey Roberts

Time trials complete

7:30 p.m. – Earl Pearson Jr. registered the fastest overall lap during group time trials with a circuit of 15.550 seconds. Other group fast-timers were Tim Fuller (15.704), Billy Ogle Jr. (15.818), Billy Moyer (15.688), Dennis Erb Jr. (15.627) and Eric Jacobsen (15.675).

The four fastest qualifiers from each group will be inverted to align each of tonight’s six eight-lap heat races. Three cars will transfer from each.

The field

6:55 p.m. – Eight drivers who are planning to follow the WoO LMS this season are competing in tonight’s program: Josh Richards, Shane Clanton, Tim McCreadie, Chub Frank, Clint Smith, Tim Fuller, Pat Doar and Brandon Sheppard.

While a total of 48 cars are signed in for action tonight, there are several additional teams in the pit area who are sitting out the opener, including expected WoO travelers Darrell Lanigan, Bub McCool, Morgan Bagley, Eric Wells and Dillon Wood plus Jimmy Owens, Dale McDowell and Vic Coffey.

Group time trials to set the lineups for six qualifying heats are now underway…

DIRTcar UMP Late Model Drivers’ Roster 2/18:

0-Scott Bloomquist/Mooresburg, TN
1-Josh Richards/Shinnston, WV
1-Don O’Neal/Martinsville, IN
1G-Scott James/Bright, IN
1*-Chub Frank/Bear Lake, PA
2-Joey Coulter/Miami Springs, FL
2-Stormy Scott/Las Cruces, NM
2-Brady Smith/Solon Springs, WI
4ds-Chad Hollenbeck/Kingsley, PA
5-Eric Jacobsen/Sea Cliff Beach, CA
5-Jared Landers/Batesville, AR
b5-Brandon Sheppard/New Berlin, IL
7-Jerry Lierly/Quincy, IL
7-Ricky Weiss/Winnipeg, MAN
7R-Kent Robinson/Bloomington, IN
11-Pat Doar/New Richmond, WI
11b-Stacy Boles/Clinton, TN
15-Steve Francis/Ashland, KY
16-Justin Rattliff/Campbellsville, KY
16H-Mike Hammerle/St. Charles, MO
18-Shannon Babb/Moweaqua, IL
19-Tim Fuller/Watertown, NY
21-Todd Frank/Ashland, WI
21-Billy Moyer/Batesville, AR
21Jr-Billy Moyer Jr./Batesville, AR
21d-Dan Stone/Thompson, PA
22-Gregg Satterlee/Rochester Mills, PA
25-Mike Benedum/Salem, WV
25-Shane Clanton/Fayetteville, GA
25z-Mason Ziegler/Chalk Hill, PA
28-Eddie Carrier Jr./Salt Rock, WV
28-Dennis Erb Jr./Carpentersville, IL
28-Jimmy Mars/Menomonie, WI
32-Bobby Pierce/Oakwood, IL
32s-Chad Stapleton/Edinburgh, IN
38-Kenny Pettyjohn/Millsboro, DE
39-Tim McCreadie/Watertown, NY
44-Clint Smith/Senoia, GA
44P-Earl Pearson Jr./Jacksonville, FL
50-Scott Phillips/Marlette, MI
57-Chuck Julien/Apopka, FL
64-Michael Walker/Franklin, TN
71d-Ron Davies/Warren, PA
72-Mike Norris/Sarver, PA
77-Jason McBride/Carbondale, IL
99-Donnie Moran/Dresden, OH
101-Casey Roberts/Toccoa, GA
201-Billy Ogle Jr./Knoxville, TN

Warming up

6:20 p.m. – The first of three consecutive nights of DIRTcar UMP-sanctioned Late Model racing during the UNOH DIRTcar Nationals by Summit is underway as tonight’s field of 48 entered cars have begun taking hot laps around the half-mile oval.

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