TAMPA, Fla. -- Ashland Kentucky’s Steve Francis brought home the win at the Friday night edition of The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series’ 30th Annual Winter Nationals at the East Bay Raceway Park. Francis driving the Valvoline/Freeport Recycling Center/ Banshee Graphics/ MOPAR Performance/ Morning Motorsports/ MDI Environmental Services/ Hoosier Tires sponsored Rocket Dodge Charger would make his heart stopping pass for the win on the last corner of the last lap over Don O’Neal.
I knew that I was going to have to make it happen on the top when O’Neal dove to the bottom with about three to go. I drove it into turn three as hard as I could and it was wide open all the way to the flag stand,” an extremely happy Francis would say as he climbed from his car after the event. The cameras of Speed Channel were there to catch every minute of the heart stopping feature event, which will air at a later date.
The feature began with Rick Eckert taking the early lead off of turn two. The rest of the field would scatter while going four wide for the second position. The caution flag would fly when Darren Miller and Anthony Rushing would make contact resulting in a flat tire for Miller and suspension problems for the car of Rushing. When the field again saw green Scott James would make contact with Steve Francis causing a multi-car pileup in turn two. Don O’Neal would be the man on the move when the field saw green once more as he moved to the outside of Steve Francis and pulled to the inside of race leader Eckert to take the lead on lap 5.
The field would run that way until a lap 15 yellow for the slowing cars of Shannon Babb and Robbie Blair would group the field back together. The restart would see Francis make his move on Eckert and pull into the second spot to begin challenging O’Neal. Jimmy Mars would also pull around Eckert putting him in the third position. The duo of O’Neal and Francis would battle side by side for the next eight laps until the slowing car of Robbie Blair would bring out the nights fourth caution. When green flag racing resumed the two would continue their door to door battle while Jimmy Mars would make ground running in the third spot. As the laps wound down O’Neal would dive to low side of the track as the leaders encountered lap traffic. On the last lap Francis would swing to the high side of the track and find ground to move around O’Neal, winning by a nose at the line. Following Francis and O’Neal to the line was Jimmy Mars, 22nd starting Doug Horton, and Dennis Erb. Rounding out the top ten were Tim Dohm, 21st starter Donnie Moran, Davey Johnson, Scott James, and Rick Eckert.
95 cars entered the fifth night of Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series’ 30th Annual Winter Nationals action at East Bay Raceway Park. Donnie Moran captured his third COMP Cams Fast Time Award with a 15.332 second lap around the 3/8 oval. Earlier heat winners included Rick Eckert, Tim Dohm, Scott James, Don O’Neal, Steve Francis, Garrett Durrett, Jimmy Mars, and Robbie Blair. B-Main winners were Shannon Babb, Josh Richards, Michael England, and Chub Frank.
The cameras of Speed will be rolling once again to catch the action at East Bay Raceway Park for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series 30th Winter National’s 75 lap $12,000 to win finale from East Bay Raceway Park.
RESULTS
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Friday Night, February 10, 2006 East Bay Raceway Park-Tampa, FL
Comp Cams Fast Time: Donnie Moran 15.332 seconds
PBM Performance Products Heat Race #1- Jimmy Mars, Brady Smith, Donnie Moran, Bart Hartman, Daniel Stone, Ricky Elliott, Jeff Cooke, Bob Geiger, Steve Hucovski, Joe Morris, Anthony White, Mike Johnson
PBM Performance Products Heat Race #2- Don O’Neal, Anthony Rushing, Shannon Babb, Clint Smith, Steve Hillard, Ricky Arms, Damon Eller, Matt Miller, CJ Rayburn, Gerald Davis, Freddy Smith
DART Machinery Heat Race #3- Tim Dohm, Davey Johnson, Steve Casebolt, Doug Horton, Marshall Green, Bryan Collins, Wendell Wallace, Don Hammer, Randy Weaver, Dean Carpenter, Kristin Flory, Lee Thomason
DART Machinery Heat Race #4- Robbie Blair, Darren Miller, Josh Richards, Eddie Carrier Jr, Terry English, Ray Cook, John Mason, Tony Morris, Terry Casey, Jeff Gress, Justin Rattliff, Josh McGuire
Sunoco Race Fuels Heat Race #5- Scott James, Earl Pearson Jr, John VanDenBerg, Dan Schlieper, Shane Clanton, Jackie Boggs,. David Scott, Jordan Bland, Sonny Conley, Ronnie DeHaven Jr., Chris Henson, Brad Neat
Sunoco Race Fuels Heat Race #6- Rick Eckert, Dennis Erb Jr, Michael England, Randy Korte, Brian Birkhofer, Rodney Melvin, Kevin Cole, Scott Dedwylder, Tim Fuller, Christian Rayburn, Ellis Parker, Evan Harrell
K&N Engineering Heat Race #7- Garrett Durrett, Corey Conley, Bo Feathers, Brent Robinson, Jason Montgomery, Vic Coffey, Joey Tanner, Jason Flory, Charles Duncan, Jimmy Owens, Tim Senic
K&N Engineering Heat Race #8- Steve Francis, Billy Moyer, Jared Landers, Dale McDowell, Chub Frank, Tim McCreadie, Wade Witherspoon, Butch McGill, Brian Shirley, Marshall Austin
Mason Racin’ Rebel Shocks Dyno B-Main #1- Shannon Babb, Donnie Moran, Bart Hartman, Clint Smith, Ricky Elliott, Jeff Cooke, Steve Hillard, Damon Eller, Gerald Davis, Daniel Stone, Bob Geiger, CJ Rayburn, Steven Hucovski, Anthony White, Freddy Smith, Mike Johnson, Matt Miller, Ricky Arms
Penske Shocks B-Main #2- Josh Richards, Doug Horton, Steve Casebolt, Eddie Carrier Jr, Terry English, Marshall Green, John Mason, Randy Weaver, Don Hammer, Ray Cook, Dean Carpenter, Justin Rattliff, Wendell Wallace, Tony Morris, Kristin Flory, Bryan Collins, Lee Thomason, Jeff Gress
Mason Racin’ Rebel Shocks Dyno B-Main #3- Michael England, John VanDenBerg, Dan Schlieper, Brian Birkhofer, Randy Korte, Jackie Boggs, Rodney Melvin, Tim Fuller, Jordan Bland, David Scott, Sonny Conley, Evan Harrell, Ronnie DeHaven Jr, Chris Henson, Ellis Parker, Scott Dedwylder, Christian Rayburn, Shane Clanton, Kevin Cole
Penske Shocks B-Main #4- Chub Frank, Jared Landers, Tim McCreadie, Dale McDowell, Bo Feathers, Jason Montgomery, Brent Robinson, Charles Duncan, Jason Flory, Butch McGill, Brian Shirley, Marshall Austin, Vic Coffey, Joey Tanner, Wade Witherspoon
Gulf Coast Produce Strawberry Dash- Evan Harrell, Bryan Collins, John Mason, Ray Cook, Steve Hucovski, Jeff Gress, Ronnie DeHaven Jr, Charlie Duncan
Feature (50 Laps)- Steve Francis, Don O’Neal, Jimmy Mars, Doug Horton, Dennis Erb Jr, Tim Dohm, Donnie Moran, Davey Johnson, Scott James, Rick Eckert, Brady Smith, Matt Miller, Michael England, Garrett Durrett, Earl Pearson Jr, Jared Landers, Robbie Blair, Corey Conley, Josh Richards, Freddy Smith, Chub Frank, Shannon Babb, Billy Moyer, Anthony Rushing, John VanDenBerg, Darren Miller
Race Statistics:
Entries: 95 Cautions: 6 Red Flags: 0 Lap Leaders: Rick Eckert 1-5, Don O’Neal 6-49, Steve Francis 50 All-Star Performance Performer of the Race: Doug Horton (started 22nd and finished 4th) advanced 18 positions Quarter Master Cool Move of the Race: Doug Horton K&N Engineering Clean Pass of the Race: Steve Francis Hawk Brake Tough Brake Award: Jimmy Owens
Current Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Points Standings after 2-10-06
1. Dennis Erb Jr (Carpentersville, IL) 425 2. Matt Miller (Waterville, OH) 420 3. Donnie Moran (Dresden, OH) 415 4. Doug Horton (Bruceton Mills, WV) 395 5. Don O’Neal (Martinsville, IN) 390 6. Earl Pearson Jr (Jacksonville, FL) 385 7. Steve Francis (Ashland, KY) 365 7. Scott James (Lawrenceburg, IN) 365 9. Jimmy Mars (Menomonie, WI) 335 9. Tim McCreadie (Watertown, NY) 335
Current DART Winternationals Points After 5 Events
1. Earl Pearson Jr-1025 2. Donnie Moran-995 3. Dennis Erb Jr-990 4. Tim McCreadie-885 5. Matt Miller-875 6. Billy Moyer-875 7. Doug Horton-855 8. Jimmy Mars-805 9. Don O’Neal-800 10. Eddie Carrier Jr-795
Current DART Winternationals “Engine Builders Challenge” Points after 5 Events
1. Malcuit-29 2. Larry Wallace-29 3. Pro Power-28 4. SMS-25 5. Custom-21 6. Jay Dickens-21 7. Cornett-14 8. Grover-13
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series “Chassis Builders Challenge”
1. Rocket-27 2. Rayburn-25 3. MasterSbilt-23 4. GRT-10 5. Warrior-8 6. Lazer-8
Sunoco “Race for Gas” Points after 5 Events
1. Earl Pearson Jr-9 2. Dale McDowell-8 3. Billy Moyer-8 4. Matt Miller-5 5. Don O’Neal-5
All-Star Performance “Performer of the Race” Points after 5 Events
1. Doug Horton-40 2. Rick Eckert-1
Comp Cams “Fast Time Award” Points after 5 Events
1. Donnie Moran-3 2. Tim McCreadie-1 3. Jared Landers-1
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