by James Essex
TAMPA, FL (February 6, 2008) – In yet another hotly contested Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series feature event at East Bay Raceway Park the driver with the most Winternationals wins at the track proved yet again why he is one of the best ever to turn a wheel in a dirt car. Billy Moyer of Batesville, AR dueled with Terry Casey for several laps until finally passing him on the 23rd lap and then withstood two late cautions to take his 16th career win at the Tampa area facility to conclude night number three of the DART Winternationals on Wednesday night. Dan Schlieper crossed the line in second followed by Don O'Neal, Matt Miller and Josh Richards.
Schlieper would fire from his pole starting position to take the lead on the opening circuit of the 30 lap event. Steve Francis would quickly move to second followed by Terry English, Josh Richards and Terry Casey. Casey who started in the fifth position was a man on a mission as he worked his way up to second by lap three making the top five running order change three times in the first three laps.
Casey then put the heat on Schlieper for the lead after the first caution came out for Shannon Babb. The race went two more laps under green after the restart with Casey all over his fellow Wisconsin driver. A four car pile-up in turn two would bring out caution number two shortly thereafter.
On the restart Schlieper would lose the lead for the first time as Casey thundered into the lead on lap six. Francis who was running in third slowed suddenly in turn number four on lap eight bringing out the third caution.
 On the restart after Francis departed the race a multi car tangle saw chief starter Julian Mullis wave the dreaded yellow flag for the fourth time. With eight laps in the books the running order saw Casey out in front followed by Schlieper, Billy Moyer, Richards and O'Neal.
With Casey showing the way; a tremendous duel for second was taking place between Moyer and Schlieper as the two raced door to door for three straight laps with Richards and O'Neal right in the thick of things as well.
With the halfway mark approaching, Casey was running the race of his life holding his line perfectly on the racetrack, as Schlieper would continue to hold Moyer at bay. Moyer was finally able to muster enough speed to go by Schlieper on lap 17 and with 13 circuits remaining he had his eyes set on Casey and a race for the lead was about to develop.
There were three lapped cars in front of Casey, would be just enough to allow Moyer to chase down Casey in a hurry as the leader had to fight with traffic. With Moyer right on the heels of Casey, the veteran driver would make the move on lap 22 and take over the lead from Casey in traffic. Moyer would put a lapped car between himself and Casey, which would allow Moyer to stretch his lead out over Casey with five laps to go.
The fifth caution of the race would unfortunately be for Casey as he ran up on Wayne Chinn's car while trying to lap him bringing out the next to last yellow of the race. The fifth and final caution came out for Canadian Dave Tyrchniewicz who stopped in turn number two.
The final three-lap shootout would see Moyer take his own chassis designed car to victory lane securing the $5,000 win. Schlieper crossed the line in second, followed by the previous nights' winners, Don O'Neal and Matt Miller. Josh Richards had his first top five of the week crossing the line right behind Miller.
Completing the top ten were Steve Shaver, Earl Pearson Jr., Rick Eckert, Dennis Erb, Jr., and Darren Miller.
 In the post race interview the 50-year old Moyer knew he had had a workout in getting this win. “No it wasn't easy, Terry Casey was real good, there was a lot of give and take out there tonight, we had a good race there with Schlieper, that was a lot of fun there, but once we got up to Casey we were able to get by him after what seemed like several laps,†said the only five-time winner of the World 100.
“I guess I'm hard headed with this new chassis design (Moyer Victory Circle Chassis), I wanted to build a car that I like to run and so that's what we are doing now, we have built about five of them and just delivered a couple so we are real excited about the progress we've made, we also made an engine change to Clements power and they seem to be real good as well.â€
Moyer's familiar number 21 car is sponsored by Banner Valley Hauling/J&J Steel/BSB Manufacturing/J&J Steel/Karl Chevrolet/Watters Auto Land/Redline Oil/Performance Rod and Custom/Sunoco Race Fuels/Universal Concrete and Minx Show Palace.
Schlieper's Miller Brothers Coal/Pro Power /C.J. Rayburn Ford Fusion took runner-up honors for his best performance of the week. O'Neal in the Harrod Farms/Jay Dickens Racing Engines/C.J. Rayburn Monte Carlo now has a win, a second and third place finish in the first three nights of the DART Winternationals. Miller, who won Tuesday Night's classic battle, was fourth in the Moring Motorsports/MDI Environmental/Rocket Chassis with Josh Richards in the Ernie Davis/Ernie' towing and Hauling Rocket Monte Carlo SS coming home in fifth.
Racing will continue on Thursday Night, February 7th for the 2008 version of the DART Machinery East Bay Winternationals with a $10,000 to win show. The event will be broadcast live via the Internet at www.racetalklive.com.
Race Summary Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Wednesday Night, February 6th, 2008
PRC Fast Time: Matt Miller 14.838 seconds
Hawk Brake First Heat (10 Laps-Top 3 advance): Steve Francis, Billy Moyer, Matt Miller, Scott James, Donnie Moran, Shannon Babb, Bart Hartman, Josh McGuire, Eric Wells, Joe Denby, Joe Isabell, Jeff Beyers
Hawk Brake Second Heat (10 Laps-Top 3 Advance): Terry Casey, Earl Pearson Jr, Eric Jacobson, Damon Eller, Justin Ratliff, Steve Casebolt, Ky Harper, Marshall Austin, Mark Andersen, Anthony Ferguson, Danny Mitchell, DNS: Scott Riggs, Tyler Ivey
AFCO Racing Products Third Heat (10 Laps-Top 3 Advance): Jason McBride, Dave Tyrchniewicz, Kevin Cole, Chuck Harper, Dennis Erb, Tim Dohm, Billy Drake, Bob Geiger, Jared Hawkins, Doug Blashe, Danny Johnson, DNS: Tyler Boggs
Tiger Rear ends Fourth Heat (10 Laps-Top 3 Advance): Terry English, Bryan Collins, Doug Horton, Chris Wall, Rodney Melvin, Tim Fuller, Brian Shirley, Jeep Van Wormer, Jackie Boggs, Brian Barber, Russ Adams, Clint Smith
Hawk Brake Fifth Heat (10 Laps-Top 3 Advance): Dan Schlieper, Steve Shaver, Mike Marlar, Vic Coffey, Wayne Chinn, Rohn Moon, Shon Flanary, Dan Stone, Kellen Chadwick, Donald Beyers, Kurt Owens, Tim Lance, Anthony White
Hawk Brake Sixth Heat (10 Laps-Top 3 Advance): Josh Richards, Don O'Neal, Rick Eckert, Darren Miller, Ray Cook, John Blankenship, Wendell Wallace, Jim Borden, Eddie Carrier Jr, Peyton Taylor, Austin Hubbard, Tim McCreadie, DNS: Jason Riggs
Mason Racin' Rebel Shock Dyno First B-Main (12 Laps-Top 2 Advance): Donnie Moran, Shannon Babb, Justin Ratliff, Bart Hartman, Damon Eller, Eric Wells, Ky Harper, Mark Andersen, Marshall Austin, Joe Denby, Danny Mitchell, Scott James, Steve Casebolt, Jeff Beyers, Josh McGuire, Joe Isabell, DNS: Anthony Ferguson, Tyler Ivey, Scott Riggs
Quarter Master Second B-Main (12 Laps-Top 2 Advance): Dennis Erb, Chuck Harper, Tim Dohm, Tin Fuller, Chris Wall, Rodney Melvin, Danny Johnson, Billy Drake, Brian Shirley, Jackie Boggs, Clint smith, Bob Geiger, Jared Jeep Van Wormer, Brian Barber, Dough Blashe, DNS: Russ Adams, Tyler Boggs
Quarter Master Third B-Main (12 Laps-Top 2 Advance): Darren Miller, Wayne Chinn, Dan Stone, John Blankenship, Austin Hubbard, Tim Lance, Jim Borden, Kurt Owens, Rohn Moon, Eddie Carrier Jr, Wendell Wallace, Peyton Taylor, Donald Beyers, Ray Cook, Vic Coffey, Shon Flanary, Kellen Chadwick, DNS: Tim McCreadie, Anthony White, Jason Riggs
PRC Strawberry Dash: (8 Laps- Winner Advanced to Feature): Tim Dohm, Ray Cook, Chris Wall, Eric Wells, Joe Denby, Ky Harper, Danny Mitchell, Mark Andersen, DNS: Joe Isabell, Brian Shirley
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series DART Machinery East Bay Winternationals Feature Finish: (30 Laps) Billy Moyer, Dan Schlieper, Don O'Neal, Matt Miller, Josh Richards, Steve Shaver, Earl Pearson Jr, Rick Eckert, Dennis Erb, Darren Miller, Wayne Chinn, Terry Casey, Dave Tyrchniewicz, Shannon Babb, Tim Dohm, Jason McBride, Donnie Moran, Bryan Collins, Chuck Harper, Mike Marlar, Doug Horton, Kevin Cole, Steve Francis, Terry English, Eric Jacobson
Race Statistics
Entries: 75
Caution Flags: 4 Cautions: Lap 2 (Shannon Babb) Lap 4 (Bryan Collins, Terry English, Jason McBride, Eric Jacobson) Lap 8 [2 Cautions] (Steve Francis) (Tim Dohm, Mike Marlar, Kevin Cole Chuck Harper, Shannon Babb) Lap 27[2 Cautions] (Terry Casey, Wayne Chinn) (Dave Tyrchniewicz)
Lap Leaders: Dan Schlieper Laps 1-5; Terry Casey Laps 6-22; Moyer Lap 23-Finish
PBM/Erson Cams Hard Charger of the Race: Dennis Erb, Jr. (Started 20th and finished ninth, advanced 11 positions)
Allstar Performance Performer of the Race: Dan Schlieper
K&N Filters Clean Pass of the Race: Billy Moyer
Quarter Master Rookie of the Race: None
ASI Racewear Lucky 7 Award: Earl Pearson, Jr.
Integra Crew Chief of the Race: Steve Norris
Comp Cams Engine Builder of the Race: Clements
Time of Race: 31 Minutes Started: 9:44 Ended: 10:15
2008 DART Machinery Winternationals Points Standings (After 2/6/08)
1) Matt Miller – 825
2) Don O'Neal – 785
3) Billy Moyer – 690
4) Dennis Erb Jr. – 690
5) Steve Francis – 665
6) Shannon Babb – 660
7) Dan Schlieper – 655
8) Justin Ratliff – 655
9) Josh Richards – 640
10) Donnie Moran - 640
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