Billy Moyer
BARBERVILLE, FL – Feb. 14, 2011 – Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., kicked off the Late Model portion of the 40th annual DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH in triumphant fashion, capturing Monday night’s 30-lap DIRTcar UMP-sanctioned A-Main.
The 53-year-old full-fender legend steered his Victory Circle by Moyer machine forward from the fifth starting spot to grab the lead from polesitter Chris Madden of Gray Court, S.C., on lap 13. He never looked back en route to a $7,000 payday, pulling away from the field after a lap-23 caution period to defeat Earl Pearson Jr. of Jacksonville, Fla., by 1.978 seconds.
It marked the second time in the last four years that Moyer emerged victorious in the opener of the DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH. He also topped the DIRTcar UMP lidlifter in 2008 on his way to dominating that year’s action with three wins in five starts, including the week-ending World of Outlaws Late Model Series event.
“They got a good racy racetrack, big and wide,” Moyer said of the half-mile Volusia oval, where he’s won six times since 1998. “We like coming here for sure.”
Pearson, who won the UMP opener of the 2007 DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH, started from the outside pole and led laps 1-4 before briefly falling to third place. He regained second from Madden on lap 16 and closed within striking distance of Moyer before the race’s lone caution flag – on lap 23 for a flat left-rear tire on West Virginia driver Eddie Carrier Jr.’s car – extinguished his bid.
Madden, who led laps 5-12, lost touch with the leaders late in the distance and settled for a third-place finish. Vic Coffey of Caledonia, N.Y., advanced from the eighth starting spot to place fourth and 11th-starter Jimmy Mars of Menomonie, Wis., finished fifth after nipping Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., by .039 of a second with a last-lap move.
Coming off a spectacular 2010 campaign that saw him sweep the prestigious UMP-sanctioned Dream and World 100 events at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway, Moyer showed no signs of slowing down in ’11 with a masterful performance against a star-studded field of 71 cars. He calmly ran down Pearson and Madden – both former feature winners at Volusia – to seize control of the race.
“It was like ice out there, so slick,” said Moyer. “I was just trying to take care of the car, the tires, everything on there, and was waiting for them (Pearson and Madden) to make a little bobble. They got to moving around on the racetrack a little bit and I had my old hot rod where it could stay on the bottom pretty good, and it worked out for us.”
Fuller finished sixth after starting third and running in the top five for the entire distance. Teenager Austin Hubbard of Seaford, Del., slipped from the fourth starting spot to a seventh-place finish, while two-time defending WoO LMS champion Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., placed eighth, Brady Smith of Solon Springs, Wis., charged from the 20th starting spot to take ninth and Don O’Neal of Martinsville, Ind., rounded out the top 10.
Group qualifying was utilized to set the starting lineups for six heat races in the first of four DIRTcar UMP Late Model programs during the DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH.
Mike Marlar of Winfield, Tenn., registered the fastest overall qualifying lap at 16.477 seconds, but he ran into trouble in his heat race and didn’t transfer to the A-Main. Other group fast-timers were Jared Landers of Batesville, Ark. (16.824), Frankie Heckenast Jr. of Orland Park, Ill. (16.596), Hubbard (17.080), O’Neal (16.772) and Madden (17.075).
Heat winners were Fuller, Moyer, Pearson, Hubbard, O’Neal and Madden. The B-Mains were captured by Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., Brady Smith and Wendell Wallace of Batesville, Ark., and Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., earned $300 for winning the 12-lap ‘Bulrush Dash’ for non-qualifiers.
The DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH continues on Tuesday night (Feb. 15) with another UMP Late Model program topped by a 30-lap A-Main. The UMP Modifieds will also compete in triple 25-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.
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DIRTcar UMP Late Model 30-Lap A-Main Finish (Finish Pos./Start Pos./Driver):
1. (5) Billy Moyer
2. (2) Earl Pearson Jr.
3. (1) Chris Madden
4. (8) Vic Coffey
5. (11) Jimmy Mars
6. (3) Tim Fuller
7. (4) Austin Hubbard
8. (7) Josh Richards
9. (20) Brady Smith
10. (6) Don O’Neal
11. (15) Steve Francis
12. (13) Tim McCreadie
13. (17) Rick Eckert
14. (12) Billy Ogle Jr.
15. (9) Frankie Heckenast Jr.
16. (19) Clint Smith
17. (25) Ryan Unzicker
18. (10) Tyler Bruening
19. (22) Will Vaught
20. (23) Jason Feger
21. (14) Dan Stone
22. (24) Casey Roberts
23. (16) John Blankenship
24. (18) Eddie Carrier Jr.
25. (21) Wendell Wallace
Heat No. 1 (8 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Tim Fuller, 2. Josh Richards, 3. Tim McCreadie, 4. Clint Smith, 5. Dillan White, 6. Will Vaught, 7. Ricky Weiss, 8. Mike Marlar, 9. Jonathan Davenport, 10. Russell King, 11. Larry Wight, 12. Ron Davies
Heat No. 2 (8 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Billy Moyer, 2. Vic Coffey, 3. Dan Stone, 4. Jared Landers, 5. John Garvin, 6. Shane Clanton, 7. Eric Wells, 8. Brandon Thirlby, 9. Danny Mitchell, 10. Billy Moyer Jr., 11. Rick ‘Boom’ Briggs, 12. Roger Brickler
Heat No. 3 (8 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Earl Pearson Jr., 2. Frankie Heckenast Jr., 3. Rick Eckert, 4. Jason Feger, 5. Chub Frank, 6. John Mason, 7. Lee Devasier, 8. Brandon Sheppard, 9. Ryan Unzicker, 10. Jack Sullivan, 11. Stacy Boles, 12. Tommy Kerr
Heat No. 4 (8 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Austin Hubbard, 2. Tyler Bruening, 3. Eddie Carrier Jr., 4. Brady Smith, 5. Dale McDowell, 6. Mason Zeigler, 7. Dennis Erb Jr., 8. Jon Henry, 9. Joel Callahan, 10. Tyler Ivey, 11. Jill George, 12. Brian Reese, 13. Donald Beyers
Heat No. 5 (8 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Don O’Neal, 2. Jimmy Mars, 3. Steve Francis, 4. Casey Roberts, 5. Eric Jacobsen, 6. Tyler Reddick, 7. Kent Robinson, 8. Chad Hollenbeck, 9. Jason McBride, 10. Mike Hammerle
Heat No. 6 (8 laps – Top 3 Transfer): 1. Chris Madden, 2. Billy Ogle, 3. John Blankenship, 4. Wendell Wallace, 5. John Lobb, 6. Wayne Chinn, 7. Pat Doar, 8. Jeff Beyers, 9. Freddie Carpenter, 10. Aaron Ridley, 11. Jerry Perine
B-Main No. 1 (10 laps – Top 2 Transfer): 1. Clint Smith, 2. Will Vaught, 3. Jared Landers, 4. Russell King, 5. Shane Clanton, 6. Eric Wells, 7. Billy Moyer Jr., 8. John Garvin, 9. Dillan White, 10. Rick ‘Boom’ Briggs, 11. Larry Wight, 12. Ricky Weiss, 13. Brandon Thirlby, 14. Danny Mitchell (DNS) Mike Marlar, Jonathan Davenport, Ron Davies, Roger Brickler
B-Main No. 2 (10 laps – Top 2 Transfer): 1. Brady Smith, 2. Jason Feger, 3. Chub Frank, 4. Dennis Erb Jr., 5. John Mason, 6. Lee DeVasier, 7. Brandon Sheppard, 8. Jack Sullivan, 9. Stacy Boles, 10. Jon Henry, 11. Joe Callahan, 12. Ryan Unzicker, 13. Tommy Kerr, 14. Mason Zeigler, 15. Tyler Ivey, 16. Jill George, 17. Donald Beyers, 18. Brian Reese, 19. Dale McDowell
B-Main No. 3 (10 laps – Top 2 Transfer): 1. Wendell Wallace, 2. Casey Roberts, 3. Wayne Chinn, 4. Tyler Reddick, 5. Kent Robinson, 6. Jeff Beyers, 7. Eric Jacobsen, 8. Pat Doar, 9. Aaron Ridley, 10. Jason McBride, 11. Freddie Carpenter, 12. Mike Hammerle, 13. Chad Hollenbeck, 14. Jerry Perine, 15. John Lobb (DNS) Chuck Julien
‘Bulrush Dash’ Finish (12 laps): 1. Chub Frank, 2. Dennis Erb Jr., 3. Kent Robinson, 4. Russell King, 5. Jeff Beyers, 6. Wayne Chinn, 7. Eric Wells, 8. Lee DeVasier, 9. Brandon Sheppard, 10. John Mason (DNS) Jared Landers, Tyler Reddick, Shane Clanton, Billy Moyer Jr., Eric Jacobsen
