{"id":4649,"date":"2008-11-16T10:03:15","date_gmt":"2008-11-16T16:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/100.24.212.105\/?p=4649"},"modified":"2010-11-18T10:05:37","modified_gmt":"2010-11-18T16:05:37","slug":"billy-moyer-late-models-teenager-johnny-scott-modifieds-complete-sweeps-of-barnett-harley-davidson-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dirtcar.com\/divisions\/late-models\/billy-moyer-late-models-teenager-johnny-scott-modifieds-complete-sweeps-of-barnett-harley-davidson-nationals\/","title":{"rendered":"Billy Moyer (Late Models) & Teenager Johnny Scott (Modifieds) Complete Sweeps Of Barnett Harley Davidson Nationals"},"content":{"rendered":"
Phoenix, AZ<\/strong> \u2014 Veteran Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., and teenager Johnny Scott of Las Cruces, N.M., scrawled their names all over the 2008 Barnett Harley Davidson Nationals at Manzanita Speedway.<\/p>\n Moyer, 51, completed a sweep of the two-day program\u2019s DIRTcar Late Model action on Saturday night, rolling to victory in the 40-lap Late Model Western World Championship A-Main.<\/p>\n The 18-year-old Scott, meanwhile, was perfect in the DIRTcar Modified ranks, adding a triumph in Saturday night\u2019s 30-lap Nationals A-Main to his preliminary-feature score the previous evening.<\/p>\n Driving his familiar Banner Valley Hauling-sponsored Victory Circle car, Moyer duplicated his winning effort in Friday night\u2019s 25-lap DIRTcar Late Model preliminary feature. He inherited the lead after Jesse Stovall of Galena, Mo., spun in turn four on lap eight and marched on to pocket the finale\u2019s $6,000 top prize.<\/p>\n Defending Late Model Western World Championship winner Kelly Boen of Henderson, Colo., finished second, about a half-straightaway behind Moyer at the checkered flag. Western Allstars DIRTcar Late Model Series standout Bobby Hogge IV of Salinas, Calif., placed third, followed by Randle Chupp of Troutman, N.C., who drove a car from Boen\u2019s stable, and Stovall.<\/p>\n Moyer\u2019s victory was his 21st overall of the 2008 season, matching his trademark car number. His trip to the famed half-mile oval in Phoenix closed out his most successful racing campaign of the decade.<\/p>\n \u201cWe started out the year strong in Florida and ended the year strong here, so we can\u2019t be any happier,\u201d said Moyer, who reached the 20-win plateau for the first time since 2001. \u201cEverything\u2019s clicked all year.\u201d<\/p>\n Moyer didn\u2019t cruise to Victory Lane on Saturday night, however. A power-steering problem made the second half of his A-Main run a bit harder than he would have preferred.<\/p>\n \u201cSomething in the power steering went wrong with about 20 (laps) to go,\u201d said Moyer, whose weekend earnings totaled $7,500. \u201cThere\u2019s oil all over and the tank\u2019s dry, so a line broke or something.<\/p>\n \u201cLuckily the track was slick enough where I didn\u2019t have to steer much. I could just roll the center. If (the power steering woes) happened last night when the track was heavier, I don\u2019t think I could\u2019ve held on.\u201d<\/p>\n Boen, who reached second place on lap 36 when he surged underneath Hogge in turn three, made up ground on the struggling Moyer during the final circuits but not nearly enough to mount a challenge.<\/p>\n \u201cI seen Steve (Norris) telling me somebody was getting close, but there wasn\u2019t much I could do,\u201d Moyer said of his crewman, who flashed him signals from the infield. \u201cI was just trying to keep from wrecking the thing.<\/p>\n \u201cReally, I was just lucky that Dean Moore and some of those other guys gave me a break when I was lapping them near the end. I knew I had to get through them lapped cars quicker, and they gave room so I just had to slide underneath them.<\/p>\n \u201cIf that power steering hadn\u2019t went out,\u201d he added, \u201cwe would\u2019ve really shown them something. The car was nice, real nice.\u201d<\/p>\n Boen, 44, certainly acknowledged Moyer\u2019s speed.<\/p>\n \u201cI honest wish I could tell you what we needed to do (to threaten Moyer), but I don\u2019t know,\u201d said Boen, who started sixth in his Rocket car. \u201cI honestly thought my car was as good as it could be, but (Moyer) was just a little better.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s been fast his whole life,\u201d he continued. \u201cGuys like me who race for a hobby, when we gotta race somebody like him who races for a living, we definitely have our work cut out for us. But still, when you get this close to beating him and you don\u2019t get it done, it\u2019s kinda sad.<\/p>\n \u201cI really wanted to win this race again, but we fell short.\u201d<\/p>\n Hogge, 31, was smiling after capping his first-ever visit to Manzanita with a strong third-place finish in his family-owned Victory Circle car. He started fourth and ran second behind Moyer for laps 9-36.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was intense for me,\u201d said Hogge, who led the Western Allstars DIRTcar Late Model Series with seven victories in 2008. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a hard-to-drive track, but it was tough mentally trying to hit my marks every time. I knew Billy wasn\u2019t gonna make any mistakes, so I couldn\u2019t make any either.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a little while there (before a caution flag on lap 12) when I actually started gaining on him because he was running the middle and bottom of (turns) one and two. But I think under that yellow he might\u2019ve gotten a signal to move up to the top, and that was it.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was just awesome to somewhat keep pace with someone like him and Kelly Boen.\u201d<\/p>\n No one passed more cars than the 28-year-old Stovall, who charged from the back of the pack in his Victory Circle car to salvage a top-five finish after spinning out of the lead on lap eight. He started from the outside pole and paced the race\u2019s first eight laps.<\/p>\n \u201cReally, I\u2019m still new in this whole (dirt Late Model) deal, and I got in trouble because I was trying to conserve my tires (while leading),\u201d said Stovall, who is completing his first full season as a dirt Late Model racer. \u201cThat\u2019s not really my style. I\u2019m more up-on-the-wheel, so I didn\u2019t know how hard to drive it in to go easy on my tires and I ended up spinning myself out.<\/p>\n \u201cI guess I have to chalk this one up as a learning experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Chris Shannon of Merced, Calif., who won the 2008 Western Allstars championship, was a solid sixth-place finisher. Rob Mayea of Bend, Ore., was seventh, followed by Mike Balcaen of Winnipeg, Manitoba, who pitted during a lap-17 caution period, Nick Bartels of El Segundo, Calif., and 2008 Southwest DIRTcar Late Model Series Rookie of the Year Joey Moriarty of Phoenix.<\/p>\n Twenty-seven cars were entered in Saturday\u2019s program, which was co-sanctioned by DIRTcar Racing\u2019s Southwest DIRTcar Late Model Series and Western Allstars DIRTcar Late Model Series.<\/p>\n Shannon recorded the fastest overall lap of the group time-trial session, rounding the oval in 20.410 seconds.<\/p>\n Heat winners were Moriarty, Balcaen and Shannon, and Keith Noyes of Phoenix captured the B-Main. Shannon also won the 8-lap pole dash, which included the top-four finishers from Friday night\u2019s A-Main (Moyer, Boen, Chupp and Stovall, all of whom didn\u2019t have to run a heat race on Saturday) and the top-two finishers in each of Saturday\u2019s heats.<\/p>\n Lonnie Parker Jr. of El Mirage, Ariz., who recorded his fifth consecutive SWDLMS title in 2008, failed to qualify for the Western World Championship A-Main. He was running second in the third heat race when he slammed the spun car driven by Kevin Nichols of Bakersfield, Calif., between turns three and four, badly damaging the right side of his machine.<\/p>\n In the companion DIRTcar Modified headliner, the up-and-coming Scott authored a memorable run on the inner one-third-mile oval to pocket $5,000 for his first Nationals triumph at Manzanita.<\/p>\n Scott, who hauled his self-owned Hughes Chassis nearly 400 miles to compete in the Nationals, had to overtake Manzanita star Anthony Madrid of Phoenix to emerge victorious. Madrid, of course, is one of Manzy\u2019s most accomplished racers, ranking third on the track\u2019s alltime overall win list (with over 120 victories) and holding three Modified track titles (including 2008) and a 2005 Modified Nationals triumph.<\/p>\n With Madrid drawing the pole position for the feature, Scott had his doubts about pulling off a sweep of the weekend. But he came from the fourth starting spot to pass Madrid for the lead on lap 10 and controlled the remainder of the distance.<\/p>\n \u201cI was worried when (Madrid) picked the pole,\u201d said Scott, who started racing Street Stocks at the age of 11 and moved to the Modified division at 13. \u201cBut after we got going a little bit and I started catching him, I knew I could beat him.\u201d<\/p>\n Scott crossed the finish line several car lengths ahead of Tucson, Ariz.\u2019s R.C. Whitwell, who passed Madrid for second on lap 17. Madrid, who battled brake problems throughout the night, settled for third place after leading laps 1-9, while Royal Jones of Las Cruces, N.M., was fourth and D.J. Wood of Peoria, Ariz., took fifth.<\/p>\n Don Earven of Globe, Ariz., flipped off turn one on lap 10 while trying to avoid a multi-car pileup. He escaped the crash uninjured.<\/p>\n With the top-10 finishers in Friday night\u2019s A-Main transferring directly to the Nationals finale, Saturday\u2019s Modified program included a C-Main won by Robert Adams of Tucson, Ariz., and a B-Main captured by Jay Foster of Phoenix.<\/p>\n