BATTLE OF CHAMPIONS: The last two WoO LMS titlists – Steve Francis (2007) and Darrell Lanigan (2008) – spent the second half of VMS’s A-Main in a close-quarters race for second place.
At one point the action got too close; late-race contact between the pair left a deep gash in Lanigan’s right-side door. Francis held on to finish second, just over a half-second ahead of third-place Lanigan.
The podium finishes helped both drivers forget disappointing outings at Fayetteville. Lanigan had the better finish – 13th after using a provisional to get in the A-Main – but Francis was faster, running fifth until a flat right-rear tire on lap 39 relegated him to a 19th-place finish.
OFF THE PACE: Rick Eckert’s hopes of making a bid for victory at VMS were dive-bombed by ignition problems that plagued his Raye Vest Racing Bloomquist car for virtually the entire distance.
“On lap four I was going through (turns) three and four and my car just died,” said Eckert, who started ninth. “Brady (Smith) hit me because I just stopped dead in front of him. I quick switched to the second ignition and kept going, but something was wrong with that one too. My motor was just popping and carrying on the whole race.”
With the problem leaving Eckert’s car underpowered on six cylinders, he nearly decided to pull in. But he pressed on and salvaged a 12th-place finish.
TOP ROOK: The only WoO LMS Rookie of the Year contender to qualify for an A-Main during the doubleheader was Brent Robinson of Smithfield, Va., who used his knowledge of Fayetteville to make the A-Main through a heat race.
Robinson, 21, went on to finish 11th – the best finish by a rookie this season.
With some momentum finally behind him, Robinson was confident about his chances at VMS, the track where he started his dirt-racing career as a 14-year-old in the Limited Late Model division. But he was hampered throughout the night by problems with a crank trigger and failed to qualify.
ETCETERA:
* VMS’s A-Main began with a “bang” on Saturday – four ear-splitting, grandstand-shaking blasts of a Civil War-era cannon that was detonated on pit road by the Civil War reenactors who later joined the Victory Lane festivities. “When we first rolled out on the track and I was lining up, that big cannon shot off and I went, ‘Holy crap!’” said Chris Madden. “I jumped in my seat.”
* When Shane Clanton took over the points lead after Friday’s stop at Fayetteville, it marked the first time he had been atop the WoO LMS standings since following the April 14, 2007, event at Virginia Motor Speedway. His stint at the helm lasted just one race, however, because Darrell Lanigan took over after Saturday’s visit to VMS, giving the tour three different points leaders in as many races.
* Brady Smith walked around gingerly all weekend, suffering from a sore back that he tweaked away from the track.
* The pace laps for Fayetteville’s A-Main left the pole position open in a “missing man” formation for the late Ed Gibbons of Manning, S.C., a Fayetteville standout who lost his life on Feb. 1 in a highway accident. The 46-year-old Gibbons finished fifth in last October’s WoO LMS show at the track.
* Shannon Babb reported that he was scheduled to stop at Rocket Chassis in Shinnston, W.Va., Illinois to pick up a new car on his way home to Illinois. The new machine will likely be at Babb’s disposal by his next WoO LMS appearance, the Buckeye 100 on May 1-2 at K-C Raceway in Alma, Ohio.
* Jonathan Davenport is another driver with a trip to Rocket for a new car on his upcoming itinerary. The Blairsville, Ga., racer, passed along the news after setting fast time and finishing fifth at VMS – 24 hours after scratching from Fayetteville’s program due to a broken rocker arm during hot laps. After the mechanical trouble, Davenport accompanied his D&L Rumley team back to their shop in Greensboro, N.C., and they worked until 2 a.m. to install a new engine.
* WoO LMS rookie contender Jordan Bland visited the medical crew at Fayetteville to have his left eye flushed after a piece of debris flew up off the track during a preliminary race and hit his helmet shield.
* Gettysburg, Pa.‘s Jeremy Miller was unable to repeat his emotional victory in last year’s WoO LMS event at VMS. Still learning his new Victory Circle by Moyer car, he qualified through a heat race on Saturday but finished 24th after retiring on lap 17 because he “made the wrong adjustments.”
* WoO LMS regulars Chub Frank and Tim Fuller had similarly distasteful weekends. Frank salvaged a 10th-place finish at Fayetteville (he picked up a couple spots in the last-lap scramble) after securing the last transfer spot in the B-Main when local Chris Blackwell slid high rounding the final corner, but he finished one lap down in 16th at VMS; Fuller finished 17th in both events.
* Fuller actually would have used a provisional to start both races if rookie candidate Russell King hadn’t been penalized for jumping a last-lap restart in VMS’s second B-Main. King slipped by a slowing Fuller at the finish line to grab the final transfer spot, but his jumping penalty moved him back two positions and left him a DNQ.
* Clint Smith went through the weekend down one crewman after the recent departure of Jonathan Owensby, who has taken a job in Georgia away from racing. Smith, who would have likely scored a pair of top-10s if he hadn’t blown a tire on lap 37 at Fayetteville, said he’s planning to press on with Darrell (‘Don Vito’) Cooper as his sole mechanic. “Money’s tight, so I’m not hunting anybody right now,” said Smith.
* Fayetteville, N.C.‘s Lance West didn’t qualify on Friday night after suffering mechanical trouble during heat action. He then headed home for a few hours of sleep before hopping on a plane to begin a 16-hour flight back to his job in Iraq, where he has four more months left on his contract as a mechanic for a U.S. contractor.
* Longtime WoO LMS technical inspector Walter Burson has stepped off the road this season to receive treatment for cancer, which doctors diagnosed earlier this year. He has been weakened by the treatments, but his spirits remain high and he’s hoping to travel from his Ohio home to visit with friends at the track next month.
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