The three headliners in the titanic battle for the 2009 World of Outlaws Late Model Series championship reflexively say after each race that they’re not counting points.
But the truth is, Josh Richards, Darrell Lanigan and Steve Francis definitely have points on their minds. How can they not when the standings are so razor-close, every finishing position could be critical in determining a prestigious title worth $100,000?
The hot-running trio – all WoO LMS stalwarts who are as close off the track as they have been on it this year – find themselves at the center of what is shaping up to be arguably the tightest points race in tour history. With the series now quiet for a mid-summer break until making a first-ever visit to Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pa., on Thurs., Aug. 13, they sit in a near dead-heat atop the standings.
Through 27 of a scheduled 43 events, Richards holds a two-point edge over both Lanigan and Francis, who are tied for second. That’s one position in the WoO LMS points breakdown, which awards 150 points for a win, 146 points for second, and then drops two points per spot.
“It doesn’t look like anyone’s running away with this deal this year,” bottom-lined Francis, a 41-year-old star from Ashland, Ky., whose 25 career WoO LMS wins (including five this season) leads the tour’s alltime victory chart since 2004. “This one’s going right down to the end (the World Finals on Nov. 5-7 at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.).”
After the 2004-2006 seasons produced a succession of dramatic points-championship endings (including Francis’s heartbreaking loss of the ‘05 title to Billy Moyer on a tie-breaker), the last two years have gone down the homestretch with one driver head-and-shoulders above the pack. Francis won the 2007 crown by 126 points over Chub Frank, and Lanigan cruised to last year’s title by a record 160-point margin over Richards.
What’s more, by the time the series reached 27 events the last two seasons, the eventual champion had already begun separating himself from the competition for what would basically become an extended coronation. Francis held a 22-point lead at this point in ‘07 and just kept expanding it, while Lanigan was already up 120 points after 27 A-Mains in ‘08 and never saw his advantage drop below 112 points for the remainder of the season.
The development of this year’s points race has “thrilling finish” written all over it. There have already been three ties for the points lead (between Francis/Lanigan, Richards/Lanigan and Richards/Francis), and the largest points lead a driver has built this season is the 34-point advantage that Francis held after winning the May 31 event at Tyler County Speedway in Middlebourne, W.Va. – and he proceeded to see that edge fall to just two points when he ran into trouble in the very next race.
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