Thursday March 28th, 2024 8:43PM

Clanton grabs seventh WoO LMS victory at Lernerville

By Joshua Joiner

SARVER, Pa. - World of Outlaws Late Model Series points leader Shane Clanton kept his hot streak rolling Thursday evening with a victory at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa.

Clanton, 39, of Zebulon, Ga., turned back an early challenge from Jared Miley of Pittsburgh, Pa., and was far enough ahead in the closing laps to survive a valiant late charge by 12th-starting Rick Eckert of York, Pa.

The $6,500 victory – Clanton’s WoO LMS-leading seventh of the season and his third in the national tour’s past four races – came on the first of two Firecracker 100 preliminary nights at Lernerville’s 4/10-mile oval.

“This car was just phenomenal again tonight,” Clanton said of his Weldbank Energy Capital Race Cars house car. “If we can just keep qualifying and heat racing like we are and get a good starting spot, then we’re pretty confident about our chances in 100 laps around here come Saturday. We’ve got the dominant car right now; hopefully we can keep it going.”

Eckert settled for the runner-up finish after charging from fifth to second in the final 10 laps of the 30-lap race. The 2006 WoO LMS champion made up considerable ground on Clanton in the closing laps but came up 1.361 seconds short at the finish. After pressuring Clanton for most of the race’s first half, Miley held on to third to record his career-best WoO LMS result.

Defending Firecracker 100 winner Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., finished fourth and in doing so overtook 17th-finishing Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., for second in the WoO LMS points chase. Eric Wells of Hazard, Ky., finished fifth in Thursday’s A-Main, which ran green to the finish after finally getting rolling on the third attempt to start the race.

Clanton’s road to victory was made slightly less difficult when he was moved from his initial third starting spot to the pole after Miley, who drew the pole in a redraw among heat race winners and runners-up, was penalized a row for firing too early on the first attempt to start the race.

After a brief opening-lap battle, Clanton pulled ahead of second-starting Mason Zeigler, who was the beneficiary of original outside polesitter Greg Johnson’s jumped start on the second attempt to start the race.

Miley followed Clanton by Zeigler into the second spot and remained within striking distance until the leaders reached lapped traffic just before the halfway point. Clanton was able to negotiate the slower cars much quicker than Miley, allowing his No. 25 machine to pull away to a comfortable lead.

“I just took my opportunities to get by cars when I could,” Clanton said of his run through traffic. “I was just riding my line at the top just trying to save tires and be easy on our car. But when I had to get by (lapped cars), I could drive just about anywhere to do it. I can’t ask for much more than that out of our race car.”

Eckert, 49, was able to keep his Viper Motorsports MasterSbilt machine glued to the track’s bottom groove while others struggled. That allowed him to make his late charge and nearly catch Clanton.

“It surprised me that guys kept missing the bottom,” said Eckert, who recorded his fourth top five of the 2015 WoO LMS campaign. “That bottom was really nice and most of those guys just weren’t patient enough to hit it and get the kind of run off of it like I was.”

Miley appeared capable of challenging for an upset victory while keeping pace with Clanton early in the race, but he faded through the second half. Still, the 29-year-old former Lernerville track champion was encouraged by his solid performance in his Colussy Chevrolet Rocket Chassis.

“It feels real good to do this on the first night,” Miley said. “Sometimes it’s hard to get in and go with these guys because they’re just so fast and on top of their game.

“I think we could run with Clanton in open track. But I guess I kind of lack the experience getting through traffic like that and just being comfortable running the front of a World of Outlaws race. But now we got some experience with that and it’s definitely a confidence booster.”

Johnson of Imperial, Pa., faded to sixth at the finish with 13th-starting Austin Hubbard of Seaford, Del., finishing seventh. Zeigler, the Chalk Hill, Pa., driver who set fast time during Thursday’s qualifying, ended up eighth in the feature. Chase Junghans of Manhattan, Kan., advanced from his 21st starting spot to finish ninth, while Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., rounded out the race’s top 10 finishers.

For more information on the WoO LMS, visit WorldofOutlaws.com.

World of Outlaws Late Model Series
Lernerville Speedway – Sarver, PA
Race Results – June 25, 2015

1. (3) Shane Clanton/30 $6,500
2. (12) Rick Eckert/30 $3,600
3. (1) Jared Miley/30 $2,500
4. (8) Darrell Lanigan/30 $2,350
5. (9) Eric Wells/30 $2,000
6. (2) Davey Johnson/30 $1,400
7. (13) Austin Hubbard/30 $1,300
8. (4) Mason Zeigler/30 $1,200
9. (21) Chase Junghans/30 $1,600
10. (7) Chub Frank/30 $1,500
11. (19) Morgan Bagley/30 $1,400
12. (6) Gregg Satterlee/30 $850
13. (5) Frank Heckenast Jr./30 $1,300
14. (14) Dan Angellicchio/30 $775
15. (20) Tim McCreadie/30 $1,350
16. (17) Alex Ferree/29 $700
17. (18) Josh Richards/29 $1,260
18. (11) Boom Briggs/29 $1,140
19. (15) Ross Robinson/29 $620
20. (10) Paul Wilmoth/29 $600
21. (24) Kenny Pettyjohn/29 $600
22. (23) Jordan Yaggy/29 $850
23. (22) Mike Norris/24 $600
24. (16) Ken Schaltenbrand Jr./16 $600

Time of Race: 10 Mins., 33 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 1.361 Secs.
Yellow Flags: None
Lap Leaders: Clanton (1-30)
Provisional Starters: Yaggy, Pettyjohn

  • Associated Categories: NASCAR News, Other Motorsports
  • Associated Tags: motorsports, Auto Racing, Dirt Track, Stock Car, Short Track, Dirt Late Model, World of Outlaws, WoO Late Model Tour
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