2/2/2022
RacinBoys
Moran Claims Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Victory at Bubba Raceway Park
By Lucas Oil Late Model Series PR (Ocala, FL) -- One night after finishing second to Tim McCreadie, Devin Moran came back with vengeance on Tuesday Night. Leading wire-to-wire with a convincing victory over a stout field of competitors, Moran picked up the win on night two in the K&N Filters Winter Nationals Presented by Optima Batteries at Bubba Raceway Park.
Just 24 hours earlier Moran took the lead from McCreadie on the white flag lap but slid up high in turn four, losing to the defending series champion by one car length at the stripe.
PHOTO CREDIT: Mike Ruefer
Tyler Erb tried in vain to catch the 27-year-old Ohio racer but came up nearly 3 seconds behind him at the finish line. Ricky Thornton Jr, a winner last year at Bubba’s earned the Optima Batteries Hard Charger of the Race by taking third after starting 16th. Brandon Sheppard crossed the line in fourth with pole sitter Shane Clanton rounding out the top five drivers.
Moran was in control for the entire race, taking the lead at the start of the race with last year’s finale winner at Bubba’s last February, Clanton running in second. Clanton ran in second until lap 15 when eighth place starter, Erb made his entrance into second getting by Clanton.
As Moran entered traffic with nine laps to go, it appeared that Erb would have a shot at him. A caution flag would clear out lapped traffic for Moran to become the second repeat winner of the season.
In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the second time in 2022 and for the fourth time in his career Moran will maintain the series point lead heading to All-Tech on Thursday. “The biggest thing tonight was that we didn’t make any mistakes. I talked to my dad today, I was pretty down after last night. He said, ‘we are all human and we make mistakes, just don’t make any big enough to cost you the race or affect the outcome.’ It’s so fun to run this good. They did a good job on the track. It was a little narrow, but if he works on it a little more, he is going to have an awesome track here.”
It was Erb’s best series finish of the year, coming home in second. “I needed another lane and a horseshoe because he has been really good. We are just happy to run second, we had a rough heat race. We ran fourth the first race at Golden Isles and we have only run five races, so I am not sweating bullets yet. We’re knocking down finishes that’s all you can ask for.”
Thornton, the reigning series rookie-of-the-year rounded out the podium in third. “I was really good around the bottom early. Some of the other guys were tight and they would slide up the track. We got up to fifth and I was kind of content with that. I got a couple of lucky restarts there and we were able to get a couple more spots. This is a confidence booster after Golden Isles.”
The winner’s Tye Twarog-owned Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Clements Racing Engine and sponsored by C&W Trucking, CarSourceAuto.com, Bilstein Shocks, Eibach Springs, Tri-Valley Equipment Sales, Accuforce Dynos and Testers, McHugh Chrysler, Doge, Jeep, Ram and Fiat, Igimage.com, J.R. Hall Properties, LLC, Red Oak Rub, Haskell’s Haulin’, and Tommy Pope Construction.
Completing the top ten were Earl Pearson Jr., Hudson O’Neal, Chase Junghans, Garrett Alberson, and Daulton Wilson.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Race Summary
K&N Filters Winter Nationals Presented by eBay Motors
Tuesday, February 1st, 2022
Bubba Raceway Park – Ocala, FL
Allstar Performance Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Shane Clanton / 14.211 seconds
Fast Time Group B: Devin Moran / 13.907 seconds (overall)
Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 25-Shane Clanton[1]; 2. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[3]; 3. 2D-Dan Stone[2]; 4. 99B-Boom Briggs[5]; 5. 76B-Blair Nothdurft[4]; 6. C02-Ryan Markham[6]; 7. (DNS) 7T-Drake Troutman
Summit Racing Equipment Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 18J-Chase Junghans[2]; 2. 1R-Josh Richards[3]; 3. 20-Jimmy Owens[4]; 4. 7-Ross Robinson[1]; 5. 97-Cody Overton[5]; 6. 10J-Joseph Joiner[6]
Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 40B-Kyle Bronson[1]; 2. 71-Hudson O'Neal[4]; 3. 28E-Dennis Erb Jr[3]; 4. 6S-Blake Spencer[5]; 5. 11-Spencer Hughes[2]; 6. 503-Jason Miles[6]
Ohlins Shocks Heat Race #4 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 9-Devin Moran[1]; 2. 58W-Mark Whitener[8]; 3. 1T-Tyler Erb[5]; 4. 10-Garrett Smith[4]; 5. 18D-Daulton Wilson[7]; 6. 11K-Austin Kirkpatrick[6]; 7. 16-Tyler Bruening[3]; 8. 2S-Stormy Scott[2]
eBay Motors Heat Race #5 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 2. 89-Ashton Winger[1]; 3. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[3]; 4. 81E-Tanner English[4]; 5. 1ST-Johnny Scott[5]; 6. 30-Todd Cooney[6]; 7. 1A-Tyler Clem[7]
Super Clean Heat Race #6 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 39-Tim McCreadie[1]; 2. 58-Garrett Alberson[2]; 3. 3S-Brian Shirley[4]; 4. 157-Mike Marlar[5]; 5. 33-Jeff Mathews[6]; 6. 19R-Ryan Gustin[3]; 7. 17SS-Brenden Smith[7]
Fast Shafts B-Main #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 99B-Boom Briggs[1]; 2. 7-Ross Robinson[2]; 3. 11-Spencer Hughes[6]; 4. 6S-Blake Spencer[3]; 5. 97-Cody Overton[5]; 6. 76B-Blair Nothdurft[4]; 7. C02-Ryan Markham[7]; 8. 503-Jason Miles[9]; 9. (DNS) 10J-Joseph Joiner; 10. (DNS) 7T-Drake Troutman
UNOH B-Main #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 18D-Daulton Wilson[1]; 2. 157-Mike Marlar[3]; 3. 81E-Tanner English[2]; 4. 1ST-Johnny Scott[5]; 5. 33-Jeff Mathews[6]; 6. 30-Todd Cooney[8]; 7. 1A-Tyler Clem[11]; 8. 17SS-Brenden Smith[12]; 9. (DNF) 11K-Austin Kirkpatrick[4]; 10. (DNS) 16-Tyler Bruening; 11. (DNS) 19R-Ryan Gustin; 12. (DNS) 2S-Stormy Scott; 13. (DNS) 58W-Mark Whitener
KN Winter Nationals Presented by OPTIMA Batteries A-Main (40 Laps): 1. 9-Devin Moran[2]; 2. 1T-Tyler Erb[8]; 3. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[16]; 4. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[4]; 5. 25-Shane Clanton[1]; 6. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[7]; 7. 71-Hudson O'Neal[11]; 8. 18J-Chase Junghans[3]; 9. 58-Garrett Alberson[12]; 10. 18D-Daulton Wilson[20]; 11. 20-Jimmy Owens[15]; 12. 7-Ross Robinson[21]; 13. 28E-Dennis Erb Jr[17]; 14. 39-Tim McCreadie[6]; 15. 11-Spencer Hughes[24]; 16. 40B-Kyle Bronson[5]; 17. 10-Garrett Smith[14]; 18. 1R-Josh Richards[9]; 19. 2D-Dan Stone[13]; 20. 3S-Brian Shirley[18]; 21. 99B-Boom Briggs[19]; 22. 89-Ashton Winger[10]; 23. 157-Mike Marlar[22]; 24. 2S-Stormy Scott[23]
Race Statistics
Entrants: 46
Lap Leaders: Devin Moran (Laps 1 – 40)
Wrisco Feature Winner: Devin Moran
Arizona Sport Shirts Crown Jewel Cup Feature Winner: n/a
Brandon Ford TV Challenge Feature Winner: n/a
Margin of Victory: 2.955 seconds
Stop-Tech Cautions: Ashton Winger (Lap 6); Kyle Bronson (Lap 23); Josh Richards (Lap 30); Garrett Smith (Lap 31); Tim McCreadie (Lap 31)
Series Provisionals: Stormy Scott, Spencer Hughes
Fast Time Provisional: n/a
Series Emergency Provisionals: n/a
Track Provisionals: n/a
Big River Steel Podium Top 3: Devin Moran, Tyler Erb, Ricky Thornton Jr
Penske Shocks Top 5: Devin Moran, Tyler Erb, Ricky Thornton Jr, Brandon Sheppard
Optima Batteries Hard Charger of the Race: Ricky Thornton Jr (Advanced 13 Positions)
Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Devin Moran
Hot Rod Processing Most Laps Led: Devin Moran (40 Laps)
Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Tyler Erb
O’Reilly Auto Parts Rookie of the Race: n/a
Dirty Girl Racewear Fastest Lap of the Race: Devin Moran (Lap 31 –14.489 seconds)
DirtonDirt.com Tough Break of the Race: Kyle Bronson
Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race: Wylie Moran (Devin Moran)
ARP Engine Builder of the Race: Clements Racing Engines
Miller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Longhorn Chassis
Dirt Draft Fastest in Hot Laps: Stormy Scott (14.317 seconds)
Time of Race: 22 minutes 28 seconds
Submitted By: Kirk Elliott
