Shannon Babb with Tom Deery at Oakshade Raceway after his Summer Nationals triumph. (Steve Datema) DirtCar Summer Nationals: Babb Celebrates New Title With Dominant Oakshade Run Kellen Burns WAUSEON, Oh. - July 16. Shannon Babb ended his DirtCar Summer Nationals tour in style, claiming the $10,000 'Hell Tour' finale Saturday at Oakshade Raceway. Babb, a champion in '05 and '06, started third and swept to the outside of polesitter Donnie Moran of Dresden, Ohio, on the ninth circuit to take the lead and held off an advancing Jeep Van Wormer to claim his sixth straight and ninth overall Summer Nationals win.
Ohio racers Matt Miller and #99 Donnie Moran battle for position before Moran completed the event in fourth place. (Steve Datema) Van Wormer charged from sixth place to finish second, his third consecutive runner up finish to Babb. Former DIRTcar Summer Nationals Champion Dennis Erb Jr., of Carpentersville, Ill., climbed from his ninth-place starting spot to finish third. Moran crossed the line fourth ahead of fellow buckeye Jon Henry of Ada, Ohio.
Area drivers Craig Vosbergen and #18 Chris Ross mix it up at mid-pack at Oakshade. (Steve Datema) Babb, who claimed his third 'Hell Tour' championship by 342 points over Scott James of Lawrenceburg, Ind., was a model of consistency throughout the month-long series. Babb posted nine wins and 18 top five finishes, eight more than Van Wormer, and 12 more than James who posted six over the course of the month long tour. Babb also collected 20 top ten finishes and 13 heat race wins, all best marks on the Summer Nationals.
The last half of the DirtCar Summer Nationals "Hell Tour" has been anything but for #18 Shannon Babb, who's made the last half of the mini-series his own personal playground. At Oakshade Raceway last night, Babb races #99 Donnie Moran toward yet another victory for the soon-to-be-crowned 2011 champion. (Steve Datema)
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Big Gains for Hubbard, Pearson, Ogle - The A-Team Has Been Updated 05-15-12
Scott James battles #13 Barry Doss in heat race action at Florence (Ky.) Speedway, but in the $2,000-to-win feature, the only thing anyone saw was the tail end of James' #81 car. (Roy Walker)
After plenty of trash-talking via the electronic media between Jeff Matthews and Ivedent Lloyd last week, it was #21 Lloyd who got the final word as he reeled in #33 Matthews to win Friday's LM feature at Oclala, Fla.'s Bubba Raceway Park. (R.E. Wing)
Fans at Markleysburg, Pa.'s Roaring Knob Motorsports Comlex were treated to dual LM features Saturday - one a makeup from a May 5th rainout. (Above) Tim Senic challenges eventual regular feature winner Chuck Harper, while Jared Hawkins (below) claimed the makeup race. (Tommy Micheals)
Henley, Missouri's Jason Russell leads the way to Victory Lane in the ULMS Late Model feature at Lucas Oil Speedway Saturday. (Chris Bork)
Some fierce racing action at Lucas Oil speedway. (Chris Bork)
Dalton, Ga.'s Craig Reece returned to Dixie Speedway Saturday and led all the way to win the Crate LM victory. (Steve Hixson)
Ray Guss Jr. races last week's Quad City Speedway winner, Mike Murphy, Jr. This time, it was advantage Guss. (Chris Damitz)
With a strong motor back into his mount, Veteran Lamar Scoggins claimed last Friday's Crate LM victory at Boyd's Speedway. (Steve Hixson)
Veteran racer Lance Matthees navigates Spring Lake, Minnesota's Deer Creek Speedway before taking Saturday's WISSOTA Late Model checkers. (Jason Durst)
Racing hard at mid-pack, it's the dueling 55s of Cory Mahder (inside) and Greg Nippoldt at Deer Creek. (Jason Durst)
Ryan King (above and below) swept both the Ltd. Late Model and Crate Late Model features Saturday at 411 Motor Speedway in Seymour, Tenn. (Chad Wells)
Still riding his wave in Iowa, Mike Murphy, Jr. in early action before taking the main event win at Davenport last Friday. (Chris Damitz)
Jason Jameson ran a gauntlet to finally capture another win Friday night at Moler
Raceway Park (see main page). (Roy
Walker)
After holding back a charge from Alex Ferree, Chub Frank drove home with a Friday night win at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa. (John Stivason)
Bobby Pierce, Brett Sievert, and Mike Glynn race in a tight pack in Kankakee (Ill.) Speedway's "Crosstown Cup", but (below) it was ultimately Shawn Toczek (42) here racing the high side of Mike Provenzano, who sailed to the win. (Dan Simpson)
NALMS Suspends Remaining Season
In a statement released to the racing media Monday, Northern All All Stars Late Model Series (NALMS) owners Shawn Hall and Bob Mooney relased the following statement:
To all NALMS drivers and fans,
Northern Allstars Late Model Series regrets to inform all of our drivers and fans that as of today (May 14, 2012) we will suspend all series races for the remaining 2012 season. The primary reason for the decision to discontinue the series was mainly economics. Tracks, teams and fans are having a hard time these days with the cost of living in general. With the cost of fuel, parts, tires, tickets and lodging, many people just cannot afford to travel to our shows, so we feel it's best to stop for now and try to regroup for the 2013 season.
Our series needs to be able to have at least 18 to 20 shows to cover our cost of putting on these shows and our drivers point funds. With many tracks cutting back on their special events and other tracks just choosing not to have specials at all, it's has really cut our options for race tracks down to a very few unless you are willing to travel several hours away from the Central Illinois area, and that is not cost effective for the racing teams or fans.
In closing we would like to thank all of the drivers and fans whom have supported the series over the years and we hope to be able to come back with a bigger and better season for everyone in 2013.
A-Team Leaders from 1997-2011 (Click on link for complete rundown)
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