Ray Moore took control from the start and raced to his eighth special event win of the season (10th overall) and the 18th of his SUPR career at USA Speedway over Labor Day weekend. (Best Photography)
SUPR: Moore Derails Bagley Win Streak With USA Speedway
Win
STERLINGTON, La. - Sept. 2. Grabbing his fourth series win of the
season and delivering some payback in the meantime, Ray Moore of Haughton, La., cruised to victory Friday at
USA Speedway in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Southern United Professional Racing (SUPR) Series. The former SUPR
champion and polesitter, Moore, claimed the $2,000 payday by
beating Ronny Adams of Diana, Tex., by five lengths.
"When we first took off, my crew
showed me that my lead was getting bigger and bigger, so I started taking it real easy," said Moore. "When
I got to lap traffic, Adams was definitely closing, but I was trying to stay slow enough to not catch lap
traffic, but that didn't really work out either. I knew he (Adams) was closing when we got into lap traffic
completely, then I had a little altercation in front of me and I didn't really know whether to go high or low.
I just decided to just stay in the rubber and luckily they got it all worked out and we had a caution. Every
time we had a caution and got out of lapped traffic, Adams was never really a threat to
us."
Dayton, Texas' Chris Holley put in a solid run to fourth place at USA Speedway. Chad
Dupont drove his #5 to a less satisfying 18th. (Best
Photography)
Moore never looked back after jumping out to the lead, en route to his
18th series victory and placing him eighth on SUPR's all-time win
list with Ricky Ingalls. It was Moore's second win at the quarter-mile oval
in the last 12 months.
Moore exacted a little revenge on series points leader, Morgan Bagley, who
had halted Moore's five race winning streak in early July at Champion Park Speedway. Coming into
Friday's 40-lap feature, Bagley had won five consecutive sanctioned
Late Model events at USA Speedway, until Moore re-paid the favor.
Moore added, "We took off after the Wisconsin trip for a little while
and went to a little local track by the house to do some testing and other things. Afterwards, we went to
a SUPR race and crashed out, it tore the car up real bad and we had to rebuild it. We went back to the
local track and ran again, then we had these three races coming up (on Labor Day weekend). I didn't
really want to come here, since it was one lane around the bottom and comes down to the luck of the draw,
but we were a little bit bored and thought we could gamble. It is on our way to Greenville for the next
stop, so we decided
Young Louisiana Modified standout Kyle
Pleasant (racing Jay Brunson) made his Late Model debut at Sterlington, but made an early
exit. (Best Photography)
to stop in to see if we could get a
good number and start upfront in the heat race to win it. We did draw good, it put us on the pole for the
feature and we was able to lead all the laps. It was really just luck, I think if we would have started third
row in the feature, I don't think we would have won. I think we had the best car, but I still don't think we
would have been able to get up through there. It worked out in our favor, in the plan of us being on the way to
the other races. If we would have started mid-pack, I was just going to make one lap and pull off, so luck was
on our side tonight to pull off the win."
Jeff Chanler of Minden, La., returned to series competition after serving a one-race suspension
and rebounded to record a solid third place finish. Sixth-starting Chris Holley of
Dayton, Tex., took home fourth place, followed by Rob Litton of Alexandria, rounding out
the top five after starting ninth.
The race got off to a shaky start, as the yellow immediately waved before one lap could be
completed. SUPR points frontrunners, Timothy Culp of West Monroe and Allen Tippen of Minden, made contact in
the middle of turns one and two, calling for a second attempt to get the feature underway.
A successful re-try had Moore taking the point over Adams, Chanler, Darin
Patrick and Kennith Crowe. The feature would stay green for seven laps, as Patrick
overtook Chanler to steal a spot before the next caution. A slowed Kyle Pleasant in turn four warranted the
yellow, briefly stopping the action.
Only one circuit would be completed before the field would be bunched up again. Culp and Bagley
would literally get together in turn two, with both becoming entangled momentarily by the front bars.
Bubba Mullins and #71 Allen Tippen race inside the top ten at Sterlington.
(Best Photography)
When the race resumed, Ray Moore again paced the field and approached traffic on lap 13. Moore
carefully negotiated lapped cars as Adams drew closer for the lead one lap later. With Adams baring down, Moore
continued to lead the way until progress was subsided due to Wesley Chanler's slowed car bringing
out caution four.
Moore's excellent restart had Adams and Jeff Chanler shuffling for the runner up position. Just
past the halfway mark, Adams averted a near spin, saving his No. 1A car in turn four and not relinquishing a
position.
At lap 26, most of the pack was hugging the bottom groove, as the feature
clicked off its longest green flag run. Moore built better than a four-second advantage on Adams, Chanler,
Holley and Patrick.
With ten to go, Moore seemed to be coasting his way to victory until a kink in his plan occurred
on lap 35, with the final yellow appearing. Moore would have to
fight off all challenges one more time, to solidfy his first SUPR win in 11 weeks.
Adams would not let Moore get away on the restart, but mounting a
late-race pass on the high side would prove to be an unwieldy task. Adams stayed within
mere lengths of Moore, but the No. 93 would make no errors and crossed the finish
line, claiming the victory.
Allen Tippen and #5 B.J. Robinson at USA Speedway. (Best Photography)
"Considering the last few weeks, even
though we have some local show wins, it is good to get off to a fast start. The car is feeling
extremely good, but the local show
wins don't mean anything at our level. This win here tonight is great for the momentum we need. Hopefully they
can do some work to this track in the off-season to help it get more racy, because they have a lot of SUPR
races here and I would love to come and support these guys. It is close to my house and that's a plus too. The
way it is right now here, it is just the luck of the draw and that turns some drivers away. There was a lot of
tore up stuff with drivers trying to get to the front and the only way to do it, is to knock somebody out of
the way. We will take the win though and move forward, certainly would like to tie some of these together
again," Moore explained.
Notes: Moore's MB2 Customs Chassis is powered by a Jay Dickens Racing Engine
and sponsored by Moore Wireline Inc, tic Tools International, X-Treme Graphics, Mars Race Cars, J&J
Motorsports and Smith's Towing.
Moore scored his 10th win in only 28 total starts this season, giving him a remarkable .357
winning percentage, while finishing in the top five in 17 events.
* The 30-minute feature ended at 11:40 pm and was slowed by six cautions.
* B.J. Robinson of Shreveport had an eventful night is his newly wrapped red and yellow
Childress Racing No. R5. It started with a black flag in the heat race, when Robinson clipped Chris Holley from
behind and spun him out to
warrant a caution. Robinson and Holley were racing in tight quarters for third before Robinson
drew the black flag. In the consolation, Robinson lost a left front wheel before a lap could be completed and
was forced to take a series provisional into the feature before finishing 15th.
* Brooks Strength of Byram, Miss., made his first series start in his MasterSbilt/ Jay Dickens
No. 444. Strength has four wins this season at his hometrack of Jackson Motor Speedway -two in the MSCC Series
and two unsanctioned Late Model events. Strength also has another unsanctioned win at Greenville Speedway in
May. Strength took the last transfer spot in the consolation at USA Speedway, but would
be forced to an early exit -finishing 20th.
Jackson, Miss. driver Brooks Strength (444) made his first SUPR Series entry,
while Rookie Bud Mullins entered his "X" into his first series event. Both were early
retirees.(Best Photography)
* Chris Buhler of Central, La., had a short evening, losing an engine in hot laps.
* Modified driver Kyle Pleasant of Natchitoches, La., entered the Late Model ranks for the first
time in his career, driving the Allen Lenard-owned Warrior/Clements No. 24/7 Race Car. In his first attempt,
Pleasant made the feature, but was the first car to retire from the field of 22.
* Another driver testing the late model waters was Bud Mullins, son of longtime SUPR regular,
Bubba Mullins. The younger Mullins made his first series start and sat on the eighth-row for the feature, but
it would be short-lived as he pulled off early to finish in 21st.
* Drivers failing to make the feature included Chris Buhler, Gary Christian, Shawn O'Toole, Mark
Underwood Jr and Drew Zeigler.
(Top 15 through September 2nd)
1. Morgan Bagley - 2,440 2. Timothy Culp - 2,225
3. Allen Tippen - 2,180
4. Rob Litton - 1,698 5. Chris Holley - 1,672 6. Kevin Sitton - 1,629 7. Jeff Chanler - 1,551 8. Jody Prince - 1,530 9. Ronny Adams - 1,464 10. B.J. Robinson - 1,206 11. Ray Moore - 1,182 12. Robbie Stuart - 1,169 13. Jay Brunson - 1,068 14. Bubba Mullins - 877 15. Robbie Starnes - 818 | ||||||||||
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Strong ALMS Showings Move Feger Closer to Top 25 - The A-Team Has Been Updated 05-21-12
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)
A-Team Leaders from 1997-2011 (Click on link for complete rundown)
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