Dirt racing heats up for summer

BY MELINDA ROBINSON - The Independent

Fri, May 16 2008

— As the weather is heating up in the Tri-State area, so is the dirt Late Model racing season.
Josh McGuire picked up his first win of the young season last Saturday at Richmond Speedway. The Grayson native led a field 24 to the checkered flag, capturing $3,000 in the O’Reilly Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series Super Late Model race. It was his second win the series.
McGuire won his heat race and started his No. 41 C.J. Rayburn race car second in the A-Main. Five laps later, McGuire took the top spot from Bobby Wolter, Jr. and held on in the 40-lap event that took just 12 minutes, 46 seconds to complete. McGuire and second-place finisher Mike Jewell pulled away from the pack early but encountered lap traffic with about 10 to go. The top five bunched up, but McGuire drove to the win.
Eddie Carrier, Jr. finished third, followed by Victor Lee and Michael Chilton.
McGuire is 19th in BoB series points. The series takes its tour to Brownstown, Ind., Speedway this Saturday for the 40-lap, $3,000-to-win 25th Annual Hoosier Dirt Classic.
The Kentucky Colonel
Ashland’s Steve Francis picked up 11th and sixth-place finishes last weekend in a pair of World of Outlaws sanctioned events in Missouri.
Shannon Babb drove a Clint Bowyer-owned Late Model to victory lane in Saturday’s All-State Insurance 40 at Lebanon I-44 Speedway. Rick Eckert, Billy Moyer, Wendall Wallace and Clint Smith rounded out the top five.
Francis, the defending series champ, started on the pole but slipped back to sixth. He moved up a spot to second in the points standings.
The Kentucky Colonel followed with an 11th-place showing in a 40-lap event at Monett Speedway. He had to use a provisional starting spot after a miscue in his heat race.
Brian Birkhofer started that race on the pole and was never challenged en route to the win. Wallace, Tim Fuller, Darrell Lanigan and Chub Frank rounded out the top five.
Moyer, the current points leader, failed to finish after cutting a tire. He was 24th in the 26-car field.
Francis gained 26 points on Mr. Smooth but is now 10 behind Moyer, tied for second with Eckert.
The WoO LMS will be off this weekend but returns to the dirt at Attica (Ohio) Raceway Park on May 16, followed by a spin at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway on the 17th and Lincoln (Ill.) Speedway on the 18th.
MELINDA ROBINSON can be reached at mrobinson@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2646.