Rick Eckert ended a long WoO winless streak on Friday at Ponderosa
*Story composed from DirtVision.com audio and various social media reports.
The World of Outlaws Late Models made their way into the Bluegrass State of Kentucky on Friday night for a $10,000-to-win event at Ponderosa Speedway. This race served as the first of a doubleheader weekend for the tour as the series will make its way south to Smoky Mountain Speedway in Tennessee on Saturday evening.
In the end, veteran driver and former WoO Late Models champion Rick Eckert earned his first feature win since 2013 in front of a huge crowd for the first ever trip by that series to the Junction City, Kentucky facility.
Eckert got the night started on a fast note when he led the way in Group A qualifying and overall among the 40 cars signed in for competition with a lap of 14.006 seconds. Darrell Lanigan and Shane Clanton followed Eckert in that qualifying group.
Kentucky campaigner Brad Neat set the pace in Group B time-trials ahead of Dale McDowell and local standout Dustin Linville.
Clanton continued his winning ways from earlier in the year by taking the checkered flag in heat race #1 ahead of Eckert, Gregg Satterlee and Justin Ratliff. Clanton and Eckert advanced to the redraw from this preliminary.
Mason Zeigler earned the victory in heat race #2 over Lanigan, Kent Robinson and James Rice. Zeigler and Lanigan moved to the redraw from this race.
Home state fans were happy to see Linville win heat #3 over Mike Marlar, Neat and former WoO Late Models champion Tim McCreadie. Linville and Marlar were sent to the redraw from this heat.
McDowell won the fourth heat over three-time WoO Late Models champion Josh Richards, Chub Frank and Michael Chilton. McDowell and Richards went to the redraw form the final heat race.
Zeigler was awarded the pole as a result of the redraw. He would be followed to the green flag by Lanigan, Eckert, Clanton, McDowell, Richards, Marlar and Linville.
Steve Francis won the first Last Chance Showdown over Brandon Kinzer and Brandon Overton while Chase Junghans took the win in the second LCS race over Frank Heckenast, Jr. and Josh Rice.
At the start of the 50-lap feature it was Lanigan who put a crossover move on Zeigler to grab the early lead with Eckert, Clanton and Richards rounding out the top-5 when the field drove under the flag stand to complete the first circuit.
A caution flew after the completion of the first lap for a spin by Brandon Kinzer. The restart following that yellow flag offered Eckert the opportunity he needed to move up as he darted by Zeigler to claim the runner-up spot behind Lanigan. Just a few laps later, Clanton would also bypass Zeigler as he moved into third and began to stalk the lead duo.
Local hero and top-10 running Dustin Linville brought out a caution on lap 15 after he had contact with the outside retaining wall.
Following the lap 15 restart, Lanigan was able to distance himself from a battle between Eckert and Clanton for second while Richards worked on Zeigler for fourth place. However, slower traffic would allow Eckert and Clanton to close dramatically on the leader as the race crossed the halfway mark.
It would be on lap 30 when the pivotal moment of the event would take place. Eckert moved under and eventually around Lanigan for the race lead as they worked through traffic. As Lanigan fought back, the two cars came in contact with each other. Langian spun and Clanton also caught a piece of the melee.
Lanigan’s car was ultimately wounded to the point that it could not continue. The damaged machine of Clanton was able to maintain the second spot behind Eckert.
On the following restart, Richards was briefly able to grab the runner-up position until a lap 32 caution for a multi-car incident once again slowed the action.
Eckert led the way when the race went back to green with Clanton and Frank following as Richards was shuffled back to fifth.
Eckert’s lead appeared to be in jeopardy with just under ten laps remaining when he found himself mired in heavy traffic with Clanton right on his rear spoiler. But the Pennsylvania driver was sparred from the potential pitfall when the final yellow flag of the night waved on lap 45 for the slowing car of Zeigler.
From that point, Eckert was able to outrun Clanton to the checkered flag and collect the win.
Feature Finish: 1. Rick Eckert, 2. Shane Clanton, 3. Chub Frank, 4. Josh Richards, 5. Dale McDowell, 6. James Rice, 7. Eric Wells, 8. Kent Robinson, 9. Brandon Kinzer, 10. Michael Chilton,11. Gregg Satterlee, 12. Tim McCreadie, 13. Frank Heckenast, Jr., 14. Josh Rice, 15. Morgan Bagley, 16. Mason Zeigler, 17. Mike Marlar, 18. Brad Neat, 19. Chase Junghans, 20. Brandon Overton, 21. Darrell Lanigan, 22. Justin Ratliff, 23. Dustin Linville, 24. Steve Francis
