Lanigan Flashes Vintage Form In National Open Triumph Sunday Night At Selinsgrove Speedway
Kentucky Star Finally Scores First World of Outlaws Late Model Series Win Of 2015 With His Own Car
SARVER, Pa. (Sept. 6) — Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., looked like his old dominating self Sunday at Selinsgrove Speedway.
Regaining his winning touch on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, Lanigan passed Morgan Bagley of Tyler, Texas, for the lead on lap 12 and drove away from Shane Clanton of Zebulon, Ga., late in the distance to capture the 40-lap Jeff’s Auto Body National Open.
Lanigan, 44, earned $8,200 for winning the half-mile oval’s National Open event for an unprecedented third consecutive year. It was his second WoO triumph of a frustrating 2015 season but his first driving his own Club 29 Race Car.
Clanton settled for runner-up honors, 0.772 of a second behind Lanigan after a lap-48 caution flag set up a green-white-checkered finish. Clanton’s Capital Race Cars teammate, Chase Junghans of Manhattan, Kan., steadily marched forward from the seventh starting spot to finish third, while Bagley settled for fourth place after leading laps 1-11 and Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., placed fifth after starting on the pole position.
“It’s hard to believe it took this long to win a race with our own stuff,” said Lanigan, whose previous WoO victory this season, on July 18 at Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minn., came in Bagley’s backup Club 29 machine. “After winning so many the last few years (he set a WoO single-season win record of 17 in 2014), you kind of get used to it last year. Then you come out this year and it takes so long to win and you don’t know what’s going on.”
Lanigan, who decided to drop off the WoO circuit as a regular in mid-July and has entered only selected races since then, was certainly glad he opted to make the overnight haul to Selinsgrove after finishing a disappointing 25th in Saturday night’s Firecracker 100 presented by GottaRace.com at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa. His convincing performance seemed to shake off the doldrums that have been plaguing him throughout the 2015 campaign.
“We’ve had a good car all year but just had some problems and stupid things happen that are out of our control,” said Lanigan, who recorded his 72nd career WoO win. “Last night (at Lernerville) I think we had the best car there too — we were actually just riding there (behind early leader Jared Miley of South Park, Pa.), but (on a lap-30 restart) we broke the input shaft on the tranny and that was it.
“Tonight everything finally worked out right and our results show it.”
Lanigan, who started fifth, hustled up to second place by lap four and proceeded to stalk Bagley’s lead machine. Finally, on lap 12, Lanigan ducked underneath Bagley off turn four and surged into the top spot for good.
“I was really just riding,” Lanigan said of the race’s early stages. “I didn’t want to abuse my tires and I wanted to just see where (Bagley) was running. He had a good car there, too, and really, we changed our line up a little to pass him.
“I told him afterward: ‘Sometimes it kind of sucks to be leading that early because the guy running behind you can change his line up and put a move on you.’ That’s kind of what I did.”
Bagley, 28, simply wasn’t fast enough to repel his chassis builder, leaving him short once again of his first-ever WoO checkered flag. He managed to dive-bomb to the inside of Lanigan on laps 16 and 17 but then proceeded to lose ground with each passing lap and finished in fifth place.
“ It just seems like he was a little more maneuverable than me,” Bagley said of Lanigan. “He could kind of turn across the center and hit a little bit better lines on the racetrack. It got tougher for me as the race went on because I kind of needed the whole racetrack to turn the car.”
Clanton, 39, appeared to have the best shot at unseating Lanigan after breaking into second place with a lap-24 pass of Bagley. But the runaway WoO points leader never drew close enough to seriously threaten Lanigan.
According to Clanton, the caution flags on lap 23 (Brandon Overton of Evans, Ga., slowed with a flat tire) and lap 48 (Jim Yoder of Selinsgrove, Pa., fell off the pace on the homestretch) only hurt him.
“I needed no cautions,” said Clanton, who registered his 32nd top-five finish in 38 WoO A-Main starts this season. “We was running good there until that lap-23 caution kind of sealed my left-rear tire up some. I didn’t stick as good after that.”
The 22-year-old Junghans also wasn’t at his best as the race wound down. He managed to sneak by Richards and Bagley to reach third place shortly after the lap-23 restart, but the rising WoO sophomore wasn’t able to threaten Lanigan nor Clanton.
“We were really good,” Junghans said. “I started getting tight towards the end and I spun the tires on the restart and those guys took off, but we’re happy with third.”
A 39-car field signed in for the event, which brought the WoO LMS to Selinsgrove for the third consecutive year.
Lanigan was the overall fastest in time trials with a lap of 19.196 seconds.
Heat winners were Lanigan, Clanton, Richards and Junghans. Jeff Rine of Danville, Pa., and Gary Stuhler of Greencastle, Pa., captured the B-Mains.
The next action for the WoO LMS is the Sept. 18-19 Keyser Manufacturing Down ‘n Dirty 100 weekend at Berlin Raceway in Marne, Mich. Two complete programs ($8,000 to win on Friday and $12,000 to win on Saturday) will be contested on the dirt surface spread over Berlin’s asphalt.
For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.
Fans can also follow the WoO LMS on Twitter at Twitter.com/WoOLateModels and Facebook at Facebook.com/WorldofOutlaws.
Results of World of Outlaws Late Model Series ‘Jeff’s Auto Body National Open’ at Selinsgrove Speedway (Finishing Position/Start/Driver/Laps Completed/Money Won):
1. (5) Darrell Lanigan/40 $8,200
2. (8) Shane Clanton/40 $4,550
3. (7) Chase Junghans/40 $3,250
4. (2) Morgan Bagley/40 $2,850
5. (1) Josh Richards/40 $2,650
6. (3) Chub Frank/40 $2,150
7. (6) Rick Eckert/40 $2,050
8. (19) Frank Heckenast Jr./40 $1,850
9. (17) Jeff Rine/40 $1,750
10. (12) Steve Campbell/40 $1,150
11. (11) Kenny Pettyjohn/40 $1,000
12. (9) Eric Wells/40 $1,450
13. (4) Gregg Satterlee/40 $850
14. (10) Tim McCreadie/40 $1,450
15. (18) Gary Stuhler/40 $750
16. (16) Dave Zona/40 $750
17. (23) Jordan Yaggy/40 $910
18. (15) Matt Cochran/40 $640
19. (21) Dylan Yoder/40 $620
20. (14) Bryan Bernheisel/40 $610
21. (13) Brandon Overton/39 $1,150
22. (24) Chad Hollenbeck/39 $600
23. (22) Boom Briggs/38 $1,150
24. (20) Jim Yoder/38 $625
* Earnings include Winners Circle program and cash contingency award bonuses
Time of Race: 20 Mins., 32.996 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 0.772 Secs.
Yellow Flags: 2 (laps 23, 38)
Lap Leaders: Bagley (1-11); Lanigan (12-40)
Provisional Starters: Yaggy, Hollenbeck
WoO LMS ‘Bonus Bucks’ Winner: Rine ($500)
WoO LMS Rookie of the Race: Yaggy ($250)
Ohlins Shocks Time Trial Results (Position/No./Driver/Hometown/Best Lap):
Group ‘A’
1. 29-Darrell Lanigan, Union, Ky., 19.196
2. 25-Shane Clanton, Zebulon, Ga., 19.34
3. 18-Eric Wells, Hazard, Ky., 19.412
4. 22-Gregg Satterlee, Indiana, Pa., 19.425
5. 14M-Morgan Bagley, Tyler, Texas, 19.449
6. 39-Tim McCreadie, Watertown, N.Y., 19.46
7. 76-Brandon Overton, Evans, Ga., 19.596
8. 119b-Bryan Bernheisel, Lebanon, Pa., 19.625
9. 2J-Jeff Rine, Danville, Pa., 19.658
10. 61T-Kenny Trevitz, Winfield, Pa., 19.857
11. 11-Jason Schmidt, Lewistown, Pa., 19.936
12. 24-Dylan Yoder, Selinsgrove, Pa., 19.936
13. 4ds-Chad Hollenbeck, Kingsley, Pa., 20.000
14. 28-Jason Smith, Cogan Station, Pa., 20.283
15. 99Jr-Frank Heckenast Jr., Frankfort, Ill., 20.302
16. 4s-Danny Snyder, Greenland, Pa., 20.318
17. 11-Keith Jackson, Martinsburg, Va., 20.579
18. 0B-Larry Baer, Dover, Pa., 20.596
19. 7M-Meade Hahn, Millerstown, Pa., 20.609
20. 88T-Ernie Millon, Waymart, Pa., 22.982
Group ‘B’
1. 1-Josh Richards, Shinnston, W.Va., 19.562
2. 1*-Chub Frank, Bear Lake, Pa., 19.594
3. 7V-Rick Eckert, York, Pa., 19.678
4. 18c-Chase Junghans, Manhattan, Kan., 19.716
5. 38-Kenny Pettyjohn, Millsboro, Del., 19.77
6. 0-Coleby Frye, Dover, Pa., 19.812
7. 27-Jim Yoder, Selinsgrove, Pa., 19.891
8. 77-Jordan Yaggy, Rochester, Minn., 19.893
9. 3-Tim Wilson, McClure, Pa., 19.894
10. 99b-Boom Briggs, Bear Lake, Pa., 19.965
11. 16-Matt Cochran, Williamsport, Pa., 20.006
12. 2-Steve Campbell, Danville, Pa., 20.009
13. 33-Trent Brenneman, Mifflintown, Pa., 20.078
14. 9-Hayes Mattern, Beavertown, Pa., 20.131
15. z14-Dave Brouse Sr., Beavertown, Pa., 20.179
16. 99z-Dave Zona, Montrose, Pa., 20.247
17. 1-Gary Stuhler, Greencastle, Pa., 20.407
18. 93-Pancho Lawler, Hanover, Pa., 20.572
19. 41-Derrick Casner, Mifflintown, Pa., 21.012
Heat No. 1 (10 laps – Top 4 Transfer): Lanigan, Bagley, Wells, Overton, Rine, Heckenast, Hollenbeck, Schmidt, Jackson, Hahn.
Heat No. 2 (10 laps – Top 4 Transfer): Clanton, Satterlee, McCreadie, B. Bernheisel, D. Yoder, Smith, Trevitz, Snyder, Baer, Millon.
Heat No. 3 (10 laps – Top 4 Transfer): Richards, Eckert, Pettyjohn, Cochran, J. Yoder, Stuhler, Brenneman, Brouse, D. Casner.
Heat No. 4 (10 laps – Top 4 Transfer): Junghans, Frank, Campbell, Zona, Briggs, Mattern, Lawler, Yaggy, Frye.
B-Main No. 1 (10 laps – Top 3 Transfer): Rine, Heckenast, D. Yoder, Trevitz, Millon, Schmidt, Smith, Hollenbeck, Snyder (DNS) Jackson, Hahn, Baer.
B-Main No. 2 (10 laps – Top 3 Transfer): Stuhler, J. Yoder, Briggs, Wilson, D. Casner, Mattern, Brenneman, Frye, Yaggy, Brouse, Lawler.
World of Outlaws Late Model Series Contingency Award Winners (awards presented to noted finisher/qualifier or next highest displaying decal):
Ohlins Shocks ($50 cash to fast qualifier): Lanigan
Comp Cams ($50 certificate to A-Main winner): Lanigan
MSD Ignition ($50 cash to A-Main winner): Lanigan
Quartermaster ($100 certificate to A-Main winner): Clanton
Wrisco (three sheets of aluminum/certificate to A-Main winner): Lanigan
Mobil 1 ($50 cash to 4th-place finisher in A-Main): Bagley
JE Pistons ($50 cash to 5th-place finisher in A-Main): Richards
Lincoln Welders ($50 cash to 6th-place finisher in A-Main): Frank
VP Racing Fuels ($50 cash to 8th-place finisher in A-Main): Heckenast
Edelbrock ($50 cash to 9th-place finisher in A-Main): Rine
Comp Cams ($50 cash to 10th-place finisher in A-Main): Campbell
Cometic ($50 cash to 12th-place finisher in A-Main): Wells
JRI Shocks ($50 cash to 13th-place finisher in A-Main): Zona
Superflow Dynos ($50 cash to 14th-place finisher in A-Main): McCreadie
Quartermaster ($25 certificate to 15th-place finisher in A-Main): Zona
JE Pistons (one set of rings certificate to 16th-place finisher in A-Main): Yaggy
Quartermaster ($50 certificate to 19th-place finisher in A-Main): D. Yoder
Mobil 1 (20 percent certificate to 20th-place finisher in A-Main): B. Bernheisel
JE Pistons (one set of rings certificate to 21st-place finisher in A-Main): Overton
MSD Ignition ($25 cash to 24th-place finisher in A-Main): J. Yoder
QA1 ($50 to driver with fastest lap of the night): Clanton
Arizona Sports Shirts ($100 certificate to highest-finishing non-WoO driver): Rine
2015 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Point Standings as of Sept. 6 – 38 A-Mains completed (rank/driver/points/deficit to leader):
1. Shane Clanton 5388
2. Josh Richards 5218 (-170)
3. Chub Frank 5034 (-354)
4. Rick Eckert 4942 (-446)
5. Morgan Bagley 4870 (-518)
6. Tim McCreadie 4850 (-538)
7. Chase Junghans 4812 (-576)
8. Frank Heckenast Jr. 4776 (-612)
9. Eric Wells 4746 (-642)
10. Brandon Overton 4448 (-940)
11. Boom Briggs 4378 (-1010)
12. Darrell Lanigan 4228 (-1160)
The World of Outlaws Late Model Series is brought to fans across the country by many important sponsors and partners, including: Arizona Sport Shirts (Official Apparel Company), Hoosier Racing Tires (Official Racing Tires), Lincoln Welder (Official Welder), VP Racing Fuel (Official Racing Fuel), DirtonDirt.com (Hard Charger Award) and McCarthy’s One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning (Raye Vest Memorial Pill Draw Award); in addition to contingency sponsors: Butlerbuilt, Cometic Gasket, Comp Cams, Edelbrock, JE Pistons, JRI Shocks, Mobil 1, MSD, Ohlins Shocks, QA1, QuarterMaster, Superflow Dynos and Wrisco Aluminum; along with manufacturer sponsors Capital Race Cars, Club 29 Chassis, Integra Shocks, Impact Racing Products, Intercomp, Racing Electronics, Rocket Chassis, and TNT Rescue.