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| Pat Miller Photo |
Shane Clanton could not be caught Friday night. Not in a different groove, not with the help of lapped traffic, and not with the late race restarts that included a red hot Josh Richards right behind him. Clanton seemed destined to be in victory lane at the Working Man 50 as he drew the pole position and led from the green to the checkered flag, tallying his 30th career World of Outlaw Late Model victory while padding his enormous points lead over Richards.
"It took it four or five laps for the right front to start steering where I wanted it to go, it was just so tight," Clanton said following the victory which netted the Georgia driver $10,550. "I just didn't want to see those cautions. They were telling me I had a pretty big lead before that lap 42 caution."
The evening started out with a slight delay in the action courtesy of rain showers in the vicinity, and the additional moisture played a significant factor in assisting a surface that was racy, heavy and saw a cushion develop that would alter what drivers could do in certain turns.
When the green flag flew on the 50 lap main event, 2015 Lernerville late model champion Alex Ferree started alongside Clanton by virtue of a stout heat and redraw performance and looked completely up to the task of competing for the win. Clanton made for the top of the speedway and drove out the the early lead while Ferree had his hands full with Richards and Darrell Lanigan in hot pursuit behind him until a lap five caution for Kenny Pettyjohn re stacked the field.
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| Pat Miller Photo |
On the ensuing restart, Richards went to the bottom groove and wrested the second spot away from Ferree completing a climb from his sixth starting position in the first seven laps. After a two more cautions in the early going, the race finally developed some rhythm under green flag laps and Frank Heckenast Jr. made the most of them working forward from his eighth starting spot to third. Meanwhile, Clanton had switched lines and started putting the field behind him with authority while working the low to mid groove, a change that several other drivers followed. The eventual winner entered his first taste of lapped traffic at the 15 lap mark and moved through and around it flawlessly while Richards was looking for a way to close the gap on the leader.
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| Pat Miller Photo |
At the halfway point, only 13 cars remained on the lead lap as Richards became somewhat mired by the heavier lapped traffic while Heckenast desperately looked for a way around Richards. Clanton looked to be in command until the caution flag flew on lap 42 for fourth running Alex Ferree whose flat tire cost him a certain top five finish.
When the race resumed, Clanton once again was the class of the field as Richards had no answer to the question of how best to run him down. Behind them, Davey Johnson who had rallied from his 12th starting spot to the top five. Also on the move and furiously trying to give it all he had in a last gasp effort was one Brandon Overton who had come from his 16th starting position to seventh.
Clanton would have one final restart to survive when Lanigan caught the front stretch wall on lap 48, setting a green-white-checkered dash to the end. Clanton then proceeded to drive away from the pack once again en route to his tenth World of Outlaw feature win of the season.
"I didn't see Josh in the top two or three on the first caution, but I did see him on the next caution and I said to myself oh crap, he's already here, " Clanton remarked in victory lane." "I knew he had a little softer right rear tire than we did and I was just biding my time in traffic there and just tried to do the best I could to keep my tires under me and did what I had to do."
For the complete photo album of the Working Man 50 from our own Pat Miller: Click Here
Final Finish:
1. Shane Clanton
2. Josh Richards
3. Frank Heckenast Jr.
4. Davey Johnson
5. Rick Eckert
6. Chub Frank
7. Brandon Overton
8. Gregg Satterlee
9. Chase Junghans
10. Paul Wilmouth Jr.
11. Austin Hubbard
12. Eric Wells
13. Morgan Bagley
14. Tim McCreadie
15. Boom Briggs
16. Darrell Lanigan
17. Gary Lyle
18. Alex Ferree
19. Bump Hedman
20. Mike Norris
21. Kenny Schaltenbrand
22. Jared Miley
23. Michael Lake
24. Billy Moyer
25. Matt Lux
26. Kenny Pettyjohn
Notes:
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| Pat Miller Photo |
- Former World of Outlaw rookie of the year Austin Hubbard set quick time overall on the evening and had his night altered by contact with Michael Norris in his heat race. Hubbard repaired the damage and earned a hard fought transfer spot in the second last chance race and finished 11th in the main event
- Gregg Satterlee also overcame adversity suffering a fuel pump issue in hot laps which thwarted his time trial attempt. Satterlee worked from the back of his heat and also earned a transfer spot in the consi's and worked to an eighth place finish in the 50 lap final
- Boom Briggs had a scary moment in preliminary action that saw him barrel roll several times in turn two and landed on his roof. Briggs brought out his back up car and was still able to complete the rest of the program
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