Rossburg Wold 100 report

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Email address: DirtNews@aol.com Web site: http://members.aol.com/dirtnews/digest =================================== CONTENTS: World 100 recap (published Sept. 9) UMP: Moran thrilled with fourth victory in World 100 =================================== UNITED MIDWESTERN PROMOTERS (UMP) 27th annual World 100

By Tim Lee Late Model America

ROSSBURG, Ohio "Last week, we had our fourth son and this week, I got my fourth World 100!"

These were the words of Donnie Moran, who became the first four-time winner of the World 100, capturing Eldora Speedway's most prestigious late model race Saturday night. The Dresden, Ohio, driver led the final 52 laps on his way to the $30,000 victory. Scott Bloomquist came from his 19th-starting spot to finish second, while Jack Boggs, John Mason and Ronnie Johnson rounded out the top five finishers. Rick Eckert, Terry Phillips, Kevin Weaver, Steve Francis and Mike Jewell finished sixth through 10th on the historic half-mile oval in westcentral Ohio.

"What can I say?" a jubilant Moran asked the crowd from the victor's podium after the race. "My car pretty much knew one way around the race track tonight and I had to drive it that way the whole race and things just worked out super."

At the drop of the green, Darrell Lanigan outraced polesitter John Mason to the first turn and led the field through the first lap. The field quickly fell into single-file line with Lanigan being tailed by Billy Moyer, Moran, Mason, Ronnie Johnson, and Matt Miller.

The first caution came out on lap 18 when Freddy Smith's No. 00 GRT slowed to the inside of the front straightaway, ending the Knoxville, Tenn., racer's evening prematurely. Wendell Wallace pulled to the pits during the caution. Wallace would return to run four more laps before joining other early retirees Smith, Jerry Rice, and Booper Bare.

Lanigan continued to set the pace through the first 30 circuits, but lapped traffic allowed Moyer to reel the black No. 29 MasterSbilt in and make a run for the lead. Meanwhile Moran and Mason continued to swap third place with Moran claiming the spot for good on lap 31. Moyer finally found his spot in Turns 3 and 4, running up against the wall to pass Lanigan and take the point on lap 35.

Debris on the back straightaway brought out the second yellow flag on lap 37. During the caution period, Bob Pierce, who got into the field through the last chance race, pulled to the pits with a flat and called it a night.

Jack Boggs, who started 13th and was running eighth before the caution, started moving up when the green flag returned. The Grayson, Ky., driver got around Dale McDowell for eighth on the restart, then captured sixth from Miller, while Bloomquist, Friday night's fast qualifier, followed suit.

On lap 41, Moran made a move on Lanigan, just as the Union, Ky., driver's engine soured, ending his night. Now in second, Moran set his sights on the leader, Moyer, who he caught and passed on lap 48, becoming the third and final leader of the event.

As the field took the crossed flags, signifying the halfway point, slower traffic closed up the top six -- Moran, Moyer, Mason, Johnson, Boggs, and Bloomquist -- almost bumper-to-bumper.

Bloomquist moved into the top five on lap 57, getting past Boggs then setting sail for former teammate Johnson, who he passed in Turn 1 on the following lap to take over fourth. Mason became Bloomquist's next victim five laps later, moving the Tennessee terror up to third behind Moran and Moyer.

Moran, in the meantime, was building up a 10 car length lead up front as Moyer and Bloomquist had trouble negotiating slower traffic.

By lap 78, Bloomquist had run Moyer and down and was taking a serious look at second. Three laps later, Bloomquist used the same low line that had been so effective for him in the early laps to take over the runner-up position coming out of Turn 4 and relegate Moyer to third.

The third caution came out on lap 83 for a melee in Turn 2, which saw Bloomquist get together with the lapped car of Matt Miller. Bloomquist spun and Moyer tried to miss the wreck and ended up in the wall, doing much damage to the No. 21 MasterSbilt.

Once the wreck was cleared, Moran again led the field to the green flag, with Bloomquist maintaining his spot in second.

As the laps wound down, Moran pulled out to a substantial lead over Bloomquist, who also ran by himself on the track as Mason, Boggs, and Johnson fought over the remaining top-five spots.

Boggs nearly hit the wall getting around Mason on the top side and take over third with just three laps to go, but at the checkers Moran was leading Bloomquist by half of a lap, plenty of breathing room for the man with everything: four sons and four World 100 titles.

CAR COUNT: 242 late models

FRIDAY'S FAST QUALIFIER: Scott Bloomquist, 15.858 seconds.

NON-QUALIFYING RACE WINNERS: Hillard Miller, John "Weasel" Rhoades and Ted Loomis.

HEAT WINNERS (complete heat results in previous report): Matt Miller, Ronnie Johnson, Billy Moyer, Donnie Moran, Darrell Lanigan, John Mason.

CONSOLATION WINNER: Wendell Wallace

FEATURE (Pos., driver, hometown, laps) 1. Donnie Moran, Dresden, Ohio 100 laps, $30,000 2. Scott Bloomquist, Mooresburg, Tenn., 100 laps 3. Jack Boggs, Grayson, Ky., 100 laps 4. John Mason, Millersburg, Ohio, 100 laps 5. Ronnie Johnson, Chattanooga, Tenn., 100 laps 6. Rick Eckert, York, Pa., 99 laps 7. Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo., 99 laps 8. Kevin Weaver, Gibson City, Ill., 99 laps 9. Steve Francis, Ashland, Ky., 99 laps 10. Mike Jewell, Scottsburg, Ind., 99 laps 11. Rod Conley, Wheelersburg, Ohio, 98 laps 12. Dale McDowell, Rossville, Ga., 89 laps 13. Billy Moyer, Batesville, Ark., 83 laps 14. Matt Miller, Whitehouse, Ohio, 82 laps 15. Tim Hitt, Weston, W.Va., 72 laps 16. Mike Duvall, Cowpens, S.C., 68 laps 17. Bob Pohlman Jr., Oaklawn, Ill., 63 laps 18. Jimmy Mars, Elk Mound, Wis., 58 laps 19. Darrell Lanigan, Union, Ky., 40 laps 20. Bob Pierce, Danville, Ill., 36 laps 21. Wendell Wallace, Batesville, Ark., 22 laps 22. Freddy Smith, Knoxville, Tenn., 18 laps 23. Jerry Rice, Verona, Ky., 17 laps 24. Booper Bare, Rockbridge Baths, Va., 17 laps.

NOTES: Donnie Moran's fourth son, Wylie Thomas Moran, was born Aug. 26, weighing 6 pounds, 4 ounces .... Scott Bloomquist dropped out early in his heat when he didn't get to the front, but he was assured of a starting spot in the feature via his quick time .... Rick Eckert, the second fastest qualifier, damaged his engine in his heat race and had to swap powerplants to take his provisional starting spot .... Dale McDowell managed to make the feature despite his engine letting go on the last lap of his heat, but he also changed engines before the feature .... Jack Boggs' car carried a snazzier blue-and-yellow scheme .... Jerry Inmon subbed for Steve Russell in the Sellars-owned GRT after Russell became ill .... Jack Pennington and Barry Wright's new team made their debut, but ended up getting wrecked in their heat race .... Charlie Fisher drove the car that Moran won the World 100 with last year .... Illinois driver Gary May started on the pole of the sixth heat but broke early .... Leal Beattie, the auto racing writer for the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News and a regular at Eldora for big events, died last Tuesday following stomach surgery .... Wade Knowles won his heat race, but was 20 pounds light at the scales and was disqualified .... Darrell Lanigan weighed in a single pound over the minimum after his heat win .... Freddy Smith made his 17th consecutive World 100 start .... the 50/50 ticket winner collected more than $17,000. ------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE CREDITS: Jeff "Buzz" Reynolds <dirtracing@hotmail.com> and Tim Lee <leemedia@watervalley.net> -------------------------------------------------------------