{"id":12167,"date":"2012-07-14T15:47:16","date_gmt":"2012-07-14T15:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/?p=12167"},"modified":"2012-07-14T15:47:16","modified_gmt":"2012-07-14T15:47:16","slug":"photo-finish-lanigan-passes-clint-smith-on-final-lap-for-record-tying-victory-at-river-cities-speedway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/front-page-news\/photo-finish-lanigan-passes-clint-smith-on-final-lap-for-record-tying-victory-at-river-cities-speedway\/","title":{"rendered":"Photo Finish: Lanigan Passes Clint Smith On Final Lap For Record-Tying Victory At River Cities Speedway"},"content":{"rendered":"

Points Leader Matches World of Outlaws Late Model Series Single-Season Win Record In Dramatic Fashion<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"GRAND FORKS, ND \u2013 July 13, 2012 \u2013 Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., tied the World of Outlaws Late Model Series single-season win record in dramatic fashion, overtaking race-long pacesetter Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., on the final lap to capture Friday night\u2019s \u2018Seven Clans Casinos 50\u2019 at River Cities Speedway.<\/p>\n

In another memorable WoO LMS event at the high-banked, quarter-mile oval, Lanigan, 42, chased Smith for the entire distance before finally slipping underneath the leader racing down the backstretch on the last circuit. Lanigan found just enough traction on the bottom of turns three and four to beat Smith back to the checkered flag by a mere 0.024 of a second \u2013 likely the closest finish in the history of the WoO LMS.<\/p>\n

The $10,650 triumph was Lanigan\u2019s ninth of 2012, matching the national tour\u2019s modern-era (2004-present) single-season record held by Scott Bloomquist and Josh Richards. He will have his first opportunity to establish a new standard on Saturday night (July 14) when the WoO LMS \u2018Wild West Tour\u2019 concludes at North Central Speedway in Brainerd, Minn.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely awesome to be able to tie (the single-season win record),\u201d said Lanigan, whose 35th<\/sup> career WoO LMS victory moved him within three of tying Richards atop the circuit\u2019s win list since 2004. \u201cIt definitely helps the bank account too. We\u2019ll just keep on chugging and see what we can come up with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith, 47, started from the pole position and continually repelled Lanigan\u2019s bids until the last-lap drama left him with a runner-up finish. It was his best outing of the season with his Rocket mount, but his WoO LMS winless streak reached 49 races since his last victory, on May 8, 2011, at Needmore Speedway in Norman Park, Ga.<\/p>\n

Brady Smith of Solon Springs, Wis., who won the first WoO LMS A-Main of his career at River Cities in 2008, finished third in his Team Zero by Bloomquist car. He started eighth and was still mired back in sixth when the race\u2019s third and final caution flag flew on lap 36, but he charged into third on lap 40 and crossed the finish line just one second behind the leaders.<\/p>\n

Sixth-starter Terry Casey of New London, Wis., battled inside the top five throughout the distance \u2013 even briefly slipping past Lanigan for second on a lap-30 restart \u2013 but settled for fourth place in his MasterSbilt car. Defending WoO LMS champion Rick Eckert of York, Pa., completed the top five, advancing from the ninth starting spot in his Team Zero by Bloomquist machine.<\/p>\n

Lanigan, who started third but slid into second on the opening lap, actually had mixed emotions after earning a roar from the evening\u2019s large crowd with his final-tour heroics. As much as he wanted a second consecutive triumph on the \u2018Wild West Tour\u2019 and a second career win at River Cities (he topped the track\u2019s inaugural WoO LMS event in 2006), he would have loved to congratulate Smith on a slump-busting victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d have rather seen \u2018Cat\u2019 win it,\u201d said Lanigan, using Smith\u2019s popular nickname. \u201cWe\u2019ve been teaming up a little bit here, traveling together. We\u2019ve been trying to help his program too and get him back in the winner\u2019s circle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was pulling for him (while running second), but he gave me a little bit of room (on the last lap)…and we gotta race our program too, so we had to take the win there. He kind of dropped off that cushion on the last lap and I got mine bent pretty hard, and I came down across that bottom and got a pretty good run.\u201d<\/p>\n

A brake problem that hampered Smith throughout the race finally bit him with the white flag flying.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had air in (the brakes) from last night and didn\u2019t catch it through the night to bleed it out,\u201d said Smith. \u201cI was having to pump the brakes the whole race one time down the straightaway so I\u2019d have a pedal. When I would miss that pump I would push bad getting in the corners and I\u2019d have to really turn it with the fuel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, down the backstraightaway (on the last lap), with that lapped car ahead as I was trying to beat Darrell off the corner, I must have just missed the pump and it pushed right up to the cushion just enough that I couldn\u2019t get it to rotate to get back to the good stuff leaving (turn four). I had to leave (the corner) outside him \u2013 and I almost<\/em> had enough traction to beat him (to the finish line), but I didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cI needed to turn the car to come back down (off turn four) like I did the whole end of the race, but I just didn\u2019t get it rotated enough \u2013 plus Darrell was already there under me, and we run each other clean so I didn\u2019t want to get into him. He just had the better line and the better maintenance program today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith found little solace in coming so close to defeating the mighty Lanigan, whose dominant WoO LMS campaign has him leading the points standings by 148 points over Eckert and nearing the $200,000 mark in earnings after 26 events.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere ain\u2019t nothing good about this,\u201d bottom-lined Smith. \u201cI lost $5,000 by 23-thousandths of a second (actually 24-thousandths) after leading the whole race. I can\u2019t think of nothing good about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., finished sixth after making a late surge. Outside-polesitter Vic Coffey of Caledonia, N.Y., ran fourth for much of the distance but faded after the race\u2019s final restart, finishing seventh. Shane Clanton of Fayetteville, Ga., started fourth and climbed as high as third on lap 35, but an incorrect tire choice caused him to fall to eighth in the finishing order. Jimmy Mars of Menomonie, Wis., quietly worked his way forward from the 18th<\/sup> starting spot to place ninth and Pat Doar of New Richmond, Wis., rounded out the top 10.<\/p>\n

Three caution flags slowed the event, all for stopped cars. Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., went off the backstretch on lap 30, while Tim McCreadie, also of Watertown, N.Y., fell off the pace with mechanical trouble on lap 35 \u2013 moments after reaching fifth place \u2013 and stopped in turn four on lap 36 while trying to return to the track from the pits to trigger another caution.<\/p>\n

McCreadie retired shortly after drawing the second caution, leaving him with a 19th<\/sup>-place finish. It was first outing outside the top 10 in his last 17 starts and just his fourth run outside the top five over that span.<\/p>\n

Thirty-two cars entered the event, which marked the seventh consecutive year that the WoO LMS has competed at River Cities.<\/p>\n

Clanton was quickest in Ohlins Shocks Time Trials with a lap of 12.121 seconds. It was his second fast-time honor of 2012.<\/p>\n

Heat winners were Clanton, Brady Smith, Clint Smith and McCreadie. The B-Mains were captured by Dustin Strand of Grand Forks, N.D., and Mars.<\/p>\n

The night\u2019s lone crash came during time trials when two-time WISSOTA Late Model national champion Ricky Weiss of St. Francois Xavier, Manitoba, jumped the cushion between turns one and two and flipped wildly down the wall-less track\u2019s steep embankment. He escaped the accident without injury and later started the B-Main in the same car and took the green flag in the A-Main thanks to the WoO LMS points provisional starting spot he received.<\/p>\n

For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fans can also follow the WoO LMS on Twitter at Twitter.com\/WoOLateModels <\/a>and Facebook at Facebook.com\/WorldofOutlaws <\/a>.<\/p>\n

Results of WoO Late Model Series \u2018Seven Clans Casinos 50\u2019 at River Cities Speedway (Finishing Position\/Start\/Driver\/Laps Completed\/Money Won): <\/strong><\/p>\n

1. (3) Darrell Lanigan\/50 $10,650<\/p>\n

2. (1) Clint Smith\/50 $5,600<\/p>\n

3. (5) Brady Smith\/50 $3,050<\/p>\n

4. (6) Terry Casey\/50 $3,000<\/p>\n

5. (9) Rick Eckert\/50 $2,650<\/p>\n

6. (12) Chub Frank\/50 $2,250<\/p>\n

7. (2) Vic Coffey\/50 $2,000<\/p>\n

8. (4) Shane Clanton\/50 $1,850<\/p>\n

9. (18) Jimmy Mars\/50 $1,250<\/p>\n

10. (7) Pat Doar\/50 $1,700<\/p>\n

11. (20) Kent Robinson\/50 $1,850<\/p>\n

12. (11) Brad Seng\/50 $1,000<\/p>\n

13. (16) Jack Sullivan\/50 $1,500<\/p>\n

14. (10) Don Shaw\/50 $900<\/p>\n

15. (13) Tim Fuller\/50 $1,400<\/p>\n

16. (15) Bub McCool\/50 $1,350<\/p>\n

17. (21) Dustin Strand\/50 $820<\/p>\n

18. (22) Dustin Hapka\/47 $750<\/p>\n

19. (8) Tim McCreadie\/35 $1,380<\/p>\n

20. (24) Steve Anderson\/22 $700<\/p>\n

21. (17) Steffen Snare\/21 $700<\/p>\n

22. (14) Joey Pederson\/20 $700<\/p>\n

23. (19) Jill George\/3 $700<\/p>\n

24. (23) Ricky Weiss\/1 $725<\/p>\n

* Earnings include Winners Circle program and cash contingency award bonuses<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Points Leader Matches World of Outlaws Late Model Series Single-Season Win Record In Dramatic Fashion GRAND FORKS, ND \u2013 July 13, 2012 \u2013 Darrell Lanigan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"publish_to_discourse":"","publish_post_category":"","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,3,4,60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-front-page-news","category-race-results","category-world-of-outlaws"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12167"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12171,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12167\/revisions\/12171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}