2/3/2020
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Moran Finally Gets East Bay Victory
TAMPA, FL (February 3, 2020) – Second generation racer Devin Moran scored a long-awaited victory at his favorite race track on Monday Night as the 25-year-old Ohio native scored his first ever win at the “Clay by the Bay”, East Bay Raceway Park, during the opening night of the 2020 Wrisco Industries Winternationals for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series.
Moran was the fifth and final different leader of an exciting 30-lap race as the Tye Twarog Motorsports driver recorded his second career Series victory. Kyle Bronson finished second to Moran with Tyler Erb taking third after getting by Jonathan Davenport on the final lap. Chris Garnes, in his first ever start at East Bay, finished fifth.
Tim McCreadie, who won the series’ opening night race on Saturday Night at Golden Isles, started on the pole and took the lead at the start of the main event. Moran started alongside McCreadie and grabbed second just ahead of Brandon Sheppard on the opening circuit. Sheppard then passed Moran for second on lap two.
McCreadie held the lead until heavy traffic slowed his momentum and Sheppard took the lead on lap 11. A caution on lap 13 would clear the traffic for Sheppard and McCreadie. On the restart, Sheppard held the point with McCreadie and Bronson in tow.
Bronson, who started tenth charged to the lead by Sheppard on lap 19 to become the third different leader of the race. Bronson and Sheppard then went back-and-forth in a terrific race for the lead.
After a lap 21 restart after a caution, Sheppard and Bronson got together on the backstretch with Sheppard spinning in front of the field necessitating a caution. After the next restart, Tyler Erb who started 13th charged to the lead to become the fourth different pacesetter. Erb held the lead for one circuit before Moran took over the race lead on lap 22. Moran then pulled away in the final eight laps to score his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win since 2013, at his home track, Muskingum County Speedway in Zanesville, Ohio.
“Kyle (Bronson) kind of showed me the top up there. I knew turn four was faster up there and then he did that, so I thought I will try it as well. I didn’t see what happened between Bronson and Sheppy (Brandon Sheppard) because I was above them. We finally got this first win at East Bay and my first Lucas Oil win in a long time. Tye Twarog Racing has put me here in great equipment. Thanks to my brother Wylie, he did a great job all night long on the signals. This shows how good Keith Berner is, with Accu-Force. This Clements Chevy was awesome tonight. Thanks to all the fans for coming out, I hope they all enjoyed that race,” said Moran.
Bronson, entering his third year with Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, was looking for another win at his home track at East Bay. “Our car was really good tonight. Me and Sheppard got together there, and it bent the tie rod and we couldn’t turn after that. It took me until the last couple of laps to drive it again. These guys are all tough, and you just have to go. He (Sheppard) was leaving the bottom and I felt like he was coming up and I was coming down. These restarts are tough and we were both racing for the same piece of real estate.”
Erb made a sterling run in the main event coming home in third. “It was good race; they pushed those tires out there and it helped quite a bit. I just dug myself a hole in that heat race and I needed to run better than third in that. The restarts were crazy and this is awesome. We have five more nights here and I can’t wait for the rest of the week. I just love this racetrack, you don’t have to have the best car to win. We won here twice a year ago and we just need to start the night better with qualifying and our heat race finishes and we will be all right.”
Completing the top ten were Billy Moyer Jr., Tim McCreadie, Hudson O’Neal, Mike Marlar and Brandon Sheppard.
The winner’s Tye Twarog Motorsports Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Clements Racing Engine and sponsored by Tye Twarog Performance Parts, KB41 Trucking, Tommy Pope Construction, Lucas Oil Products, Eddie’s Sunoco and Accu-Force Dynos and Testers.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Race Summary
Wrisco Industries, Inc. Winternationals presented by Lucas Oil
Monday, February 3rd, 2020
East Bay Raceway Park – Tampa, FL
Lucas Oil Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Tim McCreadie / 14.832 seconds (overall)
Fast Time Group B: Devin Moran / 15.081 seconds
Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 39-Tim McCreadie[1]; 2. 3S-Brian Shirley[3]; 3. 1T-Tyler Erb[2]; 4. 25-Shane Clanton[5]; 5. 71-Hudson O'Neal[6]; 6. 81-Jason Riggs[9]; 7. 1V-Vic Hill[7]; 8. 27-Joe Denby[10]; 9. 11B-Stacy Boles[11]; 10. 28E-Dennis Erb Jr[4]; 11. 20F-Trever Feathers[8]
FK Rod Ends Heat Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 2. 14-Josh Richards[4]; 3. 21M-Billy Moyer Sr[3]; 4. 66C-Matt Cosner[5]; 5. 25W-Allen Weisser[9]; 6. 00-Jesse Stovall[10]; 7. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[8]; 8. 94M-Jason Miller[7]; 9. 5T-John Tweed[2]; 10. 20B-Todd Brennan[6]
Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 20-Jimmy Owens[1]; 2. 1ST-Johnny Scott[2]; 3. 7M-Donald McIntosh[3]; 4. 50-Shanon Buckingham[5]; 5. 2-Allen Murray[6]; 6. 2W-Pearson Williams[4]; 7. 0K-Freddie Carpenter[7]; 8. 22B-Austin Burns[9]; 9. 22-Gregg Oakes[10]; 10. 000-Kyle Lear[8]
Ohlins Shocks Heat Race #4 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 9-Devin Moran[1]; 2. 42-Chris Garnes[2]; 3. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[3]; 4. 6T-Tim Dohm[4]; 5. 81E-Tanner English[5]; 6. 2S-Stormy Scott[7]; 7. 40-Joel Callahan[8]; 8. 51M-Joey Moriarty[11]; 9. 76B-Blair Nothdurft[10]; 10. 6S-Blake Spencer[9]; 11. F1-Coleby Frye[6]
Wrisco Heat Race #5 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 33J-Jeff Mathews[1]; 2. 40B-Kyle Bronson[2]; 3. 76-Brandon Overton[4]; 4. 18J-Chase Junghans[3]; 5. 49-Jonathan Davenport[5]; 6. 16-Tyler Bruening[6]; 7. KB0-Kerry King[7]; 8. 18-David Seibers[8]; 9. 311-Ken Monahan[10]; 10. 48-Colton Flinner[9]
MyRacePass Heat Race #6 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 89-GR Smith[2]; 2. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[4]; 3. 157-Mike Marlar[3]; 4. 2D-Dan Stone[6]; 5. 17-Logan Roberson[8]; 6. B1-Brent Larson[7]; 7. 16R-Justin Rattliff[10]; 8. 10-David Breazeale[5]; 9. 94-Charles Powell[9]; 10. 99B-Boom Briggs[1]
Tiger Rear Ends B-Main #1 Finish (12 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 25-Shane Clanton[1]; 2. 71-Hudson O'Neal[4]; 3. 50-Shanon Buckingham[3]; 4. 00-Jesse Stovall[8]; 5. 25W-Allen Weisser[5]; 6. 81-Jason Riggs[7]; 7. 2W-Pearson Williams[9]; 8. 2-Allen Murray[6]; 9. 94M-Jason Miller[14]; 10. 000-Kyle Lear[21]; 11. 20B-Todd Brennan[20]; 12. 5T-John Tweed[17]; 13. 27-Joe Denby[13]; 14. 0K-Freddie Carpenter[12]; 15. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[11]; 16. 66C-Matt Cosner[2]; 17. 11B-Stacy Boles[16]; 18. 22B-Austin Burns[15]; 19. 22-Gregg Oakes[18]; 20. 1V-Vic Hill[10]; 21. 20F-Trever Feathers[22]; 22. 28E-Dennis Erb Jr[19]
FAST Shafts B-Main #2 Finish (12 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 18J-Chase Junghans[2]; 2. 49-Jonathan Davenport[5]; 3. 81E-Tanner English[4]; 4. 16-Tyler Bruening[8]; 5. 17-Logan Roberson[6]; 6. F1-Coleby Frye[22]; 7. 2D-Dan Stone[3]; 8. B1-Brent Larson[9]; 9. 40-Joel Callahan[10]; 10. KB0-Kerry King[11]; 11. 48-Colton Flinner[20]; 12. 311-Ken Monahan[17]; 13. 51M-Joey Moriarty[13]; 14. 6T-Tim Dohm[1]; 15. 18-David Seibers[14]; 16. 94-Charles Powell[18]; 17. 76B-Blair Nothdurft[16]; 18. 2S-Stormy Scott[7]; 19. 16R-Justin Rattliff[12]; 20. 10-David Breazeale[15]; 21. (DNS) 99B-Boom Briggs; 22. (DNS) 6S-Blake Spencer
Berry Barn Strawberry Dash presented by DirtonDirt.com Finish: 1. 25W-Allen Weisser[4]; 2. 81E-Tanner English[1]; 3. 16-Tyler Bruening[3]; 4. 2W-Pearson Williams[8]; 5. F1-Coleby Frye[7]; 6. 2D-Dan Stone[9]; 7. 00-Jesse Stovall[2]; 8. 2-Allen Murray[10]; 9. (DNS) 81-Jason Riggs; 10. (DNS) 17-Logan Roberson
Lucas Oil Feature Finish (30 Laps): 1. 9-Devin Moran[2]; 2. 40B-Kyle Bronson[10]; 3. 1T-Tyler Erb[13]; 4. 49-Jonathan Davenport[22]; 5. 42-Chris Garnes[8]; 6. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[14]; 7. 39-Tim McCreadie[1]; 8. 71-Hudson O'Neal[21]; 9. 157-Mike Marlar[18]; 10. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[3]; 11. 33J-Jeff Mathews[4]; 12. 21M-Billy Moyer Sr[15]; 13. 25-Shane Clanton[19]; 14. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[23]; 15. 14-Josh Richards[9]; 16. 7M-Donald McIntosh[17]; 17. 28E-Dennis Erb Jr[28]; 18. 3S-Brian Shirley[7]; 19. 89-GR Smith[6]; 20. 50-Shanon Buckingham[24]; 21. 16-Tyler Bruening[29]; 22. 2S-Stormy Scott[27]; 23. 25W-Allen Weisser[26]; 24. 1ST-Johnny Scott[11]; 25. 20-Jimmy Owens[5]; 26. 5T-John Tweed[25]; 27. F1-Coleby Frye[30]; 28. 76-Brandon Overton[16]; 29. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[12]; 30. 18J-Chase Junghans[20]
Race Statistics
Entrants: 62
Lap Leaders: Tim McCreadie (Laps 1 - 10); Brandon Sheppard (Laps 11 - 18); Kyle Bronson (Laps 19 - 20); Tyler Erb (Lap 21); Devin Moran (Laps 22 - 30)
Wrisco Feature Winner: Devin Moran
Margin of Victory: 1.277 seconds
Cautions: Chase Junghans (Lap 1); Mason Zeigler (Lap 12); Coleby Frye (Lap 18); Brian Shirley (Lap 20); Johnny Scott (Lap 27)
Series Provisionals: Earl Pearson Jr.; Shanon Buckingham
Wrisco Industries Fast Time Provisional: John Tweed
Berry Barn Strawberry Dash presented by DirtonDirt.com Provisional: Allen Weisser
Series Emergency Provisionals: Stormy Scott; Dennis Erb Jr.; Tyler Bruening; Coleby Frye
Big River Steel Podium Top 3: Devin Moran; Kyle Bronson; Tyler Erb
Optima Batteries Hard Charger of the Race: Jonathan Davenport (Advanced 18 Positions)
Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Tim McCreadie
Allstar Performance Most Laps Led: Tim McCreadie (10 Laps)
Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Tyler Erb
Eibach Springs Rookie of the Race: n/a
Engine Builder of the Race: Clements Race Engines
Miller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Longhorn Chassis
Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race: Wylie Moran (Devin Moran)
Dirty Girl Racewear Fastest Lap of the Race: Brandon Sheppard (Lap #6 – 16.0768 seconds)
Hot Rod Processing Tough Break of the Race: Brandon Sheppard
PFC Brakes Pole Award: Tim McCreadie
Time of Race: 28 minutes 59 seconds
Submitted By: Jeremy Shields
