Chris Madden Claims Battle on the Bayou at Baton Rouge Raceway!

By Kevin Kovac, 360 OTC World of Outlaws Late Model Series PR Director

It didn’t take Chris Madden long to figure out Baton Rouge Raceway.

In his first-ever appearance at the three-eighths-mile oval, the driver known as ‘Smokey’ captured Friday night’s 360 OTC World of Outlaws Late Model Series ‘Battle on the Bayou 50.’

“It feels pretty good to get a win the first time at a place,” said Madden, an 11-year dirt Late Model veteran from Grey Court, S.C. “It seems to be a little strategy of ours. We’ve done it three or four times now.”

But none were more impressive than his $10,000 score in Friday’s A-Main, which kicked off the three-night, three-state ‘World of Outlaws March Through Dixie.’ Madden started fifth, but he fell back as far as seventh before surging forward to grab the lead from Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga., on lap 34.

Madden, 31, survived a strong late-race challenge from Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., to secure the checkered flag in his Century Plastics/Henderson Amusements Bloomquist car. It was his second career win in 360 OTC WoO LMS competition, following up his Gator 100 triumph on Oct. 14, 2006, at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla.

Smith settled for the $5,000 runner-up check in his J.P. Drilling/Cliburn Tank Lines GRT, while Clanton took third in his RSD Enterprises/SAE Parts Rocket after starting eighth and leading laps 10-33.

Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., started from the pole position but finished fourth in his Valvoline Rocket, and 13th-starter Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., placed fifth after nipping Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., at the finish line by mere inches.

“We were good all night,” pronounced Madden, who stamped himself as one of the night’s favorites by turning the second-fastest lap in time trials. “We could’ve been a little better in the heat, but we ran a little different tire from some of the guys so we knew we had a real good car for the feature.”

Selecting the right tire compound was critical for Madden, who was busy grooving a Hoosier right-rear shoe to his liking inside his trailer just minutes before lining up for the A-Main.

“There were a lot of different tire choices being made,” said Madden, who has won two straight Southern All-Stars Series championships. “There was probably everything here in the trailers on the racetrack tonight.”

Madden had the proper rubber combination to stay in front following the race’s fourth and final caution flag, which came on lap 39 when Billy Decker of Unadilla, N.Y., who had just been lapped by Madden, spun between turns three and four after contact with Smith.

“I knew Clint was gonna be on the bottom,” Madden said of the deciding restart, “so I just wanted to make sure I didn’t slip up and give him the line off the corner. I felt like if he didn’t beat me on the first two laps after the restart, he wasn’t gonna beat me.”

Smith, who turned 42 on March 20, couldn’t summon enough speed over the final 11 circuits to overtake Madden. ‘Cat Daddy’ made one inside bid through turns three and four, on lap 47, but he lost ground to Madden and finished about six car lengths back.

In the final analysis, Smith had little hope of passing Madden after the lap-39 restart. He was basically holding on after his scrape with Decker’s Gypsum Racing No. 91.

Smith, who started seventh, had just passed Clanton for second and was advancing on Madden when he caught Decker’s car with his machine’s right-front while rounding turns three and four. Smith maintained control of his No. 44 as Decker spun, but the resulting damage to the nosepiece of his car dive-bombed his efforts.

“It folded over and rolled that plastic under the tire, and I couldn’t drive it because it was all under the suspension the rest of the race,” said a disappointed Smith. “It would’ve been better if the bodywork just fell off, but it stayed on. With that plastic underneath, the right-front tire just slides (in the corners), and you can’t roll by nobody.”

“I still made a charge at (Madden) even with the problem, but when I tried to drive by him (on lap 47), my car just pushed across the bottom.”

Smith was confident that the race would’ve been his if not for the run-in with Decker, a DIRT big-block Modified star who is a contender for 360 OTC WoO LMS Rookie of the Year honors in 2007.

“I could just drive anywhere the car wanted to drive. This thing was on the money,” said Smith, who has been red-hot (three wins in the Southeast) over the past month. “I feel bad I didn’t get the win because of a lapped car incident. Decker went from the outside wall all the way to the infield and I had nowhere to go.”

Smith paused, and then added, “I had found a line that nobody else had found. It had gotten real fast from the middle to the bottom off turn four, and Chris didn’t know that line was there because he was leading.

“I was a quarter-second faster with that line, and I just needed one more lap (without an incident) to win the race.”

Smith was able to console himself with the fact that he continued to run strong – and that he moved into a three-way tie for the 360 OTC WoO LMS points lead with Francis and season-opener victor Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., who advanced from the 18th starting spot to finish eighth.

Madden was the driver who got to celebrate in Victory Lane before a packed house of fans – but not too wildly. The low-key driver acted like he had been there before.

“All wins mean a lot,” said Madden, who has over 100 victories in his dirt Late Model career. “But I try to keep all of them on the same level, keep them meaning the same thing. I don’t get too excited.”

Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., drove off the outside pole to lead the race’s first nine laps, but he wasn’t around at the finish. He stopped on the track due to a broken driveshaft while running second on lap 18.

The event’s most significant accident occurred on the original start when Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., slid sideways between turns one and two out of the fourth starting spot, triggering a chain-reaction jingle. Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., got the worst of the tangle, sustaining race-ending front-end damage, and Jimmy Mars of Menominee, Wis., and Eric Jacobsen of Santa Cruz, Calif., also were forced to retire.

Fuller, meanwhile, survived the incident and placed 12th, earning a $250 bonus as the highest-finishing 360 OTC WoO LMS Rookie of the Year contender.

Finishing in positions 6-10 were Babb; local favorite Chris Wall of Holden, La., who earned the $500 ‘World of Outlaws Bonus Bucks’ prize for being the highest-placing driver who’s not currently ranked among the top 12 in the tour point standings and has never won a WoO feature; Richards; Baton Rouge Raceway favorite David Ashley of Zachary, La.; and 2006 WoO LMS Rookie of the Year Eddie Carrier Jr. of Salt Rock, W.Va., who used a provisional to start 23rd.

Forty cars entered the $50,000 event, which was co-sanctioned by the O’Reilly Southern United Professional Racing Series (SUPR).

Lanigan established a new track record of 13.44 seconds in time trials.

Heat winners were Lanigan, Francis, Clanton and Babb. Rick Eckert of York, Pa., and Richards topped the B-Mains.

The ‘World of Outlaws March Through Dixie’ weekend continues on Saturday (March 24) with the ‘Battle at the Bullring 50’ at Columbus (Miss.) Speedway and on Sunday (March 25) with the ‘Alabama Assault 40’ at North Alabama Speedway in Tuscumbia, Ala.

Results of WoO/SUPR Late Model Series (Finishing Position/Start/Driver/Laps Completed/Money Won):

1. (5) Chris Madden/50 $10,000
2. (7) Clint Smith/50 $5,000
3. (8) Shane Clanton/50 $3,000
4. (1) Steve Francis/50 $2,500
5. (13) Chub Frank/50 $2,000
6. (3) Shannon Babb/50 $1,700
7. (11) Chris Wall/50 $1,900
8. (18) Josh Richards/50 $1,300
9. (16) David Ashley Jr./50 $1,200
10. (23) Eddie Carrier Jr./50 $1,100
11. (17) Rick Eckert/50 $1,050
12. (4) Tim Fuller/50 $1,250
13. (24) Ray Moore/50 $950
14. (14) Brian Birkhofer/50 $900
15. (22) David Breazeale/50 $850
16. (20) Garrett Durrett/50 $800
17. (15) Ryan Plaisance/50 $770
18. (19) Billy Decker/49 $750
19. (21) Jimmy Cliburn/39 $730
20. (26) Allen Tippen/38 $700
21. (25) John Blankenship/38 $700
22. (2) Darrell Lanigan/18 $700
23. (9) Adam Hensel/17 $700
24. (6) Billy Moyer/0 $700
25. (10) Eric Jacobsen/0 $700
26. (12) Jimmy Mars/0 $700

Yellow Flags: 4 (Laps 0, 7, 18, 39)
Lap Leaders: Lanigan (1-9); Clanton (10-33); Madden (34-50)
Provisional Starters: Carrier, Blankenship (WoO); Moore, Tippen (SUPR)
Rookie of the Race: Fuller ($250)
‘WoO Bonus Bucks’ Winner: Wall ($250)