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Official Title Sponsor of the SUPR Series |
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Vaught powers to dominating
TMSDT win in SUPR Series 
By
Bryan Wimberley FORT WORTH, Tex. (Mar. 5) - With his eye on a victory at the nearby 1.5-mile pavement track in the future, Will Vaught of Crane, Mo., conquered the Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track on Saturday night, with a superb performance in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Southern United Professional Racing series. Front-row starter Vaught, grabbed the lead from Chris Brown of Spring, Tex., on the 10th lap and never looked back in the 40-lap late model feature, winning by nearly seven seconds. Brown battled Vaught early on, but would have to hold off contenders later in the race to settle for second. Impressive Late Model newcomer Morgan Bagley of Longview, Tex., rallied from 12th to finish third and was the biggest mover in the feature. Ronny Lee Hollingsworth of Northport, Ala., backed up last September's third-place run at TMSDT, with a fourth place finish this time out. Five-time NCRA series champion, Kelly Boen of Henderson, Colo., came from eighth-starting position to complete the top 5 finishers. "I couldn't do this without all my sponsors and my car owner Paul McKenna. Also my grand-parents with Circle M Auto Sales, who have been by me since day one. Of course you are only as good as with the competition that you race with, so when you race nationally with the likes of (Scott) Bloomquist & (Billy) Moyer and all those guys, it has upped my driving ability I think. This Warrior Race car is brand new, we opened in Volusia with it, went home and made some changes to it. We worked hard on the scales and it paid off down here," said Vaught. "We really didn't change a whole lot after the heat. It was slimy in that heat race and we rolled around that bottom pretty good. Chris (Brown) rolled me on the outside and I thought the bottom was going to be the dominant line and I didn't know where to be. We didn't have any radios or nothing and I couldn't see my guys (crew) over here. I got on the wheel and I was as fast as him around the racetrack, he was running the bottom in three & four, so I started working that top in a little bit. We started gaining on him and passed him eventually. I don't know if anyone could run the top in those turns, my crew said that no one was getting through there as fast as I did," Vaught explains. The 24-year-old Vaught added, "To come back to the experience of running with Billy Moyer, I watched him ever since I was a kid and racing behind him most of the time, you learn how he moves around on the racetrack and searches for the fast line. That seems to make me better for the future." Vaught took the opening lead from polesitter, Doug Begnaud of Cypress, Tex., with Brown, Jeff Chanler and Billy Moyer Jr. in pursuit. Brown took charged on lap two, passing Vaught and Begnaud to take the point. The next lap saw last year's winner, Jack Sullivan of Greenbrier, Ark., slow going into turn three to bring out the first caution. Another quick yellow appeared when Ray Moore clipped Chanler on the fourth circuit and Moore restarted at the tail. With green in the air, Bagley bumps Moyer Jr. for third, but Moyer Jr. holds strong to keep the position. Kelly Boen makes a move through the field and into the top five on lap 7. Brown holds a four-car advantage over Vaught after eight laps, but Vaught caught the leader and made the pass on the 10th lap, just before the frontrunners faced traffic. Billy Moyer Jr. of Batesville, Ark., mixes it up for the lead with Vaught, after getting by Chris Brown for second. Vaught would hold off Moyer Jr., while running the high side on lap 18 and stretch the lead to two-seconds. Bagley began to work his way into the top five at the halfway mark, coming from the sixth row. Vaught had a comfortable lead with ten to go, while battles raged on the track between Moyer Jr. & Brown for second, as well as Hollingsworth & Boen for fifth. Brown took second from Moyer Jr, while Hollingsworth was in fifth. A lap 32 caution would wave for the slowing 58x of Gary Christian, making it the final yellow of the race. Two laps after the restart, Bagley pressured Moyer Jr. for third, with Hollingsworth right in the middle of the picture too. Bagley and Hollingsworth drop Moyer Jr. to fifth with 5 laps remaining. Boen snatched that position from Moyer Jr., as Vaught had clear sailing ahead the last three laps to an impressive victory -his first in the O'Reilly SUPR Series. Notes: Will Vaught's Warrior Race Car is powered by Clements Racing Engine and sponsored by Circle M Auto Sales, GW Performance, BigDog Motorsports, Mark Martin Chevrolet and New Vision Graphics. The 30-minute feature ended at 10:45 pm and was slowed by three cautions. Twenty of 22 starters were running at the end of the race, with seven cars on the lead lap. Vaught, a dirt racer who is beginning a transition to pavement in the ARCA Racing Series, became the 102nd different winner in the SUPR Series, spanning 22 seasons. Vaught missed making the field in the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 at Daytona International Speedway, in the ARCA Series and qualified 35th out of 47 cars on the pavement last month. With aspirations of someday driving in NASCAR, Vaught lays out his immediate projected plans for 2011. "We are going to do some more ARCA stuff this year, the Daytona experience wasn't as good as we wanted it to be. We worked our butt off on that and it is going to be better for us. I think we may go to Talladega if we get the funding, pick up a sponsor and be able to go there. Hopefully we will run six or seven asphalt races, then jump around going to all the big races (on dirt) that we can and try to make a little money that way," said Vaught. Vaught won last July at Farley (IA) Speedway, claiming $10,000 in an unsanctioned event. Vaught also had two 5th-place finishes last season at the $50k-to-win USA Nationals in Cedar Lake (WI) and $40k-to-win Knoxville Nationals in Iowa. Second place Chris Brown, a former modified wheelman, nabbed his first SUPR Series win in May 2009 at Lone Star Speedway in Kilgore and was on the verge of getting a taste of win #2 early on at Texas Motor Speedway. "It kind of bittersweet, I am definitely happy to finish 2nd, Will (Vaught) had a great car tonight. Anytime you have the lead of the race and you can't finish it, then it is a little disappointing. We are pleased, we are learning at every race that we go to and trying to log laps and get the hang of these cars. All-in-all I am pretty happy with the way our weekend went," Brown said. Brown is eager to progress at the next level and showed it last year by gaining some valuable experience in the team's extensive travels "This season we are going to follow the majority of the Lucas tour, we may skip the Pennsylvania and the New York races, but for the most part that is our gameplan this year. Then depending on how that goes and how we finish running, will determine what we are going to do outside of that. Afterwards we may stay a little closer to home. Hopefully next year we will be running for Lucas Oil Rookie of the Year. That is the plan to try to get geared up, we have some new guys coming onboard that we're excited about. We are going to prepared hard and ready to go after it next year," Brown explained. Since Brown is not from a region known for producing many late model drivers, he talked about how it all began and how he gets support to help his racing career in the division. "To be honest (Brown says with a laugh), I don't know! There is not a whole lot of late model racing in Texas. The World of Outlaws (Late Models) brought a race down to our (Houston) area and my dad really wanted me to compete in it -he believed in me. We called Chub Frank and got a car from him, we flirted with it, then we sold the car. We kind of wanted to do it again, so we got back into it and this time we have stuck with it. It is unusual to race late models from such an area that don't produce many. We have moved all of our stuff up to Oak Ridge, Tennessee and race from there, just because it is not feasible to race from Houston, Texas and run late models. From where we are at (Knoxville area), we are four to six hours from pretty much anywhere for a race. I still live in Spring and work Monday thru Wednesday or Thursday, then head up there to help put the final touches on the car and get ready to go racing." "For whatever reason and I am not sure why it happened, but I seem to manage to meet the right people. It started in the modified, getting involved with Kelly Shryock and Eric Kirschbaum of Shryock Racing Components. Then I get involved with Chub (Frank) and he helps me along to a certain point. Then through my engine builder, I meet (California driver) Eric Jacobson and they end up helping me get in Bloomquist cars. And now with Scott (Bloomquist), when you are dealing with a guy like that, it doesn't get any better than that. So anytime you can associate yourself with those people, then good things are bound to happen." Texas modified standout, Morgan Bagley, is making waves quickly in the Late Model ranks as well. Bagley opened some eyes towards the end of last season with a solid 4th place run at SUPR's Spooky 50 at Chatham, La., last October. Bagley has already cut into the learning curve of running in the division and in just a handful of starts. Now he has Louisiana native Randall Edwards, crew chief of 2008 World of Outlaws champion Darrell Lanigan, in his corner for guidance. "We got hook up recently with Darrell (Lanigan) and Randall (Edwards), they have been such a tremendous help. I tell you, I owe everything to Randall over these last two weeks from running (5th) the Pelican 100 and (3rd) here at Texas. I feel privileged to get him down here, before they hit the road on the World of Outlaws tour. We worked hard all winter, my car owner Wayman McMillan, has spent a lot of money and gave us good equipment and has taken care of this team. We have good stuff now and it is all starting to come together and pay off." Regardless if this is a trend of sorts for what is to come out of a place known as modified and sprint country, Bagley is now focused on where he wants to be. It wasn't always that crystal clear in the middle of last year's racing season. "With my modified deal running out of motors, we took three months off and thats all I had ever done, was racing. I knew I was at a point to where I was going to have to find something or make it racing or go back to school to finish my degree. It was getting down to the dead end there. I have known of Wayman (McMillan) since I was four-years-old and have probably said three words to him in the last twenty years. I walked in his office one day and said 'I had been racing, but I don't really have anything to do right now. I heard that you have Late Models and like to race. I wondered if you would be interested in doing something? ' He said he would call after giving it some thought. It was only a few days that he called and wanted to race that weekend. I was already committed on that weekend to something else, but that next week we looked at the car. We raced a couple of SUPR races and everything was coming together as the team formed. I vowed to work on that car 24/7 to make sure everything was right on it, to take care of his equipment and show the results we all wanted. As long as we are striving towards that and working hard, then he (Wayman) is happy. I am not a big talker and at first wanted to get Wayne (Harris), who is on my crew, to sway him in getting me into a ride. I was so down in the dumps, with no income, and just got to the point where I took a chance and it happened to put me in a Late Model." Bagley added, "Everything is a stepping-stone, this has always been one of my goals, to be up racing at the level with (Billy) Moyer, (Scott) Bloomquist and all of the big name guys. I just hope everything continues to gel with this team, everybody stays happy and we get us sponsors, so we can build on our team. We are going to race around this (SUPR) region and hope by the end of this year, we feel confident enough to keep elevating. I set a goal personally within three years, that I want to get out and try to run Lucas Oil or World of Outlaws in those big shows. Then again, I'm thinking if we keep plugging along and doing good, maybe the bossman will be happy and we can try it next year. I still have getting my college degree in mechanical engineering as one of my goals, but it might be when I am 60 if this late model thing works out!" The third place finish at Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track was Bagley's best in a late model so far. His Team 14 got an early jump on the season with Wild West Shootout appearances at USA Raceway in Tucson, Ariz., in January. Bagley spoke of the best performance of his early Late Model career, "I got a really good start, I don't know if it was because none of those guys just didn't go or what! My car just took off and I already told myself that I was going to the top. Nobody really seem like they wanted to go up there and I got the majority of the cars (passed) right there. It was fun racing everybody on this level, they race so clean and everyone gives each other respect -that is what it is all about!" "I am not usually a top-running guy, I don't really like being up there, but Randall chewed my ass out when we went to Vivian (ArkLaTex Speedway) last week, about how I didn't get on top and run. Then we came here tonight and I get on top in the heat race, then he chewed my ass, saying I was doing it all wrong 'Bagley says laughing'. I try to take a little bit of both, put them together and it went good. Randall told me to just have faith in the car, it is going to turn and I wouldn't put it into the fence. We almost did a couple of times, but other than that, it worked out to be a good night in the end." Ronny Lee Hollingsworth has started his season strong, with five top-10 finishes in eight total starts for Tony Flynn Motorsports. In four career starts at TMSDT, Kevin Sitton of Baytown, Tex., has finished in the top ten every time (two 2nd-place finishes and two 7th-place finishes). Twenty five hours away from home, Mike Balcaen of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, completed his current southern U.S. invasion at TMSDT, dropping out of his heat and not able to make the call for his consolation race. It was Balcaen's second visit to Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track in three years. Balcaen made the feature in February 2009 of the Texas World Dirt Track Championship (out of 61 cars) and posted a 14th place finish. Drivers failing to make the feature includes, Mike Balcaen, Marcus Baxter, Scott Brewer, Nicholas Brown, Jeff Crane, Patrik Daniel, Todd Hormel, Tom Lorenz, Bobby Malchus, Matthew Manning, Phil Miller, Eric Neal, B.J. Robinson, John Sliney, Bryan Sugg, Troy Tindall, Howard Willis and Cameron Wilson. Six-time MARS Dirtcar Series champion, Terry Phillips of Springfield, Mo., dominated the modified feature to collected $3,000. The modified division drew 107 entries. Sean Jones of Mansfield, Tex., won $2,000 in the limited modified feature, beating out a total of 94 entries in that division. In the last four visits to Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track, the O'Reilly Auto Parts Southern United Professional Racing Series tour has averaged 48 late models/event. The O'Reilly Southern United Professional Racing series will be off next weekend, before having a double-header on March 18th at USA Speedway in Sterlington, La. and March 19th at Champion Park Speedway in Minden, La. SUPR @ TMSDT: (1) Will Vaught, (2) Chris Brown, (3) Morgan Bagley, (4) Ronny Lee Hollingsworth, (5) Kelly Boen, (6) Billy Moyer Jr, (7) Kevin Sitton, (8) Doug Begnaud, (9) Jack Sullivan, (10) Wendell Wallace, (11) Jeff Chanler, (12) Chris Holley, (13) Timothy Culp, (14) Robbie Starnes, (15) Ray Moore, (16) Skip O'Neal, (17) Matt Johnson, (18) Alan Murray, (19) Wendall Bolden, (20) Allen Tippen, (21) Gary Christian, (22) Josh Danzy
Heat race winners (among 40 cars): Vaught, Hollingsworth, Brown, Chanler
O'Reilly SUPR points
1. Will Vaught - 130
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