Moore 'Cowboy Up' at TMSDT, takes second straight U.S. NDTC win
Photo courtesy of www.RichardsRacePics.com  
 

By Bryan Wimberley
O'Reilly SUPR Series correspondent

JUSTIN, Tex. (September 17) - Ray Moore of Haughton, La., became the first person to back up his 'U.S. National Dirt Track Championship' win, in the 40-lap O'Reilly SUPR Dirt Late Model feature at Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track Saturday night. Moore, who started back in row five, worked his way forward in the early stages, chasing down Kevin Sitton of Baytown, Tex., for the lead in traffic. Sitton had trouble with a lapped car that saw him take an off-road excursion through the infield just past halfway. This gave Moore the opening to get out front, take advantage of his tire conservation and motored away to a 2.44 second margin over Sitton as the checkers waved. Moore collected $3,500 for the victory, his second consecutive U.S. National Dirt Track Championship win.

It was a long, but record-breaking day of sorts, as the event finally got under way in what would prove to be a marathon, not a short sprint. After suffering a total rainout on Friday, the 4/10-mile, semi-banked clay oval opened early for it's first ever 'daily double' of racing. The proposed Friday night portion would be run early enough in the day to give drivers, crews and cars a short break before completing the champion events in basically the normal fashion, albeit a little later start than planned.

The 21-car SUPR Dirt Late Model feature got off to a rocky start with Sitton jumping out front, but Loni Richardson and Chris Holley tangled to quickly bring the yellow out. The second try saw Sitton get the point coming off turn two, pursued by Wendall Bolden, Jason Ingalls, Timothy Culp, Eric Turner and Morgan Bagley. Ingalls got by Bolden for second, with Culp up on top going by for third. Culp then ducked to the bottom to go under Ingalls for second, while Turner worked the low side to move up to third.

Yellow waved on lap six when Holley found the wall in turn two. Sitton jumped out on green, with Moore making a big charge up to third. Sitton, Culp and Moore began to break away as Rob Litton and Robbie Starnes grabbed fourth and five.

The top three were still out from the pack coming to halfway with Sitton, Culp, Moore, Starnes and Litton in the top five. Moore used traffic to get by Culp for second and close on Sitton. Sitton got hung up with a lapped car, sending him through the infield as he gave up the top spot to Moore on lap 22. Once clear, Moore quickly began stretching out an advantage.

Moore caught heavy traffic with five to go, still holding a comfortable margin over Sitton and Culp, who had a substantial gap back to Starnes and Litton. Neither Sitton or Culp could capitalize on traffic to gain on Moore, who cleared still holding a safe lead. At the checkers, it was Moore crossing the line with no challengers in site en route to his second TMSDT victory in the last three starts.

"It was a lot of hard work tonight," commented Moore. "We had to start in the back of our heat race and the track was kind of one grooved, so I didn't get the passing points I needed to start further up in the main. Starting in the fifth row, I had my work cut out for me. I honestly didn't think we'd be able to get up through there. I love this place. I wish we would come here more often. It's real fun to race on."

"I think I had something for Kevin (Sitton) even before he got hung up with a lapped car," Moore continued. "I watched him and Culp up there battling. It was early in the race and I was just trying to save my tires. When I saw him get tangled up with that lapped car, I went full speed ahead."

"There were a lot of good cars in front of me and I thought the track would be pretty top down and around the cushion and not sure how much passing we could do. Luckily the cushion blew off and I was able to get down to the bottom and pass some cars."

"I made a good move on that one restart. I preferred to be on the outside since I noticed the bottom was bottling up. I was glad to get out there on that restart and bailed off in there as hard as I could, getting by some cars, then back to the bottom. It worked out to our favor."

"We run the spec motor with the big blade. The times we've been here and tried an open motor, the track has been real slick. Tonight it was definitely slick and it worked out. The bigger motors are harder to control on this type of track. It's a lot easier to drive a small motored car and the bigger spoiler and the less weight break helped a lot."

Notes: Moore's MB2 Customs Chassis is powered by a Jay Dickens Racing Engine and sponsored by Moore Wireline Inc, Smith's Towing, J&J Motorsports, tic Tools International, Mars Race Cars and X-Treme Graphics.

The checkered flags waved on the 23-minute feature at 11:16 pm with seven cars finishing on the lead lap.

Drivers not making the feature included, Charles Armstrong, Charles Armstrong Jr, Gary Lowe, Zach McMillan, Justin McNeil, Eric Neal, Johnny Philpot Jr, Kevin Ray, Jeff Roth, Randy Roth, Mike Ruckes, Josh Sliney and Larry White.

In the Modified portion of the U.S. National Dirt Track Championship, Clyde Dunn of Sunnyvale, Tex., took a commanding five-second victory over Chris Henigan and collected $3,000 for the win.
The Limited Modified winner, Troy Taylor of Fort Worth, took home his third career win at TMSDT and pocketed a $2,000 payday.

The O'Reilly SUPR Series will conclude the 2011 season with an October 1st event at 171 Speedway in Leesville, Louisiana for $2,500-to-win.
*Special thanks to J.M. Hallas for race detail information*


SUPR @ TMSDT: (1) Ray Moore, (2) Kevin Sitton, (3) Timothy Culp, (4) Robbie Starnes, (5) Rob Litton, (6) Eric Turner, (7) Chad Dupont, (8) Patrik Daniel, (9) Allen Tippen, (10) Brett Frazier, (11) Morgan Bagley, (12) Gary Christian, (13) Jeff Chanler, (14) Jody Prince, (15) B.J. Robinson, (16) Mike Palasini, (17) Jason Ingalls, (18) Skip O'Neal, (19) Wendall Bolden, (20) Loni Richardson, (21) Chris Holley.

Heat race winners (among 34 cars): Bagley, Ingalls, Turner
Consolation winners: O'Neal, Holley
Provisional starter: Prince

O'Reilly SUPR Series points
(Top 15 thru September 17th / TMSDT)
1. Morgan Bagley - 2,644
2. Timothy Culp - 2,473
3. Allen Tippen - 2,367
4. Rob Litton - 1,927
5. Chris Holley - 1,813
6. Kevin Sitton - 1,753
7. Jeff Chanler - 1,697
8. Jody Prince - 1,679
9. Ronny Adams - 1,489
10. Ray Moore - 1,310
11. B.J. Robinson - 1,261
12. Robbie Stuart - 1,194
13. Jay Brunson - 1,068
14. Robbie Starnes - 1,044
15. Bubba Mullins - 877

*****
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