Lanigan Repeats Outlaw Win at Indee, Duffy Posts Second Dirt Tour Win of 2013

The last thing that Chad Simpson wanted to see was yet another caution. After leading the race during the early laps before fading back to third, Simpson had come back strong late and was all over Darrell Lanigan looking for the lead before the seventh caution period of the event paused the action. A miscue by Simpson on the restart was all that Lanigan needed to drive away over the closing laps to win his second straight World of Outlaws appearance here at the Independence Motor Speedway Monday night. The Karl’s Performance Hawkeye Dirt Tour for IMCA Modifieds was also in action with Darin Duffy closing out the evening in victory lane.

With Chad Simpson and Don O’Neal drawing the front row of the 50-lap late model headliner you knew that it was going to be a blistering early pace as Simpson raced to the lead. Single car spins slowed that pace on laps two and four, then on the seventh trip around the fast 3/8-mile oval O’Neal slowed on the back stretch while running fourth. After a quick visit to the pits “The Real Deal” would bring the Moring Motorsports #1 back to the speedway to restart at the rear of the field. The race then found a rhythm as a pair of 25’s battled for the lead with Shane Clanton taking over from Simpson on lap fourteen.

The caution waved again on lap twenty when Chris Simpson slid off the top of turn one and smacked the guardrail that surrounds the speedway’s grounds. Nearly two inches of rain had fallen here this morning so it was quite an effort to retrieve the disabled race car and after several minutes the green flag was back on display. Series point leader Josh Richards had started thirteenth and was now battling Bub McCool for seventh when contact between the two sent Richards for a spin exiting turn two on lap twenty-two. Once back to green Clanton would continue to lead with now Darrell Lanigan pressuring him in second. The defending Outlaw champion would be able to poke a nose under the leader racing through the turns, but Clanton’s momentum off the high side was more than enough to maintain his advantage until lap thirty-six when Lanigan found the bite that he needed to grab the lead.

The caution waved again a lap later when Richards slowed on the track and on the restart it was Chad Simpson who replaced Clanton in the second spot. It was now clear that Simpson had the faster car, especially running around the top side of turns one and two and that he just needed to find the right spot on the race track to make his move on Lanigan. The challenger had tried a few different lines into turn three and appeared ready to pounce until the caution waved again with seven laps to go for Chub Frank who was driving slowly around the topside of turns three and four. The large crowd was settled in and now ready for a shootout between the champ and the local star, but when the green flag waved Simpson got a little too high in turn one, churned up the cushion a bit and allowed Clanton to drive by into second. And while Clanton was able to stay close to the leader over the closing laps, he was not able to apply the same level of pressure as Simpson was before that last caution as Lanigan claimed the $10,000 top prize. Clanton and Simpson were close behind at the checkers, Gregg Satterlee ran a steady race to finish fourth edging out Don O’Neal who made his way back to the front to finish fifth.

Indee WoO Notes…..Kudos to the entire staff at the Independence Motor Speedway for putting forth the huge effort to get this place raceable after heavy rains Monday morning. Evidence of what they had to work with was in the infield and even though there were a few ripples on the racing surface, for the most part it was smooth, fast and multi-grooved…..One of my complaints with the two major Late Model touring series is that they allow their drivers to not only draw cautions for non-apparent reasons, but they then allow that caution period to be extended by having drivers stop by and visit with the series official who then may eventually go pull on some sheet metal. I am sure (I hope) that there was a better reason for the final caution, but since the car never came to a full stop and he just drove on around to rejoin the back of the lineup it would appear that the driver just decided that he needed a break in the action. And, who knows, that “break” may have robbed the fans of a thrilling finish……The 50-lap race took around forty-five minutes to complete although the time that it took to retrieve Chris Simpson’s #32 from the mud could not be avoided…..Josh Richards struggled in qualifying and then raced from seventh to the fourth and final transfer spot in the first heat race. Richards would go to the pits late in the feature allowing both Clanton and Lanigan to make up serious ground on him in the points race…..A car with the #25 on it won each of the first three heat races with Shane Clanton, Jason Feger and Chad Simpson. There were no more 25’s to start the fourth heat so Gregg Satterlee brought his #22 to the checkers…..In that fourth heat Tampa, Florida, based driver Kyle Bronson spun while running third and then recovered to finish fourth and qualify for the main event. That recovery effort was assisted when Dillon Wood and Dan Stone made contact with each of them suffering flat tires…..Stone was later running second in the second B-Main before he pulled off the track with two laps remaining ending the night for the Pennsylvania driver……Current track point leader Tyler Bruening charged past Charlie McKenna in the final two laps to take the final transfer position from the second B-Main……The Outlaws recently made a change in regard to the announcer for the series and, while I am not sure if he has now accepted the full-time gig, it was great to listen to Ben Shelton for the evening…..This was the third year in a row that the Outlaws have race at Indee and it was the first time that I was able to attend. If the jam-packed grandstands are any indication I would say that this event will happily be placed on the schedule again in 2014.

The Hawkeye Dirt Tour Modified 30-lap main event would close out the evening and the fact that much of the crowd stuck around after the Late Models were loading up showed that the Mods were a very suitable companion for this event. Front row starters Justin O’Brien and Troy Cordes crossed the start-finish line in a near dead heat on the opening lap before Cordes established himself as the leader on lap two. A pair of cautions on lap seven and one more on lap nine kept the field tightly bunched as Cordes tried to hold off the challenges of Darin Duffy and Mike VanGenderen while the race just behind them went three-wide on a few occasions. Duffy had started on the fifth row and he was not to be denied on this night driving past Cordes with nine laps remaining and going on to endorse the $1,000 winner’s check. Cordes would settle for runner-up honors just ahead of VanGenderen, Ronn Lauritzen maintained the Tour’s point lead by finishing fourth while current track point leader Tyler Droste finished fifth.

Indee HDT Notes……Lauritzen started tenth and Droste came from eleventh in the main event…..Shawn Ryan was racing Matt Gansen for second in the fourth heat race when Ryan slipped off the top of the back stretch. Ryan’s bad luck continued in the second B-Main when he suffered a flat left rear tire so it was nice to see that he had earned a provisional start in the feature because he was definitely fast enough to have qualified…..Kelly Shryock was a bit of a surprise entry driving the car #8. He won the first B-Main, then started thirteenth and finished sixth in the main event……Steve Stultz continued his Midwest racing vacation as the Peoria, Arizona, driver finished thirteenth…..Duffy is the first repeat winner on the 2013 Tour having also won back in June at Tipton…..Track announcer Ryan Clark did a great job as usual hosting the evening’s activities and providing the call on the Modifieds. The Nic Cage look-alike is also a pretty darn good writer…..The Hawkeye Dirt Tour continues this Thursday night at the Hancock County Speedway in Britt.....Thanks to everybody at the Independence Motor Speedway, especially the nice young lady at the pit gate, for their hospitality and to Dick and Joyce Eisele along with the Ronn Lauritzen fan base for holding a couple of seats for this late arrival. Make sure to visit the 4dFan Report for another take on the night's activities.

No racing for me tonight as I have a yard to mow among other chores that need to be completed before returning to Knoxville for the 53^rd Annual FVP Knoxville Nationals starting on Wednesday. There are two big events going on in the area tonight (Tuesday) though that I do hope that you will attend as the Open Late Model Shootout will be at the West Liberty Raceway and it will be the non-wing sprints in action at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa for the finale of the “Front Row Challenge”.