Matt Miller
Wins Thriller on Night 2 of DART Winternationals at East Bay
TAMPA, FL
(February 5, 2008) - Matt Miller of Waterville, OH loves racing at
East Bay Raceway Park and on Tuesday Night he roared to the lead
around opening night winner Don O'Neal on lap 20 and then pulled
away to take the victory of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
sanctioned event. O'Neal who had led every lap but the first lap of
tonight's event at the "32nd Annual DART Winternationals"
at East Bay Raceway Park racing until Miller passed him could,
O'Neal couldn't manage to reel Miller back in as the laps waned late
in the race eventually settling for the second spot. Shannon Babb
came from the 14th starting spot to finish third followed
by Terry English and Justin Rattliff.
Donnie Moran who
is celebrating his 30th year of racing this year drew the
pole for feature among the six heat race winners as he and O'Neal
would make up the front row of the 30 lap event. When chief starter
Julian Mullis waved the green flag the action-packed battle at East
Bay Raceway Park would begin. Moran and O'Neal would cross the
start-finish line on the first lap practically dead even. O'Neal
would then forge ahead by a car length on the second circuit with a
bevy of drivers in hot pursuit.
With O'Neal
picking up where he left off the night before in the lead Moran was
holding down the second spot followed by Tim Dohm, English and
Miller. O'Neal would start to enter heavy traffic by the ninth lap
as Dohm would make a keen move by Moran for second.
Dohm then closed
in rapidly on O'Neal as the leader was battling to get by a lapped
car. Dohm would pull dead-even with O'Neal coming of the turns with
Moran closely following those two. English and Miller were putting
on a show of their own in the race for the fourth spot as those two
would cross the start-finish line neck and neck for three circuits
in a row.
With 15 laps in
the books O'Neal still had the point with Dohm and O'Neal breathing
down his back. At this point Miller had finally cleared English and
was running in fourth.
Just as Dohm
looked like he was going around O'Neal as and still racing in heavy
traffic the driveshaft broke in his car and he slowed dramatically
coming off of turn number four. Dohm's misfortune also hurt Moran
as Dohm slowed Moran was too close to him and he had to spin to
avoid a major wreck as Moran's car came to a halt on the front
stretch bringing out the first and only caution of the race.
With the race
ready to go green again O'Neal was in front by himself on the
Delaware double file restart, he had Miller and English lined up
right behind him. With 12 laps to go the race would get underway
with the same fervor it had had the first 18 laps of action.
Miller would
pull dead even with O'Neal and coming off of turn number four for
the 20th lap and storm to the lead. Miller then started
to open up enough of an advantage that left him breathing room
between himself and O'Neal. Miller nearly caught up the tail end of
the field which gave O'Neal one last shot at the win, but Miller
sped on to take the victory in a very exciting race. O'Neal would
cross line about four car lengths behind Miller at the end. Shannon
Babb made a late charge from 14th passing English for
third with a little more than five laps to go to finish third.
English and 13th starting Justin Rattliff completed the
top five.
Eddie Carrier,
Jr. would led the rest of the top ten across the finish in sixth
followed by Dan Schlieper, Dan Stone, Tim McCreadie and Jackie
Boggs.
In the post race
victory lane celebration Miller was exhausted from the terrific race
for the lead and the warm weather. "I hope the fans enjoyed that
one!" said the former Eldora Dream winner, as he addressed the
fans. "Our car was tight early on, the track was tackier than the
night before so we just had to bide our time there early on, we had
a nice race with Terry (English) there for several laps and then
when Dohm and Moran got together that was the break we needed."
"Don (O'Neal) is
one tough customer and I knew it was going to be a hard to get
around him, because he wasn't going to back down and I knew that,
but he raced me clean and gave me plenty of room and once we got by
him, I couldn't wait to see the checkered flag," said Miller who
wanted to thank several people for making his win possible. "I want
to thank my car owner Larry Moring, we didn't get to run as much
last year as we would have liked to, but this is a real strong start
to the season, so hopefully we will be contenders night in and night
out this year, I would also like to thank Ronnie Stuckey and John
Murphy and all the other guys on the crew and our thoughts go to
Russell, who is ailing, he is a good friend of Larry's and we wish
him the best."
Miller's Larry
Moring Motorsports Rocket Chassis is powered by a Clements Race
Engine and sponsored by MDI Environmental Services, Performance Rod
and Custom, Freeport Recycling Center, Sunoco Race Fuels and Graphic
Arts Express.
O'Neal who now
has a first and second in the first two nights of competition at
East Bay drives the Jeff and Eddie Harrod owned Harrod Farms/Jay
Dickens Racing Engines/C.J. Rayburn Monte Carlo. Babb's third place
finish was his top five of the week for Clint Bowyer Racing as
English came home fourth in the AAA Fence/ARC Race Engines/MasterSbilt
Impala SS with Rattliff in the James Rattliff/Rattliff Motors/C.J.
Rayburn Monte Carlo grabbing the fifth spot.
In preliminary
events Matt Miller was the PRC Fast Time Award winner with a quick
lap of14.348 seconds. The heat races were won by Matt Miller, Don
O'Neal, Tim Dohm, Donnie Moran, Dan Stone and Terry English. The
B-Main victors were
Steve Shaver,
Tim McCreadie and Kevin Cole. Chuck Harper was the top man in the
PRC Strawberry Dash earning a spot in the A-main.
Racing will
continue on Wednesday Night, February 6th for the 2008
version of the DART Machinery East Bay Winternationals with a $5,000
to win show. The event will be broadcast live via the Internet at
www.racetalklive.com.
Race Summary
Lucas Oil Late
Model Dirt Series
Tuesday Night,
February 5, 2008
East Bay Raceway
Park-Tampa, FL
PRC Fast Time:
Matt Miller 14.348 seconds
Hawk Brake First
Heat (10 Laps-Top 3 advance): Matt Miller, Eddie Carrier Jr, Justin
Ratliff, Steve Shaver, Tyler Ivey, Chuck Harper, Rick Elliot,
Anthony White, Austin Hubbard, Eric Wells, Ronnie Whitt
Hawk Brake
Second Heat (10 Laps-Top 3 Advance): Don O'Neal, Steve Francis,
Shannon Babb, Tim Fuller, Rick Eckert, Terry Casey, Wayne Chinn,
Jared Hawkins, Brian Shirley, Joe Isabell, Bob Geiger
AFCO Racing
Products Third Heat (10 Laps-Top 3 Advance): Tim Dohm, Scott James,
Chris Wall, Ray Cook, Tyler Boggs, Jason McBride, Peyton Taylor,
Billy Drake, Marshall Austin, Bryan Collins
Tiger Rear ends
Fourth Heat (10 Laps-Top 3 Advance): Donnie Moran, Dan Schlieper,
Josh Richards, John Mason, Tim McCreadie, Clint Smith, JR Hotovy,
Rohn Moon, Ky Harper, Billy Moyer, Doug Blashe
Hawk Brake Fifth
Heat (10 Laps-Top 3 Advance): Dan Stone, Jackie Boggs, Damon Eller,
Kellen Chadwick, Josh McGuire, Dennis Erb, Shon Flanary, Donald
Beyers, Jim Borden, Scott Riggs
Hawk Brake Sixth
Heat (10 Laps-Top 3 Advance): Terry English, Brian Barber, Vic
Coffey, Kevin Cole, Doug Horton, Tim Lance, Danny Johnson, Jeep Van
Wormer, Dave Tyrchniewicz, Russ Adams, Mark Andersen
Mason Racin'
Rebel Shock Dyno First B-Main (12 Laps-Top 2 Advance): Steve
Shaver, Tim Fuller, Tyler Ivey, Rick Eckert, Brian Shirley, Jared
Hawkins, Austin Hubbard, Eric Wells, Bob Geiger, Rick Elliot, Joe
Isabell, Anthony White, Ronnie Whitt, Chuck Harper, Terry Casey,
Wayne Chinn
Quarter Master
Second B-Main (12 Laps-Top 2 Advance): Tim McCreadie, Jason
McBride, Ray Cook, Ky Harper, Peyton Taylor, JR Hotovy, Rohn Moon,
Marshall Austin, Tyler Boggs, Doug Blashe, Steve Casebolt, Bryan
Collins, Billy Drake, DNS: John Mason, Clint Smith, Billy Moyer,
Eric Jacobson
Quarter Master
Third B-Main (12 Laps-Top 2 Advance): Kevin Cole, Dennis Erb, Kellen
Chadwick, Shon Flanary, Josh McGuire, Dave Tyrchniewicz, Danny
Johnson, Tim Lance, Donald Beyers, Doug Horton, Russ Adams, Jim
Borden, Jeff Beyers, DNS: Jeep Van Wormer, Scott Riggs, Mark
Andersen, Anthony Ferguson
PRC Strawberry
Dash: (6 laps-Winner Advanced to Feature): Chuck Harper, Rick
Eckert, Jared Hawkins, Austin Hubbard, Tyler Ivey, Jim Borden, Bryan
Collins, Billy Drake, Bob Geiger
Lucas Oil Late
Model Dirt Series DART Machinery East Bay Winternationals Feature
Finish: (30 Laps) Matt Miller, Don O'Neal, Shannon Babb, Terry
English, Justin Ratliff, Eddie Carrier Jr, Dan Schlieper, Dan Stone,
Tim McCreadie, Jackie Boggs, Scott James, Steve Shaver, Chris Wall,
Steve Francis, Damon Eller, Vic Coffey, Dennis Erb, Tim Fuller,
Donnie Moran, Josh Richards, Jason McBride, Tim Dohm, Brian Barber,
Chuck Harper, Kevin Cole
Race
Statistics
Entries: 68
Caution Flags:
1 Caution (Lap 18)
Lap Leaders:
Lap 1 Donnie Moran, Laps 2-19 Don O'Neal, Laps 20-Finish Matt Miller
PBM/Erson Cams
Hard Charger of the Race: Shannon Babb (Started 14th and
finished 3rd-Advanced 11 positions)
Allstar
Performance Performer of the Race: Justin Rattliff
K&N Filters
Clean Pass of the Race: Matt Miller
Quarter Master
Rookie of the Race: None
ASI Racewear
Lucky 7 Award - Dan Schlieper
Integra Crew
Chief of the Race - Jeff Gullett
Time of Race:
13.25 Minutes Started: 9:23 Ended 9:36
2008 DART
Machinery Winternationals Points Standings (After 2/4/08)
1)
Matt Miller- 605
2)
Don O'Neal- 565
3)
Steve Francis- 540
4)
Justin Ratliff- 535
5)
Tim McCreadie- 515
6)
Denns Erb Jr- 505
7)
Shannon Babb- 500
8)
Donnie Moran- 495
9)
Billy Moyer- 440
10)Josh
Richards-435
