SCREVEN, GA (February 9, 2019) – Shane Clanton’s legacy as the most dominant driver in World of Outlaws Late Model Series history at the Screven Motor Speedway was even further solidified with his Saturday night performance. Drawing the pole position of the main event, the 43-year old Zebulon, Georgia native commanded the feature from the outset and never looked back, pacing all 50 circuits around the 3/8th-mile Sylvania, Georgia facility. As one of two drivers to start all 14 WoO LMS features at Screven, Clanton has amassed the most victories (4) and is tied for the most top five finishes (8).
For the second consecutive night, the “Peach State” played witness to one of their one defending the home turf and keeping the loot in Georgia. On Friday night, Brandon Overton of Evans, Georgia snagged his fourth-career WoO LMS victory in a flag-to-flag score, while Clanton of Zebulon, Georgia won his 43rd-career WoO LMS feature in Saturday’s start-to-finish triumph.
Attracting another stout field of 39 entries, the final night of Winter Freeze IX offered a format including two exciting flights of qualifying, four intense heat races, two LCQ’s and a 50-lap main event.
The packed house on hand at Screven Motor Speedway was set ablaze early in the night, as Jason Covert went out dead last in Group A of qualifying and clocked a time of 14.558 seconds to steal quicktime honors away from Clanton (14.572). In Group B of qualifying, WoO LMS Rookie of the Year contender, Kyle Hardy, narrowly topped the charts with a 14.622, beating Chase Junghans (14.625) by three one-thousandths of a second (00.003 seconds).
In heat race action, all four pole sitters capitalized on their prime positions as Covert (H1), Clanton (H2), Hardy (H3) and Junghans (H4) all ran away with wins in the ten-lappers. The two LCQ’s saw a pair of storyline winners, with last night’s victor, Brandon Overton (LCQ 1), and the Kevin Rumley No. 6 driven by the 2018 WoO LMS champion, Mike Marlar (LCQ 2), taking victories.
Drawing the pole position in the redraw, Clanton made sure to drive it in deep into turn one on the bottom as he slid up in front of Covert to secure the race lead. Pinned to the low line on a bottom dominant surface, lap traffic made things interesting as Clanton approached the back markers on the ninth circuit. As the front of the field became mired in thick traffic, a close encounter on Covert’s part allowed the No. 36V of Hardy to sneak underneath and grab the second spot on lap 12.
Throughout much of the beginning and middle stages of the 50-lapper, Clanton had separated himself from those chasing him and padded his lead with the comfort of lap cars in between. However, with 15 laps remaining, Hardy cleared a path to Clanton’s rear bumper with nothing standing in his way, and the charge was on.
With five to go, Hardy had arrived and was within striking distance of Clanton, but one big problem still remained: how would Hardy make a move? Hardy’s advantage of slow traffic in front of Clanton was soon erased also, as the first caution of the race flew on lap 46. On the ensuing restart, Clanton pulled away in command, only for third-place Jason Covert and fourth-place Cade Dillard to tangle and bring out the final caution on lap 48.
A green-white-checkered restart stood in front of Clanton, but provided him no challenge, as the Georgia native hung on to lead all 50 laps en route to his winning his unmatched fourth World of Outlaws Late Model Series main event at Screven Motor Speedway. Garnering his 43rd-career WoO LMS victory, Clanton now sits one win away from tying Billy Moyer Sr. for third on the all-time wins list.
Rounding out the top five at Screven on Saturday night was rookie Kyle Hardy with a strong second-place result, Chase Junghans in third with his second-straight top five, 2017 champion Brandon Sheppard in fourth, and Mike Norris with a fifth-place finish. Closing out the top ten was Brian Shirley in sixth, Darrell Lanigan in seventh, John Henderson in eighth, Chris Madden in ninth and Brent Dixon in tenth.
Up next for the World of Outlaws Late Model Series is a four-night stay at the Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Florida as part of the 48th annual DIRTcar Nationals. Late Models first hit the track at Volusia on Monday night, but the WoO sanction comes into effect beginning on Wednesday and lasting through Saturday.
Qualifying Flight A (2 Laps):
1. 72C-Jason Covert (14.558); 2. 25-Shane Clanton (14.572); 3. 44-Chris Madden (14.607); 4. 1-Brandon Sheppard (14.688); 5. 29-Darrell Lanigan (14.721); 6. 2X-John Henderson (14.729); 7. 2-Brandon Overton (14.829); 8. B1-Brent Larson (14.867); 9. 58-Ivedent Lloyd Jr. (14.876); 10. 42-Cla Knight (14.935); 11. 22X-G.R. Smith (14.945); 12. 1X-Chub Frank (14.961); 13. 6-Blake Spencer (14.991); 14. 8-Matt Sponaugle (15.123); 15. 27-Tyler Carpenter (15.180); 16. 0-Ryan Scott (15.233); 17. 99B-Boom Briggs (15.271); 18. 27-Joe Denby (15.354); 19. J8-Jadon Frame (15.441); 20. 0K-Freddie Carpenter (15.739).
Qualifying Flight B (2 Laps):
1. 36V-Kyle Hardy (14.622); 2. 18-Chase Junghans (14.625); 3. 72-Mike Norris (14.652); 4. 97-Cade Dillard (14.652); 5. 3S-Brian Shirley (14.679); 6. 1D-Brent Dixon (14.692); 7. 7-Ricky Weiss (14.720); 8. 28-Dennis Erb Jr. (14.745); 9. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr. (14.849); 10. 6M-Mike Marlar (15.004); 11. 16-Tyler Bruening (15.045); 12. 77-Brian Connor (15.045); 13. 9-Billy Moyer Sr. (15.058); 14. 53-Ray Cook (15.071); 15. 24D-Michael Brown (15.080); 16. 83-Scott James (15.150); 17. 11B-Stacy Boles (15.223); 18. C9-Steve Casebolt (15.412); 19. 25H-Chuck Hummer (17.722).
Heat One (10 Laps / 4 Transfer):
1. 72C-Jason Covert (1); 2. 58-Ivedent Lloyd Jr. (5); 3. 29-Darrell Lanigan (3); 4. 44-Chris Madden (2); 5. 2-Brandon Overton (4); 6. 99B-Boom Briggs (9); 7. 27-Tyler Carpenter (8); 8. 22X-G.R. Smith (6); 9. 6-Blake Spencer (7); 10. Jadon Frame (10).
Heat Two (10 Laps / 4 Transfer):
1. 25-Shane Clanton (1); 2. Brandon Sheppard (2); 3. 2X-John Henderson (3); 4. 1X-Chub Frank (6); 5. 42-Cla Knight (5); 6. 8-Matt Sponaugle (7); 7. B1-Brent Larson (4); 8. 0K-Freddie Carpenter (10); 9. 0-Ryan Scott (8); 10. 27-Joe Denby (9).
Heat Three (10 Laps / 4 Transfer):
1. 36V-Kyle Hardy (1); 2. 72-Mike Norris (2); 3. 3S-Brian Shirley (3); 4. 7-Ricky Weiss (4); 5. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr. (5); 6. 9-Billy Moyer Sr. (7); 7. 16-Tyler Bruening (6); 8. 24D-Michael Brown (8); 9. 11B-Stacy Boles (9); 10. 25H-Chuck Hummer (10).
Heat Four (10 Laps / 4 Transfer):
1. 18-Chase Junghans (1); 2. 97-Cade Dillard (2); 3. 1D-Brent Dixon (3); 4. 28-Dennis Erb Jr. (4); 5. 6M-Mike Marlar (5); 6. 77-Brian Connor (6); 7. 53-Ray Cook (7); 8. 83-Scott James (8); 9. C9-Steve Casebolt (9).
Last Chance Showdown One (10 Laps / 3 Transfer):
1. 2-Brandon Overton (1); 2. 27-Tyler Carpenter (8); 3. 99B-Boom Briggs (3); 4. 41-Cla Knight (2); 5. B1-Brent Larson (6); 6. 0-Ryan Scott (10); 7. 6-Blake Spencer (9); 8. 8-Matt Sponaugle (4); 9. 22X-G.R. Smith (7); 10. 27-Joe Denby (12); 11. 0K-Freddie Carpenter (5); 12. J8-Jadon Frame (11).
Last Chance Showdown Two (10 Laps / 3 Transfer):
1. 6M-Mike Marlar (2); 2. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr. (1); 3. 9-Billy Moyer Sr. (3); 4. 16-Tyler Bruening (5); 5. 77-Brian Connor (4); 6. 24D-Michael Brown (7); 7. C9-Steve Casebolt (10); 8. 83-Scott James (8); 9. 11B-Stacy Boles (9); 10. 53-Ray Cook (6); 11. 25H-Chuck Hummer (11).
World of Outlaws Late Models Main Event (50 Laps):
1. 25-Shane Clanton (1); 2. 36V-Kyle Hardy (3); 3. 18-Chase Junghans (4); 4. 1-Brandon Sheppard (6); 5. 72-Mike Norris (8); 6. 3S-Brian Shirley (10); 7. 29-Darrell Lanigan (9); 8. 2X-John Henderson (11); 9. 44-Chris Madden (13); 10. 1D-Brent Dixon (12); 11. 28-Dennis Erb Jr. (16); 12. 2-Brandon Overton (17); 13. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr. (20); 14. 1X-Chub Frank (15); 15. 7-Ricky Weiss (14); 16. 9-Billy Moyer Sr. (22); 17. B1-Brent Larson (23); 18. 72C-Jason Covert (2); 19. 97-Cade Dillard (5); 20. 6-Blake Spencer (24); 21. 27-Tyler Carpenter (19); 22. 6M-Mike Marlar (18); 23. 22X-G.R. Smith (25); 24. 58-Ivedent Lloyd Jr. (7); 25. 99B-Boom Briggs (21).
Lap Leader(s): Clanton 1-50.
Hard Charger(s): Heckenast Jr. +7.
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