| MARS WINS NIGHT ONE OF THE MASTERS BUT HARRIS PUTS ON A SHOW
[New Richmond, WI] - - Jimmy Mars won the first night of The Masters on Friday, June 13, 2008 here at Cedar Lake Speedway. Working through heavy lapped traffic at times, Mars was able to drive his newly designed car anywhere he steered it during the WORLD Dirt Racing League event.
"I can't thank my brother enough," Mars was quick to say in Victory Lane. "This new car is awesome. I wasn't really worried, even driving through traffic. I could put it anywhere.
"I don't want to get to overconfident (about the win), but we feel good about tomorrow night. The car was great. The Pro Power Engine was great. Wow! I just can't believe how good the car was."
Mars battled Eric Pember and Chad Simpson hard for the lead as the race started. The trio pulled away from the field while going two and three wide at times. Pember was leading when his right rear tire hopped over the cushion, and that allowed Mars the chance to clear him and pull away
on lap 22.
Brian Harris quietly ran the bottom on the track, moving from 18th to fourth by lap 26.
"We were way too tight to run the bottom," Harris explained after the races. "We had a long run of green laps, and the tires heated up. That yellow (on lap 36) helped cool the tires, and the car came back to us."
Harris was locked in a heated battle for second. Matt Miller, Brady Smith and Eric Pember raced door to door for the final 10 laps of the feature event. Harris finished second. Smith passed Miller on the final turn of the final lap for third. Miller had to settle for fourth, and Pember rounded out the top five.
Night two of The Masters is tonight, Saturday, June 14, at the Cedar Lake Speedway. Next weekend the WDRL Late Model Series travels to Illinois for a race at Freeport Raceway Park on Saturday, June 21.
The WORLD Dirt Racing League wishes to thank these series sponsors: Hoosier Racing Tires, Iowa-Illinois Taylor Insulation, CrashedToys.com, Chase Signs and Graphics, BSB Manufacturing, Champ Pans, Hooker Harness, Fast Shafts, Lincoln Electric, Performance Bodies, QA-1 Motorsports, The Brake Man and Wyman Ford. For more information on the WORLD Dirt Racing League or the latest WDRL Late Model Series schedule, check out the WORLD Dirt Racing League's Web site, www.worldraceleague.com.
TEAM HARRIS GEARS UP FOR 2008
Davenport, Iowa (January 1, 2008) -- Brian Harris and team are gearing up for the 2008 season. Plans for the team are to continue with the WDRL series and to hit various open motor events as the schedule allows.
Brian has had a great winter and has recovered fully from his injuries sustained in West Liberty at the end of last season. "We're really excited about this season," stated Brian. "We've just about got the cars and engines ready and can't wait to get started".
To open the 2008 season Brian plans to compete with the WDRL in Davenport on April 5th. For more details on the WDRL schedule you can visit them at www.worldraceleague.com.
HARRIS PLAYS SPOILER IN INDEE OPEN FINALE!!!
Brian Harris said he was unaware of the progressive purse that was being offered in the 2007 Climate Seal Insulation Indee Open Series. Instead, he made a rare appearance at the speedway pay off as he played the role of spoiler with a surprising win in the series finale at Independence Motor Speedway.
Additional prize money was being offered to competitors based on their attendance in the six-race series. Normally a $2,000-to-win event for late models, drivers were shooting for step-ladder bonuses based on their number of appearances, topping out at a possible $6,000 winner's share.
Of the 14 drivers eligible for the $6,000 payday, 10 made the 24-car starting field. Of the remaining 14 drivers in the feature, only five were looking to cash in on the standard $2,000-to-win. Harris, in only his second series appearance of the season, was in that group of five.
At the start of the 40-lap headliner, veteran Jeff Bair rocketed into the lead from his outside front row starting position on the smooth, fast 3/8-mile oval. Series points leader Chad Simpson settled into second and his brother, Chris Simpson, followed suit into third.
With Bair running the high groove and Chad Simpson working low, the leaders engaged in a nose-to-tail battle until they encountered lapped traffic on lap nine. At that time, Simpson shot inside of the leader as they weaved through the slower cars.
Swapping the lead as they navigated the backmarkers, Simpson came out in front on the 13th circuit. As Simpson led, Ace Ihm was working the low groove of the speedway from a fourth row start. On lap 15, Ihm made his way under Chris Simpson and Bair to settle into second.
Simpson continued his run up top with Ihm on the bottom until they entered heavy lapped traffic a short time later. The pair then swapped racing grooves multiple times as they negotiated the slower cars.
The lead pair remained unchanged until the race's first caution flag waved on lap 26. On the restart, Simpson again assumed command with Ihm in tow until the field entered the first set of turns. At that time, Simpson jumped the cushion and was attempting to straighten his machine when it veered sideways in front of the pack.
Driving low, Ihm's right rear tire clipped Simpson, sending Ihm sideways and into a barrel roll in front of the field. Although neither driver was injured, the night was over for both of them.
While under red, Chris Simpson and Bair, who would have restarted in first and second, were both sent to the back of the pack for exiting their cars to work on them on the front straightaway. This allowed Curt Martin and Terry Neal to restart on the front row when racing resumed.
On the restart, Martin took the advantage and began to pull away from the field until the event's final caution flag waved on lap 37.
Martin held the point on the restart with Neal in second and Harris, who started in the eighth row, in the third position. When the green flag waved, Martin pushed to the high side entering the first set of turns when his motor expired. This allowed Harris to sneak by for the lead.
Harris led the final three circuits to score the thrilling victory ahead of Neal. Justin Mitchell, in his first-ever appearance at the speedway, made an impressive run from a fifth row start to finish third.
By simply taking the green flag in his qualifier, Chad Simpson clinched the series' points title.
HARRIS OUTRUNS FEGERS TO PICK UP WDRL WIN AT ECHO VALLEY
West Union, Iowa (July 22, 2007) -- Brian Harris outran race leader Justin Fegers 19 laps from the finish Saturday night and went on to win the Quillin’s Food Ranch/KVIK/KNEI 50, a WORLD Dirt Racing League PolyDome Late Model Series-sanctioned event here at Echo Valley Speedway.
After taking advantage of a pair of mid-race caution flags, Harris stormed off the banking out of turn two on lap 31 and powered underneath Fegers as the two leaders darted down the back straightaway to grab his first series win of the season, after several heart-wrenching runner-up finishes.
"We've finished second three times this year, so it's great to get our first WDRL win of the season," commented the winner in AMSOIL Victory Lane.
"This is one of my favorite tracks," he added. "We've come here three times in the last three years, and we've never finished out of the top five. You can really get up along that wall through (turns) one and two and let her eat."
Harris started seventh in a 25-car field and wasn't a factor during the early going as Fegers came from his outside front-row starting position to grab the opening-lap advantage over polesitter Denny Eckrich, inside second-row starter Chad Simpson, Tim Isenberg and Eric Pember.
With Harris running eighth, Fegers raced to a nearly full straightaway advantage by lap five before encountering slower traffic a handful of laps later.
The first of four caution flags appeared on lap 12 when Tyler Bruening slowed to a stop midway down the back straightaway. But when racing resumed, Fegers again roared away from the field, with Denny Eckrich, Chad Simpson and Dave Eckrich locked in a furious battle for the number two position.
On lap 15, Dave Eckrich moved past Simpson to grab third and a lap later wheeled around his brother, two-time defending series champion Denny Eckrich, to snare second.
A half dozen circuits later, the elder Eckrich pulled alongside the front-running Fegers as the two leaders stormed into turn three, but when the duo raced out of turn four and in front of the grandstand, Fegers again held the advantage by a matter of a few car lengths.
Disaster struck Eckrich on lap 27, however, when the Cosgrove, Iowa, hotshoe was unable to avoid a tangle involving Brent Laursen and Rick Hanestad as the leaders made their way through slower traffic out of turn two and down the back straightaway. Fegers was able to avoid the melee, but as Eckrich tried to make it by on the outside, his Precision Performance/Barry Wright/Grove Automotive Chevrolet clipped the disabled car of Hanestad and careened sideways before coming to a halt at the entrance to turn three.
Harris, who had been running sixth, took advantage of the subsequent restart and quickly advanced four positions to second before the caution flag again waved on lap 28 when four cars tangled in turn two.
"I was spinning the tires back there on the backstretch, and I could feel a good grip so I thought I could get a pretty good run on the outside," noted Harris of the restart. "We got a good run there and were able to pick off a few cars and that really helped."
After running wheel to wheel with the front-running Fegers on laps 29 and 30, the 28-year old Davenport, Iowa, driver came off the cushion out of turn two on lap 31 and roared to the inside down the back straightaway to grab the advantage as the two race leaders sprinted into turn three.
The race was slowed by a final caution flag on lap 32, when Elk Mound, Wis., driver John Kaanta lost a drive shaft in turn three, but Harris' Iowa-Illinois Taylor Insulation/MasterSbilt/Gaerte Engines Pontiac Grand Prix proved to be the class of the field over the final 18 circuits and won the race to the checkered flag comfortably over Fegers, who settled for second.
"The car wasn't really all that good at the beginning of the race," said Harris, the current WDRL points leader. "I just had to be patient, and work the lapped cars, and finally it did come together. After those three second-place finishes, we're glad to pick this one up tonight."
Davenport, IA — Brian Harris collected a monster-sized check to launch the World of Outlaws Late Model Series’ Monster Midwest Tour on Wednesday night at Davenport Speedway.
(Click to hear Brian Harris in Victory Lane after winning at Davenport Speedway.)
Harris, a Davenport, Iowa, native racing in front of his family and friends, earned the pole position for the feature and held off Jimmy Mars and another crowd favorite, Brian Birkhofer, for 50 laps to capture the $10,000 checkered flag. Plus, Harris earned an additional $500 by being the top-finishing non-World of Outlaws driver who had never won a World of Outlaws Late Model Series event.
“That’s awesome,” said Harris, 26, the 2000 Davenport Speedway rookie of the year. “That’s the biggest check we’ve ever won.”
The pressure mounted during the closing laps on the quarter-mile oval as Mars shadowed Harris with Birkhofer closing on Mars. But Harris finally worked through lapped traffic just before Mars could make a move and powered into victory lane. Rick Eckert was fourth with Brady Smith, Steve Francis, Chris Madden, Steve Casebolt, Billy Moyer and Shannon Babb rounding out the Top 10.
“It’s unbelievable,” Harris said. “I just can’t thank all my guys enough, the friends and family, the sponsors who are here tonight. When they put this race on the schedule we were looking forward to coming here. We’ve had a lot of success here. I’ve never dedicated a feature win to anybody, but my uncle passed away last week and I’d like to dedicate this win to him.”
Babb, the two-time and defending UMP DIRTcar Summer Nationals champion, established a track record of 15.347 seconds during time trials. In the main event, he finished two spots ahead of Clint Smith, meaning the Moweaqua, Ill., driver gained sole possession of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series championship standings after entering the event tied with Smith.
The World of Outlaws Late Model Series Monster Midwest Tour next shifts to Charter Raceway Park in Beaver Dam, Wis., on Sat., May 12; Lincoln (Ill.) Speedway on Sun., May 13; Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway on Wed., May 16; and I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, Mich., on Fri., May 18.
World of Outlaws Late Model Series Statistical Report; Davenport (Iowa) Speedway Quarter Mile; May 9, 2007
A-main (Finishing Position/Start/Driver/Laps Completed/Money Won):
1. (1) Brian Harris/50 $10,500
2. (3) Jimmy Mars/50 $5,000
3. (4) Brian Birkhofer/50 $3,000
4. (2) Rick Eckert/50 $2,500
5. (7) Brady Smith/50 $2,000
6. (5) Steve Francis/50 $1,700
7. (10) Chris Madden/50 $1,400
8. (9) Steve Casebolt/50 $1,300
9. (6) Billy Moyer/50 $1,200
10. (8) Shannon Babb/50 $1,100
11. (20) Denny Eckrich/50 $1,050
12. (23) Clint Smith/50 $1,000
13. (11) Josh Richards/50 $950
14. (13) Darrell Lanigan/50 $900
15. (18) Brian Shirley/50 $850
16. (12) Chub Frank/50 $800
17. (17) Tim Lance/50 $770
18. (16) Dennis Erb Jr./50 $750
19. (14) Eddie Carrier Jr./ 50 $730
20. (19) Mike Mataragas/49 $700
21. (24) Shane Clanton/48 $700
22. (21) Ray Guss Jr./27 $700
23. (15) Chris Simpson/11 $700
24. (22) Boone McLaughlin/5 $700
Yellow Flags: 3 (Laps 3, 12, 29)
Lap Leaders: Brian Harris (1-50)
WoO LMS Bonus Bucks Winner: Brian Harris ($500)
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