TAMPA, FL (February 11)- Ashland, Kentucky’s Steve Francis would put on a dominate performance on the last night of Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series 30th Annual Winter Nationals at East Bay Raceway Park. Francis driving the Valvoline/ Freeport Recycling Center/ Banshee Graphics/ MOPAR Performance/ Moring Motorsports/ MDI Environmental Services/ Hoosier Tires sponsored Rocket Dodge Charger number 15 powered by a Gary Stanton Racing Engine would take the lead on the first lap and he would go on to lead all but one lap of the $12,000 to win event. The win would mark back to back victories for Francis who also won the Friday night $10,000 to win event. “It’s really a tribute to my guys. We started off this week on a bad foot, but those guys worked hard to get us back to where we needed to be,” the 39 year old Francis said after his third career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory.
 
Francis would grab the early lead from his pole position over Jackie Boggs and Anthony White.  Boggs would see early race trouble when his car would come to a stop on the front stretch ending his race with a broken driveshaft. When the field returned to green Francis would jump out in front while Shannon Babb, Dennis Erb, Jr. and White battled for the second position. Erb would move into second place spot and Donnie Moran would go into the fourth position as the field worked lap 17. The field would come under caution once again when Brian Birkhofer would get into the second turn wall. When the field saw green again Moran would put on a charge for the lead coming out of turn two to take the temporary lead over Francis. Moran would not be able to hold the lead for long though as Francis would be able to mount a charge and take back the lead on the next lap.
 
Francis would guard his lead until Don O’Neal came to a stop on the track and brought out the night’s sixth caution. Erb would be the man on the move when the field came back to green. Erb was able to move around Moran and challenge Francis for command of the field. Francis would fall behind Erb for a little under a lap before once again charging back into the number one spot.
 
Francis would begin to pull away on lap 35. By the half way point of the event Francis had put almost a half track lead over the second running car of Erb. By lap 40 York Pennsylvania’s Rick Eckert who started in the eleventh position was beginning to mount his charge to the front on the high side of the race track. After lap caution on lap 60 Eckert would continue to work his way around traffic. A major pile up on the backshute with five laps to go would bring out a red flag condition on the track. As the race would go green the rest of the way Francis would take his car all the way to the checkered flag unchallenged. The Petroff Towing/Malcuit Engines/ Rayburn Monte Carlo of Erb would finish in the second position and wrap up the DART Machinery Winternationals Points Championship.  Eckert made his way to the third position from the eleventh starting position on the grid in the Raye Vest Excavating/Rocket Ford Taurus. Billy Moyer in the J&J Steel/Rayburn GTO would hang onto the fourth spot and Donnie Moran in the PBM Performance Products/MasterSbilt Monte Carlo would round out the top five. Terry English finished sixth followed by Justin Rattliff, Tim Dohm, Brady Smith, and John Mason would round out the top ten.
 
66 Cars were on hand for Sunday night’s Lucas Oil 30th Annual East Bay Raceway Park Winter Nationals finale with Jackie Boggs setting fast time. Heat races were won by Steve Francis, Anthony White, Billy Moyer, Jackie Boggs, Donnie Moran, and Shannon Babb. B-Mains were won by Tim Dohm, John Blankenship, and Tim McCreadie.
 
The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Car Series will return to action on Saturday April 1. for the “Indiana Icebreaker” paying $10,000 to win at the Brownstown Speedway in Brownstown, Indiana.
 
 
 
Race Summary
 
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Sunday Night, February 12, 2006
East Bay Raceway Park-Tampa, FL
 
COMP Cams Fast Time:  Jackie Boggs 15.169 seconds
 
PBM Performance Products First Heat:  Jackie Boggs, Dennis Erb Jr., Brian Birkhofer, Tim Dohm, Ricky Arms, Doug Horton, Don O’Neal, Scott James, Sonny Conley, Christian Rayburn
 
PBM Performance Products Second Heat:  Donnie Moran, Mat Miller, Brady Smith, John VanDenBerg, Jimmy Mars, Steve Hillard, Freddy Smith, Jordan Bland, Dan Stone
 
DART Machinery Third Heat:  Anthony White, Justin Rattliff, Anthony Rushing, John Blankenship, Brent Robinson, Corey Conley, Michael England, Marshall Austin, Jr., Bob Geiger, Ray Cook
 
DART Machinery Fourth Heat:  Steve Francis, John Mason, Terry English, Randy Korte, Gerald Davis, Rodney Melvin, Wendell Wallace, George Lee, Steve Casebolt, C.J. Rayburn
 
Sunoco Race Fuels Fifth Heat:  Billy Moyer, Rick Eckert, Don Hammer, Darren Miller, Tim McCreadie, Garrett Durrett, Marshall Green, Damon Eller, Joey Tanner, Frank  Heckenast Jr., Steve Hucovski
 
Sunoco Race Fuels Sixth Heat:  Shannon Babb, Earl Pearson Jr., Jared Landers, Eddie Carrier Jr., Davey Johnson, Justin Flory, Steve Drake, Charlie Duncan, Bart Hartman, Jimmy Owens
 
Mason Racin’ Rebel Shock Dyno First B-Main:  Tim Dohm, John VanDenBerg, Doug Horton, Ricky Arms, Freddy Smith, Jordan Bland, Dan Stone, Sonny Conley, Christian Rayburn, Jimmy Mars, Steve Hillard, Don O’Neal, Scott James
 
Penske Shocks Second B-Main:  John Blankenship, Randy Korte, Michael England, Corey Conley, Steve Casebolt, Rodney Melvin, Ray Cook, George Lee, Bob Geiger, C.J. Rayburn, Brent Robinson, Wendell Wallace, Gerald Davis
 
Mason Racin’ Rebel Shock Dyno Third B-Main:  Tim McCreadie, Darren Miller, Eddie Carrier Jr., Garrett Durrett, Davey Johnson, Marshall Green, Jason Flory, Damon Eller, Steve Hucovski, Charlie Duncan, Frank Heckenast Jr., Jimmy Owens, Joey Tanner
 
Feature (75 Laps):  Steve Francis, Dennis Erb Jr., Rick Eckert, Billy Moyer, Donnie Moran, Terry English, Justin Rattliff, Tim Dohm, Brady Smith, John Mason, Anthony Rushing, Earl Pearson Jr., Matt Miller, Darren Miller, Anthony White, Don O’Neal, Shannon Babb, Brian Birkhofer, Scott James, Randy Korte, John Blankenship, John VanDenBerg, Don Hammer, Tim McCreadie, Jared Landers, Jackie Boggs
 
 
Race Statistics:
 
Entries: 66
Cautions:  9
Red Flags: 1
All-Star Performance Performer of the Race:  Tim Dohm (started 19th and finished 8th) advanced 11 positions
K&N Engineering Clean Pass of the Race:  John Mason
Hawk Brake Tough Break of the Race:  Brent Robinson
Quarter Master Move of the Race:  Rick Eckert
 
Current Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Points Standings after 2/12/06
 
1.       Dennis Erb Jr (Carpentersville, IL)-655
2.       Donnie Moran (Dresden, OH)- 620
3.       Steve Francis (Ashland, KY)-615
4.       Matt Miller (Waterville, OH)-585
5.       Earl Pearson Jr (Jacksonville, FL)-555
6.       Don O’Neal (Martinsville, IN)-540
7.       Rick Eckert (York, PA)- 520
8.       Tim Dohm (Cross Lanes, WV)-515
9.       Doug Horton (Bruceton Mills, WV)-515
10.   Billy Moyer (Batesville, AR)-505
 
Final 2006 DART Machinery Winternationals Points Fund
 
1.       Dennis Erb Jr.-1220
2.       Donnie Moran-1200
3.       Earl Pearson Jr.-1195
4.       Billy Moyer-1085 
5.       Steve Francis-1040
6.       Matt Miller-1040
7.       Rick Eckert-1015
8.       Tim McCreadie-1010
9.       Doug Horton-975
10.     Don O’Neal-950