Devin Moran regained the lead from Jason Feger on lap 45 and went on to win the FALS Spring Shootout – Presented by Titan Industries on Saturday night at Fairbury Speedway. Moran collected $30,000 for his second Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of the season.
Moran, who won the track’s signature event, the Prairie Dirt Classic in 2018, held off Ricky Thornton, Jr., the defending PDC champion for the win. Brandon Sheppard took third followed by Feger, and Jonathan Davenport.
Moran started on the outside of the front row and took the lead at the start of the 60 lap-race. Mike Marlar grabbed second behind Moran at the start as he trailed last year’s runner-up in the championship points for the first 16 circuits until Feger, who started sixth took over second from Marlar on lap 17.
Feger was not done yet and after reaching second took just two more laps to get the lead passing Moran on lap 19. Feger, who entered the race with three career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victories used the outside line to try and extend his lead out over Moran, and Sheppard who had climbed to third.
The trio of Feger, Moran, and Sheppard ran that way until Moran was able to regain the point from Feger on lap 45. Thornton then started to get going, after running outside the top five for several laps. The current championship point leader, who was looking for his fourth series win in a row, moved into the second spot as Feger fell to fourth behind Sheppard.
Moran stayed glued to the bottom of the track as the race went with a long stretch of green flag racing to the end. Thornton made a last-ditch effort on the final circuit but came up 0.760 seconds short of Moran at the finish.
In Lucas Oil Victory Lane, for the tenth time in his career, Moran, who currently sits third in the championship standings was relieved to get back to Victory Lane at Fairbury for the first time in 6 years.
“I was trying to be patient and save my tires a little because he was running the top,” said Moran after seeing Feger pass him for the lead. “I saw there was 25 to go and I knew it was time to go, I knew I needed to get by him. Feger didn’t move down, and thank goodness, because it worked out for us. It’s hard to lead here when you see the 20RT behind you on the scoreboard, but fortunately for me I was able to stay on the bottom, I wasn’t going to move from there.”
Thornton who has six Big River Steel Podium finishes in 2024, all wins, had his first second-place finish of the season. “If I could have won my heat race, I might have had a better shot at the win. I didn’t fire off as good as I needed to and it kind of took me a while to get going. We just slowly and methodically worked our way forward. There for a while I thought Feger was going to win the thing; he took off like a rocket there. Congrats to Devin; his stuff has been really good.”
Sheppard, who rounded out the Big River Steel Podium in third, tried valiantly in the last 10 laps to get by Moran and Thornton using the top line, but couldn’t get close enough. “They were all single file around the bottom, and I figured I could give it a whirl once at least. I think I could have been more aggressive at the beginning of the race. I had a pretty good balanced car all night long.”
The winner’s Roger Sellers, Double Down Motorsports, Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Cornett Racing Engine and sponsored by Lazydays RV, Big River Steel, C&W Trucking, Bilstein Shocks, McHugh Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram, Red Oak Pub, Haulin’ Haskell’s, Car Source Auto, and Smoky Mountain Speedway.
Completing the top ten were Mike Marlar, Nick Hoffman, Tim McCreadie, Mike Harrison, and Cody Overton.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Race Summary
FALS Spring Shootout – Presented by Titan Industries
Saturday, May 11, 2024
Fairbury Speedway – Fairbury, IL
Allstar Performance Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Mike Marlar | 13.403 seconds (overall)
Fast Time Group B: Devin Moran | 13.609 seconds
Penske Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 157-Mike Marlar[1]; 2. 97-Cody Overton[2]; 3. 17SS-Brenden Smith[8]; 4. 32X-Chris Simpson[4]; 5. 6-Clay Harris[7]; 6. 111-Max Blair[6]; 7. 71-Hudson O’Neal[9]; 8. 38J-Jake Little[11]; 9. 81-Jason Riggs[5]; 10. 99B-Boom Briggs[12]; 11. 93F-Carson Ferguson[3]; 12. 17A-Austin Howes[10]
Summit Racing Products Heat Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[2]; 3. 33-Mike Harrison[6]; 4. 58-Garrett Alberson[3]; 5. 11-Gordy Gundaker[5]; 6. 18D-Daulton Wilson[7]; 7. 7T-Drake Troutman[10]; 8. 19R-Ryan Gustin[9]; 9. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[8]; 10. 1-Tim McCreadie[4]; 11. 33 4-Billy Hough[11]; 12. (DNS) 8L-Jeffrey Ledford
Earnhardt Technologies Heat Race #3 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 99-Devin Moran[1]; 2. 25F-Jason Feger[3]; 3. 25W-Allen Weisser[2]; 4. 3S-Brian Shirley[4]; 5. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[6]; 6. 45-Kyle Hammer[5]; 7. 24-Ryan Unzicker[9]; 8. 7-Ross Robinson[8]; 9. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[7]; 10. 7W-JC Waller[10]; 11. (DNS) 31-Kye Blight; 12. (DNS) C8-Cole Perine
Simpson Race Products Heat Race #4 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. B5-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 2. 18-Shannon Babb[3]; 3. 32P-Bobby Pierce[5]; 4. 9-Nick Hoffman[6]; 5. 96-Tanner English[8]; 6. 20-Jimmy Owens[10]; 7. 40B-Kyle Bronson[7]; 8. 99W-Mckay Wenger[9]; 9. 10-Garrett Smith[1]; 10. 93-Cory Lawler[11]; 11. 1T-Tyler Erb[4]
Fast Shafts B-Main Race #1 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 11-Gordy Gundaker[2]; 2. 111-Max Blair[3]; 3. 71-Hudson O’Neal[5]; 4. 18D-Daulton Wilson[4]; 5. 1-Tim McCreadie[12]; 6. 38J-Jake Little[7]; 7. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[10]; 8. 7T-Drake Troutman[6]; 9. 19R-Ryan Gustin[8]; 10. 6-Clay Harris[1]; 11. 33 4-Billy Hough[14]; 12. 99B-Boom Briggs[11]; 13. 17A-Austin Howes[15]; 14. 93F-Carson Ferguson[13]; 15. (DNS) 81-Jason Riggs; 16. (DNS) 8L-Jeffrey Ledford
UNOH B-Main Race #2 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 40B-Kyle Bronson[6]; 2. 96-Tanner English[2]; 3. 20-Jimmy Owens[4]; 4. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[1]; 5. 45-Kyle Hammer[3]; 6. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[9]; 7. 7-Ross Robinson[7]; 8. 10-Garrett Smith[10]; 9. 7W-JC Waller[11]; 10. 99W-Mckay Wenger[8]; 11. 93-Cory Lawler[12]; 12. 24-Ryan Unzicker[5]; 13. (DNS) 1T-Tyler Erb; 14. (DNS) 31-Kye Blight; 15. (DNS) C8-Cole Perine
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series PR
