Billy Moyer Survives Battle with Blankenship to Win Friday Night at East Bay

Billy Moyer Survives Battle with Blankenship to Win Friday Night at East Bay

TAMPA, FL (February 14, 2014) - Billy Moyer survived a back-and-forth battle with John Blankenship to win the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event on Friday Night at East Bay Raceway Park. Moyer denied Blankenship's first ever win at East Bay by taking the lead with eight laps to go from Blankenship and went unchallenged the remaining laps. With his win Moyer scored his 778th win of his career. Blankenship finished second, followed by Scott Bloomquist, Don O'Neal, and Gregg Satterlee rounded out the top five.

 "The car was just phenomenal all night long. When he (Blankenship) got around me, I thought I was in trouble. There was a bunch of heavy traffic, and I lost contact with him. That caution about halfway through the race really helped me," said Moyer.

 "On the restart I was able to stay with him [Blankenship]. It looked like his car was going away a little bit, then we had that last caution with nine to go, and I was thinking I had a real good shot at him. We were able to get out of the corners better than him. His [Blankenship's] car would drift up the track, and that's when we passed him," said Moyer.

 The two drivers put on a spectacular feature event, running side-by-side several times until Moyer was able to finally clear Blankenship. "I can't thank the people at Longhorn Chassis enough; Bobby and Terry Labonte, Kevin Rumley, and everybody else for making this transition easy. I want to thank Clements Racing Engines, the power that I have is second-to-none."

 Blankenship had everything going his way when he passed Moyer for the lead with nine laps scored. "When we got the lead early, I was thinking maybe tonight was the night when we would finally get a win here. I knew I was a sitting duck there in the last ten laps. Our car was getting looser and he (Moyer) was getting faster. Congrats to Billy on the win, they deserved it. We will come back tomorrow and shoot for the victory," said the driver of the Coal: Save the Country, Rocket Chassis.

 Bloomquist was in the thick of things at the end as he fought to a third-place finish. "Our car has been pretty fast this entire week here. We keep making adjustments on it, and it has definitely helped. Those two [Moyer and Blankenship] were just a little bit better than us tonight. I have to thank a new sponsor that has come on board with us this year, Ole Smokey Moonshine."

 Completing the top ten were Earl Pearson Jr., Jimmy Owens, Steve Francis, Eddie Carrier, Jr., and Ray Cook.

In preliminary action, Steve Francis set the overall Miller Welders Fast Time (Group B) amongst the -45 entrants, with a lap of 14.034 seconds. Billy Moyer set the fastest time in Group A with a time of 14.144 seconds. Billy Moyer, Gregg Satterlee, John Blankenship, and Earl Pearson Jr. won their respective heat races. Billy Moyer Jr. and Brian Shirley won their respective B-Mains.

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