Illinois driver leads from start to finish in winning WoO Late Model Series race

GRAND FORKS — It hasn’t been the easiest season for World of Outlaws Late Model Series driver Brian Shirley.

But a win and a $12,000 check late Sunday night will make things a little easier as the Illinois driver moves forward with the WoO LMS season.

Shirley started on the pole and led all 40 laps in winning his first WoO LMS win of the season at River Cities Speedway, It was a rare Sunday night of racing at The Bullring as Friday’s original WoO LMS race was postponed due to wet grounds.

The wait was worth it to Shirley, who held a comfortable lead much of the race until Devin Moran staged a late challenge with 10 laps to go.

“It’s been a roller coaster year,” said Shirley. “We’ve had a lot of downs. It’s a little emotional because we’ve put in so much work.”

“Obviously, starting up front was the key, getting the lead and controlling where I was going. I was a little nervous (in the closing laps) but I knew clean air was going to be huge so I could make own lines.”

Shirley hit lapped traffic with 32 laps to go but he smoothly maneuvered through it. With just under 10 laps to go, Moran made a surge closing to within a couple of car lengths. But Shirley had his own little spurt and held a comfortable lead with five laps to go.

However, with two laps to go, the second caution flag of the race was waved, wiping out Shirley’s 1.8-second lead. But Moran couldn’t make a push in the final two laps.

“I was watching the scoreboard and with 10 laps to go I tried to run the top in (Turns) 3 and 4 but there was nothing there,” said Moran. “With all the rain they’ve had here, they had the bottom pretty saturated so we kind of got stuck around the bottom. But that’s part of it. Can’t complain about a second-place finish.

“I’m just glad we got the show in on a Sunday evening. It looked like an all-right crowd.”

Shirley beat Moran to the flagstand by 0.905 seconds. Max McLaughlin was third followed by Brandon Sheppard and Ryan Gustin.

Overall, it was Shirley’s eighth WoO LMS win. He was been racing late models for roughly 20 years.

Jason Strand was the top local finisher in the field of 34 cars. He finished 11th.

Two other classes raced Sunday, with Trey Hess winning the streets feature and Austin Hunter taking the 20-lap Midwest modifieds main event.

Hess took the lead with 10 laps to go and he edged Cole Greseth by 1.579 seconds. John Halvorson was third, followed by Seth Klostreich and Rodney Hulst.

Hunter survived a wild Midwest modified feature, which was marred by an eight-car pileup five laps into the race.

Hunter grabbed the top spot with 10 laps to go and won by 0.671 seconds over Jory Berg. Cylen Vargason, Joseph Thomas and Connor Drewry rounded out the top five.

Racing resumes at RCS on Tuesday night. Double sprint features are scheduled. There will be no races Friday, July 5.

River Cities Speedway
Sunday’s results
Streets
First heat — 1. Greg Jose, 2. Wes Ramsrud, 3. Royce Jawaski
Second heat — 1 Cole Greseth, 2. Trey Hess, 3. Bryce Reimer
Feature — 1. Trey Hess, 2. Greseth, 3. John Halvorson, 4. Seth Klostreich, 5. Rodney Hulst
Midwest modifieds
First heat — 1. Chris Edmonds, 2. Lance Schill, 3. Ryan Schow
Second heat — 1. Jory Berg, 2. Makenna Romuld, 3. Aaron Blacklance
Third heat — 1. Cylen Vargason, 2. Austin Hunter, 3. Matt Schow
Feature — 1. Hunter, 2. Berg, 3. Vargason, 4. Joseph Thomas, 5. Connor Drewry
WoO LMS
First heat — 1. Devin Moran, 2. Cody Overton, 3. Brandon Sheppard, 4. Brent Larson
Second heat — 1. Ryan Gustin, 2. Bobby Pierce, 3. Nick Hoffman, 4. Dennis Erb Jr.
Third heat — 1. Max McLaughlin, 2, Dustin Sorenson, 3. Jason Strand, 4. Dustin Strand
Fourth heat — 1. Brian Shirley, 2. Tyler Bruening, 3. Sam Mars, 4. Chad Mahder
B main 1 — 1. Kyle Bronson, 2. Cade Dillard, 3. Tristan Chamberlin
B main 2 — 1. Tyler Peterson, 2. Brad Seng, 3. Cole Schill
Feature — 1. Shirley, 2. Moran, 3. McLaughlin, 4. Sheppard, 5. Gustin

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