Moyer the Man Again in Winning Friday Night's DART Winternationals Event at East Bay Raceway Park

TAMPA, FL (February 8, 2008)-For the first time in the last eleven Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series events at East Bay Raceway Park there was a repeat winner as Batesville, AR's Billy Moyer led all 50 laps grabbing his second DART Machinery Winternationals victory of the week.  By no means was Moyer's 17^th career win at the East Bay Raceway Park an easy one, as Brady Smith finished second, by just one car length.  Eric Jacobsen finished third followed by Donnie Moran and John Blankenship.

Moyer drew the number two starting position among the six heat race winners and with the largest field of cars (88) on hand all week long; the 25 feature starters definitely had to earn their way into the main event.

Matt Miller started on the pole alongside Moyer as the 50 lap journey began when chief starter Julian Mullis waved the green flag to start the event that was witnessed by the largest crowd of the week.  Moyer took the lead in turn number one with Miller moving to second followed by Brady Smith, Josh Richards and Bart Hartman.

Richards would pull even with Miller as the two drivers battled around the 1/3^rd mile oval.  Miller would fight to regain the second slot by the third lap.  With Moyer stretching his lead out, it was a torrid battle for positions among the rest of the top ten cars.

Chuck Harper started to gain ground on the frontrunners as he was using the top groove on the track and was hounding Hartman for fifth.  Harper cleared Hartman on lap nine to take the fifth position just as the top cars were entering some heavy traffic.

Miller was starting to gain on Moyer when he suddenly slowed in turn number four to bring out the first caution of the race.  With Miller now out of the race, the Delaware double file restart would see Moyer out in front by himself with Richards and Smith paired up behind him.

When the race went green again Moyer would have to fight off the aggressive Smith who would now pick up the challenge for the lead when Miller went pit side.  With 15 laps in the record books there would be two straight caution flags to come out, one for Scott James and the other for fellow Hoosier State driver, Don O'Neal both of whom stopped on the track.

The race would then see a stretch of seven caution free circuits, with Moyer and Smith opening up a straightaway margin over the rest of the field. Moyer and Smith were in control of the top two spots; Richards was still in third with Steve Francis and Terry Casey gaining strides in the race.

At the halfway mark of the race Francis would gain a spot passing Richards for third and started to make up even more time than he had on Moyer and Smith.  With 30 laps scored Eric Jacobson started to become a player and was on the prowl as he and Donnie Moran were blazing through the pack and stalking down the leaders.

Jacobson had climbed all the way at this point with Moran, who at one time in the early stages of the race had fallen from his 12^th starting spot to around 20^th place.

Jacobson and Moran were chasing down the wake of Moyer and Smith as the two leaders were again involved in heavy traffic with only 15 circuits remaining.  Smith would see an opportunity that he had been waiting on for the last several laps as Moyer was being held up by some lapped cars, he tried to go around on the inside coming out of turn one, but Moyer shut the door on him time and time again.

Just as Smith was about to reel in Moyer, who was battling traffic as the yellow would wave for the stalled car of Dan Schlieper on lap 39. That would set up the final 11 lap shootout to determine the race winner.

On the restart Moyer and Smith would fire off of turn four to begin the final laps of the race, but what looked like to be another Moyer runaway in the waning laps did not turn out that way as Smith would make it tough on the veteran driver.

Moyer and Smith would both close in on traffic before the end of the race and Smith was going to take one last stab at Moyer on the final lap.  Smith did just that and as the two headed into turn three Moyer would take a new line on the track, which opened the door for Smith to try the inside route coming off of turn number four.

As they raced to the checkered flag, Smith would get to the left rear of Moyer's quarter panel but he could not muster enough traction to pass him at the line falling one car length short of the winner's circle.  Jacobson's third place was his best ever in Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series competition with Moran right on his bumper at the finish and Blankenship recording a strong finish after starting in 20^th coming home in fifth.

For the second time this week Moyer took his Moyer Victory Circle Chassis to victory lane at East Bay Raceway Park and he addressed the huge crowd afterwards.  "That was a good race there, we made a few adjustments after the heat and starting on the outside front row was a big advantage, but my car really did well all over the track, we kind of searched there a little bit to see what groove to run and it actually got faster there towards the end," said the 50-year-ol National Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer.

"That yellow there while I was in traffic was a huge help, I didn't know how much left rear tire I had left and that cleared the way up and we ran back into more traffic with a few laps to go and I thought Brady might get by me there for a moment, I want to thank the guys at Victory Circle they've really worked hard on these cars and I've taken a lot of my own ideas in building these and I very happy to get a second win here this week."

Moyer's number 21 is powered by a Clements Racing Engine and sponsored by Banner Valley Hauling, BSB Manufacturing, J&J Steel, Karl Chevrolet, Watters Auto Land, Redline Oil, Performance Rod and Custom, Universal Concrete and Minx Show Palace.

Smith in his first appearance of the week at East Bay Raceway Park earned the runner-up slot in his AMSOIL/Vic Hill Engines/Bloomquist Race Cars Monte Carlo SS with Jacobson in his VP Racing Fuels/Pro Power Engines/Bloomquist Race Cars Monte Carlo SS, Moran in his Custom Cutters/Vic Hill Engines/MasterSbilt Monte Carlo SS and Blankenship in the Don Blankenship/Busch Beer/Bloomquist Race Cars Monte Carlo SS completing the top five.

The remainder of the top ten in the finishing order were 19^th starting Mike Marlar, Steve Francis, 22^nd starting Ray Cook, Terry Casey and Tim McCreadie.