DAVENPORT, Iowa — Devin Moran faced two different battles Saturday night at Davenport Speedway.
The Ohio driver survived several restarts against his competitors and overcame power steering issues to score the $30,000 victory in the Quad Cities 150 presented by Hoker Trucking.
In the first few laps, Moran traded the lead with reigning Series champion Brandon Sheppard but took the lead for good on lap six. While the “Mailman” was cruising out front, his power steering started going away, forcing him to battle the steering wheel through every corner.
“[The power steering] slowly got worse and worse and worse as the race went on, and like under caution, I had no power steering,” Moran said. “My arms felt like noodles, and I’m not the biggest guy in the world anyways, but I just told myself on that last caution, don’t be a sissy, get out there and do what I need to do, and that’s what I did.”
Moran’s win is his fourth World of Outlaws triumph of the season and eighth of his career. He added $43,500 to his bank account this weekend, between two wins and a third-place finish.
“The middle was really really good for most of the race, and then when [Bobby Pierce] slid me, and when I slid him back in one and two, I felt like the slider line was actually like really fast,” Moran said. “When I did that [Wylie Moran, his crew chief], hands got wider, and we trucked on from there.”
While Moran led most of the race, the rest of the field traded positions throughout all 70 laps.
Brian Shirley, the race’s hard charger, drove his way to second after starting 15th.
“I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out, to be honest, we just needed a good run, and a lot of things were falling our way there,” Shirley said. “We had a good car and had a couple of breaks with the cautions happening and getting in the right spot. Luckily, we just capitalized on some good things that went on [Saturday].”
Boom Briggs crossed the line third — his best World of Outlaws finish of 2021. The help he received from one of his competitors, paved the way to success on Saturday night.
“I got to thank Mark Richards and all of the [Rocket1 Racing Team],” Briggs said. “[Brandon Sheppard] welded on my car [Saturday], Mark helped me with some stuff and it got me in the game.
“That’s all I ever ask is I want in the game and to just be competitive.”
Sheppard finished fourth, his second top-five of the weekend.
“It didn’t affect me too bad around the halfway point, but the longer the race went, and the more I needed to slow my entry down a little bit, the worse I got,” Sheppard said. “I couldn’t steer in unless I was kind of on the gas because I needed to slow up with the brakes, and I didn’t have no brakes to slow me up.”
Pierce rounded out the top five.
Jeff Aikey won the IMCA modified feature and Tyler Sopped topped the SportMods.
The finish:
Feature (70 Laps):-1. 9-Devin Moran [1][$30,000]; 2. 3S-Brian Shirley [15][$15,000]; 3. 99B-Boom Briggs [10][$7,000]; 4. 1-Brandon Sheppard [2][$6,000]; 5. 32P-Bobby Pierce [4][$5,000]; 6. 44-Chris Madden [3][$4,500]; 7. 7-Ricky Weiss [13][$4,000]; 8. B1-Brent Larson [16][$3,500]; 9. 99JR-Frank Heckenast [5][$3,000]; 10. 28-Dennis Erb [8][$2,500]; 11. 16-Tyler Bruening [11][$2,300]; 12. 21-Billy Moyer [12][$2,200]; 13. 19R-Ryan Gustin [7][$2,100]; 14. 0-Nick Hoffman [18][$2,000]; 15. 28M-Jimmy Mars [9][$1,800]; 16. 18-Shannon Babb [22][$1,700]; 17. 32-Chris Simpson [6][$1,600]; 18. 97-Cade Dillard [17][$1,550]; 19. 25-Jason Feger [19][$1,500]; 20. 19G-Richie Gustin [23][$1,500]; 21. 10-Paul Parker [24][$1,500]; 22. 51-Matt Furman [21][$1,500]; 23. 59-Garrett Alberson [20][$1,500]; 24. 44W-Mike Fryer [14][$1,500] Hard Charger: 3S-Brian Shirley[+13]