DAVENPORT, Iowa — Devin Moran’s plan Thursday night at Davenport Speedway didn’t go as expected. Still, he claimed the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series feature at the half-mile dirt track.
Moran planned on running the outside, allowing his momentum to carry around polesitter Chris Madden. But calling an audible turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
Moran’s switch to the inside on lap one allowed him to dive under Madden. A few laps later, he took the lead for good, holding on for the win on night one of the Quad Cities 150 presented by Hoker Trucking.
Madden grabbed the lead off turn two on the first lap and immediately moved up to the outside. That’s where Moran made his move to the bottom, as the “Mailman” pulled even with “Smokey.”
“I barreled off in there on the bottom, and it stuck way harder than I expected,” Moran said. “I thought we’d eventually move back up, but we just never did. I’m kind of glad we didn’t because it helped us out to our win.”
Moran’s trip to Victory Lane is his third World of Outlaws win of the season and seventh of his career.
“I feel like our cars have been really good,” Moran said. “We were good on those short tracks last week up in Michigan with the [DIRTcar Summer Nationals], so I knew we had a chance; we just had to play our cards right.”
Even though Moran led most of the race, he still had a challenger trying to keep him out of victory lane. Bobby Pierce was also running the inside lane and pulled even with Moran with five laps to go.
“[Moran] was doing a great job staying tucked into the bottom,” Pierce said. “I tried the middle on the last corner, but I wish I would’ve tried it a couple of laps earlier. I don’t think it was there, but at least gave it a shot.
“I think in the long run, we were a little bit better, especially when we got caught in lap traffic, but he did a good job.”
Frank Heckenast Jr. crossed the line third after starting seventh.
“It’s still a great run,” Heckenast said. “Anytime you’re in the top three with these guys is always a huge accomplishment. We’ll chalk it up and go on to [Friday].”
Shannon Babb finished fourth and Nick Hoffman rounded out the top five.
Reigning Series champion Brandon Sheppard finished seventh, extending his points lead on Chris Madden to 164 points.
The finish:
Feature (40 Laps): 1. 9-Devin Moran [2][$10,000]; 2. 32P-Bobby Pierce [4][$6,000]; 3. 99JR-Frank Heckenast [7][$3,500]; 4. 18-Shannon Babb [8][$2,800]; 5. 0-Nick Hoffman [5][$2,500]; 6. 97-Cade Dillard [3][$2,300]; 7. 1-Brandon Sheppard [6][$2,200]; 8. 28M-Jimmy Mars [11][$2,100]; 9. 99B-Boom Briggs [21][$2,050]; 10. 44-Chris Madden [1][$2,000]; 11. 28-Dennis Erb [17][$1,600]; 12. 41-Jeremiah Hurst [24][$1,400]; 13. 7-Ricky Weiss [23][$1,200]; 14. 16-Tyler Bruening [19][$1,100]; 15. 32-Chris Simpson [12][$1,050]; 16. 3S-Brian Shirley [9][$1,000]; 17. 59-Garrett Alberson [18][$1,000]; 18. 49-Jake Timm [22][$1,000]; 19. 25-Jason Feger [13][$1,000]; 20. B1-Brent Larson [14][$1,000]; 21. 21-Billy Moyer [16][$1,000]; 22. 29-Spencer Diercks [20][$1,000]; 23. 19R-Ryan Gustin [10][$1,000]; 24. 25S-Chad Simpson [15][$1,000] Hard Charger: 99B-Boom Briggs[+12]