Steve Shaver Motorsports 2004

2010 NEWS

May 31, 2010	Shaver Completes Sweep Of West Virginia Motor Speedway's 'RaceFest' With Dominant Sunday-Night Performance MINERAL WELLS, WV – May 30, 2010 – Steve Shaver turned West Virginia Motor Speedway's 'RaceFest World Championships' into the 'ShaverFest.' The veteran driver from Vienna, W.Va., put together an unforgettable weekend at his reopened home track, completing a sweep of the 'RaceFest' doubleheader with a convincing victory in Sunday night's 40-lap World of Outlaws Late Model Series A-Main. Shaver, 46, dominated on the eve of Memorial Day, charging off the outside-pole starting spot to lead the entire distance in the K&L Rumley Motorsports Rocket No. 6. He raced virtually unchallenged to the $10,125 victory, which gave him a two-night earnings total of $18,200. "Coming here this weekend I was kind of hoping for a couple of top fives, maybe a win if everything went right," said Shaver, who had one career WoO LMS triumph before going two-for-two at the sprawling five-eighths-mile oval that sits just 10 miles from his home. "To get a win in both of them, set fast time (on Sunday night) and win two heats – I can't quit smiling." Shaver built a lead that ballooned to as much as three-quarters of a straightaway before crossing the finish line about a dozen car lengths ahead of Zanesville, Ohio's Bart Hartman, who steered his Rocket car forward from the 12th starting spot to record a runner-up finish for the second consecutive night. Hartman lost Saturday evening's 30-lap A-Main when he was overtaken by Shaver in lapped traffic with only five laps remaining. Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga., relinquished second place to Hartman on lap 36 but held on to finish third in the RSD Enterprises Rocket, making him the highest-finishing WoO LMS regular in the opening event of the LaCrosse Extreme Tough Challenge. The unique mini-series awards points to the top-five fulltime WoO LMS and Sprint Car Series drivers in 16 selected events – eight Late Model and eight Sprint Car – and will earn the champion of the combined standings a $5,000 bonus from a $15,000 points fund. Filling out the remainder of the top five was third-starter Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., who was in the battle for second place until backing off late in the distance due to an overheating engine in his Valvoline Rocket car, and polesitter Donnie Moran of Dresden, Ohio, in his MasterSbilt mount. Shaver was simply the class of the field in the 'RaceFest' finale. He survived caution flags on laps 13 (after Brent Robinson of Smithfield, Va., suffered suspension woes and slapped the turn two wall while running 10th) and 16 (for a turn-four tangle involving Brady Smith of Solon Springs, Wis., and Jill George of Cedar Falls, Iowa) en route to joining Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., as the only repeat winners in 16 WoO LMS A-Mains this season. "Kevin (Rumley) made some changes to the car today and it actually got better," acknowledged Shaver, who joined the venerable Greenville, N.C.-based K&L Rumley team at the start of the 2010 campaign. "I didn't think it could be much better than last night, but it was. It just felt so easy out there. "The only problem I had was that I really didn't know where I needed to be on the track, so every now and then I tried to search around and see where the car felt best. I finally felt like I had the right line so I just stayed right there. I thought, If I'm gonna get beat, somebody's gonna have to pass me fair and square." Hartman, 41, never got close enough to even attempt to turn the tables on Shaver. He had to make up too much ground after falling from a battle for second to a fourth-place finish on the final lap of his heat race. "We had an MSD problem at the end of the heat that caused the motor to drop a cylinder," said Hartman. "That knocked us from possibly redrawing for the (first three rows in the) feature to starting 12th – and you can't start 12th and expect to win against the caliber of cars that were here. "We had a real good car again and moved up, so we're happy. Steve's been real good down here all weekend and deserved to win." The 34-year-old Clanton, meanwhile, drove to his third-place finish using an experimental aluminum big-block engine built by Russell Baker that he borrowed from Tim Logan, who serves as Francis's crew chief and fields a car that Francis runs in selected non-Outlaw events. The 502 cubic inch behemoth worked well for Clanton. "It was pretty good," Clanton said of the powerplant. "It just needs a little work to race with these guys. Once we got racing, those 'little' motors could accelerate in the cushion a little bit better than I could. "That (big-block) motor is just so hard to drive. It's got so much power and the throttle response is there, but when you gotta go easy out there – like (Shaver) was – then it can be a little lazy. That's something we can work on and get better, though." Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., and Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., finished sixth and seventh, respectively, while Richards placed a quiet 11th, tightening the WoO LMS points standings slightly. Richards left WVMS leading the battle by 46 points over McCreadie, who started 21 st after being forced to the B-Main by a blown right-rear tire during his heat, and 52 over Lanigan. Finishing in positions 8-10 was Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., who also used an aluminum big-block engine in both weekend events; Vic Coffey of Caledonia, N.Y., who ran in the top five early but still held on to earn the $500 WoO LMS 'Bonus Bucks' cash for being the highest-finishing driver who hasn't won a tour A-Main and isn't ranked among the top 12 in the points standings; and Davey Johnson of Latrobe, Pa. A field of 33 cars assembled for the event, which was run on another summer-like evening. Temperatures soared into the 90s during the afternoon. Shaver was fastest in Ohlins Shocks Time Trials with a lap of 19.541 seconds. Heat winners were Shaver, Francis and Eckert, and Richards captured the B-Main after failing to qualify through a heat for the first time in 2010. Brady Smith and Austin Hubbard of Seaford, Del., were forced to run backup cars after each crashed hard into the wall between turns three and four during their time-trial runs. Smith said he had some back soreness but was otherwise uninjured, while Hubbard reported no ill effects after absorbing what he called the hardest hit of his young career. The stars of the WoO LMS will have a two-week break before hitting the road for the first extended swing of the 2010 season – the eight-race 'Great Northern Tour' that visits six tracks in New York, Pennsylvania and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec from June 15-June 26. The Great Northern Tour kicks off on June 15 at Can-Am Motorsports Park in Lafargeville, N.Y. It continues on to Merrittville Speedway in Thorold, Ont., on June 17, Autodrome Drummond in Drummondville, Que., on June 19, Cornwall (Ont.) Motor Speedway on June 20 and Brewerton (N.Y.) Speedway on June 22 before concluding with the fourth annual 'Firecracker 100 presented by GottaRace.com' on June 24-26 at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa. For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.

May 30, 2010	Hometown Hero: Shaver Wins Four-Car Battle Royale On Opening Night Of 'Race Fest' At West Virginia Motor Speedway MINERAL WELLS, WV - May 29, 2010 - Steve Shaver was a Hometown Hero on Saturday night at West Virginia Motor Speedway. Racing in front of a legion of family members and friends at a track just 10 miles from his home in Vienna, W.Va., Shaver came out on top of a titanic four-car duel to win the 30-lap World of Outlaws Late Model Series A-Main that opened the five-eighths-mile oval's two-day 'RaceFest World Championships.' Shaver, 46, snuck by Bart Hartman of Zanesville, Ohio, for the lead on lap 25 and spent the remainder of the distance holding off Hartman, Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., and Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., to pocket a first-place prize of $8,075. There was plenty for Shaver to smile about after the event, which brought WVMS back into the national spotlight after two years of inactivity. Not only did he win at the track he lists as his favorite for the first time in years, he also scored his initial victory since taking over as the driver of the Greenville, N.C.-based K&L Rumley Motorsports Rocket No. 6 earlier this year. "It's been a long time since we've won down here so it feels great," said Shaver, who registered his second career win on the WoO LMS. "But more than anything, I'm just so happy to get a win for the Rumleys (Kevin and Lee Roy). I've raced against them for years and I've always really respected them, so it's been a real pleasurable experience to get a chance to drive for them." Hartman settled for a second-place finish in his Rocket car, a couple car lengths behind Shaver at the checkered flag. The race's polesitter inherited the lead when early pacesetter Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., slowed with a flat left-rear tire on lap 10 but couldn't beat back Shaver's challenge. The eighth-starting McCreadie finished third in the Sweeteners Plus Rocket and third-starter Frank placed fourth in his Corry Rubber Rocket – after both drivers made bids for the lead in the closing laps. Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga., improved one spot from his starting position to complete the top five in the RSD Enterprises Rocket. Shaver, who started fourth in a car that carries a Chevy engine built by team co-owner Lee Roy Rumley, seized an opening in lapped traffic to steal the lead from Hartman with an inside move through turns one and two on lap 25. He had erased Hartman's half-straightaway edge to put himself in position to slide in front. "Before that one caution (on lap 10 for Lanigan) I actually got underneath Bart," said Shaver, whose first WoO LMS victory came on July 24, 2009, at Attica (Ohio) Raceway Park. "He got away a little on the restart, but after a few laps I just felt like his car was coming back to me. "Once I caught him I made a couple – I don't want say crazy moves, but pretty aggressive moves in lapped traffic. I did it because Bart's won more races here than anyone, so I knew if I got the opportunity to get by him I had to take it right now. "I was just lucky it worked," he added. "I think I just saw an opening and was lucky enough to make it happen." Shaver survived several anxious moments during the final circuits, including a near-spin in turn four when he tangled with a lapped car and virtual non-stop threats from Frank (he dived underneath Shaver twice in turn three), McCreadie (he nearly snuck outside Shaver off turn two on lap 27) and Hartman (he made one more inside bid to regain the lead rounding turns three and four on the last lap). Hartman, 41, was gracious in defeat. He was looking for his first WoO LMS victory since 2004, when he won five times in his only season a tour regular. "I just couldn't get through lapped traffic like Steve," said Hartman. "(The lapped cars) were side-by-side and my car wouldn't move around the bottom like his would. "We had a good lead for awhile, but a little after the caution it just dwindled and then I had those guys on top of me. We just did the best we could." The 36-year-old McCreadie nearly swept by all three drivers ahead of him on lap 27 when he discovered the outside lane around the track, but he couldn't make a move stick. "I just found the outside late," said McCreadie. "I didn't go up there until like three or four to go. I got a good run on Shav, but he never knew I was all the way out there so I could never stay out there. If I could've just got up beside him a little more getting in the corner, I might have been able to get by him. "It was a heck of a race, though. The four of us were thrashing it out." McCreadie's 10th top-five finish of the season moved him to second in the WoO LMS points standings, jumping him past Lanigan, who could only salvage a 14th-place finish after suffering a flat tire while leading for the third time in 2010. McCreadie closed to within 54 points of Shinnston, W.Va.'s Josh Richards, who was never a factor all night and finished 11th. Frank, 48, enjoyed his best finish of the 2010 WoO LMS, but he felt he was just a slight adjustment from perhaps securing a victory. "I was good, but I was little too tight," said Frank, who recorded just his second top-five finish of the season. "I'll tell 'ya, if it would've turned getting in, I might have had a shot at those guys. I just picked up a push getting in and I couldn't hold the car down where I needed to be." Frank raced after spending much of the afternoon at a local hospital with his wife Mary, who was admitted for observation after falling ill at the track. Frank returned to the speedway just before the start of the hot laps. Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., advanced from the 12th starting spot to finish sixth. Eddie Carrier Jr. of Salt Rock, W.Va., was seventh after slipping backward from the fifth starting spot, Rick Eckert of York, Pa., placed eighth, 17th-starter Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., was ninth and Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., was 10th. Twenty-seven cars entered the event, which was run on a clear, summer-like evening and brought the WoO LMS to WVMS for the first time since 2004. Davenport was quickest in Ohlins Shocks Time Trials, blistering the sprawling track in 19.805 seconds. It was the second WoO LMS fast-time honor of his career. Heat winners were Hartman, Shaver and Carrier, and the B-Main was captured by Brady Smith of Solon Springs, Wis. The RaceFest World Championships will conclude on Sunday (May 30) with a 40-lap WoO LMS A-Main paying $10,000 to win topping the agenda. On-track action begins at 7 p.m. For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.