“We ran across something (at Huron),” said Francis, who started from the pole and led the first lap of the ‘Wild West Tour’ finale. “We were so horrible this whole trip, and so inconsistent this whole year, that when we unloaded Tim (Logan, his crew chief) and I talked about changing some things around. Our car’s been carrying the wheels and acting all kinds of stupid – and we have no rhyme or reason for it – so we finally decided we were gonna give the car what it was saying instead of doing what common sense tells ‘ya.  

“We definitely made some progress. For the feature we were just way too tight – in the heat race (which he won easily) the track was just right for us, a little bit slippery then. We didn’t do too much before the feature, and when that rubber came we were just way too tight. I was scared to change much because we’ve been that bad – when you’ve been bad and all of a sudden your car is that good in a heat race, it’s hard to change a whole lot – so we’ll take that and try to build on it.”  

 Driving the Rocket car owned by Tim Logan in all four ‘Wild West Tour’ events, Francis was superb in qualifying. He set fast time for the ‘Gopher 50’ on July 7 at Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minn., and the ‘Mid-States Hydraulics 50’ on July 8 at Superior (Wis.) Speedway and then timed third-fastest on July 9 at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D., and fourth-fastest at DSFS. He also won a heat race at every track except Superior.  

 But Francis didn’t get the A-Main finishes he was looking for. At Deer Creek, he started sixth and finished seventh in a quiet, steady run. He finished one lap down in 12^th at Superior after drawing a caution flag on lap 16 when he tangled with Austin Hubbard while battling for sixth and executed a 360-degree spin; he pitted moments later to change a flat left-rear tire. And at River Cities he was credited with a ninth-place finish after rain stopped the race with 21 of 50 laps complete, forcing official to declare the event official because the series could not return to the track this season.  

With the WoO LMS idle until the five-race Ohio/Pennsylvania Speedweek starts on July 27 at Central PA Speedway in Clearfield, Pa., Francis has no plans to enter any races during his down time.  

 “We’ll take the next two weeks off and try to get everything geared back up,” said Francis, who sits fourth in the WoO LMS points standings, 116 points behind leader Josh Richards. “I’m gonna take a few days and take my daughter on vacation, do nothing but spend time with her and then come back and really get focused the last week before we go back to it. Tim and Deric (his other crewman) are gonna take a few days and get away too – you know, let everybody recharge their batteries and then be wide open for the rest of the year.”

Francis kicked off his trip with an eighth-place finish in Friday night’s ‘Invasion 50′ at Wartburg (Tenn.) Speedway. He started 12th and had his attempts to move further forward hampered by the quarter-mile oval’s track surface, which took rubber midway through the A-Main.

The veteran was in the thick of the battle all night 24 hours later at Tazewell, a high-banked one-third-mile oval he had last visited seven years ago. He started fourth and was second by lap 15; he spent the remainder of the distance running there, trying hard to unseat eventual winner Shane Clanton.

“I think I was more maneuverable, but he could run a faster lane in the open every lap,” Francis said of Clanton. “There wasn’t enough off of (turn) four to really pass. He was gonna have to make a mistake for me to get by him.   “We ran first and second, though, so I’m happy. Me and Shane have been working on a lot of stuff together, so it was a good race for both of us.”

Francis, who is ranked fourth in the WoO LMS points standings, headed back to his shop in Ashland, Ky., following Tazewell’s checkered flag for a quick prep stop-over before heading out for the four-race WoO LMS ‘Wild West Tour,’ which begins on Wed., July 7, at Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minn. The swing also includes events on July 8 at Superior (Wis.) Speedway, July 9 at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D., and July 10 at Dakota State Fair Speedway in Huron, S.D.

 Coming off an up-and-down ‘Great Northern Tour’ swing with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, Francis feels that he’s on the verge of breaking out with his self-owned, Valvoline-sponsored team.  

 “Like I’ve said before, we’re not exactly where we need to be yet,” said Francis, who heads into July with a total of two wins, eight top-five and 17 top-10 finishes in his 28 overall starts to date. “We’re not doing bad and we’re still making money, but we know we can be better. We just need to find that consistency with our program.  

“We’re gonna go home and regroup a little bit this week (after a very busy month of June) and see if we can get geared up for the rest of the summer. With a little work, I think we’ll get this thing figured out.”  

Francis, 42, of Ashland, Ky., enjoyed his highlight of the past month on June 20 at Cornwall (Ont.) Motor Speedway, a quarter-mile Canadian oval that he mastered en route to a flag-to-flag victory in a 50-lap WoO LMS A-Main. He was never seriously challenged as he marched away to his second tour win of 2010, worth $10,600.  

 The Cornwall triumph, which came in his first WoO LMS start of ’10 behind the wheel of a Rocket car owned by his crew chief Tim Logan, was a huge pick-me-up for Francis and his team. He began the Great Northern Tour with a frustrating 13^th-place run on June 15 at Can-Am Motorsports Park in Lafargeville, N.Y. – an outing that prompted Francis to say, “That was absolutely the worst race car I’ve ever sat in.”  

Yes, something was amiss with his normally dependable Rocket machine that evening at Can-Am. He was so disgusted with his performance that he nearly pulled out Logan’s car for the next show, on June 17 at Merrittville Speedway in Thorold, Ont., but he opted to stay with the same car and get it back on the right track.  

 After driving Logan’s car to victory at Cornwall, Francis explained why he stuck with his own mount for the event at Merrittville, where he ended up leading laps 7-28 and finishing fifth in the track’s inaugural 50-lap WoO LMS A-Main. Only an incorrect tire choice prevented him for contending for the victory to the finish.  

 “We were gonna run this (Logan car) at all three Canadian racetracks (that were scheduled as part of the Great Northern Tour),” said Francis. “But after we ran so bad with my car at Can-Am we held off on running (Logan’s car) for one more race. I’m one of those people that’s kind of stubborn, kind of hard-headed, so I had to figure out what was wrong with my car.  

“We worked all day long and part of the night to get it ready for Merrittville. We found that we had three or four different little things wrong – we put a different motor in it, the brake caliper was acting up on it, we had a couple heim ends we weren’t real happy with. The way we ran at Merrittville made me feel a lot better.”  

Francis, who suffered Great Northern Tour rainouts on June 19 at Quebec’s Autodrome Drummond and June 22 at Brewerton (N.Y.) Speedway (the races will be made up on Aug. 23 and 24, respectively), closed the month of June with three days of racing on June 24-26 at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa., as part of the Firecracker 100 presented by GottaRace.com. He was solid but not spectacular, finishing 11^th (Thursday) and seventh (Friday) in the 30-lap preliminary A-Mains before closing out the weekend with a ninth-place run in the $30,000-to-win Firecracker 100.   Francis, who started 11^th in the 100-lapper, was hampered throughout the distance by a stuck carburetor that made it difficult for him to negotiate the four-tenths-mile oval’s slick turns.  

Francis will kick off his July racing schedule this weekend with a WoO LMS trip to the Volunteer State for events on July 2 at Wartburg (Tenn.) Speedway and July 3 at Tazewell (Tenn.) Speedway. He enters the doubleheader ranked fourth in the tour’s points standings, 114 points behind leader Josh Richards.  

Fans can stay up-to-date on all the latest Steve Francis news and information by visiting his Web site at www.stevefrancisracing.com.  

Steve Francis Racing carries support from Valvoline, Rocket Chassis, Custom Racing Engines, Keyser’s Port City Racing, VP Race Fuels, Performance Rod & Custom, Harbaugh Amusement, Duralite Racing Wheels, Tim Logan Racing and Hoosier Racing Tire.

Making his first WoO LMS start of the season in a Rocket car owned by his crew chief Tim Logan, Francis took advantage of a pole position start to lead every lap of the national tour’s third annual visit to Ron Morin’s finely-manicured Canadian quarter-mile oval.

Francis, 42, of Ashland, Ky., rolled to his second series victory of 2010, staying safely ahead of the sometimes wild position-swapping that went on behind him. In fact, second place changed hands five times among three drivers during the event, but no one was able to seriously challenge the 2007 WoO LMS champion.

“As the racetrack slicked off (the car) just got better and better and better,” said Francis, who earned $10,600 for becoming the fourth repeat winner of the 2010 WoO LMS campaign. “In the feature the thing was basically on a rail. You could drive it about anywhere. We ran the top of (turns) one and two and the top of three and four at points, which shows how good it was.”

Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., futilely chased Francis under the checkered flag, finishing 1.338 seconds behind the winner in his Rocket car. The 2008 WoO LMS titlist overtook Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., coming down for the white flag to secure the runner-up spot.

Fuller, who had passed Lanigan for second just before a caution flag flew on lap 32 and briefly peeked underneath Francis following the restart, settled for a third-place finish in the Gypsum Express Rocket car. The run ended Fuller’s two-race winning streak on the WoO LMS ‘Great Northern Tour.’

Fuller’s Gypsum Express Racing teammate, DIRTcar big-block Modified star Billy Decker of Unadilla, N.Y., advanced from the ninth starting spot to finish fourth in his first WoO LMS start of 2010. A former Super DIRTcar Series event winner at Cornwall, Decker earned the $500 WoO LMS ‘Bonus Bucks’ cash for being the highest-finishing driver who hasn’t won a tour A-Main and wasn’t ranked among the top 12 in the points standings.

Tour rookie Austin Hubbard of Seaford, Del., placed fifth at Cornwall for the second straight year, nipping Dan Stone of Thompson, Pa., by inches at the finish line in Dale Beitler’s Rocket car. The 18-year-old sensation, who started 10th, cracked the top five despite running virtually the entire distance with his car’s steering hampered by a broken rack.

Stone finished sixth – the same position he started the race – after climbing as high as fourth. He was bidding to pass Lanigan for third on lap 21 when he slid off the backstretch, dropping him to seventh and forcing him to spend the remainder of the distance working his way back into contention.

Francis had no problems in Logan’s machine, which he finally decided to press into service on this year’s Outlaw trail. He kicked off the Great Northern Tour driving his own Valvoline-sponsored car to finishes of 13th on June 15 at Can-Am Motorsports in Lafargeville, N.Y., and fifth on June 17 at Merrittville Speedway in Thorold, Ont., before Saturday’s event at Quebec’s Autodrome Drummond was rained out. “

“Tim’s put a lot of time and effort into my whole program this year,” said Francis, who had planned to run Logan’s car at Drummond. “Part of our deal this year was I was gonna run his car in some races, but it seems like every time we unloaded his car (this year), it rained out.

“I’m real happy that we finally got to run this thing. It really helps Tim a lot, and it helps (engine builder) Russell Baker too – we ran a brand-new 11-degree motor, something a little bit different. We’ve run this motor twice – we sat on the outside pole at West Virginia Motor Speedway and won here tonight. Obviously, it’s a pretty good car and engine combination.”

Good enough for Francis to cool down the sizzling Fuller and record his 28th career WoO LMS triumph – more than any other driver on the tour since 2004.

“I kept watching where Fuller was because he’s on a hot streak,” said Francis, whose previous WoO LMS victory this season came on March 27 at Lone Star Speedway in Kilgore, Texas. “When I looked and seen he got by Darrell and Clint (Smith) for second, I thought, ‘Well, here he comes again.’

“I saw Fuller shoot in there under me on that one restart (lap 32), but I just said, ‘Hit your marks and you’ll be fine.’ I don’t want to say I was that confident, but I knew my car was so good that if I hit my marks, I’d be OK.”

The 42-year-old Fuller, who started fifth, tipped his helmet to Francis after falling short at a track where he has experience in DIRTcar big-block and 358-Modified competition.

“He was more consistent getting through the ruts and the bumps,” Fuller said of Francis. “I could stay with him for one lap and then he’d start checking out. He was really good.”

Lanigan, who turned 40 on June 3, also failed to keep pace with Francis.

“We were set up for the bottom,” said Lanigan. “If we could hit it just right we’d have something for him, but if we missed it we’d just hang there. Francis could just move all around better.”

Lanigan’s second-place finish gave him a big boost in the WoO LMS points standings, moving him from second to third and leaving him just 14 points behind leader Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., who finished 15th with a car that was plagued by handling problems from damage to the left side of its nosepiece. Richards bent his car’s nose when he caught the berm on the inside of turn one just three laps into the race and further damaged it on lap 11 when he swerved into the turn-two hill to avoid Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., who lurched into Richards’s path when he restarted his car after sliding off the track between turns one and two to bring out a caution flag.

McCreadie, who entered the event ranked second in the points standings, restarted at the rear of the field after his off-track excursion and charged back to salvage a seventh-place finish – right where he had been running on lap 11. He fell to third in the points standings but sliced his deficit to Richards from 36 to 20 points.

Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga., faded to an eighth-place finish after starting fourth. Coleby Frye of Dover, Pa., who took a break from his regular job as car chief of Hubbard’s Beitler Motorsports mount to drive Clint Smith’s backup car, placed ninth and eighth-starter Rick Eckert of York, Pa., was 10th after rallying from an early-race scramble that caused him to fall all the way back to 19th.

Four caution flags slowed the race. After McCreadie triggered the first yellow on lap 11, subsequent cautions were brought out on lap 31 by Richards (stopped and then pitted); lap 32 by Russell King of Bristolville, Ohio (stopped on backstretch); and lap 44 by Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa. (spun in turn four from left-front bodywork damage sustained in a scrape while battling Clanton for seventh).

The upset of the evening was pulled off in Ohlins Shocks Time Trials by Frye, who recorded the show’s fastest qualifying circuit after getting a last-minute opportunity to drive Smith’s backup car. The 25-year-old Keystone State dirt Late Model racer ripped off a lap of 12.467 seconds – just a tick off the track record – to earn his first-ever quick-time honor on the WoO LMS.

Heat winners were Francis, Clint Smith and Stone. With the field numbering exactly 24 cars, no B-Main was run.

Smith went on to finish 12th in the A-Main after running second for much of the race’s first half. He was hampered by a broken engine valve throughout the distance, causing a loss of power that cost him ground on each restart.

The WoO LMS ‘Great Northern Tour’ continues on Tues., June 22, at Brewerton (N.Y.) Speedway before concluding on June 24-26 with the Firecracker 100 presented by GottaRace.com at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa.

For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.

Results of WoO Late Model Series at Cornwall Motor Speedway (Finishing Position/Start/Driver/Laps Completed/Money Won):

1. (1) Steve Francis/50 $10,600
2. (3) Darrell Lanigan/50 $5,600
3. (5) Tim Fuller/50 $3,575
4. (9) Billy Decker/50 $3,100
5. (10) Austin Hubbard/50 $2,750
6. (6) Dan Stone/50 $1,700
7. (12) Tim McCreadie/50 $2,000
8. (4) Shane Clanton/50 $1,800
9. (13) Coleby Frye/50 $1,250
10. (8) Rick Eckert/50 $1,600
11. (18) Brent Robinson/50 $1,050
12. (2) Clint Smith/50 $1,500
13. (14) Chub Frank/50 $1,450
14. (17) Ricky Elliott/50 $900
15. (7) Josh Richards/50 $1,450
16. (11) Russell King/49 $1,300
17. (16) April Farmer/49 $770
18. (15) Greg Oakes/49 $750
19. (20) Peter Mantha Jr./48 $730
20. (21) Jill George/48 $700
21. (22) Larry Wight/47 $700
22. (23) Charlie Sandercock/ $700
23. (24) Philip Potts/46 $725
24. (19) Caley Weese/45 $700

* Earnings include Winners Circle program and cash contingency award bonuses

Time of Race: 26 Mins., 44.617 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 1.338 Secs.
Yellow Flags: 4 (Laps 11, 31, 32, 44)
Lap Leaders: Francis (1-50)
Provisional Starters: None
Rookie of the Race: Hubbard ($250)
WoO LMS ‘Bonus Bucks’ Winner: Decker ($500)

Ohlins Shocks Time Trial Results (Position/No./Driver/Hometown/Best Lap):

1. F44-Coleby Frye/Dover, PA 12.467
2. 29-Darrell Lanigan/Union, KY 12.468
3. 19-Tim Fuller/Watertown, NY 12.479
4. 19H-Austin Hubbard/Seaford, DE 12.555
5. 44-Clint Smith/Senoia, GA 12.567
6. 39-Tim McCreadie/Watertown, NY 12.586
7. 15-Steve Francis/Ashland, KY 12.593
8. 24-Rick Eckert/York, PA 12.611
9. 3-Brent Robinson/Smithfield, VA 12.621
10. 1-Josh Richards/Shinnston, WV 12.655
11. 1*-Chub Frank/Bear Lake, PA 12.737
12. 91-Billy Decker/Unadilla, NY 12.751
13. 25-Shane Clanton/Locust Grove, GA 12.761
14. 56-Russell King/Bristolville, OH 12.889
15. 21d-Dan Stone/Thompson, PA 12.894
16. 99L-Larry Wight/Baldwinsville, NY 13.029
17. 2-Ricky Elliott/Seaford, DE 13.100
18. 22-Jill George/Cedar Falls, IA 13.141
19. 14-April Farmer/Livingston, TN 13.209
20. 1cfr-Peter Mantha Jr./Gatineau, QUE 13.219
21. 22x-Greg Oakes/Franklinville, NY 13.305
22. 77-Caley Weese/Belleville, ONT 13.987
23. 57-Charlie Sandercock/Belleville, ONT 14.040
24. 29P-Philip Potts/Frankford, ONT 14.349

Heat No. 1 (10 laps – Top 2 Redraw): Francis, Clanton, Richards, Hubbard, Frye, Farmer, Weese, Wight

Heat No. 2 (10 laps – Top 2 Redraw): C. Smith, Lanigan, Eckert, King, Frank, Elliott, Mantha, Sandercock

Heat No. 3 (10 laps – Top 2 Redraw): Stone, Fuller, Decker, McCreadie, Oakes, Robinson, George, Potts

World of Outlaws Late Model Series Contingency Award Winners:

Armor All (one case of product to highest-finishing non-WoO team in A-Main w/decal): Billy Decker
MSD Ignition ($75 cash award): Tim Fuller
MSD Ignition ($25 cash award): Philip Potts
Ohlins Pole Award ($50 cash award to fastest qualifier w/decal): Coleby Frye
Pink Carburetors ($100 product certificate): Austin Hubbard
Pink Carburetors ($50 product certificate): Caley Weese
Quartermaster ($100 product certificate): Tim Fuller
Quartermaster ($50 product certificate): Tim McCreadie
Quartermaster ($25 product certificate): Russell King
R2C Performance ($100 cash): Billy Decker
Wrisco Aluminum (three sheets of aluminum to highest finisher w/decal): Tim Fuller

2010 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Point Standings as of June 20 – 19 A-Mains completed (rank/driver/points/deficit to leader):

1. Josh Richards 2628 (-0)
2. Darrell Lanigan 2614 (-14)
3. Tim McCreadie 2608 (-20)
4. Steve Francis 2546 (-82)
5. Tim Fuller 2544 (-84)
6. Austin Hubbard 2496 (-132)
7. Rick Eckert 2440 (-188)
8. Shane Clanton 2422 (-206)
9. Chub Frank 2378 (-250)
10. Clint Smith 2318 (-310)
11. Russell King 2186 (-442)
12. Brady Smith 2020 (-608)
13. Brent Robinson 1978 (-650)
14. Jill George 1542 (-1086)
15. Vic Coffey 924 (-1704)
16. Brian Birkhofer 830 (-1798)
17. Dan Stone 780 (-1848)
18. Dale McDowell 748 (-1880)
19. April Farmer 746 (-1882)
20. Billy Moyer 696 (-1932)

FOLLOW THE ACTION ON TWITTER: Fans can now keep up-to-date with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series online and through text messages on cell phones via Twitter, the internet’s fast-growing social-networking and micro-blogging website. Updates are provided to Twitter ‘followers’ of the WoO LMS throughout each race night, and fans also receive breaking news and interesting notes from the tour.

To sign-up as a WoO LMS ‘follower’ on Twitter to receive updates anywhere at anytime, visit http://twitter.com/WoOLateModels.

LISTEN ONLINE: If fans can’t get to a track to see the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, they can experience the excitement of the nation’s premier tour live on DIRTvision.com through the DIRT Radio Network.

To listen to the free audio broadcasts, log on to www.dirtvision.com and click on the DIRT Radio Network logo.

Listeners will need Windows Media Player 9 or higher to listen to the DIRT Radio Network. For technical support or questions, e-mail customerservice@dirtvision.com.

The World of Outlaws Late Model Series is brought to fans across the country by many important sponsors and partners, including Arizona Sport Shirts (Official Apparel Company), Armor All (Official Car Care Products), Hoosier Racing Tires (Official Racing Tires), STP (Official Fuel Treatment), SuperClean (Official Cleaner-Degreaser), VP Racing (Official Racing Fuel), DirtonDirt.com (Hard Charger Award) and Chizmark Larson Insurance; in addition to contingency sponsors Eibach Springs, MSD Ignition, Ohlins Shocks, Pink Carburetors, Pro Power Engines, Quartermaster, Rocket Chassi, R2C Performance and Wrisco Aluminum.

Francis and Co. made a pair of engine changes — one after time trials on Saturday night (May 29) in search of a powerplant combination more suitable for the big five-eighths-mile oval, another on Sunday afternoon (May 30) because Francis was concerned about his motor running hot during Saturday’s A-Main (he attributed the overheating to nosepiece airflow problems he needs to correct). The engine he installed on Sunday was a Russell Baker-built piece that was fetched from Logan’s shop on Sunday morning by Steve’s wife, Amanda, who skipped Saturday’s action to help her parents run their weekly program at Bluegrass Speedway in Bardstown, Ky.

All the work in the hot weather allowed Francis to finish ninth (from the 17th starting spot) in Saturday’s 30-lap A-Main and a solid fourth in Sunday’s 40-lapper, during which he was a contender throughout the distance but was hampered by a slight overheating condition. He ended the weekend ranked fourth in the points standings, 102 points behind leader Josh Richards.   “We want see if we can work our way back into this points thing a little bit,” said Francis, who entered the weekend 120 points out of first place. “We only gained a little this weekend, but there’s a long way to go. Maybe we can get ourselves into a fairly safe fourth and go from there.”

Francis authored back-to-back third-place runs on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, on May 13 in the ‘First State 50′ at Delaware International Speedway and May 15 in the ‘Conococheague 50′ at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway. He was a contender for victory in both events — at Delaware he chased eventual winner Josh Richards early until losing second to Brady Smith on a lap-23 restart and then easing his car home with an overheating engine, and at Hagerstown he actually passed Richards for the lead on lap 18 but lost it the following circuit and ultimately settled for third after Darrell Lanigan slipped by him on the final lap.

“We’ll take the top threes,” said Francis, who moved to fourth in the WoO LMS points standings, 120 points behind leader Richards after 14 events. “I feel like we’ve got the corner turned with our program. We’re getting to where we need to be.”

Francis closed out his weekend by entering Sunday’s O’Reilly All-Star Late Model Series event at West Virginia Motor Speedway behind the wheel of Tim Logan’s machine. He won a heat race to put himself in position for a solid evening, but rain forced the postponement of the A-Main to a date to be named later.

Racing at Bluegrass Speedway in Bardstown, Ky. — the high-banked oval that is promoted by his new in-laws, David and Anita Ferrell — Francis recorded a strong second-place finish in the 50-lap ‘My Old Kentucky Home Shootout.’ Though he slipped back as far as fifth early in the event after starting from the pole position and leading the opening lap, he rallied to regain the runner-up spot from Darrell Lanigan on lap 43.

“I couldn’t run with (winner Jimmy) Owens,” said Francis. “But I can’t complain about a second. At one point I thought I was gonna be about a 10th-place car, so we were fortunate to get back to second.

“We kinda got our car a little too tight (at Bluegrass), which is is first for us this year. We’re still working on finding that balance. I think we’re gaining on a lot of things, but we’re still not where we want it to be.”

Francis pulled into a tie with Tim Fuller for fourth place in the WoO LMS points standings entering this weekend’ss East Coast doubleheader at Delaware International Speedway on Thurs., May 13, and Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway on Sat., May 15.

On Friday night (April 30) at Fayetteville (N.C.) Motor Speedway, the ‘Kentucky Colonel’ won a heat race and advanced from the fourth starting spot in the 50-lap A-Main to grab the lead on lap six when Darrell Lanigan slowed with a flat tire. He was overtaken for the top spot on lap 16 by eventual winner Josh Richards, but Francis hung tough in second until some fender-rubbing racing with Tim McCreadie sent him spinning out of contention in turn four on lap 33. He restarted at the rear of the field and settled for a 13th-place finish.

Francis moved south to Swainsboro (Ga.) Raceway on Saturday (May 1) and scored a quiet-but-steady sixth-place finish in the 50-lap A-Main. He started eighth and ran as high as fifth.

After timing 20th-fastest in the 56-car field and transferring to the A-Main with a third-place finish in a 15-lap heat race on Friday night, Francis started 14th in the 100-lap headliner. He spent most of the distance running at the back end of the top 10, but calmly conserving his rubber allowed him to gain positions as other contenders popped tires late in the race.

”

I actually had more tire left than I thought,” said Francis, who vaulted from eighth to fifth in the WoO LMS points standings with his top-five finish. “I probably could have run a little harder, but I was worried we wouldn’t make it.”