"BAREFOOT" BOB RETURNS TO VICTORY LANE AT BREWERTON
BREWERTON, NY.....After a breakdown and a last place finish on opening night at Brewerton Speedway, "Barefoot" Bob McCreadie returned to winning form, dominating a tough field to score his first win of the year at the "D-Shaped DIRT Demon" this past Friday night. In other racing action, all of the opening night winners scored repeat victories, with Sean Lias getting a close win in the IMCA Modifieds, Tony Buffa scoring in the Dwarf cars, and Harvey Calkins Jr. getting the nod in the 4 Cylinders.
McCreadie started on the front row of the 35-lap DIRT Modified feature with Alan Johnson alongside, and the pair battled for the early lead while Bob's son, Tim, also showed strength early. Further back in the field, Danny Johnson and Billy Decker were coming up looking for racing room. "Barefoot" pulled away as the race neared its middle stages, but a caution bunched the field. On the restart, Tim McCreadie surprised Danny Johnson to move into the second spot and ran wheel to wheel with his dad for a couple of laps. Bob's car again proved to be superior, though, as he pulled away once again.
Decker and Danny Johnson then took up the fight, with Alan Johnson figuring into the mix as well. They staged a terrific battle that lasted right to the finish of the feature. At the checkers, Bob had a commanding lead and his first Brewerton victory of 1999. Decker came out of his battle with the second spot, with Tim McCreadie in third. Alan and Danny Johnson rounded out the top five. DIRT Modified heats were won by Alan Johnson, Scott Prentice, and Danny Johnson.
The 20-lap IMCA Modified feature saw veteran Eddie O'Neil grab the lead at the start and pull out an advantage while Bob Bradt, Cory Fachini, Randy Hall, and many others ran in a tight pack looking to move up. Hall was able to sneak into the lead and pull out an advantage of his own as the feature came to the halfway point. While Hall pulled away, Craig Simmons moved into contention, as did Lias.
Lias snuck into the top five by lap 14 and started moving in, settling behind Hall before sneaking into the lead. A lap 17 yellow closed the field, and Hall made a brilliant move to regain the lead, only to lose it a lap and a half later. Hall pulled even with Lias coming off the final corner, but couldn't get the bite to pass and had to settle for second, just a half car length behind the winner. Simmons was third, with Fachini and Ron O'Neil rounding out the top five. IMCA heat winners were Bob Bradt, Eddie O'Neil, and Ron O'Neil.
The Dwarf car feature event saw Ken Gamlen get into the early lead while Tony Buffa, defending track champion Troy Van Allen, and Eric Crawford were moving up from deep within the starting field. With some daring moves, Buffa and Van Allen quickly joined Gamlen at the point and began to dice for the lead. Van Allen broke out first, getting the lead at lap 10, with Gamlen and Buffa trailing.
Van Allen began to pull away and looked to have an easy win, but with just three laps to go, a trip on to the high side of the track broke the front end of the Van Allen car, and he slowed drastically. Buffa swept past into the lead and held off Gamlen for the win, with Crawford a close third. Darren Forbes and Kevin Doll rounded out the top five. Dwarf car heat wins went to Eric Crawford, Buffa, and Gamlen.
The 4 Cylinder feature event saw Harvey Calkins Jr. move up through the field to take the lead with Mark Warner giving chase. Behind them, a huge pack diced for position, with Tim Koch, Ryan Phelps, and Brett Hubbard joined by John Clark and Jim Olin, who were coming back from spins earlier in the race.
Calkins and Warner distanced themselves from the rest of the field, but Warner could not catch the speedy Calkins machine. Hubbard, Koch, and Clark rounded out the top five. 4 Cylinder heat wins went to Ryan Phelps, Calkins, and Lloyd Hinton.
Darryl Saunders won the one on one spectator race.
Next Friday night, Terrell's Potato Chips will present a regular show of DIRT Modifieds, IMCA Modifieds, 4 Cylinders, and Dwarf cars with special Dash for Cash races. Gates will open at 5:30pm with racing starting at 7:30pm.
RACE SUMMARY-BREWERTON SPEEDWAY FRIDAY, APRIL 23RD, 1999
DIRT MODIFIED FEATURE-BOB MCCREADIE, Billy Decker, Tim McCreadie, Alan Johnson, Danny Johnson, Bill Gill, Jim Phelps, Roger Phelps (SB), Jeremie Corcoran, Tim Fuller, Chuck Bower, Scott Prentice, Chuck Hebing, Ray Bliss, Dale Planck, Pat Ward, Vic Coffey, Jeremy Baye (SB), Jim Gabriel Jr., Scott Parliament (SB), Rick Amo (SB).
IMCA MODIFIED FEATURE-SEAN LIAS, Randy Hall, Craig Simmons, Cory Fachini, Ron O'Neil, Ed O'Neil, Dick Weiland, Les Hubbard, Jim Evans, Tim Murphy, Rob Keller, Carmen Vona, Doug McKane, Colleen Finch, Jeff Cardinale, Aaron Jacobs, George Valenti, Tony Finch, Brenda O'Neil, John Bell, Bob Bradt, Pat Hobbs, Bill Klinkowsky.
DWARF CAR FEATURE-TONY BUFFA, Ken Gamlen, Eric Crawford, Darren Forbes, Kevin Doll, Barry Virts, RJ Grimshaw, Dan Boyce, Kevin DonHausen, Jay Reid, David Orr, Howie Page, Troy Van Allen, Shawn Hort, Ed Lawton, Scott Nash, Carl Crawford, Brandon Phelps, Dan Thompson, Wayne Younglove, Nate Phelps, Bob Garafolo, Lee Babcock, Brenda Rice, Frank Doll Jr., Pat Pontello, Kelly Skinner.
4 CYLINDER FEATURE-HARVEY CALKINS JR., Mark Warner, Brett Hubbard, Tim Koch, John Clark, Jim Olin, Roger Olschewske, Bob Whipple, Ryan Phelps, Chuck Powelczyk, Ray Chittenden, Chris Bargabus, Eric Tyo, Joe Bribre, Channie Joyner, Dave Myrto, John West, Dan Jalbert, Lloyd Hinton, Jon Amidon, Jeff Amidon, Kevan Cook, Russ Cusson, Rob Whipple, Mark VanEpps.