Steve Paine Wins Carquest 200 At Granby
Bob McCreadie saw the win slip away
Second straight win at Autodrome Granby=92s
Carquest 200 for Steve Paine
Granby, Que. - 1996 and 1997 season Champion at lAutodrome Granby, the renowned Steve
Paine needed only a handful of laps to earn his second straight win of
the Carquest 200 held Sunday night at the famous Granby speedway. With
just three laps to go, Paine made a solid move on Bob McCreadie
challenging him for the lead to which he succeeded to the crowd=92s great
enthusiasm. Furthermore, with this result, Paine is now taking the lead
in the DIRT Advance Auto Part series standings.
McCreadie who led the Carquest 200 at two occasions for a total of 158
laps had to settle for second place in front of Tim Fuller. This would
have been McCreadie=92s first career win at Granby if the Watertown, New
York driver would have been able to maintain his position until the
checkered flag. Hugues Mercier was the best Quebec effort with a
twelve-place finish.
As soon as the green flag dropped for the Carquest 200- that was delayed
for more than two hours due to rain- McCreadie took advantage of=20 his
spot on the front row to grab the lead followed by Brett Hearn and Steve
Poirier, Quebec=92s dirt tracks Champion. On lap 28, Poirier=20 surprised
Hearn and took the second place.
It was at the fifth of twelve cautions that we saw the race leaders get
into the pits to do their mandatory pit stops. Chuck Bower, the fastest
driver in the times trial and winner, earlier, of a special race for the
quickest drivers, stayed out like Claude Brouillard, Richard Chauvin,
Luke Plante and Louis Bouthillier.
At the restart, Bower maintained the lead for four laps until Brouillard
passed him. Even the gloomy weather couldn=92t stop the crowd=92s cheers
when Brouillard got into the lead on lap 64 of this Carquest 200.=20 He
held his position for more than 30 laps, until on lap 99 McCreadie took
over after having moved his way up the field followed shortly after by
Brett Hearn, Steve Paine and Tim Fuller.
It was on a caution on lap 113, that Brouillard and the ones who stayed
out like him had to visit their pits. They were never able to get back
within the ten first places after.
It is on that restart that the fight between McCreadie, Hearn and Paine
began to be very serious. On lap 166, Paine passed Hearn for the second
place and then went on a lead chase with McCreadie. A few laps later,
Hearn got back into second but with 5 laps remaining, Paine passed him
again and made his move on McCreadie two laps after.
Steve Poirier, who was giving a great performance, holding on to eighth
place after his pit stop, was forced to retire due to mechanical failure
on lap 142 of this Carquest 200. Hugues Mercier, on his side, has earned
all of the honors of being the best Quebec driver after doing so in the
times trial as well. He was fifth behind Bower, Paine, McCreadie=20 and
Hearn.
He beat the excellent Danny Johnson by three hundredth of a second.
Johnson who won on both of his season appearances at Granby=20 finished
seventh after some tire problems forced him to do an unexpected visit to
the pits.
A number of Quebec drivers like R=E9al Lafrance, Cl=E9ment Therrien, Alain
Boisvert and Denis Labont=E9 were forced to retire in the first quarter of
this Carquest 200.
In the qualifying rounds, Doug Hoffman, Steve Poirier, Vic Coffey, Bobby
Varin, Denis Labont=E9, A.J. Romano and R=E9al Lafrance were the respective
winners.
Larivi=E8re streaks again
Earlier in the evening, St=E9phane Larivi=E8re, the Late Model Champion, won
the race regrouping Late Model and Tourism drivers. The 20-lap race was
cut short after 11 laps. There is a 20-minute time period allowed for
the support race and it was exceeded due to the high number of
attrition. Larivi=E8re was followed to the checkered flag by Fran=E7ois
Lareau and Richard Bertrand.
In a special 10-lap race for the Modified 358, Richard Chauvin led all
the way in front of Mario Moreau and Pierre Berthiaume.
This Carquest 200 was the last race of the 2000 season at Autodrome
Granby as the officials are now getting ready for the season=20 banquet
which will be held on Saturday, November 18 at the Hotel des
Gouverneurs in Granby.
RESULTS
CARQUEST 200
1- 7x, Steve Paine 2- 9, Bob McCreadie 3- M1, Tim Fuller 4- 3,=20 Brett
Hearn 5- 115, Kenny Tremont 6- 93, Bobby Varin 7- 27j, Danny Johnson 8-
1p, Alan Johnson 9- 91, Billy Decker 10- 99B, Chuck Bower 11- 124, Pat
Ward 12- 50, Hugues Mercier 13- 27H, Doug Hoffman 14- 3, Claude
Brouillard 15- 63, Dominic Dufault (199) 16- 56J, Jim Gabriel (199) 17-
20, Charles Bisaillon (199) 18- 27, Robert Ranger (198) 19- 31, Richard
Chauvin (197) 20- 29, Jeff Brownell (197) 21- 24, Luke Plante (185) 22-
66, Louis Bouthillier (170) 23- 16, A.J. Romano (156) 24- 28, Syeve
Poirier (142) 25-4, Andy Bachetti (140) 26- 22, Mario Clair (127) 27-
32c, Vic Coffey (108) 28- 56, Tim McCreadie (57) 29- 7, Denis Labont=E9
(51) 30- 73, Alain Boisvert (47) 31- 39, Cl=E9ment Therrien (41) 32- 11,
R=E9al Lafrance (4)