DECKER WINS LAPCO SDS RACE
LAFARGEVILLE, NY...Billy Decker, from Unadilla, NY, flew home the winner of the Special LAPCO presentation of the "Bud at the Border" Advance Auto Parts Super DIRT Series 99-lapper last Thursday evening at the five-eighths mile Can Am International Speedway. It was Decker's first ever victory in a LAPCO Promotion. Also earning a feature victory on the evening was Cory Fachini in the IMCA 15-lap support event.
The luck of the draw saw local favorite Billy Wilcox start from the pole position. Series regular Alan Johnson picked the outside pole. The starting field was brought to life by Dave and Jackie Lape's daughter with her version of "Gentlemen start your engines." Wilcox and Johnson brought the starting field of 31 cars down to take the green flag. It would be Alan Johnson who would grab the lead followed by fourth place starter Decker and Wilcox. Johnson was able to hold a health lead until lap 5, when the yellow flag had to fly as Pennsylvania standout Josh Skarzenski broke a suspension part and slowed on the inside of the front straight away.
The restart saw Johnson maintain his lead as Decker fell in line behind him. Vic Coffey, who started sixth, was now up to third followed by Wilcox and Pat Ward. On lap 13, Decker made his move, passing Johnson for the lead. Pat Ward was also on the move, taking third away from Coffey on lap 14. As the middle of the field exited the fourth turn on lap 15, Jimmy Horton slammed sideways into the concrete wall and sent the rest of the field scrambling to avoid contact. Horton's car was heavily damaged, but Jimmy was uninjured.
The restart saw Decker pull away from Johnson and Ward, but the yellow would fly for a third time on lap 26 when Tim McCreadie coasted to a stop in the third turn. The restart saw the wildest action of the evening. As the field exited the second turn both Vic Coffey and Chuck Hebing found themselves sideways in the middle of the turn. Bobby Varin, driving the C. Harrell Trucking number 35, had no place to go and vaulted over the Coffey car, flipping end over end. This incident brought out the red flag. Varin was uninjured and the other two cars in the incident were both able to continue. The Harrell Trucking machine was done for the evening. During this red flag Brett Hearn, who took a guaranteed starting spot at the back of the field, found his Budweiser car overheating and turned to the pits for service. He returned at the back of the field but was never a factor in the race.
Decker remained the leader on the restart. A spin in the third turn by both Todd Burley and Chuck Hebing on lap 36 would prove to be the final yellow of the race. The restart saw Decker now being challenged by Ward, as these two ran side-by-side with Ward recorded as the leader on lap 42 by mere inches. Decker was scored as the leader the next lap. Then Ward, using the low grove was able to out drag Decker and take a clear advantage on lap 44. Decker kept behind Ward as the two leaders entered lapped traffic at the halfway marker in the race, lap 50. Alan Johnson was running a somewhat distant third followed by Doug Hoffman and Bob McCreadie in fourth and fifth.
On lap 59, Decker used the lapped car of pole sitter Wilcox to trap Ward behind and using the lapped car as a pick retook the lead. Decker then started to stretch his advantage. For the next ten laps the race running order remained the same. Then on lap 73, Hoffman was able to pass Alan Johnson for third. Decker's Bugchaser/Quality Hardwoods Olsen seemed unbeatable as he stretched his lead over Ward to nearly a full straight away at the finish of the race. Ward held on to second, earning the guaranteed starting spot for the Eckerd 300 at Syracuse in October, as Decker already had earned a spot during the Series opener at Bridgeport Speedway. Hoffman finished off the Leatherstocking swing in third. Alan Johnson and Bob McCreadie rounded out the top five.
Decker earned $6,000 for his victory, and maybe more important to him, he regained the Advance Auto Parts Super DIRT Series points lead, 10 points ahead of Steve Paine.
Heat wins went to Todd Burley, Danny Johnson and Tim McCreadie. Tim Fuller won the B-Main and was given the opportunity by LAPCO to forfeit his feature starting spot for $400. To the delight of the large crowd on hand he refused the money and took up the challenge of the feature event. He would finish ninth, making $600.
The LAPCO promotion also included a special 15-lap IMCA race, in which Cory Fachini took the feature victory. Seventeen IMCA cars were on hand for this special.
LAPCO EXTRAS: Also on hand was Winston Cup driver Steve Parks. Parks pilots the Pennzoil sponsored Chevrolet Monte Carlo out of the Dale and Theresa Earnhardt stables. Parks signed autographs for nearly two hours and circled the speedway in the pace car. Parks admitted his favorite DIRT driver was Bob McCreadie. He also seemed somewhat surprised that Bob's son Tim was also now behind the wheel.
During the day both Pat Ward, the previous year's LAPCO winner, and Steve Paine appeared at the local Eckerd Store in nearby Watertown. A huge crowd was present for autographs and to participate in the Eckerd ticket program offered for the LAPCO promotion.
The Advance Auto Parts Series moves to Fulton Speedway on Wednesday, August 28. That event will be broadcast live on the DIRT Motorsports television network of stations starting at 8:30 p.m. sharp.
LAPCO and BUDWEISER/F.X. CAPRARA CAR COMPANY/McQUADE AND BANNIGAN
CONSTRUCTION present the ADVANCE AUTO PARTS SUPER DIRT SERIES NIGHT SUMMARY
IMCA MODIFIEDS
HEAT 1: R. Michael, S. Lias, N. Bryden, C. Fachini, J. Platt.
HEAT 2: B. Klinkowski, R. Hall, K. Chant, S. Bidwell, B. Anderson.
FEATURE (15-laps): CORY FACHINI, Steve Bidwell, Randy Hall, Brevor Matzel, Rick Dusckas, Debbie Stevenson, Pat Hobbs, Ken Partridge, Jamie Platt, Brenda O'Neil, Richard Michael, Sean Lias, Bill Anderson, Kevin Chant, Neal Bryden, Bill Klinkowski, Eddie O'Neil.
DIRT MODIFIEDS
HEAT 1: T. Burley, B. McCreadie, F. Cozze, B. Wilcox, V. Coffey, B. Varin.
HEAT 2: D. Johnson, D. Hoffman, S. Prentice, M. Gibbs, A. Johnson, K. Tremont.
HEAT 3: T. McCreadie, B. Decker, S. Paine, P. Ward, S. Bottcher, C. Hebing.
B-MAIN: T. Fuller, J. Horton, J. Skarzenski, R. Smoker, S. Parliament, T. Milton, D. Bartlett, R. Bartlett, S. Roberts, B. Bennett.
ADDED: B. Hearn, F. Caprara, P. Roberts.
FEATURE (99-laps): BILLY DECKER, Pat Ward, Doug Hoffman, Alan Johnson, Bob McCreadie, Scott Prentice, Danny Johnson, Kenny Tremont, Tim Fuller, Steve Paine, Brett Hearn, Mitch Gibbs, Ron Smoker, Steve Bottcher, Vic Coffey, Billy Wilcox, Chuck Hebing, Frank Cozze, Pete Roberts, Bob Bennett, Todd Burley, Frankie Caprara, Ryan Bartlett, Bobby Varin, Tim McCreadie, Scott Parliament, Jimmy Horton, Dave Bartlett, Sandy Roberts, Todd Milton, Josh Skarzenski.