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McCREADIE AND HOFFMAN TOP LOWES MOD ECKERD 100, KERWIN WINS PRO-STOCK SPECIAL




CONCORD, NC...Tim McCreadie, from Watertown, NY and Doug Hoffman, from Allentown, PA, both emerged Advance Auto Parts Super DIRT Series winners Saturday, April 6, at the Lowes Dirt Track. Each man earned $5,000 for their respective 50-lap victories in the Eckerd 100. Gil Tegg Jr, from Rochester, NY, won the 15-lap Non-Qualifiers Feature for DIRT Modifieds. In the Pro-Stock division, Scott Kerwin continued his domination of the class and claimed the 20-lap feature run.

The first 50-lap Advance Auto Parts SDS race saw Tim McCreadie, who drew the pole fall back to second as outside pole sitter Pete Bicknell took the early lead. On this first lap Danny Johnson and Brett Hearn made contact entering the third turn. This contact sent Johnson spinning into the infield and Hearn limping off the speedway with a broken rear end. Bicknell continued to lead McCreadie and Gary Tomkins on the restart. Steve Paine was able to move by Tomkins and into third by lap five. On lap six, Brian Swartzlander, running in traffic, made a fantastic move as he spun a complete 360 degrees in the fourth turn, straighten his car out and continued racing to avoid a yellow flag situation.

On lap 11 the yellow flew when Tom Sears Jr. coasted to a stop in the fourth turn, just as Steve Paine took the lead from Bicknell. The track was quickly cleaned and racing resumed. McCreadie gained the lead from Paine on lap 13, but fell back to second the very next circuit. On lap 15, McCreadie grabbed the lead for good. On the move was Tim s father Bob McCreadie, who seemed to get hooked up in the outside groove. Justin Haers s race came to an end on lap 17, as he coasted to a stop on the back stretch causing the yellow to fly for the third time in the race.

The restart saw Bob McCreadie try to blast by Paine, who ran the very bottom of the speedway. On lap 22, Bob McCreadie saw his great race end with a flat right rear tire and the yellow was out again. He retreated to the pits and returned at the back of the field. This return was to prove ill fated as on the restart Billy Whittaker slowed on the backstretch with a broken front end. The leaders were able to get by, however Scott Prentice slammed into the rear of the disabled Whittaker machine and was gathered up by Bob McCreadie. All three cars exited the race, with Whittaker s car needing to be placed on a flatbed truck to be removed as the red flag flew over the speedway.

Tim McCreadie continued his lead with Paine, Todd Burley, Alan Johnson and Tim Fuller rounding out the top five. On lap 34, Gary Tomkins exited the pits and slowed on the front stretch to bring out another yellow. On lap 41, Tomkins slowed to a stop in the first turn to cause yet another yellow. Todd Burley passed Paine on the restart. Somewhere during this time debris flew off the track and into Burley s helmet just below the visor area, possibly breaking Burley s cheek bone. In pain he continued his efforts in second.

The final yellow flew on lap 47 when fast timer Frankie Caprara Jr. coasted to a stop in the third turn, forcing officials to use the green-white-checker finish scenario. McCreadie took the checkers on lap 53, followed by Burley, Alan Johnson, Vic Coffey and Fuller. McCreadie drew number 4 from the redraw bucket inverting the top four finishers for the second 50 lapper.

Following the race Burley reported directly to the ambulance crew who did what they could to treat his injury before the start of the second fifty lapper.

Vic Coffey led 27 cars to the green flag in the second fifty lapper. The fast two timers from day one, Caprara Jr. and Prentice, were both unable to answer the call. Whittaker, through amazing work by his crew was able to return but for a short time only as handling problems sidelined his machine.

Coffey took the lead at the drop of the green followed by Tim McCreadie, Alan Johnson and Burley. Bob McCreadie had to exit the race on lap eight as he dove into the infield grass with a broken torsion bar. On lap 11, Ken Tremont Jr. spun between turns one and two to bring out the first yellow of the race. Matt Quinn also found himself around, but at the other end of the speedway. During this yellow Burley ducked into the pits. He later returned to the race.

Tim Fuller found the same line around the track that Bob McCreadie had found earlier and charged into second and took off after Coffey. On lap 17, Brian Swartzlander lost a right front wheel and slide up the track into the third turn wall. Frank Cozze was now the car on the move, taking second from Fuller. Cozze began to challenge Coffey for the lead on lap 18, as Hoffman ran in third. The green stayed out for just two laps as Pat Ward slowed at the top of the second turn to bring out the yellow again on lap 19.

On lap 24, Hoffman passed Cozze for second as Cozze slowed. Fuller took third from Cozze on lap 30. One lap later, lap 31, Cozze saw his right rear tire explode dropping him from the race. The restart allowed Hoffman to challenge Coffey. On lap 36, Hoffman drove around Coffey and took the lead for good. Charging through the field was Billy Decker, who had to switch cars for this second feature. Decker pitted midway through this race for new rubber and found the right formula to run to the front. With just three laps remaining Decker passed Fuller for third. On the final lap, first feature race winner, McCreadie suffered a flat tire in the fourth turn while he was running seventh. This dropped him back in the finish order to 16th. Following Hoffman across the finish line were Coffey, Decker, Fuller and Steve Paine.

A special 15 lap Non-Qualifiers feature was run for the Modifieds. Gil Tegg Jr. drove from his pole starting spot to a narrow .736 second victory over A.J. Romano. Romano repeated challenged Tegg Jr. at the start-finish line. At times only the computer scoring could discern who the real leader was at the line.

Only two yellows slowed this race. On lap nine, Bud Christmann came to a stop in the third turn. On lap 14, a six car tangle in the second turn took place. All six cars were able to return to the race. Twenty cars took the green of the thirty- three cars listed to start the race. Romano took second behind Tegg Jr.. H.J. Bunting, Jim Rasey and Mark Sparky Lowe rounded out the top five finishers.

Modified heat races were won by Tim Fuller, Pete Bicknell, Doug Hoffman, Danny Johnson, Vic Coffey and Brett Hearn. The three modified consolation races went to Chuck Bower, Justin Haers and Mike Perrotte.

The 20-lap DIRT Pro-Stock race seemed to be a benefit event for pole sitter Scott Kerwin. Kerwin not only dominated the time trial process, he went on to led all 20 laps in the Pro-Stock main event.

Five cautions slowed the race. The first yellow flew on the start as Phlan Hart lost a wheel in the third turn. The wheel hit the wall and safely turned into the infield. On the restart Ron Morin spun on the low side of the third turn in mid-pack. Cars were sent scrambling but no real damage took place. The defending Mr. DIRT Pro-Stock champion and one of the pre-race favorites, Jason Boyle, took his Jipp Ortiz owned number 0 into the infield grass on lap three and dropping out of the race. The third place runner, Dave Schulz saw his race sour as his engine billowed out blue smoke on lap 8. Schulz slowed to a stop on the speedway.

Kevin Ward, the second fast timer, lost second on the track to Phil Retter on lap 10. The driver on the move seemed to be Jamie McGannon. McGannon was working his way to the front from his 22nd starting position. As the cars exited the fourth tun on lap 11, former Mr. DIRT champion, Tom Kuck, was sent sideways into a flip on the front chute causing the race to be red flagged. Kuck emerged uninjured.

The final yellow of the race came on lap 16 when Mike Ward lost a wheel.

Kerwin scored a 2.525 second victory over Retter. Jamie McGannon worked his way into a third place finish. Kevin Ward and Mike Cooper rounded out the top five finishers.

Pro-Stock consolation races went to Tommy Barron and Mike Ward.

INSIDER NOTES: Track general manager Roger Slack was much happier as his track held up well to the many events run. He did state that they would be stripping off the top layers of clay and replacing it with new clay before their next race...A reported pit side collar bone injury was reported on the Tremont crew...Steve Paine had to have his eyes cleaned out following the final race...The iron man award would have to go to Todd Burley, who s injury to his cheek bone was described as grotesque...Huge crowds for the Lowes Motor Speedway Auto Fair had traffic in the area backed up for miles...Reported attendance for the DIRT Motorsports show on Saturday was reported at 11,325.

ADVANCE AUTO PARTS SUPER DIRT SERIES NIGHT SUMMARY

PRO-STOCK

CONSI 1: T. Barron, B. King, M. Fitz, J. Santono. CONSI 2: M. Ward, R. Noviczski, K. Nevinger, T. Kuck, R. Colesanti.

FEATURE (20-laps): SCOTT KERWIN, Phil Retter, Jamie McGannon, Kevin Ward, Mike Cooper, Buddy Hencke, Jay Resch, Ken Gates, Patrick Hobbs, Tommy Barron, Rob Noviczski, Tom Dembeck, Rob Yetman, Fred Dennis, Rich Colesanti, Chris Morris, Hondo Carpenter, Billy King, Steve Devos, T.J. Fitzgibbons, Joe Santono, Ron Morin, Mike Fitz, Roger Chrysler, Ron Richter, Mike Ward, Tom Kuck, Dave Schulz, Ken Nevinger, Jason Boyle, Phlan Hart.

MODIFIED

HEAT 1: T. Fuller, B. Decker, K. Tremont Jr. HEAT 2: P. Bicknell, T. McCreadie, B. McCreadie. HEAT 3: D. Hoffman, R. Smoker, J. Phelps. HEAT 4: D. Johnson, G. Tomkins, B. Swartzlander. HEAT 5: V. Coffey, S. Paine, A. Johnson. HEAT 6: B. Hearn, F. Cozze, P. Ward. CONSI 1: C. Bower, M. Quinn, B. Whittaker. CONSI 2: J. Haers, R. Baye, L. Gill. CONSI 3: M. Perrotte, T. Sears Jr., S. Poirier. PROVISIONALS ADDED: B. Tittle, J. Johnson (NS)

FEATURE #1 (50-laps): TIM McCREADIE, Todd Burley, Alan Johnson, Vic Coffey, Tim Fuller, Steve Paine, Doug Hoffman, Pat Ward, Lee Gill, Danny Johnson, Pete Bicknell, Chuck Bower, Frank Cozze, Brian Swartzlander, Ryan Baye, Jimmy Phelps, Butch Tittle, Mike Perrotte, Ken Tremont Jr., Frankie Caprara Jr., Gary Tomkins, Tom Sears Jr., Billy Decker, Billy Whittaker, Scott Prentice, Bob McCreadie, Steve Poirier, Ron Smoker, Justin Haers, Matt Quinn, Brett Hearn.

NON-QUALIFIER MAIN (15-laps): GIL TEGG JR., A.J. Roman, H.J. Bunting, Jim Rasey, Mark Sparky Lowe, Gary Hager, Jimmy Reppert, Chris Shultz, Kevin Bolland, Jim Carey, Colin Jackson, Al Blanchard, Gary Napolitano, Jim Weller III, Rick Bishop, J.R. McGinley, Jason Barney, Dan Jalbert, Bud Christmann, Pete Simpson.

FEATURE #2 (50-laps): DOUG HOFFMAN, Vic Coffey, Billy Decker, Tim Fuller, Steve Paine, Alan Johnson, Brett Hearn, Lee Gill, Pete Bicknell, Ron Smoker, Chuck Bower, Ryan Baye, Steve Poirier, Tom Sears Jr., Matt Quinn, Tim McCreadie, Butch Tittle, Danny Johnson, Todd Burley, Mike Perrotte, Frank Cozze, Ken Tremont Jr., Pat Ward, Jimmy Phelps, Brian Swartzlander, Bob McCreadie, Billy Whittaker, Frankie Caprara Jr DNS, Scott Prentice DNS, Justin Haers DNS, Matt Quinn DNS.