311 Motor Speedway
T-Mac goes flag-to-flag for repeat victory at 311
By Kevin Kovac
World of Outlaws Late Model Series
Tim McCreadie enjoys victory lane at 311 Motor Speedway. (focusedonracing.com)
MADISON, N.C. (April 20) — Something about 311 Motor Speedway agrees with Tim McCreadie.
The 39-year-old star from Watertown, N.Y., drove to a convincing victory in Saturday night’s 50-lap World of Outlaws Late Model Series at the half-mile oval — the second consecutive year that his first win of the season on the national tour came at the Tar Heel State track. | Slideshow
McCreadie ran a virtually flawless race after surging off the outside pole to grab the lead from front-row partner Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., at the initial green flag. He paced the entire distance, turning back just a brief late-race challenge from Rick Eckert of York, Pa., en route to a $10,650 payday.
Eckert settled for his third runner-up finish of the 2013 season, steering his Bloomquist Race Car under the checkered flag 1.046 seconds behind McCreadie. The 2011 WoO champion advanced from the ninth starting spot.
Richards slipped to third at the finish in his father Mark’s Rocket Chassis house car but maintained the WoO points lead. Casey Roberts of Toccoa, Ga., moved up one spot to register a career-best World of Outlaws finish of fourth in his Capital Race Car and Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., placed fifth in the AES Racing Barry Wright car after starting third and running as high as second.
McCreadie ended a 31-race winless streak on the WoO LMS, dating back to June 22, 2012, at Quebec’s Autodrome Granby. That victory north of the border was his third in a nine-race span — a stretch of success that he hopes to extend to a greater degree this season.
“It’s fun to be up front,” said McCreadie, who recorded his 21st career series victory. “This is where I believe this Sweeteners team should be. We’re starting to show through. We’ve been way better this year than we were last year already and our goal is to keep everything rolling.”
McCreadie, who celebrated his 39th birthday on April 12, credited his prime starting spot for propelling him to a breakout triumph.
“That kid who drew the (No. 2) pill probably helped me out the most tonight,” said McCreadie, whose outside pole start was picked for him in the feature redraw by 9-year-old Nate Hooker of Danbury, N.C. “It just gets so dirty when you’re behind cars here it’s hard to maneuver, so being up front was definitely where I needed to be.”
McCreadie controlled the action following each of the race’s five restarts and maintained a steady edge ranging from a half to a full second throughout the distance. But he had to contend with Eckert, who reached second with a pass of Richards on a lap-26 restart, before securing the checkered flag.
“You’re never confident with the caliber of guys that are racing with us,” said McCreadie, the 2006 WoO champion. “I know one thing, and that’s (with) one mistake they’re gonna make you look silly, so we just tried to hold our own. The cushion was good and I just lived on it.
“I got some signals (from crewmen) that somebody was closing (using the bottom groove), but you just don’t know what to do. I ran 35-plus laps up there on the lip so it’s hard to just all of a sudden hang a left and run the bottom. But after I heard somebody under me I moved down and just tried to stay as straight as I could and hold on.”
The driver who made McCreadie alter his line was Eckert, who reached second place with a pass of Richards on a lap-26 restart and then slowly reeled in McCreadie. On lap 38, with lapped traffic looming ahead, Eckert pulled to the inside of McCreadie rounding turns three and four, but McCreadie fought off the 47-year-old’s bid and never felt serious pressure again.
“He was running that top and he left me a lot of room there getting into (turn) three,” Eckert said. “I changed my line, opened up my corner (entry) and got to where I was really making time on him. Then he slipped one time (on lap 38) — he pushed and got bent hard, and I got beside him (on the inside of turns three and four).
“Well, he saw me down there, and after that he moved down. After I showed my nose one time he made sure he was on the bottom coming off of four, and he even moved down into three. That got me down there in the dust to where I could barely keep up.”
Five caution flags slowed the event, including three involving series regulars. Scott James of Bright, Ind., slowed on lap nine with a broken left-rear wheel bearing that ultimately caused him to retire his Warrior house car; rookie Eric Wells of Hazard, Ky., spun into the inside wall on the homestretch on lap 15 after Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., slowed and was hit from behind by Ricky Weeks of Rutherfordton, N.C.; and Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., relinquished seventh place on lap 22 when he slowed with a broken left-front upper A-frame (he returned five laps down).
Other cautions were caused by Chris Ferguson of Mt. Airy, N.C., who slowed on a lap-26 restart, and Dennis Franklin of Gaffney, S.C., who rolled to a stop in turn four on lap 40.
Notes: McCreadie’s Warrior Race Car is sponsored by Sweeteners Plus, Four Star Transmissions and Keizer Aluminum Wheels. ... Fourteen of 24 starters completed 50 laps. ... Drivers failing to make the feature lineup: Brian Ledbetter, Mike Parker, Kevin Wilson, Ron Shultz and Chris Blackwell. ... WoO rookie Morgan Bagley enjoyed a solid night, advancing from 14th to score a career-best tour finish of sixth. ... Kennedy Motorsports teammates Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., and Shane Clanton of Fayetteville, Ga., were seventh and eighth in the main event after recovering from flat tires (Fuller during time trials, Clanton in his heat). ... Series rookie Dillon Wood of New Smyrna Beach, Fla., was a season-best ninth after starting 23rd with a provisional because mechanical trouble during heat action (ball spline broke off the transmission) forced him into his backup car. ... WoO competitors head to Tennessee next weekend for a massive tripleheader. The swing kicks off April 26 at Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville and then continues to Tazewell Speedway on April 27 and finally to Duck River Raceway Park in Wheel on April 28.
World of Outlaws @ 311: (1) Tim McCreadie, (2) Rick Eckert, (3) Josh Richards, (4) Casey Roberts, (5) Jonathan Davenport, (6) Morgan Bagley, (7) Tim Fuller, (8) Shane Clanton, (9) Dillon Wood, (10) Scott Autry, (11) Eric Wells, (12) Chub Frank, (13) Justin Labonte, (14) Jeff Smith, (15) Darrell Lanigan, (16) Dennis Franklin, (17) Tim Allen, (18) Scott James, (19) Bub McCool, (20) Chris Ferguson, (21) Ricky Weeks, (22) Dustin Mitchell, (23) Billy Hicks, (24) Clint Smith. Fast qualifier (among 29 cars): Roberts, 15.254 seconds. Heat race winners: Davenport, Lanigan, Richards. Consolation winner: Clanton. Provisional starters: Wood, Hicks.
