McKean County Raceway
Frank earns $13,000 for ULMS victory at McKean
Chub Frank enjoys victory lane in his richest victory in more than two years. (pbase.com/cyberslash)
EAST SMETHPORT, Pa. (Sept. 24) — Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., outdueled Dan Stone and Rick Eckert on Saturday at McKean County Raceway to become the first two-time winner of the Priority Care Race FAN 50. Frank earned $13,000 in the Northern Tier United Late Model Series event for his richest payday in more than two years. | Slideshow
His hands full with his fellow Pennsylvanians in the event's late stages, Frank pulled away on a lap-46 restart to secure his third victory of the season.
Eckert, of York, Pa., got the runner-up spot while the sixth-starting Stone, of Thompson, Pa., settled for third after leading a single lap. Polesitter Boom Briggs of Bear Lake, Pa., Frank's former crew chief, was fourth and Jared Miley of South Park, Pa., rounded out the top five. ULMS champion Mike Knight of Ripley, N.Y., was seventh in the season finale.
Briggs and Dutch Davies started on the front row, but Frank quickly took second at the outset and took the lead from Briggs after a lap-five restart.
Driving his bright orange car, Frank began to pull away while Briggs was trying to fend off Eckert, Davies and Stone in a battle among the top five. As the leader entered lapped traffic, Eckert secured the third spot and began tracking Briggs.
With Frank still out front, Briggs and Eckert worked the low side while Stone chased them up top. Stone got up to second on the 29th lap and when Frank had trouble lapping Chad Valone, Stone and Eckert were all over the leader.
Stone edged ahead of Frank to lead the 36th lap, but Frank came roaring back to regain the point when Stone slid high in turns three and four, falling back to third behind Eckert.
Eckert stayed hot on Frank's heels with Stone just behind in the final laps, but Davies slowed on the 46th lap to bring out the second and final caution. Frank pulled away on the restart to wrap up the victory in a race he won in 2006.
Notes: Frank's Rocket Chassis has a Roush Yates Engine and sponsorship from Corry Rubber, Hino Toyota and Horton Equipment. ... Frank is racing with a broken right thumb he injured two weeks earlier in prelims at Eldora Speedway's World 100. ... Runner-up Rick Eckert has three career starts at McKean County and has been second each time. ... Robbie Blair, the 2007 race winner, drew the first yellow on the fifth lap. ... Ron Davies dropped out during the caution period. ... Wayne Robertson won the night's Fastrak Northeast feature for Crate Late Models. ... Among drivers failing to make the main event: Doug Eck, Rod Phillips, Darrell Bossard, Dereck Frank and Jeff Hoffman. ... The event wraps up the ULMS season. Friday's Dave Lundgren Memorial was rained out.
Priority Car RaceFAN 50: (1) Chub Frank, (2) Rick Eckert, (3) Dan Stone, (4) Boom Briggs, (5) Jared Miley, (6) Dick Barton, (7) Mike Knight, (8) Russ King, (9) Gregg Satterlee, (10) Rich Gardner, (11) John Lobb, (12) Rich Gardner, (13) John Lobb, (14) Greg Oakes, (15) David Scott, (16) Robbie Blair, (17) Bump Hedman, (18) Matt Lux, (19) Chad Valone, (20) Chad Hollenbeck, (21) John Garvin Jr., (22) Dave Hess Jr., (23) Dutch Davies, (24) Mike Blose, (25) Chris Hackett, (26) Ron Davies. Heat race winners (among 34 cars): Gardner, Eckert, Stone, Briggs. Consolation winners: Oakes, Blair.
