McKean County Raceway
Boom brings broom to ULMS weekend at McKean
From series and correspondent reports
Briggs (99) battles Frank (1*). (pbase.com/cyberslash)
EAST SMETHPORT, Pa. (Sept. 27) — Boom Briggs of Bear Lake, Pa., had quite a weekend at McKean County Raceway. He won three Northern Tier United Late Model Series events, he piled up more than $15,500 in earnings — and he outran his former boss, Chub Frank. | Slideshow
The 37-year-old Briggs, who captured preliminary events on Thursday and Friday, hit paydirt on Saturday night by outdueling Frank for a $12,000 victory in the season-ending Priority Car RaceFan 50. Frank, who chased his former crew chief through most of the finale, settled for second ahead of fast qualifier Rob Blair of Titusville, Pa., 18th-starting Todd Andrews of Eldred, Pa., and Chad Valone of Warren, Pa., as home-state drivers swept the top-five spots. Andrews wrapped up the 2008 ULMS championship.
“It was a weekend you’ll never forget,” a still-beaming Briggs said on Monday morning while working at Frank’s garage. “To have everything go so perfect for three straight nights just doesn’t happen too often. It’s like a dream come true.”
Briggs and Frank started on the front row with the higher-running Frank holding the edge the first few laps. Briggs edged ahead on the fourth lap, Frank nipped Briggs at the line on lap five, but Briggs went ahead for good on the seventh lap. Only a brief rain delay and a scare with lapped traffic slowed Briggs the rest of the way. Frank tightened up on the leader amid traffic just past the halfway point, and Briggs was forced to take evasive action on the 34th lap when the slower car of Scott LeBarron spun in front of him between turns three and four. Briggs survived the skirmish and went on to restart out front and lead the remainder of the 50-lapper.
In Thursday's ULMS action, Briggs won the King of the Hill-style event of match races. On Friday, he picked up $2,500 for his flag-to-flag victory in the Don Hardy Memorial, taking the checkers ahead of Blair, David Scott, Andrews and Greg Oakes.
Notes: Briggs drives a Rocket Chassis powered by a Custom Race Engine and sponsored by Meridian Hardwoods and Genesis Shocks. ... Rob Blair's fast qualifying time of 14.66 seconds lowered the track record. ... Bob Close of Eldred, Pa., finished ninth in the weekend finale driving a Chub Frank backup car. ... Fifth-finishing Chad Valone ran as high as third. ... Rich Gardner ran third early in the 50-lap finale but faded to 10th, where he finished, by lap 28. ... Rain on lap 20 forced a yellow flag and a delay until the track was dry enough to race on again. ... Todd Andrews got up to third late in the race, but when he tried to take second from Chub Frank in the closing laps, Blair regained the spot. ... Butch Lambert won Friday night's Fastrak Northeast feature for Crate Late Models while Dick Barton won Saturday's Crate race, which was shortened because of a rain. The rest of the night was canceled when a pickup in the parking lot damaged a wire to the main transformer at the fairgrounds, lowering the lights at the facility.
Sept. 27 feature: (1) Boom Briggs, (2) Chub Frank, (3) Rob Blair, (4) Todd Andrews, (5) Chad Valone, (6) Doug Eck, (7) Mike Blose, (8) Jeff Hoffman, (9) Bob Close, (10) Rich Gardner, (11) Mike Knight, (12) Sam Stile, (13) Dutch Davies, (14) Gregg Satterlee, (15) David Scott, (16) Doug Ricotta, (17) Greg Oakes, (18) Alan Sagi, (19) Jason Dupont, (20) Jared Miley, (21) Scott LeBarron, (22) Dave Hess Jr., (23) Brent Rhebergen, (24) Dick Barton. Fast qualifier: Blair, 14.66 seconds. Heat race winners: Hoffman, Valone, Frank, Gardner, Knight. Consolation winners: Blose, Eck. Dash winners: Briggs, Frank.
Sept. 26 feature: (1) Boom Briggs, (2) Rob Blair, (3) David Scott, (4) Todd Andrews, (5) Greg Oakes, (6) Gregg Satterlee, (7) Doug Ricotta, (8) Dutch Davies, (9) Dave Hess Jr., (10) Jason Dupont, (11) Mike Blose, (12) Brent Rhebergen, (13) Jeff Hoffman, (14) Alan Sagi, (15) Chad Valone, (16) Bump Hedman, (17) Sam Stile, (18) Mike Knight, (19) Dan Stone, (20) Bob Close, (21) Scott Johnson, (22) Randy Lobb, (23) Rich Gardner.
