Lincoln Speedway
Notes: Shifting tire barriers tricky at Lincoln
By Kevin Kovac
World of Outlaws Late Model Series
Jordan Bland hit the wall, collecting Russ King in a consolation race. (stlracingphotos.com)
LINCOLN, Ill. — Tires played an integral role in Sunday night's World of Outlaws Late Model Series Land of Lincoln 40, but not the kind of tires you would normally expect.
While teams carefully considered which of four legal compounds to use at Lincoln Speedway, it was the uke tires marking the inside of the quarter-mile Lincoln oval that attracted the most attention. Two of those tires were knocked slightly out of position during the 40-lapper, causing drivers to change their lines and adding intrigue to the event. | Eckert breaks drought at Lincoln
Early in the 40-lapper, eventual winner Rick Eckert clipped the infield tire barrier in turn two. He escaped without damage to his car, but, with the tire repositioned a few feet farther up the track surface, several drivers actually began running below the tire in an effort to make time. The tire was ultimately pushed back down to its original position by officials during the race's lone caution period, on lap 24.
During that caution period the uke tire on the inside of turn three ended up getting pushed further out on the track. As a result, drivers who had been running in a moisture ring tight to the bottom of the track had to adjust their lines for the remainder of the distance to avoid the repositioned tire.
With the bottom-feeders not as fast anymore because they couldn't get as much traction running higher on the track, the beneficiary was Chub Frank. The veteran slipped from the outside-pole starting spot to seventh at the lap-24 caution flag, but he went to work on the outside of the track after the restart and charged all the way to third at the finish. Frank threatened both Eckert and runner-up Josh Richards rounding turns three and four on the final lap but couldn't get enough grip off the corner to beat either driver to the checkered flag.
“After we got the (top of the) track cleaned up because they weren't running so low and throwing that (stuff) out there on the racetrack, I just kept my momentum up around the racetrack and drove by guys,” Frank said. “I think most of those guys in front of me ran soft tires, so when they got out in that black, they couldn't get any traction. We had hard tires on so we could run up there.”
Eckert's hard work pays off
After prepping for the weekend's WoO action with a test session near his York, Pa., home last Wednesday, Rick Eckert fired on all cylinders to win the Land of Lincoln 40. The $7,600 triumph was Eckert's first on the tour since June 21, 2008, at Quebec's Autodrome Drummond – a winless span of 36 races – and his long-awaited first victory behind the wheel of a Bloomquist Race Carhe began running at the start of the '09 season.
“The things we learned this week really helped tonight,” said Eckert, who put in more than four hours of practice last Wednesday at Susquehanna Speedway Park in Newberrytown, Pa. “We tested shocks, springs, radius rods — everything we could think of. We've been just a tad off this year, and I think all that testing we did got us to where we need to be. We found that little bit extra you need to win.”
Eckert's victory also brought joy to his 75-year-old team owner Raye Vest, who has been battling health problems that forced him to spend some time in the hospital recently. Vest was at his home in Maryland on Sunday and listened on his computer to the DIRTVision.com audio broadcast of Eckert's triumphant performance.
Under the weather
Just six weeks removed from a $20,000 Illini 100 victory at Farmer City Raceway in his last visit to central Illinois, Shane Clanton experienced a forgettable night at Lincoln.
Battling a cold that had him sniffling, coughing and sleeping in his hauler for much of the day, Clanton's evening got off to a bad start when he failed to record a time-trial lap. He slapped the wall between turns one and two on his initial qualifying circuit, filling his car's right-rear wheel with so much mud that he immediately headed to the pit area.
Clanton had to use a provisional to start the feature and was lapped early by leader Rick Eckert, but he slipped by Eckert to regain his lap and salvaged a 14th-place finish. He fell from second to third in the points standings, but he's still only 16 points behind leader Darrell Lanigan.
Tough night for Bland
No driver had a more miserable night than WoO rookie contender Jordan Bland, who tore up both Bloomquist Race Cars he brought to Lincoln. Racing at the speedway where he destroyed a car in a heat-race crash during last year's UMP DIRTcar Summernationals event, Bland parked his primary machine after hitting the wall between turns one and two during his second time-trial lap. A fire even flared up under the hood of the car as he sat on the scales in the infield.
Later, during a consolation race, Bland slapped the concrete even harder in virtually the same place. His backup car was towed back to the pit area with significant damage.
Bland had company on the night's DNQ list — the other four WoO rookies on hand all failed to transfer to the main event. Brent Robinson came closest to making the field, finishing fifth in the second consolation race after challenging for the third-and-final qualifying spot. Russ King, meanwhile, was collected in Bland's wreck; 14-year-old Tyler Reddick spun while battling for a heat-race transfer spot and was knocked out of his consolation race because of hood damage his car sustained in an original-start jam-up; and Dustin Hapka's hopes were dashed by a busted transmission at the end of his heat (he borrowed a Crate Late Model to run a consolation race).
Odds and ends
After the cancellation of Saturday's WoO event at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway, the teams of Josh Richards, Clint Smith and Tim Fuller spent the evening with Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., who hosted a little get-together for his Outlaw friends. Smith manned the grill and Babb fired up the margarita machine. ... Richards was the runner-up in Lincoln's WoO LMS event for the second consecutive year. The run moved the 21-year-old to second in the tour's points standings, just 12 points behind Darrell Lanigan. ... Two familiar faces in the WoO pit area recently departed their positions as full-time crewmen: Kevin Miller left his job as the chief mechanic for Dale Beitler's team last month, and Mark Lloyd saw his run as Clanton's right-hand man end two weeks ago. Chris Burton, who won the 2008 WoO LMS Crew Chief of the Year Award working for champion Darrell Lanigan, has replaced Miller and Clanton's team plans to hire a second full-time crew member to work alongside Brandon Bilskie, who is in his first season with Clanton. ... World of Outlaws teams will remain in the Midwest this week to contest a tripleheader over Memorial Day Weekend. The Tri-State Late Model Challenge visits U.S. 36 Raceway in Osborn, Mo., on May 22; 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa, on May 23; and Charter Raceway Park in Beaver Dam, Wis., on May 24. A $10,000 bonus has been posted by event organizers SLS Promotions for a driver who can win two of three features.
