Winston Speedway
Michigan star tops WoO invaders at Winston
By Kevin Kovac
World of Outlaws Late Model Series
Jeep Van Wormer shows off his big paycheck. (Jim DenHamer)
ROTHBURY, Mich. (Aug. 16) — Jeep Van Wormer of Pinconning, Mich., gave his home-state fans a reason to cheer with a convincing victory Friday at Winston Speedway’s NAPA Auto Parts Winston 50 presented by Keyser Mfg.
After becoming the first — and still only — driver from Michigan to win a World of Outlaws Late Model Series event on Sept. 16, 2007, at LaSalle (Ill.) Speedway, Van Wormer turned up the excitement level with his second career checkered flag. The $10,000 triumph came at a track that is a three-and-a-half-hour drive across the Wolverine State from his residence. | Slideshow
“It felt good to go out there and perform and actually do what I always want to do — win in your home state,” said Van Wormer, who became the 14th winner in 35 WoO races. “It feels great to win in front of my home crowd. A lot of fans came out to support us.”
Van Wormer, 38, steered his Jay Dickens-powered Rocket car past 2011 WoO champion Rick Eckert of York, Pa., for the lead on lap 14 and never looked back. He beat another former World of Outlaws titlist, Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., to the finish line by 2.120 seconds in one of the most memorable performances of his career.
Eckert, 47, who won last year’s WoO event at Winston, settled for a third after starting from the outside pole and leading laps 1-13. First-time WoO fast qualifier Mike Spatola of Manhattan, Ill., equaled his career-best WoO finish with a solid fourth-place run and Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., advanced from the 14th starting spot to finish fifth.
A former UMP DIRTcar Summernationals stalwart, Van Wormer has cut back his racing schedule in recent years because of work commitments. Friday’s event marked just his 13th start of the season, and first since July 24, but he showed no rustiness while smoothly negotiating the 3/8-mile oval.
“We haven’t been racing a whole bunch,” said Van Wormer, who emerged victorious in his first WoO appearance of 2013. “Somebody made a comment to me today, ‘How am I ever gonna get good if I don’t race?’ Well, I’m not saying this happens (regularly), but we did well tonight. We had the right tires, the right car.”
Van Wormer started third in the 50-lapper, but he immediately moved to second when the race began. He chased Eckert until making his winning pass by ducking to the inside exiting turn four and surging ahead as lap 14 was scored.
“We got into lapped traffic and there and (Eckert) kind of was running that middle and I just stayed down on the bottom,” said Van Wormer, the fourth non-Outlaw regular to win on the tour in the last six events. “It just worked out that I had a good run coming off of four and got next to (the lapped) Rich Neiser there. I might have roughed him up a little bit, but it was for ten-grand.”
Two caution flags, on lap 16 (for a turn-one tangle involving Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., and John McDonald of Muskegon, Mich.) and lap 33 (for a turn-two spin by Tom Sprague Jr. of Muskegon, Mich.), kept the pressure on Van Wormer. But he handled both restarts with little problem.
Richards came closest to threatening Van Wormer, pulling up to the leader’s rear bumper shortly after the lap-16 restart. But Van Wormer gradually inched away over the ensuing circuits and again after the lap-33 caution period.
“I was keeping my tires warm — and the car was just so good honestly,” said Van Wormer, whose only previous feature win this season also came at Winston on April 27 in Sunoco American Late Model Series action. “We were just making smooth laps and not spinning our tires.”
Richards conceded that Van Wormer was the class of Friday night’s field. The young superstar had to satisfy himself with a runner-up finish that pushed his lead in the WoO standings to 58 points over Shane Clanton of Zebulon, Ga., who finished seventh, and 72 points over defending champion Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., who placed sixth.
“He was good,” Richards said. “On that (lap-16) restart we fired off that middle (groove) real well and stayed with him for a few laps. I couldn’t keep running there, though. Me and Eckert were talking after the race about how you could run four or five laps good there, and then the tires would get greasy and you couldn’t move around as much.
“Jeep was really good on the long greens. His car was just rolling through the corners so well.”
Bub McCool of Vicksburg, Miss., finished eighth, steadily moving forward from the 19th starting spot. Brady Smith of Solon Springs, Wis., slipped to a ninth-place finish after running in the top five for most of the race’s first half and Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., faded to 10th at the finish after starting from the pole position.
The WoO will conclude its Michigan doubleheader Saturday at Merritt Speedway, which hosts the $10,000-to-win NAPA Auto Parts Merritt 50 Presented by Allstar Performance.
NAPA Auto Parts Winston 50 presented by Keyser Mfg.: (1) Jeep Van Wormer, (2) Josh Richards, (3) Rick Eckert, (4) Mike Spatola, (5) Tim McCreadie, (6) Darrell Lanigan, (7) Shane Clanton, (8) Bub McCool, (9) Brady Smith, (10) Chub Frank, (11) Tim Fuller, (12) Eric Wells, (13) Jason Feger, (14) Clint Smith, (15) Brandon Thirlby, (16) Andrew Reaume, (17) Rich Neiser, (18) Morgan Bagley, (19) Sammy Epling, (20) John McDonald, (21) Tom Sprague Jr), (22) Andy Galgoci, (23) Dona Marcoullier, (24) Ryan VanderVeen. Fast qualifier (among 26 cars): Spatola, 14.182 seconds. Heat race winners: Frank, Eckert, Smith. Consolation winner: McCool. Provisional starters: McDonald, Galgoci.
