Eckert Uses Backup Car, Overcomes Radiator Problem, Scores Exciting WoO Late Model Win At Attica; Chaney Nabs Attica FAST Win
 

By Brian Liskai
 

(Attica, OH) Rick Eckert displayed his cool even when nothing was going right for the York, Pennsylvania driver Friday, July 30 at Attica Raceway Park. After turning fourth quick time, his car blew up, forcing him to the tail of his heat in a back-up car. Then had to race through the B-main to gain an 18th starting spot in the feature. Then, a hole in his radiator caused his crew to quickly change the water cooling device during a red flag, sending him to the tail. He then steadily worked his way to the front using the extreme bottom groove, passing Josh Richards with just three laps remaining to earn his second World of Outlaws Late Model victory of the season at Attica Raceway Park Friday, July 30.

“Scrub” Eckert used the extreme bottom groove throughout the 40-lap, $10,000 to win Ohio Cat A-main while most of the other competitors were blasting around the top in what can be described as one of the most unbelievable World of Outlaw Late model races so far in 2010.

“We had a really good car and that red flag came out and the crew said ‘hey are you parked on water?’ I said I don’t think so…I said see if it’s warm and they took the hood off and water was leaking out of the radiator…had a hole in the bottom core. I said let’s just go to the pits and there was a big crash so we’ll gain a few spots back. I said we got a car good enough to win and damn if we didn’t,” said Eckert beside his J&K Salvage, Raye Vest, All Star Performance, York Excavating Company backed #24.

In the 410 sprint feature, Rob Chaney took the early lead, and then lost it to Brandon Martin in a tremendous three car battle involving Craig Mintz as well. A caution flag on lap 22 gave Chaney a clean shot on the high side to drive back by Martin and into the lead and he pulled away for the $3,000 prize.

“The caution came out just at the right time for me. Those guys were getting fast on the bottom and when I came up on the last cars they were throwing some dust up on the top and I really didn’t want to move and the caution came out when I needed it and got a clean track,” said Chaney beside his Bryan Grove owned, Canton Erectors backed #45.

At the drop of the green for the late model feature, Russell King powered into the lead with Gregg Satterlee, Matt Miller, Tim McCreadie, Josh Richards and Clint Smith in tow. King, who recorded a top 10 finish a few weeks earlier at Attica during the UMP Summer Nationals, would begin to pull away, as Miller moved into second on lap two, bringing McCreadie to third. By lap five, King lead Miller by half a straight away with sixth-starting Richards in third. There was a tremendous battle for fourth between McCreadie, Steve Francis, Satterlee, Smith and Lanigan.

King would hit lapped heavy lapped traffic by lap nine and escaped disaster on lap 11 when Mike Knight spun in front of him as he stopped to avoid a collision. On the restart, Richards would execute a daring move to drive between Miller and King to take the lead as McCreadie also went by Miller into third. McCreadie steadily pulled as King continued to run second with eighth-starting Lanigan moving into third by lap 15. The caution would fly on lap 22 when King drove off the track exiting turn two with the running order Richards, Lanigan, Miller, Satterlee and Shane Clanton.

On the restart, all hell broke lose as Richard drove from the top to the bottom out of turn four, everyone else checked up and that sparked a multi-car crash involving at least a dozen race cars on the front stretch with Chub Frank betting upside down. During the red, Eckert, who had worked his way up to 10th, went pit side with a broken radiator.

On the restart the running order was Richards, Lanigan, Francis, Clanton, McCreadie, Clint Smith and Tim Fuller. Richards could not shake Lanigan who continued to drive right up to his rear bumper with Francis, Clanton, McCreadie and Smith right there as well. With 20 laps to go, Richards continued to lead while Francis had moved into second. However, Francis would drive off the high side of turn two, losing several spots on lap 32, handing the runner-up spot back to Lanigan with Clanton third and Smith fourth.

King would bring out the final caution on lap 35. Richards led Lanigan, Clanton, Smith, McCreadie and Eckert. Richards again used the high line to pull away on the restart while Lanigan and Clanton battled for second with Smith trying to hold off the low-riding Eckert for fourth. The capacity crowd were on their feet, sensing something special was going to happen as Eckert continued to race the extreme bottom groove and moved into third on lap 38. With nine laps to go, it was now a three car battle for the lead between Richards, Lanigan and Eckert.
 

Rick Eckert - WoO Late Models

Eckert would dispose of Lanigan on lap 43 and began to hunt down Richards. With four laps to go, Eckert drove to Richards inside as they raced side by side to the flag stand. On the next circuit, Eckert powered off the bottom of turn four to take the lead. Eckert would drive away the last three laps for the win with Richards, Lanigan, Clanton and Smith rounding out the top five.

“I just got a good rhythm around the bottom there and got to where I could drive off really hard. And I got to fifth there and thought ‘that’s pretty good’ and I got to Darrell (Lanigan) and he raced me pretty hard and I got to Josh (Richards) and got my entry better and that helped my exit and that’s what it took,” added Eckert.

For Richards, it was a solid second place run.

“I always enjoy coming here. We were able to get up to the front early but I looked up on the board and saw #24 and I knew he came from the back and kept seeing someone stick their nose up under me. I was more comfortable just carrying my speed up top and keep my momentum up. But Rick was able to stick it on the bottom and make it work. I don’t know if I could have gone down there and stay in the front,” said Richards of Shinnston, W. Va. , the defending World of Outlaws champion beside his Rocket Chassis, Cornett Engines, Seubert Calf Ranches backed #1

For Union , Kentucky ’s Lanigan, third broke a string of two straight World of Outlaw victories.

“We were a little loose there at the end. Rick had a good car and Josh was running awful well too, so to come home third we’ll be happy with it,” said Lanigan beside his Gottarace.com, X-treme Graphics, Port City Racing, Performance Rod and Custom, Rocket Chassis, Cornett Thunder backed late model. “

In the 410 sprint main, Brandon Martin would grab the early lead over Sheldon Haudenschild, Chaney and Mark Keegan. While Martin worked the low line, Chaney would drive around Haudenschild into second on lap 2 and around Martin into the lead on lap four. Martin would continue to hound Chaney as Mark Keegan, Haudenschild, fifth-starter Craig Mintz, Dale Blaney and Chris Andrews followed. Keegan would challenge Martin for second as they followed in Chaney’s tire tracks.

Just as the leaders were set to hit lapped traffic, the caution would fly for a Duane Zablocki spin. On the restart, Chaney would fly up top with Martin still hugging the bottom with Mintz blasting around Keegan into third. On lap 14, Mintz would drive to Martin’s outside to grab second and was right on the rear bumper of Chaney. Martin was finding a rhythm on the bottom and soon it was a three car battle for the lead.

Martin would regain the second spot on lap 19 with Mintz, Blaney, Keegan, Bryan Sebetto, Dean Jacobs, Phil Gressman, Haudenschild and Byron Reed following. Martin would drive under Chaney to lead the 21st lap, but Chaney would drive back by for the top spot as the caution would fly on lap 22. On the restart, with a clean track in front of him, Chaney would drive away while Margin now had his hands full with Mintz and Blaney. Blaney would take third on lap 23 and steal second on lap 26, but he could not catch Chaney. Following Chaney to the checkered were Blaney, Mintz, Martin and Keegan.

 

Rob Chaney - FAST 410 Sprints

410 Sprints (31 Cars)
Nights #17: Kistler Racing Products FAST Championship Series

Heat 1 - Ultra Schield Race Products (8 Laps - Top 4 Transfer)
1. 2+-Brian Smith; 2. 97-Dean Jacobs; 3. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild; 4. 91-Aaron Middaugh; 5. 60-Jody Keegan; 6. 78L-Kirk Jeffries; 7. 11N-Ed Neumeister; 8. 70-Steven Lines

Heat 2 - Bell Racing  (8 Laps - Top 4 Transfer)
1. 2-Dale Blaney; 2. 5R-Byron Reed; 3. 45C-Rob Chaney; 4. 3J-Kevin Lee[5]; 5. 22-Cole Duncan ; 6. 45L-Brian Lay; 7. 5M-Jamie Miller; 8. 27-Scott Euler

Heat 3 - Friendship Food Stores (8 Laps - Top 4 Transfer)
1. 11M-Brandon Martin; 2. 16-Bryan Sebetto; 3. 53-Phil Gressman; 4. 1X-Matt Linder; 5. 5T-Travis Philo; 6. 40-Mark Imler; 7. 39-Alex Martin; 8. 98-Bruce Robenalt

Heat 4 - Tin Lizzy Collision (8 Laps - Top 4 Transfer)
1. X-Mark Keegan; 2. 15C-Chris Andrews; 3. 20X-Craig Mintz; 4. 9Z-Duane Zablocki; 5. 1R-Chad Blonde; 6. 14H-Todd Heller; 7. 28-Shawn Valenti

B-Main - Computer Man Inc. (10 Laps - Top 4 Transfer)
1. 22-Cole Duncan ; 2. 1R-Chad Blonde; 3. 45L-Brian Lay; 4. 14H-Todd Heller; 5. 78L-Kirk Jeffries; 6. 28-Shawn Valenti; 7. 39-Alex Martin; 8. 40-Mark Imler; 9. 98-Bruce Robenalt; 10. 27-Scott Euler; 11. 5M-Jamie Miller; 12. 5T-Travis Philo; 13. 11N-Ed Neumeister; 14. 60-Jody Keegan

A-Main -  (30 Laps) [#]-Starting Position
1. 45C-Rob Chaney[4]; 2. 2-Dale Blaney[9]; 3. 20X-Craig Mintz[5]; 4. 11M-Brandon Martin[1]; 5. X-Mark Keegan[3]; 6. 97-Dean Jacobs[12]; 7. 16-Bryan Sebetto[8]; 8. 5R-Byron Reed[7]; 9. 53-Phil Gressman[11]; 10. 15C-Chris Andrews[6]; 11. 14H-Todd Heller[20]; 12. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[2]; 13. 2+-Brian Smith[10]; 14. 1X-Matt Linder[15]; 15. 1R-Chad Blonde[18]; 16. 91-Aaron Middaugh[13]; 17. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[16]; 18. 45L-Brian Lay[19]; 19. 3J-Kevin Lee[14]; 20. 22-Cole Duncan [17]

Hard Charger: 14H-Todd Heller[+9]

©2010 - Results Provided by: Computer Man Inc. Fremont, OH