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Kevin Kovac
CORNWALL, Ontario (June 21) - Just call him Mr. Canada.
Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., continued to shine in World of Outlaws Late Model Series events run north of the border, holding off Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., to capture Sunday night's 50-lap 'Triple Crown of Racing' A-Main at Cornwall Motor Speedway.
The $10,650 triumph was Richards's third of 2009 on the WoO LMS and gave him a sweep of the two 'Great Northern Tour' shows run in Canada. He also won the swing's opening event on Thursday night at Ohsweken (Ont.) Speedway.
"I like it up here," smiled Richards, whose maple-leaf momentum was slowed only by the rainout of Saturday night's scheduled program at Quebec's Autodrome Drummond.
Richards, 21, was victorious before a big crowd at Ron Morin's quarter-mile, high-banked Cornwall oval for the second straight season - and just like his win in the track's inaugural WoO LMS event one year ago, he overtook McCreadie for the lead and beat the 2006 series champion to the finish line.
Only a few details of Richards's march to Cornwall's checkeredboard square were different from 2008. For the second consecutive year he started from the pole position and failed to lead the first lap, but he didn't have to pull off any late-race dramatics as he did last year. This time he passed McCreadie for the top spot on lap 15 and never looked back.
"We did the same exact things we did last year here," said Richards, who was behind the wheel of the new Seubert Calf Ranches Rocket car that he debuted at Ohsweken. "Even though our car was a little different style than the one we used, we ran the same setup and the same tires and it drove better than it did last year."
McCreadie, making just his second start in the Sweeteners Plus Rocket car since returning to the cockpit on Thursday from a back injury that sidelined him for five months, challenged Richards several times during the closing circuits but settled for second place. The race's third and final caution flag, on lap 48, gave McCreadie a final opportunity, but he crossed the finish line 0.713 of a second behind Richards.
Defending WoO LMS champion Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., finished third, keeping him winless through 16 events this season. He needed just 11 laps to hustle from the seventh starting spot to third, but after threatening the leaders briefly his Fusion Energy Rocket car couldn't quite keep pace.
Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., steered his Gypsum Express Rocket forward from the 11th starting spot to finish fourth at a track he's won at in DIRTcar 358-Modified competition, and 17-year-old Austin Hubbard of Seaford, Del., rallied to finish fifth in his Seaside Builders Rocket mount after falling from the third starting spot to ninth in the early laps.
Hubbard, who earned his second top-five finish of the 2009 WoO LMS season, pocketed the tour's $500 'Bonus Bucks' cash for being the highest-finishing driver who hasn't won a series A-Main and isn't ranked among the top 12 in the points standings.
Richards did experience some anxious moments as the race wound down. He slowed drastically on lap 43 when Gregg Satterlee of Rochester Mills, Pa., slid off the backstretch and then came back on the track in front of Richards in turn three, and he had to deal with a caution flag on lap 48 after Billy Decker of Unadilla, N.Y., was sent spinning into turn one.
"I got real scared when Gregg ran back on the track right in front of me," said Richards, whose 15th career WoO LMS victory moved him into sole possession of fourth place on the tour's win list since 2004. "I was committed to the bottom, so I had to slow down so much. I thought McCreadie was going to roll right by me on the top.
"That restart with two-to-go had me real nervous. I knew McCreadie would try everything he could to win, so I just told myself to keep running my line."
McCreadie, 35, was simply happy to grab a second-place finish in the first A-Main appearance of his comeback. He failed to qualify at Ohsweken after being struck by a flat tire in his heat and B-Main.
"I was just too loose," said McCreadie. "If we had it to do over, we would've tightened the car up. I couldn't maneuver around the way I needed to.
"We just got beat by a better car. I think if Josh had started on the outside pole he would've led the whole race."
Richards's victory vaulted him back into the WoO LMS points lead, which he had lost to Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., after the May 24 event at Charter Raceway Park in Beaver Dam, Wis. Francis entered Sunday's action sitting atop the standings by two points over Lanigan, but he finished 10th after pitting to change a flat right-rear tire on lap 32.
Rick Eckert of York, Pa., ran outside the top 10 for much of the distance but came on late to finish sixth, just ahead of Brady Smith of Solon Springs, Wis., who started 16th. Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., was penalized to the rear of the field for the start after leaving the A-Main lineup to return to the pit area, but he rallied to finish eighth. Tony Knowles of Tyrone, Ga., was ninth after running as high as sixth and Francis came back from his pit stop to salvage 10th.
Thirty cars were signed in for the evening's action at the spic-and-span Canadian facility.
At the start of the night Francis registered his second fast-time honor of the season, earning a $50 bonus after turning a blistering lap of 12.429 seconds in Ohlins Shocks Time Trials. The circuit established a new dirt Late Model track record, bettering the lap of 13.017 seconds that Billy Decker ran last year.
Heat winners were Francis, Richards and Hubbard. The B-Main was captured by Jordan Bland of Campbellsville, Ky., who entered the night leading the WoO LMS Rookie of the Year points race, was transported to Hotel Diex Hospital in Cornwall after riding out a wild flip on the first lap of the second lap. His Team Zero by Bloomquist car bounced over the berm in turn one and cartwheeled through the air, landing on its roof in the run-off area.
Bland squeezed out of the cockpit and sat on the ground talking to safety workers, but he complained of some neck pain so he was taken away for medical attention. About two hours later - after doctors found no injuries - he left the hospital and made it back to the track just in time to jump in his backup car and start the A-Main with his provisional spot.
The 20-year-old then stayed out of trouble en route to finishing one lap down in 16th - good enough to earn him a $250 bonus as the top rookie in the race.
The WoO LMS now returns to the United States for six more evenings of non-stop Great Northern Tour action beginning on June 22 at Can-Am Motorsports Park in LaFargeville, N.Y., and continuing on June 23 at Canandaigua (N.Y.) Speedway; June 24 at Big Diamond Raceway in Minersville, Pa.; and June 25-27 at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa. (the postponed Showdown in Sarvertown on June 25 at the $30,000-to-win Firecracker 100 on June 26-27).
For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.
Results of WoO Late Model Series at Cornwall Motor Speedway (Finishing Position/Start/Driver/Laps Completed/Money Won):
1. (1) Josh Richards/50 $10,650
2. (2) Tim McCreadie/50 $5,100
3. (7) Darrell Lanigan/50 $3,600
4. (11) Tim Fuller/50 $3,000
5. (3) Austin Hubbard/50 $2,500
6. (8) Rick Eckert/50 $2,200
7. (16) Brady Smith/50 $1,900
8. (13) Chub Frank/50 $1,800
9. (10) Tony Knowles/50 $1,200
10. (4) Steve Francis/50 $1,850
11. (5) Shane Clanton/50 $1,550
12. (12) Clint Smith/50 $1,500
13. (9) Matt Lux/50 $950
14. (17) Gregg Satterlee/49 $900
15. (19) John Mason/49 $850
16. (23) Jordan Bland/49 $1,550
17. (15) Billy Decker/48 $770
18. (18) Russell King/48 $1,250
19. (14) Dustin Hapka/48 $730
20. (24) Brent Robinson/48 $700
21. (20) Gregg Oakes/30 $700
22. (21) Mike Knight/22 $700
23. (6) Dan Stone/20 $700
24. (22) Peter Mantha Jr./9 $700
* Earnings include Winners Circle program and cash contingency award bonuses
Time of Race: 22 Mins., 47.577 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 0.713 Secs.
Yellow Flags: 3 (Laps 24, 32, 48)
Lap Leaders: McCreadie (1-14); Richards (15-50)
Provisional Starters: Robinson, Reddick
Rookie of the Race: Bland ($250)
WoO LMS 'Bonus Bucks' Winner: Hubbard ($500)
Integra Shocks Crew Chief of the Race: Matt Singleton (Hubbard)
Ohlins Shocks Time Trial Results (Position/No./Driver/Hometown/Best Lap):
1. 19-Steve Francis/Ashland, KY 12.429
2. 1-Josh Richards/Shinnston, WV 12.650
3. 11H-Austin Hubbard/Seaford, DE 12.693
4. 26-Tony Knowles/Tyrone, GA 12.767
5. 19T-Tim Fuller/Watertown, NY 12.774
6. 25-Shane Clanton/Locust Grove, GA 12.831
7. 1*-Chub Frank/Bear Lake, PA 12.914
8. 39-Tim McCreadie/Watertown, NY 12.928
9. 21-Matt Lux/Franklin, PA 13.020
10. 1F-Adam Ferri/Port Colbourne, ONT 13.030
11. 24-Rick Eckert/York, PA 13.056
12. 91-Billy Decker/Unadilla, NY 13.065
13. 2-Brady Smith/Solon Springs, WI 13.090
14. 22s-Gregg Satterlee/Rochester Mills, PA 13.113
15. 44-Clint Smith/Senoia, GA 13.163
16. 21d-Dan Stone/Thompson, PA 13.225
17. 12-Jordan Bland/Campbellsville, KY 13.235
18. 9k-Mike Knight/Ripley, NY 13.261
19. 3-Brent Robinson/Smithfield, VA 13.366
20. 22G-Greg Oakes/Franklinville, NY 13.374
21. 72-John Mason/Millersburg, OH 13.605
22. 99L-Larry Wight/Baldwinsville, NY 13.607
23. 1M-Peter Mantha Jr./Gatineau, QUE 13.686
24. 56-Russell King/Bristolville, OH 13.748
25. 11-Tyler Reddick/Corning, CA 13.793
26. 18H-Dustin Hapka/Grand Forks, ND 13.895
27. 14-April Farmer/Livingston, TN 13.938
28. 29-Darrell Lanigan/Union, KY 14.425
29. 11s-Jim Stine/Selinsgrove, PA N/T
30. 7-Jeff Dayman/Welland, ONT N/T
Heat No. 1 (10 laps - Top 6 Transfer): Francis, Stone, Lanigan, Knowles, Frank, B. Smith, Robinson, Ferri, Wight, Reddick
Heat No. 2 (10 laps - Top 6 Transfer): Richards, McCreadie, Eckert, Fuller, Hapka, Satterlee, Oakes, Mantha, Bland
Heat No. 3 (10 laps - Top 6 Transfer): Hubbard, Clanton, Lux, C. Smith, Decker, King, Mason, Knight, Farmer
B-Main (12 laps - Top 4 Transfer): Mason, Oakes, Knight, Mantha, Ferri, Farmer, Wight, Robinson, Reddick (DNS) Bland
2009 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Point Standings as of June 21 - 16 A-Mains completed (rank/driver/points/deficit to leader):
1. Josh Richards 2121 (-0)
2. Darrell Lanigan 2119 (-2)
3. Steve Francis 2107 (-14)
4. Rick Eckert 2089 (-32)
5. Shane Clanton 2055 (-66)
6. Tim Fuller 2035 (-86)
7. Brady Smith 2022 (-99)
8. Chub Frank 2013 (-108)
9. Clint Smith 1913 (-208)
10. Jordan Bland 1647 (-474)
11. Russell King 1622 (-499)
12. Brent Robinson 1556 (-565)
13. Vic Coffey 1518 (-603)
14. Dustin Hapka 1475 (-646)
15. Shannon Babb 1395 (-726)
16. Tyler Reddick 1311 (-810)
17. Austin Hubbard 987 (-1134)
18. Dale McDowell 717 (-1404)
19. Dennis Erb Jr. 657 (-1464)
20. Chris Madden 615 (-1506)
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