Rick Eckert was apologetic to the standing-room-only crowd that watched him win Monday night’s World of Outlaws Late Model Series ‘North Country 40’ at Can-Am Motorsports Park.
The 43-year-old from York, Pa., had, after all, dashed what would have been a wildly popular victory party for Tim McCreadie, the local-boy-who’s-made-good from nearby Watertown, N.Y.
“I know I beat the hometown favorite,” said Eckert, who passed McCreadie en route to the front of the field and crossed the finish line 1.439 seconds ahead of the 2006 WoO LMS champion. “But we’re buddies, so I don’t think it’s that bad. Hopefully nobody’s mad at me for winning tonight.”
The huge throng of fans that attended the first-ever WoO LMS event at the half-mile oval didn’t have a problem with Eckert, who registered his second triumph of 2009 on the national tour. He became the third driver with multiple victories on this year’s series, joining Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky. (five wins) and Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va. (three wins, including the previous two on the ‘Great Northern Tour’).
Driving his familiar Raye Vest Racing/J&K Salvage Team Zero by Bloomquist car, Eckert marched methodically forward from the fifth starting spot in a race that was slowed by just two caution flags during the first five laps. He grabbed the lead from a fading Francis on lap 28 and never looked back on his way to a paycheck worth $7,650.
McCreadie, 35, overtook Francis for second one circuit later and soon closed within a couple car lengths of Eckert, but he lost ground once Eckert cleared lapped traffic and settled for a runner-up finish in the Sweeteners Plus Rocket. It was the second consecutive bridesmaid finish for McCreadie, who returned to the cockpit last Thursday night after being sidelined for five months with a back injury.
T-Mac’s Sweeteners Plus teammate, 2008 WoO LMS Rookie of the Year Vic Coffey of Caledonia, N.Y., made a late charge to finish third in his Rocket car, less than a car length behind McCreadie at the checkered flag. It was a career-best WoO LMS run for the 2007 DIRTcar big-block Modified champion at Can-Am, who started sixth but didn’t come alive until his machine’s hard tires heated up.
Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y. – like McCreadie, a North Country native who spent the early days of his racing career competing in Can-Am’s DIRTcar 358-Modified division – finished fourth in his Gypsum Express Rocket and 11th-starter Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., scored a season-best finish of fifth after overtaking Francis for the position on lap 37.
Francis, who started second and outgunned the polesitting McCreadie for the lead at the initial green flag, fell to sixth in the final rundown after leading laps 1-27. He built an advantage that reached nearly three seconds before a run-in with a lapped car sent him high in turn two on lap 22 and his soft-compound tires gave up on the hard surface.
Eckert nailed his tire selection, using hard-compound Hoosier rubber that proved to be perfect for the conditions. It took plenty of deliberation, however, before Eckert bolted on the tires.
“It was tough for everybody because we were at a racetrack where nobody’s ever raced with open tires,” said Eckert. “We kept going back-and-forth on our tire choice. We changed the tires three times before going on the track – twice after the (eight-minute lineup) horn (was blown).
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