By Rich Berry
Indiana, PA - Davey Johnson from Greensburg, PA was the winner of the 50-lap main event as the Challenger Raceway hosted the traveling World of Outlaw Late Model Series for the first time on Monday night.
Earl Pearson, Jr. smashed the former track record in time trials. The former record lap of 14.831, set by Rick Aukland on October 12, 2002, was eclipsed by four drivers. Earl Pearson, Jr. established the new record in setting fast time of the night, as his new record lap was 14.397.
Six qualifying heats were run, with wins going to Dale McDowell, Tim McCreadie, Brian Burkhofer, Ray Cook, Josh Richards, and Davey Johnson. Those heat winners went into the dash to determine the feature lineup, which was won by McDowell. Two B-Mains rounded out the starting field, and they were won by Scott Bloomquist and Dave Satterlee.
Dale McDowell and Davey Johnson led the field to the green flag for the 50-lap main event. McDowell grabbed the lead at the drop of the green flag, as the first yellow waved with two laps complete. After a pair of restarts, McDowell showed the way as racing resumed over Johnson, Tim McCreadie, Earl Pearson, and Rick Eckert. Brian Burkhofer grabbed fifth from Eckert on lap 8, and had passed Pearson for fourth by lap 12. McDowell's lead was a comfortable one, as he was approaching the tail end of the field. The next yellow appeared for Scott Bloomquist on lap 15, as he was up to 11th after starting 19th. Bloomquist retired to the pits for the evening under the caution period. Another lap was run before the next yellow appeared, this one for Eckert. After a quick pit stop, Eckert resumed on the tail of the field.
McDowell continued to show the way on the restart, ahead of Johnson, Pearson, McCreadie, and Birkhofer. While still leading, McDowell suffered rear suspension failure, and he slowed in turn four on lap 22. David Scott was battling for fifth, and spun at the same time as the yellow flag waved. Both retired to the pits for the rest of the race.
Johnson inherited the top spot, ahead of Pearson, Birkhofer, McCreadie, and Mike Balzano. Balzano and Ray Cook swapped fifth briefly, before Balzano finally regained the position. When the yellow waved for a slowing Chub Frank on lap 28, it would be the final yellow flag of the race.
With a 22-lap run to the finish, Johnson continued to show the way on the restart. Pearson would gain ground, then lose ground as the race progressed. The top three were using a line where they worked low in turns one and two, then high in turns three and four. McCreadie in fourth was using a line of his own, entering turn one very high. As the laps clicked by, the top five tightened in the closing laps as Francis entered the top five with five laps remaining. As the white flag waved, the top five was running under a blanket.
Pearson made a final bid at Johnson, but it fell short as Johnson would race home the winner. Pearson settled for a close second after starting seventh. Francis moved from fifth to third on the final lap, completing a charge from 21st starting spot. He would say after the race, "if I could have had a few more laps..." Burkhofer and McCreadie bumped on the final lap, and crossed the line fourth and fifth. Filling the top ten were Balzano, Cook, Eckert, Rob Blair, and Sam Stile.
The final event of the Challenger Raceway schedule will be the Tenth Anniversary of Fall Fest. Fall Fest X will take place on October 8-10. Divisions and schedules will be announced at a later date.
The Challenger Raceway is located 6.4 miles southwest of US 422 on PA 286, then one mile north on McIntyre Road. For more information, please call 724-726-5494 during the week for the office, or 724-726-9808 on race days for the track. For the most complete source of Challenger Raceway information, please visit the track's web site at www.challengerraceway.com.
RESULTS
World of Outlaw Late Models - Car Count - 56.
Time Trial results with rank, time, car number, and driver.
1, 14.397, 1P, Earl Pearson, Jr., a new track record.
2, 14.520, 39, Tim McCreadie.
3, 14.683, 15B, Brian Burkhofer.
4, 14.787, 53, Ray Cook.
5, 14.840, 1R, Josh Richards.
6, 14.847, 40, Dutch Davies.
7, 14.866, 15, Steve Francis.
8, 14.936, E1, Mike Balzano.
9, 14.978, 25, Shane Clanton.
10, 14.980, 24, Rick Eckert.
11, 14.984, 43, Tom Decker, Jr.
12, 14.985, 42, Todd Andrews.
13, 15.063, 17M, Dale McDowell.
14, 15.080, 21, Billy Moyer.
15, 15.095, 1H, Les Hare.
16, 15.133, 04, Bob Close.
17, 15.155, 2J, Mike Johnson.
18, 15.160, 5K, George Kowatic.
19, 15.160, 3, David Scott.
20, 15.197, 146, Doug Horton.
21, 15.238, 1G, Rich Gardner.
22, 15.275, W11, Rob Blair.
23, 15.298, 1W, Bob Wearing, Jr.
24, 15.298, 19J, Davey Johnson.
25, 15.360, 1*, Chub Frank.
26, 15.367, 79, Dave Satterlee.
27, 15.377, 83R, Scott Rhodes.
28, 15.392, 29, Darrell Lanigan.
29, 15.448, 23, John Blankenship.
30, 15.478, 19, Dave Peterman.
31, 15.483, 72M, Jim Kurpakis.
32, 15.537, 48, John Flinner.
33, 15.538, 0, Scott Bloomquist.
34, 15.565, 9, Billy Drake.
35, 15.568, 03, Doug Eck.
36, 15.628, 2S, Sam Stile.
37, 15.648, 1RP, Rodney Phillips.
38, 15.653, 10, Gary Lyle.
39, 15.673, 01, Paul Briggs.
40, 15.695, S9, Dan Schlieper.
41, 15.745, 5, Mike Blose.
42, 15.755, 71D, Ron Davies.
43, 15.775, 12, Rick Aukland.
44, 15.849, 15J, Nick Jones.
45, 15.862, 2, Jeff Rine.
46, 15.865, 9-I, Rick Isadore.
47, 15.885, 55, Chris Schneider.
48, 15.923, 6D, Val Johnson.
49, 15.967, 75, Bart Hartman.
50, 16.110, 17T, Tom Kitchen.
51, 16.363, 18B, Dave Blazavich.
52, 16.382, 47, Matt Gaston.
53, 16.450, 44, Clint Smith.
54, 16.831, 34, Tim Steis.
55, 17.073, 1A, Joe Aluise, Jr.
56, no time, 1C, Lynn Geisler.
Heat 1 results - top three qualify - 1)Dale McDowell. 2)Earl Pearson, Jr. 3)David Scott. 4)Bart Hartman. 5)Steve Francis. 6)Chub Frank. 7)Rodney Phillips. 8)Jim Kurpakis. 9)Rick Aukland. 10)Joe Aluise, Jr.
Heat 2 results - top three qualify - 1)Tim McCreadie. 2)Mike Balzano. 3)John Flinner. 4)Dave Satterlee. 5)Nick Jones. 6)Doug Horton. 7)Billy Moyer. 8)Tom Kitchen. 9)Gary Lyle. Did not start, Lynn Geisler.
Heat 3 results - top three qualify - 1)Brian Burkhofer. 2)Scott Rhodes. 3)Shane Clanton. 4)Scott Bloomquist. 5)Jeff Rine. 6)Dave Blazavich. 7)Paul Briggs. 8)Rich Gardner. 9)Les Hare.
Heat 4 results - top three qualify - 1)Ray Cook. 2)Rick Eckert. 3)Rob Blair. 4)Bob Close. 5)Rick Isadore. 6)Darrell Lanigan. 7)Dan Schlieper. 8)Matt Gaston. 9)Billy Drake.
Heat 5 results - top three qualify - 1)Josh Richards. 2)John Blankenship. 3)Clint Smith. 4)Mike Johnson. 5)Doug Eck. 6)Tom Decker, Jr. 7)Chris Schneider. 8)Mike Blose. 9)Bob Wearing, Jr.
Heat 6 results - top three qualify - 1)Davey Johnson. 2)Dutch Davies. 3)Todd Andrews. 4)Sam Stile. 5)Dave Peterman. 6)Val Johnson. 7)George Kowatic. 8)Tim Steis. 9)Ron Davies.
Dash results for heat winners - 1)Dale McDowell. 2)Davey Johnson. 3)Tim McCreadie. 4)Ray Cook. 5)Brian Birkhofer. 6)Josh Richards.
B-Main 1 results - top two qualify - 1)Scott Bloomquist. 2)Steve Francis. 3)Mike Johnson. 4)Mike Blose. 5)Doug Eck. 6)Jeff Rine. 7)Paul Briggs. 8)Rick Aukland. 9)Bob Wearing, Jr. 10)Tom Decker, Jr. 11)Rich Gardner. 12)Jim Kurpakis. 13)Chris Schneider. 14)Dave Blazavich. 15)Rodney Phillips. 16)Bart Hartman. 17)Les Hare. 18)Chub Frank. 19)Joe Aluise, Jr.
B-Main 2 results - top two qualify - 1)Dave Satterlee. 2)Sam Stile. 3)Darrell Lanigan. 4)Dave Peterman. 5)Nick Jones. 6)Billy Moyer. 7)Gary Lyle. 8)Rick Isadore. 9)George Kowatic. 10)Tom Kitchen. 11)Val Johnson. 12)Tim Steis. 13)Doug Horton. 14)Matt Gaston. 15)Bob Close. 16)Dan Schlieper. Did not start, Billy Drake, Ron Davies, Lynn Geisler.
Feature - 1)Davey Johnson. 2)Earl Pearson, Jr. 3)Steve Francis. 4)Brian Burkhofer. 5)Tim McCreadie. 6)Mike Balzano. 7)Ray Cook. 8)Rick Eckert. 9)Rob Blair. 10)Sam Stile. 11)Bart Hartman. 12)John Blankenship. 13)Clint Smith. 14)Dave Satterlee. 15)Josh Richards. 16)Dutch Davies. 17)Scott Rhodes. 18)John Flinner. 19)Chub Frank. 20)Todd Andrews. 21)Dale McDowell. 22)David Scott. 23)Scott Bloomquist. 24)Shane Clanton.
Indiana, PA - Davey Johnson from Greensburg, PA was the winner of the 50-lap main event as the Challenger Raceway hosted the traveling World of Outlaw Late Model Series for the first time on Monday night.
Earl Pearson, Jr. smashed the former track record in time trials. The former record lap of 14.831, set by Rick Aukland on October 12, 2002, was eclipsed by four drivers. Earl Pearson, Jr. established the new record in setting fast time of the night, as his new record lap was 14.397.
Six qualifying heats were run, with wins going to Dale McDowell, Tim McCreadie, Brian Burkhofer, Ray Cook, Josh Richards, and Davey Johnson. Those heat winners went into the dash to determine the feature lineup, which was won by McDowell. Two B-Mains rounded out the starting field, and they were won by Scott Bloomquist and Dave Satterlee.
Dale McDowell and Davey Johnson led the field to the green flag for the 50-lap main event. McDowell grabbed the lead at the drop of the green flag, as the first yellow waved with two laps complete. After a pair of restarts, McDowell showed the way as racing resumed over Johnson, Tim McCreadie, Earl Pearson, and Rick Eckert. Brian Burkhofer grabbed fifth from Eckert on lap 8, and had passed Pearson for fourth by lap 12. McDowell's lead was a comfortable one, as he was approaching the tail end of the field. The next yellow appeared for Scott Bloomquist on lap 15, as he was up to 11th after starting 19th. Bloomquist retired to the pits for the evening under the caution period. Another lap was run before the next yellow appeared, this one for Eckert. After a quick pit stop, Eckert resumed on the tail of the field.
McDowell continued to show the way on the restart, ahead of Johnson, Pearson, McCreadie, and Birkhofer. While still leading, McDowell suffered rear suspension failure, and he slowed in turn four on lap 22. David Scott was battling for fifth, and spun at the same time as the yellow flag waved. Both retired to the pits for the rest of the race.
Johnson inherited the top spot, ahead of Pearson, Birkhofer, McCreadie, and Mike Balzano. Balzano and Ray Cook swapped fifth briefly, before Balzano finally regained the position. When the yellow waved for a slowing Chub Frank on lap 28, it would be the final yellow flag of the race.
With a 22-lap run to the finish, Johnson continued to show the way on the restart. Pearson would gain ground, then lose ground as the race progressed. The top three were using a line where they worked low in turns one and two, then high in turns three and four. McCreadie in fourth was using a line of his own, entering turn one very high. As the laps clicked by, the top five tightened in the closing laps as Francis entered the top five with five laps remaining. As the white flag waved, the top five was running under a blanket.
Pearson made a final bid at Johnson, but it fell short as Johnson would race home the winner. Pearson settled for a close second after starting seventh. Francis moved from fifth to third on the final lap, completing a charge from 21st starting spot. He would say after the race, "if I could have had a few more laps..." Burkhofer and McCreadie bumped on the final lap, and crossed the line fourth and fifth. Filling the top ten were Balzano, Cook, Eckert, Rob Blair, and Sam Stile.
The final event of the Challenger Raceway schedule will be the Tenth Anniversary of Fall Fest. Fall Fest X will take place on October 8-10. Divisions and schedules will be announced at a later date.
The Challenger Raceway is located 6.4 miles southwest of US 422 on PA 286, then one mile north on McIntyre Road. For more information, please call 724-726-5494 during the week for the office, or 724-726-9808 on race days for the track. For the most complete source of Challenger Raceway information, please visit the track's web site at www.challengerraceway.com.
RESULTS
World of Outlaw Late Models - Car Count - 56.
Time Trial results with rank, time, car number, and driver.
1, 14.397, 1P, Earl Pearson, Jr., a new track record.
2, 14.520, 39, Tim McCreadie.
3, 14.683, 15B, Brian Burkhofer.
4, 14.787, 53, Ray Cook.
5, 14.840, 1R, Josh Richards.
6, 14.847, 40, Dutch Davies.
7, 14.866, 15, Steve Francis.
8, 14.936, E1, Mike Balzano.
9, 14.978, 25, Shane Clanton.
10, 14.980, 24, Rick Eckert.
11, 14.984, 43, Tom Decker, Jr.
12, 14.985, 42, Todd Andrews.
13, 15.063, 17M, Dale McDowell.
14, 15.080, 21, Billy Moyer.
15, 15.095, 1H, Les Hare.
16, 15.133, 04, Bob Close.
17, 15.155, 2J, Mike Johnson.
18, 15.160, 5K, George Kowatic.
19, 15.160, 3, David Scott.
20, 15.197, 146, Doug Horton.
21, 15.238, 1G, Rich Gardner.
22, 15.275, W11, Rob Blair.
23, 15.298, 1W, Bob Wearing, Jr.
24, 15.298, 19J, Davey Johnson.
25, 15.360, 1*, Chub Frank.
26, 15.367, 79, Dave Satterlee.
27, 15.377, 83R, Scott Rhodes.
28, 15.392, 29, Darrell Lanigan.
29, 15.448, 23, John Blankenship.
30, 15.478, 19, Dave Peterman.
31, 15.483, 72M, Jim Kurpakis.
32, 15.537, 48, John Flinner.
33, 15.538, 0, Scott Bloomquist.
34, 15.565, 9, Billy Drake.
35, 15.568, 03, Doug Eck.
36, 15.628, 2S, Sam Stile.
37, 15.648, 1RP, Rodney Phillips.
38, 15.653, 10, Gary Lyle.
39, 15.673, 01, Paul Briggs.
40, 15.695, S9, Dan Schlieper.
41, 15.745, 5, Mike Blose.
42, 15.755, 71D, Ron Davies.
43, 15.775, 12, Rick Aukland.
44, 15.849, 15J, Nick Jones.
45, 15.862, 2, Jeff Rine.
46, 15.865, 9-I, Rick Isadore.
47, 15.885, 55, Chris Schneider.
48, 15.923, 6D, Val Johnson.
49, 15.967, 75, Bart Hartman.
50, 16.110, 17T, Tom Kitchen.
51, 16.363, 18B, Dave Blazavich.
52, 16.382, 47, Matt Gaston.
53, 16.450, 44, Clint Smith.
54, 16.831, 34, Tim Steis.
55, 17.073, 1A, Joe Aluise, Jr.
56, no time, 1C, Lynn Geisler.
Heat 1 results - top three qualify - 1)Dale McDowell. 2)Earl Pearson, Jr. 3)David Scott. 4)Bart Hartman. 5)Steve Francis. 6)Chub Frank. 7)Rodney Phillips. 8)Jim Kurpakis. 9)Rick Aukland. 10)Joe Aluise, Jr.
Heat 2 results - top three qualify - 1)Tim McCreadie. 2)Mike Balzano. 3)John Flinner. 4)Dave Satterlee. 5)Nick Jones. 6)Doug Horton. 7)Billy Moyer. 8)Tom Kitchen. 9)Gary Lyle. Did not start, Lynn Geisler.
Heat 3 results - top three qualify - 1)Brian Burkhofer. 2)Scott Rhodes. 3)Shane Clanton. 4)Scott Bloomquist. 5)Jeff Rine. 6)Dave Blazavich. 7)Paul Briggs. 8)Rich Gardner. 9)Les Hare.
Heat 4 results - top three qualify - 1)Ray Cook. 2)Rick Eckert. 3)Rob Blair. 4)Bob Close. 5)Rick Isadore. 6)Darrell Lanigan. 7)Dan Schlieper. 8)Matt Gaston. 9)Billy Drake.
Heat 5 results - top three qualify - 1)Josh Richards. 2)John Blankenship. 3)Clint Smith. 4)Mike Johnson. 5)Doug Eck. 6)Tom Decker, Jr. 7)Chris Schneider. 8)Mike Blose. 9)Bob Wearing, Jr.
Heat 6 results - top three qualify - 1)Davey Johnson. 2)Dutch Davies. 3)Todd Andrews. 4)Sam Stile. 5)Dave Peterman. 6)Val Johnson. 7)George Kowatic. 8)Tim Steis. 9)Ron Davies.
Dash results for heat winners - 1)Dale McDowell. 2)Davey Johnson. 3)Tim McCreadie. 4)Ray Cook. 5)Brian Birkhofer. 6)Josh Richards.
B-Main 1 results - top two qualify - 1)Scott Bloomquist. 2)Steve Francis. 3)Mike Johnson. 4)Mike Blose. 5)Doug Eck. 6)Jeff Rine. 7)Paul Briggs. 8)Rick Aukland. 9)Bob Wearing, Jr. 10)Tom Decker, Jr. 11)Rich Gardner. 12)Jim Kurpakis. 13)Chris Schneider. 14)Dave Blazavich. 15)Rodney Phillips. 16)Bart Hartman. 17)Les Hare. 18)Chub Frank. 19)Joe Aluise, Jr.
B-Main 2 results - top two qualify - 1)Dave Satterlee. 2)Sam Stile. 3)Darrell Lanigan. 4)Dave Peterman. 5)Nick Jones. 6)Billy Moyer. 7)Gary Lyle. 8)Rick Isadore. 9)George Kowatic. 10)Tom Kitchen. 11)Val Johnson. 12)Tim Steis. 13)Doug Horton. 14)Matt Gaston. 15)Bob Close. 16)Dan Schlieper. Did not start, Billy Drake, Ron Davies, Lynn Geisler.
Feature - 1)Davey Johnson. 2)Earl Pearson, Jr. 3)Steve Francis. 4)Brian Burkhofer. 5)Tim McCreadie. 6)Mike Balzano. 7)Ray Cook. 8)Rick Eckert. 9)Rob Blair. 10)Sam Stile. 11)Bart Hartman. 12)John Blankenship. 13)Clint Smith. 14)Dave Satterlee. 15)Josh Richards. 16)Dutch Davies. 17)Scott Rhodes. 18)John Flinner. 19)Chub Frank. 20)Todd Andrews. 21)Dale McDowell. 22)David Scott. 23)Scott Bloomquist. 24)Shane Clanton.
