Tampa, FL (February 9, 2006)- The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series started its’ 2006 Season in spectacular fashion on Thursday evening with Waterville Ohio driver Matt Miller picking up the first win of the season and third of his career. Miller would take the early lead in his McCullough Industries/ Performance Rod & Custom/LoTemp Brazing/Banshee Graphics/Whaley & Son Collision/McDonald Refrigeration sponsored Rocket Chassis/Russell Baker Racing Engines Grand Prix number 7 to collect the $7,000 payday in the fourth night of action at the 30th Annual East Bay Winter Nationals. “I really didn’t need to see that last caution, but I was committed to the bottom. If I was going to get beat someone was going to have to do it on the top,” The 34 year old Miller would say as he climbed from the Dirt Shop, Inc. racing entry with another packed house on hand to watch the competitive event.
Miller jumped from his outside front row starting position to the early lead off turn 2 over the 26 car starting field. Miller and the PBM Performance Products sponsored MasterSbilt of Dresden Ohio’s Donnie Moran would battle for several racing laps as the Lucas Oil/MasterSbilt Ford car driven by defending champion Earl Pearson Jr. would race with Scott James and Shannon Babb for the third position. A caution on lap seven for the car of Jason Montgomery would see the field stack up for a three car battle for the lead between Miller, Pearson, and Moran while the Sweetners Plus Rocket of Tim McCreadie would take to the high side and move into the top 5.
The field would again come under caution on lap 12 for Gerald Davis. When the field saw green again McCreadie would make his move on the outside to jump into the third. By the half way point Miller was feeling a charge from Earl Pearson and Tim McCreadie who was able to make the move around Pearson for the second position. Lap 38 would see McCreadie avoid near disaster when the Davis would spin ahead of McCreadie and set the stage for a two lap shootout for the win.
The field would come around to get the green with 2 laps remaining. As Moran would make an unbelievable charge off turn 2 in-between McCreadie and Pearson. Moran would continue this charge into the final corner when he would tag the wall and leave Miller all alone to take the victory. Earl Pearson would finish second in front of Dennis Erb who made another charge through the field to finish third from the 14th starting spot on the grid. Moran would hang on the fourth position while McCreadie would be shuffled back to the fifth position. Eddie Carrier, Jr. finished sixth ahead of Shannon Babb, Terry English, Doug Horton, and Scott James to finish off the top 10.
Heat winners included Scott James, Matt Miller, Donnie Moran, Bart Hartman, Shannon Babb, Bryan Collins, Earl Pearson Jr., and Jason Montgomery. B-Mains were won by Jeff Cooke, Vic Coffey, Billy Moyer and Randy Korte. The Strawberry Dash was won by Josh McGuire.
The cameras of Speed will be in the house on Friday night as the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series raises the bar again with a $10,000 to win 50 lap main event.
Race Summary
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Thursday Night, February 9, 2006 East Bay Raceway Park-Tampa, FL
Comp Cams Fast Time: Tim McCreadie 15.412 seconds
PBM Performance Products Heat #1-Jason Montgomery, Tim McCreadie, Randy Weaver, Tim Fuller, Jeff Cooke, Dean Carpenter, Joe Morris, Sonny Conley, Charles Duncan, Richard Wheelihan, Bob Geiger, Jimmy Mars
PBM Performance Products Heat #2- Scott James, Eddie Carrier Jr, Anthony White, Brian Birkhofer, Jimmy Owens, Clint Coffman, Evan Harrell, Josh McGuire, Corey Conley, Butch McGill, Joey Tanner, Brady Smith, Scott Riggs
DART Machinery Heat #3- Bart Hartman, Steve Casebolt, Michael England, David Scott, Tim Dohm, Jason Flory, Marshall Austin, Justin Rattliff, Steven Hucovski, Ellis Parker, Dale McDowell, Steve Hillard
DART Machinery Heat #4- Matt Miller, Gerald Davis, Vic Coffey, Eric Jacobsen, Jackie Boggs, Clint Smith, Roger Lucas, Dan Schlieper, Danny Mitchell, Wendell Wallace, Larry Smith, Brad Neat
Sunoco Race Fuels Heat #5- Earl Pearson Jr, Chub Frank, Anthony Rushing, Rick Eckert, John VanDenBerg, Bo Feathers, Randy Lucas, Daniel Stone, Freddy Smith, Rodney Melvin, Terry Casey, Jeff Gress
Sunoco Race Fuels Heat #6- Donnie Moran, Dennis Erb Jr, Doug Horton, Billy Moyer, Steve Francis, John Blankenship, Rusty Dixon, Wade Witherspoon, Brian Shirley, Freddie Carpenter, Damon Eller, Kristin Flory
K&N Engineering Heat #7- Shannon Babb, Don O’Neal, Jared Landers, Darren Miller, Davey Johnson, Garrett Durrett, Ricky Arms, Ray Cook, Christian Rayburn, Brent Robinson, Mike Johnson, Wayne Johnson
K&N Engineering Heat #8- Bryan Collins, Terry English, Randy Korte, Don Hammer, Robbie Blair, CJ Rayburn, John Mason, Jordan Bland, Lee Thomason, Scott Dedwylder, Ricky Elliott, Michael Jackson
Mason Racin’ Rebel Shock Dyno B-Main #1- Jeff Cooke, Tim Fuller, Brian Birkhofer, Jimmy Mars, Brady Smith, Josh McGuire, Corey Conley, Randy Weaver, Butch McGill, Joey Tanner, Bob Geiger, Anthony White, Jimmy Owens, Dean Carpenter, Sonny Conley, Clint Coffman, Tim Senic, Evan Harrell, Charles Duncan
Penske Shocks B-Main #2- Vic Coffey, Jackie Boggs, Marshall Austin, David Scott, Clint Smith, Eric Jacobsen, Dan Schlieper, Justin Rattliff, Wendell Wallace, Jason Flory, Michael England, Roger Lucas, Danny Mitchell, Steven Hucovski, Ellis Parker, Tim Dohm, Steve Hillard
Mason Racin’ Rebel Shock Dyno B-Main #3- Billy Moyer, Doug Horton, Rick Eckert, Steve Francis, Anthony Rushing, John Blankenship, Daniel Stone, Bo Feathers, Rusty Dixon, Damon Eller, Freddie Carpenter, Kristin Flory, Wade Witherspoon, Freddy Smith, Rodney Melvin, John VanDenBerg, Brian Shirley Penske Shocks B-Main #4- Randy Korte, Darren Miller, Jared Landers, Davey Johnson, Ray Cook, Ricky Elliott, Brent Robinson, John Mason, Mike Johnson, Ricky Arms, Christian Rayburn, CJ Rayburn, Robbie Blair, Don Hammer, Lee Thomason, Wayne Johnson, Jordan Bland, Garrett Durrett
Gulf Coast Produce Strawberry Dash- Josh McGuire, Steve Hillard, Brian Birkhofer, Jared Landers, Rick Eckert, Jason Flory, Brent Robinson, CJ Rayburn, Freddie Carpenter, Anthony White
Feature (40 Laps) Matt Miller, Earl Pearson Jr, Dennis Erb Jr, Donnie Moran, Tim McCreadie, Eddie Carrier Jr, Shannon Babb, Terry English, Doug Horton, Scott James, Chub Frank, Billy Moyer, Vic Coffey, Don O’ Neal, Freddy Smith, Steve Casebolt, Darren Miller, Bryan Collins, Gerald Davis, Jackie Boggs, Randy Korte, Tim Dohm, Jeff Cooke, Tim Fuller, Bart Hartman, Jason Montgomery
Race Statistics
Entries: 99 Cautions: 4 Red Flags: 0 Lap Leaders: Matt Miller 1-40 All-Star Performer of the Race: Doug Horton (started 23rd and finished 9th) Advanced 14 positions Quarter Master Move of the Race: Donnie Moran Hawk Brakes Tough Break Award: Jason Montgomery K&N Engineering Clean Pass of the Race: Bryan Collins
Current Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Points Standings After 2/9/06
1. Matt Miller (Waterville, OH) 250 2. Earl Pearson, Jr. (Jacksonville, FL) 230 3. Dennis Erb, Jr. (Carpentersville, IL) 220 4. Tim McCreadie (Watertown, NY) 215 5. Donnie Moran (Dresden, OH) 210 6. Eddie Carrier Jr (Salt Rock, WV) 200 7. Shannon Babb (Moweaqua, IL) 195 8, Terry English (Benton, KY) 190 9. Doug Horton (Bruceton Mills, WV) 185 10. Scott James (Lawrenceburg, IN) 180
