MCR 2006 YEAR IN REVIEW

(E. Smethport, PA)

McKean County Raceway opened the 2006 season in late April under the new management of the foursome led by Ken Leet, Rod Biehler, Tom Gleason and Rich Yeager. The four new management team took over the reigns of the 1/3-mile fairground oval in late February and rushed to get the 06 season off and finished with a huge success.

With the track operating in the red for the past few seasons, the new management team made the toughest decision by eliminating the super late model division as a weekly class. With the crowds dwindling the past few years, the late model purse and lower car count deemed the class too costly. But opening night, MCR opened with the super late models on the card with the Jim Duffy Memorial being sanctioned by the United Late Model Series. Opening night saw ninety-seven race cars in the pits and Todd Andrews going home with the Duffy Memorial. Randy Hall won his first super stock start at MCR, Greg Oakes, Andy Michael and Norm Varner all won also.

The month of May was not very kind to MCR. The second week of racing, very cold weather hampered a bad crowd, but the racing was fantastic. Jeff Cheeseboro won his only super stock race of the year, while Randy Hall won his first of many in the sportsman division. Craig Bedell captured the mini stock win and Andy Michael grab both Twin 21s for the street stocks in the Bill Layfield Memorial. Michael had won the first three races of the year at MCR and quickly established himself a nice point lead. The next two weeks, mother nature won both specials. The ASCS Patriot Sprints were supposed to make their first visit and the ULMS late models were rained out the following week. Memorial Day weekend saw the super stocks race their make up Darwin Snyder Memorial event. Randy Hall was the big winner of the weekend, by capturing the Darwin Snyder Memorial and the sportsman feature as well in a thrilling finish over Greg Oakes. Chris Austin and Steve Mowery picked up their first wins in the street stocks and mini stock division.

The month of June came rolling in with one of the most anticipated events of the year. The USMC Cpl Jason Dunham Memorial for the super stocks. Randy Hall again was the big winner as he captured the $1000 Dunham Memorial along with the sportsman feature over Greg Oakes who had finished second to Hall the week earlier. Lance Palmer and Daniel Cunningham also picked up their first wins of the year in street stock and mini stock division. MCR took a week off racing due to a scheduling conflict with Little Valley Speedway and returned two weeks later for a regular racing card. Bruce Miller picked up his first win in the super stock division. Hall won for the fourth week in a row at MCR in the sportsman division. Justin Tatlow picked up his initial win of the year at MCR in the street stocks and Kyle Bedell kept the streak of non repeat winners going in the mini stock division. MCR closed out the month of June with two Thursday night specials for the ULMS late models. The Hazen Jordan Memorial would get rained out resulting in the second consecutive rain out for the ULMS late models at MCR. The following Thursday night, the ULMS late models returned for the Dave Lundgren Memorial. Bob Close would pick up the $2500 first place prize money over Dave Hess. Randy Hall won his fourth feature in the super stock division. The remaining features would be lost due to mother nature and her wet weather.

The ASCS Patriot Sprint Group made their first ever visit to MCR on July 8. Chris Shuttleworth of Wellsville, NY won the event at the track he considers his home due to the close proximity of his residence. Todd Hansen won the super stock feature with Billy Uhl winning the make up sportsman feature and Greg Oakes winning the regular sportsman event. Aaron Peters and Brett "The Jet" Smith winning the street stock features with Kyle Bedell winning both mini stock features giving him three straight wins and becoming the first double feature winner in the 4cyl. mini stock class. The ULMS late models returned for the Nancy Bly Memorial and they were greeted with sunny skies for once. Dan Stone of Thompson, PA captured his first ever ULMS win and his first ever MCR win as he pocketed the two grand. Rich Michael picked up his first win of the year in the super stock class, while Randy Hall captured win number five in the sportsman division. Justin Tatlow and Norm Varner won their second features of the year at MCR in the street stock and mini stock class respectively. The highly anticipated Brock Young Memorial event would get rained out the following weekend and would have its makeup rained out the following Thursday. The final event for the month of August saw the annual Lee Anderson Memorial. The street stock points were getting close as Justin Tatlow had started to narrow up Andy Michael's big lead, but Michael would pick up his fourth win of the year and capturing the Lee Anderson Memorial. Jeremy Wonderling picked up his first win of the year in the super stocks, as did Jim Myers in the sportsman division. Kyle Bedell won again in the mini stocks as his brother Craig were making the point race a brother affair.

The month of August, only two events were scheduled to the annual two-week shut down for the McKean County Fair. But before the fair could start, the ULMS late models returned for the $5000 to win Stephanie Eckl Memorial. Yes, mother nature again interfered with the program and the racing didn't start till 9pm. The MCR officials did a remarkable job by completing the entire program in 2 ½ hours. Rob Blair came from 12th in the field and made a last lap pass on ULMS point leader, Bob Close to take home the prize money back to Titusville, Pennsylvania. Rich Michael won his second super stock event in the past three shows as Randy Hall won again in the sportsman division. Derrick Frances captured his first ever win at MCR in the street stock division and Steve Mowery won his second mini stock event of the year to keep him in the point hunt.

During the two-week break, the management of McKean County Raceway announced a season ending blockbuster event. The first annual MCR FALL CLASSIC was scheduled for September 30 and it would feature the first ever $10,000 to win late model show at MCR. When MCR resumed racing at the end of August, the late models were back for a regular non-sanctioned event and Todd Andrews would go home the winner of the annual Don Hardy Memorial. Alan Wais and Gerry Schimp captured their first wins of the year in the super stock and sportsman divisions. Justin Tatlow and Norm Varner won their third events of the year in the street stocks and mini stock division.

Labor Day weekend was suppose to see the ASCS Patriot Sprints return, but remnants Hurricane Ernesto washed out the event and pushed the season championship events to the night before the FALL CLASSIC. As usual, mother nature won again and championship night was cancelled resulting in Randy Hall capturing the super stock title in his first year. He won the title by forty points over Tim Schram. Greg Oakes would win the sportsman title by a mere one point over Hall despite Hall winning six races to Oakes two wins. Andy Michael would win the street stock title by eight points over Justin Tatlow and Kyle Bedell would captured the mini stock title by two points over his brother Craig.

The Fall Classic would actually get rained out and be moved back to the first weekend of October. The 2006 racing season finally came to a close with the biggest event ever at McKean County Raceway, the $10,000 to win Priority Care RaceFAN 50. A total of 195 cars were crammed into the pit area. Fifty-nine late models, 45 E-mods, 42 street stocks, 28 super stocks and 21 mini stocks along with the largest crowd in track history. World of Outlaw star, Chub Frank would go home with the largest win in MCR history by capturing the ULMS Priority Care RaceFAN 50 and its $10,0000 prize. Frank had to hold off ULMS champion Bob Close with WoO star, Rick Eckert finishing third. Dave Hess of Waterford PA won the $1000 E-MOD feature with Rich Michael winning the $1422 Brock Young Memorial for the super stocks. This was Michael's biggest win of his career. Andy Michael proved to everyone why he is the street stock champion, by capturing the $500 to win street stock portion of the Fall Classic and Steve Mowery picked up his fourth win of the year in the four cylinder mini stocks.