The Blairs Sweep MCR

Robbie Blair, 2011 Stephanie Eckl Memorial Winner	Max Blair, FASTRAK Feature Winner
Randy Hall, E-Mod Winner	Chris Austin, Street Stock Winner
Brad Ullman, Mini Stock Winner

The Titusville Terror, Rob Blair has found the fast setup for McKean County Raceway as he has picked up the past two Northern Tier Inc ULMS Late Model wins at MCR in the past three weeks. Blair’s win Thursday night was his second Stephanie Eckl Memorial win and he went home with $3500 in his pocket. Max Blair kept the Blair winning ways going also by capturing the 20 lap FASTRK Late Model event as well Thursday night giving the father – son duo a clean sweep of the nights action.

Blair and Dennis Lunger paced the 21 car field to John Powell’s green flag for the 30 lap ULMS Stephanie Eckl Memorial. Blair bolted into the lead over Lunger, Dutch Davies and “The Captain” Jason Dupont went from sixth to fourth on the opening lap. Lap five would see the first yellow come out for central Pennsylvania visitor, Nick Loffredo spin. Blair would restart the event from the inside grove and again got the quick jump on Lunger on the start. As lap ten clicked off the board, Blair was still leading with Dutch Davies now in second with Lunger, Dupont, Chad Valone rounding out the top five with defending ULMS champion, Boom Briggs was up to sixth from his eleventh starting spot.

Briggs climbed into the top five on lap 13 using the outside groove to go around Valone. Lap fifteen saw the second caution of the night for Mike Knight for spinning in turn one and after apparent contact and the cars of Matt Lux, Chad Valone, Dave Hess and Greg Oakes all being involved. Blair again got the jump on the start over Dutch Davies as Lunger made the move for second only to see Dutch get it back on lap later. The yellow lights waved again and this time Blair was still in control over Davies with Boom Briggs now in third over Dupont and Lunger. The restart lasted another five laps as Briggs would dispose of Davies on lap twenty four as the “Bear Lake Banzaii” was now tracking down the “Titusville Terror” when the yellow lights came back out for heavy contact between Jeff Hoffma and Derek Frank ending their night. With the double file Delaware restart it appeared maybe Boom would have a shot but on lap 29, Lunger’s great run ended as a flat left rear tire sent him spinning around resulting in a one lap shootout for the win. On the green/white restart, the cars got stacked up resulting in Chris Hackett and Doug Eck sitting in the infield immediately bringing out the yellow. The second restart went off without a hitch and Blair just pulled away from Briggs ending any drama of a fantastic finish. Davies was third over Dupont and Knight rounded out the top five after coming from the tail from the lap fifteen caution. The next five was Oakes, Bump Hedman, David Scott, Rich Gardner and Doug Eck. Gardner received a extra $150 for being the Hard Charger of the race.

The street stocks saw Josh Wilcox and Ted Mascho on the front row for their 20 lap event with Wilcox immediately getting the lead over Chris Austin and Andy Michael. Michael would take second from Austin on lap four and would become your new leader on lap six as the yellow would come out on lap seven as contact was made between Wilcox and Dan Giboo resulting in Giboo receiving the black flag. With ten in the books it was Michael over Austin and Steve Mowery now in third from his tenth starting spot. Lap twelve became disaster for Michael as he would bring out the yellow and Austin would inherit the lead with Mowery, Mascho, Randy Taylor and Rich Wojowitcz now in the top five. Those five would race that way for the remainder of the event with Austin picking up his second straight MCR win.

The Emods saw Butch Southwell and Travis Asel on the front row. A slim 12 car field was on hand but the competition was hot on the track. The field roared out of turn two with Asel in the lead over Southwell and sixth place running Randy Hall charging into third. The first yellow would come out at the completion of lap one as Mike Eschrich would come to a stop with a broken right front ball joint. Hall would sweep into the lead on the restart over Asel and Southwell with Al Brewer bolting past Rich Michael and Nathan Hill to grab fifth when the red flag came out on lap three for a fan injury in the grandstands. On the restart, Hall took off leaving the battle for second with Asel and Southwell as Brewer was now into fourth and Michael had disposed of Vena for fifth. The final five laps saw Vena roll back in on Brewer using the outside lane as it appeared the #01 tires were coming in and the #71 of Brewer’s tires were fading. Vena was got around Brewer on lap seventeen and on the final lap, Brent Rhebergen took fifth from the fading Brewer as Hall easily won over Asel and Southwell with Vena in fourth.

Adam Sixt and hometown driver, Garrett Mott took the green for the 18 FASTRAK Late Models with previous MCR winner, Sixt getting the lead quickly with the other hometown favorite, Steve Dixon in tow in second. Northeast FASTRAK standout, Max Blair quickly moved into third by lap three from his eighth starting spot and would bypass Dixon for second on lap four. Blair hounded Sixt for continuous laps as Dixon sat in third with Mott having a stellar run in fourth and TJ Downs having a great run in fifth at the halfway point. Blair hounded Sixt and on lap fourteen Max would take the lead over Sixt and motor away for the Blair family sweep.

Brad Ullman has two wins this year in the mini stock division and with him starting on the pole next to Shawn Byerly it appeared he maybe on his way for another win. Chad Babcock came from third to lead the opening lap with Ullman and opening night winner, Larry Mitchell in third from 7th. Ullman wouldn’t let up on Babcock and on lap eight would take over the lead on lap eight. Mitchell would now start making his presence known to Babcock and finally on lap 12 he would take the #516 into second, but it was Ullman winning again over Mitchell, Babcock, Jeff Buhl and Kyle Babcock in fifth.

McKean County Raceway will be idle now till August 18 as part of the McKean County Fair featuring the FASTRAK Regional Late Models along with the street stocks. Then September 22-24th, it will be the 6th annual MCR FALL CLASSIC featuring the $12,000 to win ULMS Late Models Priority Care RaceFAN 50 paying $12,000 to the winner. There has been five different winners, will there be a sixth different winner this year? Come find out at the end of September. For more information, click on www.mckeancountyraceway.com.



RESULTS:
ULMS - Stephanie Eckl Memorial
Rob Blair, Boom Briggs, Dutch Davies, Jason Dupont, Mike Knight, Greg Oakes, Bump Hedman, David Scott, Rich Gardner, Doug Eck, Chris Hackett, Bob McMillen, Brent Rhebergen, Dennis Lunger, Jeff Hoffman, Derek, Frank, Nick Loffredo, Doug Ricotta, Chad Valone, Matt Lux, Dave Hess, Dick Barton (DNS)

FASTRAK Late Models
Max Blair, Adam Sixt, Steve Dixon, Garrett Mott, TJ Downs, Justin Tatlow, JR Peters, Kyle Zimmerman, Brad Mesler, Damien Bidwell, Tommy Kronenwetter, John Lacki, John Haggerty, Ike Fanton, Les Lyon, Matt Cobb, Craig Dean, Brian Haggerty

Emods
Randy Hall, Travis Asel, Butch Southwell, Vic Vena, Brent Rhebergen, Al Brewer, Alex Froman, Nathan Hill, #22, Rich Michael, Darren Tarabori, Mike Eschrich

Street Stocks
Chris Austin, Steve Mowery, Ted Mascho, Randy Taylor, Rich Wojowitcz, Josh Wilcox, Rich Hemphill, Butch Talbot, Dale Wolfer, Steve Field, Chris Conkey, Barry Tingue, Pat Yohe, Andy Michael, Dustin Raught, Craig Rex, Bruno Mowery, Dan Giboo, Joe Chamberlain

Mini Stocks
Brad Ullman, Larry Mitchell, Chad Babcock, Jeff Buhl, Kyle Babcock, Theresa Shelley, Eric Blauser, Kyle Eaton, Michael Oakes, Joe Boylan, Shawn Byerly, Riley Ellison, Jim Galloway, Jody Spees.