September 9, 2000
"Barefoot" Bob McCreadie Wings His Way to Fulton Victory
Fulton, NY…Bob McCreadie passed Billy Decker on lap 3 and the two put on their second furious battle of the weekend before McCreadie took the win in the 35-lap open competition Modified feature at Fulton on Saturday. Other winners included Jamie Christian in the DIRT Sportsman feature, Tony Buffa in the Dwarf Car feature, and Jason Rood in the DIRT Pro Stock race.
The Pure Stock feature had to be stopped on lap 2 after Rob Whipple took out a light pole in turn two. Whipple was uninjured, but the remainder of the race had to be postponed until next Saturday, September 15th.
Billy Decker, Bob McCreadie, Tim Fuller, John Cunningham, and Mitch Gibbs all had wings atop their machines, in the true spirit of the “Run Whatcha Brung” event. All butt Gibbs ran the same event at Brewerton the night before, with McCreadie edging Decker in a thriller. Tonight, Decker took the lead early, but McCreadie went by on lap 3 to take command.
The race went 14 laps without a yellow flag, but Ty Hunt’s 44 stalled on the back straightaway and the yellow lights came on. McCreadie had some distance between himself and Decker, but that went away under the caution and now Fuller, Jim Mahaney, and Tim McCreadie in the Finch’s Logging 56 were following these two veterans.
On the restart, Decker went right to work on McCreadie, driving his 91 on the bottom of the track. Tim Fuller’s night was cut much shorter than he would have liked as he broke a rear axle on lap 17 and the yellow was out again.
McCreadie tried to take off when the green came back out, but Decker stayed right with him. The pair proceeded to put on a tremendous show for the second night in a row, slicing in and out of traffic.
Jimmy Phelps lost his back bumper on lap 20, and the 27 of John Cunningham began to smoke heavily at the same time as the caution lights came on for the third time. The remainder of the race would be run with no further yellows, and McCreadie would eventually open up a little ground over Decker to take the win.
At the checkers it was McCreadie with back-to-back open competition wins on the weekend. Decker was runnerup for the second straight night, with Gibbs, Mahaney, and Dale Planck rounding out the top five.
Jamie Christian led flag-to-flag in the DIRT Sportsman feature. Trailing Christian early was the 83 of Tim Sears. Sears tried the topside of Christian once, but then found the 15 of Bowman going underneath and by him on lap 7.
Jeff Walton and Paul Carey tangled on lap 10, bringing out a caution right at the halfway mark. Christian was leading Bowman, with Sears, Tom Juhl, and Walt McCardell following closely.
The remainder of the feature saw Christian hang on out front, while Tom Collins passed McCardell with three laps left to take over fifth. At the stripe it was Christian, Bowman, Sears, Juhl, and Collins in the top five.
Mike Watkins jumped out front in the 20-lap DIRT Pro Stock feature event, but right on the opening lap Eric Vanderhoof in the 8 lost a wheel, causing a yellow. Joe Jackson took control on lap 2, but his lead was short-lived as Jason Rood dove underneath Jackson on lap five and got the lead.
Rood had plenty of company up front, as Jackson, Scott Moyer, Ricky Breed, and Watkins were right there in the thick of the battle. Tom Sears and Tommy Denton tangled on lap 14, causing a yellow and setting up a six-lap dash to the finish.
Jackson and the others tried, but nobody could get around the 18 of Rood, who picked up his first win of the 2000 season at Fulton. Jackson was second, Watkins wound up third, with Moyer and the 81 of Brett Belden rounded out the top five.
Ken Gamlen led the first two laps of the ESDCA Dwarf Car Feature, but then broke on lap 3 and Tony Buffa went on to his fourth win of the year in the 12-lap feature. Van Allen wound up second, with Barry Virts, Oly Johnson, and Darren Forbes finishing right behind.
The Pure Stock Feature began with Dave Mannise losing a wheel on the opening lap. John Pietrowicz was leading on lap 2 when the 71 of Rob Whipple lost control of his car in turn two, driving through an implement tire and into a light pole. The pole toppled over on his overturned 71 and bounced a couple of times before coming to rest on top of the car.
Fortunately for Whipple, he escaped unharmed and the wires attached to the pole remained intact as did the lights. A new pole will have to be erected before the September 16th show so the conclusion of the 15-lap Pure Stock event will take place at that time.
Also on the September 16th card are the DIRT Sportsman, DIRT Pro Stocks, another full show for the Pure Stocks, the 4-Cylinders, and an Enduro. Gates will open at 5pm with race time slated for 7pm. Auto Recycling of Brewerton will be the night’s sponsor. For more information, contact the speedway office at (315) 593-6531 or see them online at www.fultonspeedway.com.
DIRT MODIFIEDS: BOB McCREADIE, Billy Decker, Mitch Gibbs, Jim Mahaney, Dale Planck, Mike Romano, Pat Ward, John Barker, Rick Miller, Pete Taylor, Rusty Harrington, Bill Shantel, Brent Wilcox, Tim Cornwall, Pat Dabeire, Steve Way, Tim McCreadie, Jimmy Phelps, John Cunningham, Tim Fuller, Ty Hunt, and Chris Gravius.
DIRT SPORTSMAN: JAMIE CHRISTIAN, Jim Bowman, Tim Sears, Tom Juhl, Tom Collins, Walt McCardell, Tim Mayne, Ron Richardson, Chad Phelps, Willie Decker, Jeremy Pitcher, Jeff Walton, Geoff Van Riper, Paul Kinney, Mark Yorker, Tom Mettler, Paul Carey, Dave Bargabos, Russ Hefti, Rich Keller, Don Wetmore Jr., Joe Beyea, Greg Doust, and Brian Johnson.
DIRT PRO STOCKS: JASON ROOD, Joe Jackson, Mike Watkins, Scott Moyer, Brett Belden, Paul Strieff, Paul Stoneburg, Rick Breed, Chad Homan, Phil Barone, Ryan Buskey, Jim Burba, Ray Maloney, Dave Fox, Chuck Jones, Tom Sears, Tom Denton, and Eric Vanderhoof.
ESDCA DWARF CARS: TONY BUFFA, Troy Van Allen, Barry Virts, Oly Johnson, Darren Forbes, Scott Nash, Rob Garafolo, Joe Garafolo, Glen Boyd, Brenda Rice, Kelly Skinner, Nick Lewis, and Ken Gamlen.
PURE STOCKS: To be concluded from lap 2 on Saturday, September 16.