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Chub
Cops Renegade DirtCar "Pittsburgher 100" Driving the Biscotti's Restaurant and Winery/Corry Lazer Technology/Corry Rubber/Draime Racing Engines/Rocket Chassis No. 1* Frank Racing Chevrolet Monte Carlo, the defending Renegade STARS DirtCar Racing Series champion and current point leader grabbed the lead on lap 11 and then held off 19th starting Scott Bloomquist by a car length in a one lap dash to the finish for his first ever "Pittsburgher 100" win. Rick Eckert rode home third with 15th starting Gary Stuhler fourth and 23rd starting Mike Balzano fifth, earning him the OUTERWEARS CO. "Hard Charger of the Race". Rounding out the top ten were CARRERA SHOCKS "Challenge the Clock" time trial fast qualifier R.J. Conley in sixth with Tim Hitt seventh followed by 18th starting Jack Pencil, Matt Miller and John Flinner. Starting from the pole by winning the ISKY RACING CAMS dash, Frank and Hitt brought the 28 car starting field to the green flag with Hitt taking the lead off of turn two with Frank, Steve Francis, D.J. Myers and Eckert trailing at the end of the first lap. Hitt opened up a sizeable lead in the first five circuits around "Dirt's Monster Half-Mile" but saw that lead shrink when he entered lapped traffic one lap later. Frank ran Hitt down on lap 10 pulling alongside of Hitt exiting turn two pulling in front on lap 11. Three laps later the caution would wave as John Mason rolled to a stop in turn four with a broken driveshaft. Mason and crew repaired the car but didn't return to action until the mandatory halfway fuel stop.Three laps after going back to green Frank had opened up a huge advantage which Hitt lose second to Francis. Lap 19 saw the yellow wave again as Myers slide high in turn four smacking the outside wall and dropping him from the race. By lap 25 Frank was by himself with Francis and Eckert battling for position with tenth starting Bart Hartman now fourth and Hitt fifth followed by Stuhler in sixth then Flinner, Steve Shaver, Bloomquist and Conley. Frank continued to cruise around the speedway as Francis and Eckert continued their battle with Eckert taking the runner-up spot on lap 38. At the halfway fuel stop the top ten rundown had Frank the leader with Eckert, Francis, Hartman and Hitt the top five followed by Stuhler, Conley, Flinner, Shaver and Bloomquist.The race went back to green and stayed that way until lap 66 when Dick Barton stopped in turn two with a broken transmission. Frank continued to have his way once the green replaced the yellow enjoying a nearly half track advantage over Eckert with 25 laps to go with Hartman, Francis and Hitt trailing ahead of Stuhler, Flinner, Bloomquist, Shaver and Conley. Francis worked his way past Hartman for third on lap 82 and one lap later Hartman came to a stop in turn three with a flat right rear tire. Hartman headed pitside but did not return to the race. Four more laps were completed before the yellow waved again when Shaver limped to a stop in turn two with a bad handling car and retired from the race. With ten laps to go Frank saw his lead now down to ten car lengths over Eckert with Bloomquist now up to third ahead of Francis and Stuhler with Balzano now sixth ahead of Hitt, Conley, Miller and Rod Conley. Before lap 91 could be completed Keith Barbara spun in turn one bringing out yet another caution.One lap after going back to green Bloomquist shot past Eckert for second and began to run down Frank. Caution would wave again on lap 93 when Rod Conley blew a right rear tire sliding to a stop in turn three. Frank stayed in front of Bloomquist by three car lengths for the next few laps with Stuhler taking fourth from Francis on lap 95 but before lap 96 could be recorded the yellow lights came on again as Francis limped to a stop with a flat right rear. With five to go Frank continued to keep Bloomquist at bay but Bloomquist came right back at Frank with three to go inching to the outside of the leader entering turn three but Frank kept his lead. With the white flag waving Frank had a two car margin on Bloomquist as they headed down the backstretch but the yellow was quickly back out when the lapped car of Bill Adler spun in turn four setting up a one lap shoot-out. Frank stayed to the low groove as Bloomquist worked the top groove exiting turn two but Frank was up to the challenge as they raced off of turn four taking the checkered flag with Bloomquist just inches from his rear bumper.The two-day event, with a total purse in excess of $75,000, drew 79 drivers to the high-banked 1/2 mile with R.J. Conley setting quick time of 19.665 seconds during the CARRERA SHOCKS "Challenge the Clock" time trials. |
