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Chub Outduels Eckert For Cayuga County Win

Photo By Rick Schwallie
June 24, 2007

Chub Frank continued to show an uncanny superiority over the competition in World of Outlaws Late Model Series events run near Syracuse, winning Sunday night’s 50-lap A-Main at Cayuga County Fair Speedway.

It was the second straight year that Frank was victorious in WoO LMS action at CCFS, and his fourth overall triumph in tour events contested in central New York over the past three years. He also won twice in 2005, at Fulton Speedway and Rolling Wheels Raceway in Elbridge.

“There’s something about New York State that works for us,” smiled Frank, whose fourth WoO LMS victory of 2007 tied him with Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., as the season’s winningest driver. “I just hope that whatever it is, it keeps working (on Wed., June 27) at Stateline (Speedway). We’ll still be in New York (Busti) for that (WoO LMS) show.”

Frank, 45, of Bear Lake, Pa., earned $10,000 for capturing one of the most entertaining features of the ’07 tour. He outdueled Rick Eckert of York, Pa., slipping by Eckert for the lead on lap 42 and then checking out over the remaining circuits.

Eckert, 42, settled for second place, 1.705 seconds behind Frank. It was his third runner-up finish in as many ‘Great Northern Tour’ events and fifth overall – without a win – of 2007.

Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., finished third in the Valvoline Rocket after leading laps 1-28. He lost ground during the race’s second because his car got “real loose” entering the corners.

Vic Coffey of Leicester, N.Y., placed a WoO LMS career-high fourth in the Sweeteners Plus Rocket, earning him the $500 WoO LMS ‘Bonus Bucks’ cash for being the highest-finishing driver who’s not ranked among the top 12 in tour points and has never won a WoO feature.

Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga., claimed fifth in the RSD Enterprises Rocket. He reached the position by the halfway mark after starting eighth.

Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., who entered the event leading the WoO LMS point standings, finished sixth for the second straight night. He fell into a tie for the points lead with Francis after 24 events.

Frank, who started sixth, had some anxious moments en route to the checkered flag – specifically, a bad lap-24 restart that cost him second place to Eckert.

”Francis didn’t take off, and Eckert did,” described Frank. “When Eckert was side-by-side with Francis when we came off the corner, I said, ‘This isn’t gonna be good.’

“I knew I had a good car, but I just didn’t know if I could get by Eckert and Francis after that.”

In retrospect, Frank need not have been worried. He passed Francis for second on lap 32, then caught Eckert and grabbed the lead from him with a pass amid lapped traffic on lap 42.

“I hit the (inside) wall about five times getting in the corner, but I could stay right there and shoot out in front of those cars where (Eckert) couldn’t,” said Frank. “He finally got pinned behind a lapped car (in turn two) and I took the line away from him.”

Frank stayed on the charge in the race’s closing stages, driving his Custom-powered Lester Buildings/Corry Rubber Rocket hard to stay in front.

“I had to run as hard as I could in lapped traffic because I wasn’t givin’ (the race) away,” he said. “I’ll only give it away if I wreck; I’m not giving it away to lapped cars.”

Eckert conceded that Frank “had a better car,” but he knew he had an opportunity to steal his long-awaited first WoO LMS victory of the season.

“I only got by Chub (on lap 24) because he picked the wrong lane on that restart,” said Eckert, who led laps 29-41 after starting seventh in Raye Vest’s MasterSbilt mount. “He gave me that outside and I was able to get a run down that hill (the banking).

“Once I got the lead, as long as we weren’t in traffic, I think we were O.K. But I had to use the whole racetrack because I was really tight, so once we got to (lapped) traffic, I couldn’t turn under them like (Frank) could.”

Eckert fought hard to end his frustrating victory drought, but he remained winless since July 8, 2006, when he was triumphant at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio.

“I drove about as hard as I ever drove, I can tell ‘ya that,” said Eckert. “I could hear (Frank) back there. I was changing lanes to try and keep him busy, but when I got to a lapped car (on lap 42) I just couldn’t get turned. I got a little bit of a push and left the door open for him into (turn) three.

“The racetrack was excellent,” he added. “If it wasn’t so good, I might have won. When the racetrack is two or three lanes wide the best race car is gonna win, and it did tonight.

“We still have to get a little bit better to win one of these things.”

Frank registered his 11th career WoO LMS victory, tying him with Francis, who captured the previous night’s event at Quebec’s Autodrome Drummond, for fourth on the tour’s alltime win list.

Two caution flags slowed the event – on lap nine when Kirk Bradley of Great Valley, N.Y., dropped a driveshaft on the track, and lap 24 when Robbie Blair of Titusville, Pa., slowed with a flat tire after scraping the wall.

Blair, who earned his first $100 National Interstate Insurance Fast Time Award earlier in the night, saw his encouraging run go bad even before a flat tire struck him. He was running second behind Francis on lap nine when he ran over the driveshaft that fell out of Bradley’s car.

“The driveshaft hit everything in the right-front (of the car) and then ripped right through the interior sheet metal on the right side,” said Blair, who turned a quick time-trial lap of 15.365 seconds. “The car was toed-out after that.”

Finishing in positions 7-10 was Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., who fell just short of passing Smith for sixth at the finish line; Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., who started 23rd after using a provisional spot because a heat-race engine problem forced him to run his backup car; Dan Stone of Thompson, Pa., who registered his first top-10 finish in a WoO LMS show this season; and Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., who raced with no power steering for the race’s final 30 laps.


Results of WoO Late Model Series at Cayuga County Fair Speedway: (Finishing Position/Start/Driver/Laps Completed/Money Won):
1. (6) Chub Frank/50 $10,000
2. (7) Rick Eckert/50 $5,000
3. (1) Steve Francis/50 $3,000
4. (3) Vic Coffey/50 $3,000
5. (8) Shane Clanton/50 $2,000
6. (5) Clint Smith/50 $1,700
7. (12) Tim Fuller/50 $1,650
8. (23) Darrell Lanigan/50 $1,300
9. (16) Dan Stone/50 $1,200
10. (9) Josh Richards/50 $1,100
11. (4) Billy Decker/50 $1,050
12. (10) Dutch Davies/50 $1,000
13. (17) Chad Ruhlman/49 $950
14. (19) Brian Shirley/49 $900
15. (13) Bob Close/49 $850
16. (15) Dave Hess Jr./49 $800
17. (11) Dave Zona/49 $770
18. (14) Brent Rhebergen/49 $750
19. (20) Greg Oakes/48 $730
20. (24) Bud Phillips/47 $700
21. (2) Robbie Blair/24 $850
22. (22) John Lobb/21 $700
23. (18) Rick Briggs/21 $700
24. (21) Kirk Bradley/8 $700


2007 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Point Standings as of June 24 - 24 features completed (rank/driver/wins/top-5s/top-10s/earnings/points/deficit to leader):
1. (tie) Clint Smith 2-11-19-$65,650-3,294 (-0)
1. (tie) Steve Francis 1-12-21-$56,250-3,294 (-0)
3. Chub Frank 4-12-19-$72,030-3,288 (-6)
4. Rick Eckert 0-8-17-$49,670-3,232 (-62)
5. Josh Richards 1-7-15-$46,590-3,212 (-82)
6. Shane Clanton 1-7-15-$48,110-3,200 (-94)
7. Darrell Lanigan 2-3-17-$48,340-3,131 (-163)
8. Shannon Babb 4-10-13-$68,340-2,812 (-482)
9. Tim Fuller 1-5-6-$42,250-2,645 (-649)
10. Eddie Carrier Jr. 0-2-4-$22,720-2,439 (-855)
11. Brian Shirley 1-2-6-$29,340-2,231 (-1063)
12. Chris Madden 1-6-10-$53,390-2,083 (-1211)
13. Billy Moyer 1-9-10-$38,625-1,904 (-1390)
14. John Blankenship 0-0-0-$10,460-1,513 (-1781)
15. Brian Birkhofer 0-1-5-$15,210-1,500 (-1794)
16. Jimmy Mars 0-4-6-$20,430-1,202 (-2092)
17. Roy Mitchell 0-0-0-$5,450-1,186 (-2108)
18. Dennis Erb Jr. 2-4-6-$30,800-1,173 (-2121)
19. Billy Decker 0-0-1-$6,030-997 (-2297)
20. Adam Hensel 0-0-0-$3,710-840 (-2454)

 
 

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