Closing The Deal
BUFFALO TWP — All he needed was one more gamble.
Tim McCreadie took it — and got it.
The Late Model driver from Watertown, N.Y., had passed three other drivers in the final 15 laps of Saturday night's Firecracker 100 at Lernerville Speedway.
After starting 11th, all that was left in front of him was veteran driver Darrell Lanigan.
“I had to go for it,” McCreadie said. “All night, I was strong coming off (turns) 1 and 2. But I was practically in the infield coming off 3 and 4.”
Taking advantage of a 97th-lap restart and a strong push off Turn 2, McCreadie slid low on Lanigan and grabbed the lead on the back straightaway of the 97th lap. He held off Lanigan and World of Outlaws points leader Brandon Sheppard the rest of the way to grab the win and the $30,000 that goes with it.
McCreadie gleefully climbed out of his car in victory land, pounding both hands on the roof of his No. 6M repeatedly.
“This was a tremendous race for everyone here to watch,” McCreadie said. “What a crazy finish. Lap traffic helped us and we were able to close the deal.”
McCreadie had never won the Firecracker 100 before.
Sheppard, who entered the weekend having won eight of the 14 WoO Late Model features this season, started the Firecracker 100 on the pole. He led the race for the first 61 laps before Ricky Weiss overtook him.
Weiss, from Manitoba, Canada, started from the seventh spot and appeared headed to victory. The race had no caution flags — until he caused one by scraping the wall coming around Turn 4 on the 95th lap.
Weiss wound up with a flat tire, handing the lead to Lanigan with five laps to go.
Lanigan held off McCreadie on the first restart, but a second caution flag came out a lap later. It was on that second restart that McCreadie took over.
“We didn't need that caution,” Lanigan said. “It happens. It's just part of racing.”
Lanigan won the Firecracker 100 in 2014. Saturday night marked the fifth time he's finished second in the event.
Sheppard admitted to the difficulty of holding a lead from start to finish in a 100-lap race.
“I'm not going to hang my head over finishing third in a race like this,” he said. “The car ran well. We just didn't get the win.”Once he got the lead, McCreadie wanted to make sure he kept it.“It was about playing it safe, no matter how badly you want to race,” he said. “I've done enough stupid things to lose races here. I needed to hold that line.”Knoch graduate and Sarver resident Michael Norris, who won the 30-lap feature Friday night, started fifth in the Firecracker 100. He finished seventh, marking his career-best finish in the marquee race.“This whole weekend feels pretty surreal for me,” Norris said. “When I won the (WoO 30-lap) race last year, I was pretty emotional. It was such a moment.“I was excited last night (Friday), too, but it was more business this time around. I felt like I had to back up what I did last year, prove it wasn't a fluke.”Norris added that the key to going 100 laps “is to race smart and take care of the equipment, to make sure you're around at the end of the race to give yourself a chance.”Norris raced the No. 02 car owned by Todd Cerenzia as his own team's No. 72 car remains on the mend.“I'm gonna get it back this year. I'm just not sure when,” Norris said. “But doing this, mixing two teams together and doing so well, it's been fun.“I'm not sure how much longer I'll be running (Cerenzia's) car. My immediate future is up in the air right now.”Gregg Satterlee, who violently flipped his car Friday night, returned to action Saturday and finished 10th in the Firecracker. South Park's Jared Miley was 18th, Cranberry Township's Mike Pegher Jr. 25th.Ken Schaltendbrand of Sarver accepted a provisional starting spot rather than start on the pole of a B-Main. He finished 27th.Max Blair of Centerville won the Uncle Sam 30. His father, Robbie Blair, won that event in 2009. Blair also won the 50-lap Bill Emig Memorial RUSH Crate Late Model feature later Saturday night.The Uncle Sam 30 netted Blair $3,000, the Bill Emig Memorial $10,000.
