Lernerville Speedway, August 4 2006 (track #149) 2006 August 6
After over a month off from going to the races, I went toLernerville Speedway to see the World of Outlaw Late Model series on Friday night. This was my first trip to Lernerville, a track that was in my top 10 hit list. I’ve actually done pretty good on that list this year, making it to 5 of the 10 tracks that would have been on the list at the begining of the year (Waterford Speedbowl, Darlington, Winchester (IN), Jennerstown, and now Lernerville). This was my 149′th career track. One more to 150!
Lernerville was actually a little closer then I thought. Had I driven straight through it would have taken about 5.5 hours. The track advertised time trials starting at 7:15. Unlike many (most) tracks they started time trials on time (actually, 2 minutes early). After time trials the racing started about 8:10 ( a little after the 8:00 scheduled time). This was due to time trails taking longer then the time alotted and not due to a needless break, so it didn’t bother me much. In the first heat, Tim McCreadie had to start in the rear due to a car change. He made it into the top 4, allowing him to avoid the consi race. Tim started the feature in 13′th. Dale McDowell wasn’t so lucky having to rely on a provisional to get into the feature due to problems in the heat race.
The WoO late model 50 lap feature was excellent, Lots of action throughout the field. Eventually Rick Eckert and Tim McCreadie got into a side-by-side battle the last 7 laps or so. Eckert was running the low groove with McCreadie running the high grove. Coming into the last turn on the lat lap, the victory was still in question. However, Rick Eckert drove the car a little too hard and spun out coming off of turn 4, not on losing the win, but also second as everyone else left on the lead lap got by him. Eckert ended up 12th. Dale McDowell had a great run coming from his provisional starting spot finishing third behind Steve Francis who finished 2′nd.
Lernerville did a good thing by running only one other class this night, the UMP mods. Normally I enjoy the UMP (and IMCA) mods. This was not one of the times as they kept on spinning out. I assume it normally isn’t this bad, but it got to be a bit too much and the slow clean-up from the track crew of even simple spins made it drag on even more. The UMP mod race didn’t finish until 12:30 AM. This was without any real long breaks (only about 10 to 15 minutes in between the UMP modified b-main and the WoO feature). The first 6 laps must have taken 30 minutes. I was about to leave after one more caution, but luckily they finally figure out how to complete a lap without spinning so I stayed until the end of the race. I probably shouldn’t have bothered as it wasn’t all that good, but that is what happens sometimes. Anyway, Lernerville is a great track and I’m glad I made it there, and really glad it was for a Late Model feature as good as this one.
My 2006 race viewing stats after Lernerville Speedway:
Races: 18
Tracks: 15 (12 new) (149 lifetime)
States: 12 (3 new) (35 + DC lifetime)