Tim McCreadie Scores The Win During Night Two of the Rumble by the River
By- Justin Snyder
Port Royal Speedway – PORT ROYAL, Pa. (August 28, 2021) – Tim McCreadie capitalized on a front row starting spot to pick up the win during night two of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Rumble by the River at Port Royal Speedway Friday.
This was the second consecutive season McCreadie has picked up a victory during the Rumble by the River event and was his third career triumph at the Juniata County oval. McCreadie held off numerous drivers attempts to dethrone him from the top spot for 39 of the 40 laps and he earned $12,000 for his efforts.
“I was nervous for pretty much the whole race as it’s not too often you get that many chances to hold off guys while you’re up front,” said McCreadie. “Once I got out in the air I felt really comfortable and If anyone was going to roll by us in three and four I would’ve shook their hand and said well done.”
Night one runner-up Jonathan Davenport and McCreadie led the field to the green flag and the two were side-by-side for the top spot at the start-finish line at the completion of lap one. Davenport got credit for leading lap one, but McCreadie would take the top spot entering turn one to lead lap two.
Night one winner Hudson O’Neal entered the top-five from his sixth starting spot one lap later, while 10th-place starter Tyler Erb moved into eighth two circuits later. Erb continued his march toward the front as he moved into seventh on lap nine and two laps later it was fourth-place starter Jimmy Owens moving into a podium spot ahead of Chris Ferguson.
Meanwhile up front, McCreadie held a 1.2 second advantage on lap 12 and one lap later he hit the tail end of the field and lapped traffic came into play. Things were also get hot and heavy behind him, as third through fifth were all under a blanket battling for a podium position.
Ferguson got back by Owens for the third spot on lap 14 and O’Neil ripped the top side to move into fourth as well. O’Neil continued his march forward by getting by Ferguson for third on lap 15 and one lap later Erb moved into the sixth position.
With the leader struggling in lapped traffic, both Davenport and O’Neil were coming fast and by lap 17 the trio raced nose-to-tail coming to the flagstand. O’Neil tried a slider on Davenport for the runner-up spot on lap 18, but he could not make it stick and the battle allotted breathing room for McCreadie up front.
Davenport again set his sights on the leader and by lap 22 he was again all over the tail-end of McCreadie’s Longhorn Chassis. However, he wasn’t alone as the top four all raced nose to tail with a little less than half of the race remaining.
With 15 laps to go, the deficit from first to second was only .30 seconds, but the upcoming battle came to a screeching halt when the caution flew for debris in turn one. When the field went back to green, Davenport threw his very best slider at McCreadie and the two raced side by side down the backstretch heading into turn three. However, before the field could complete a lap the red flag flew for a four car accident in turn’s three and four. All drivers would be ok.
Davenport appeared destined to try again, however when the field returned to yellow flag laps it was discovered that he had a tire going flat and he was forced to go to the hot pit for repairs. Ferguson inherited the third position as a result, but he too suffered the fate of a flat tire under caution and also went to the pits for repairs.
O’Neil inherited the runner-up spot as a result of the shuffling and when the field went back to green flag, it was Owens sliding into the second position. Erb moved past O’Neil for a podium spot one lap later, but again the caution flew with 14 to go after Gregg Satterlee slowed to a stop on the backstretch.
Capitalizing on the Delaware restart, Erb got by Owens when the field returned to green for the second position and two laps later the caution flew again for a slowing Kyle Bronson. The field returned to green again and two laps later Owens and Erb again swapped the second position. O’Neil, who had gotten shuffled back to sixth moved back into the top five with eight laps remaining.
However nobody had anything for McCreadie, who ran away from the field over the remaining eight laps to claim the victory and pad his series points lead over Davenport.
Owens, Erb, Shane Clanton and O’Neil rounded out the top five, while Earl Pearson Jr., Michael Norris, Spencer Hughes, Ross Robinson and Trever Feathers completed the top ten. Robinson earned the $400 Lauver’s Concessions Hard Charger after taking a provisional and starting 25th on the grid.
“Everybody who does this for me, they work really hard and I’m definitely blessed,” said McCreadie. “Anytime you can stand in victory lane in front of Pennsylvania and New York people you’re doing something right and I’m thrilled to be here.”
For Owens, he thought that McCreadie’s ability to run the high side was the difference in the race.
“He was just so good on the high side and I figured we’d just kind of run through the middle and make up time in lapped traffic,” he said. “We’d gain on him and here and there, but he’d gain it all back in three and four and we’ll just take a clean race car and a second and try again tomorrow.”
Rumble by the River Night 2 Feature Finish (40 Laps): TIM MCCREADIE, Jimmy Owens, Tyler Erb, Shane Clanton, Hudson O’Neal, Earl Pearson Jr, Michael Norris, Spencer Hughes, Ross Robinson, Trever Feathers, Colton Flinner, Gary Stuhler, Chris Ferguson, Jonathan Davenport, Andy Haus, Kyle Bronson, Ricky Thornton Jr., Matt Cosner, Gregg Satterlee, Josh Richards, Stormy Scott, Jason Covert, Jeff Rine, Mike Marlar, Kyle Lee
Michael Altobelli Jr. held off David Stremme to make it an Lethal Chassis one-two finish during the 25-lap Mid-Atlantic Modified feature event Saturday night. The feature was worth $1200 for Altobelli Jr., while Longhorn Chassis driver Steve Arpin finished third.
Fourth-place starter George Dixon Jr. went from fourth to first on the opening circuit and it looked like all roads to victory would go through the Yellow No. 85C. However, disaster struck for the leader when he spun by himself in turn two to bring out the caution on lap 6.
Arpin, who started fifth, inherited the lead as a result and he led the next two laps. Meanwhile, Stremme moved into the fifth position on the restart and one lap later slid into fourth. Arpin had his hands full with Altobelli, who started eighth on the grid, and he would give up the lead on lap nine to the No. 95A.
Stremme, who started 11th, made his way up to the runner-up position with 12 laps to go and he set his sights on the leader. With eight laps remaining, the leader was in heavy lapped traffic and Stremme was within two carlengths with seven laps remaining.
With Altobelli Jr. glued to the bottom of the Speedway, Stremme ran a half a lane higher and was slowly chipping away at the leader. It appeared the two might battle it out side by side at the white flag lap, but Altobelli Jr. was able to get by a lapped car on the inside and break Stremme’s momentum.
He cruised home to the victory by a margin of 2.422 seconds over Stremme, Arpin, Keith Jackson and Austin Holcombe. Mitch Thomas, Ron Davies, Cark McKinney, Steve Axtell and Ryan Ayers completed the top ten.
Mid- Atlantic Modifieds Results- 1. Michael Altobelli Jr, 2. David Stremme, 3. Steve Arpin 4. Keith Jackson 5. Austin Holcombe 6. Mitch Thomas 7. Ron Davies 8. Cark McKinney 9. Steve Axtell 10. Ryan Ayers 11. George Dixon Jr. 12. Jonathon Taylor 13. TJ Dehaven 14. Jerry Foster 15. Tim Fedder 16. Alyssa Rowe 17. Amber Mills 18. Brad Kling 19. Brandon Householder 20. Tom Wakefield 21. Deron Henry 22. Michael Pappas 23. Jacob Marker 24. Justin Cullum
