By WoO/Kevin Kovac

BARBERVILLE, FL -October 14, 2006- Chris Madden of Gaffney, S.C., got the job done on Saturday night, scoring an impressive victory in the Daytona Dodge Mopar Speed Gator 100 at Volusia Speedway Park.

Tim McCreadie also got the job done, albeit in a slightly different manner. A quiet ninth-place finish allowed him to clinch his first-ever World of Outlaws Late Model Series points championship.

McCreadie, 32, of Watertown, N.Y., claimed the title, worth $120,000, by 16 points (4,110-4,094) over Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga., who started and finished 13th.

"It wasn't the easiest ninth I ever had in my life," said McCreadie, who fell back from the sixth starting spot in his Sweeteners Plus Rocket No. 39. "But it got us where we needed to be."

The 2006 season finale of the nation's premier dirt Late Model tour was a runaway for Madden, who wasn't challenged after slipping past Rick Eckert of York, Pa., for the lead on lap 21. He cruised to his first career WoO LMS triumph, earning himself a $20,000 check.

"This win is real satisfying because it kinda shows everyone that we can get the job done," said the 31-year-old Madden, the current points leader and 2005 champion of the Southern All-Stars Late Model Series. "We're good enough to run up front no matter who we're racing against."

Eckert finished a distant second, 3.174 seconds - nearly a full straightaway - behind Madden.

Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., placed third, followed by 17th-starter Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., and defending Gator 100 winner Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn., who started ninth but slipped outside the top 10 early in the distance.

Madden's victory came in just his third competitive visit to Volusia. Last year he raced in both the February Race Weeks events and fall Gator 100 at the half-mile oval, but he didn't see action in the 2006 Race Weeks meet because he returned home upon learning that his friend's father had died.

Despite his relative inexperience at the DIRT MotorSports-owned facility, Madden was without peer on Saturday night.

Once Madden steered his Henderson Amusements/Century Plastics No. 44M from the third starting spot to the lead, he pulled away from the pack at will. He was slowed only by four caution flags, on laps 21, 26, 42 and 65.

"The laps were just going so smooth," said Madden. "I never even pushed it the whole race. This (Scott) Bloomquist chassis was just super-good tonight."

Madden gained control for good on the 21st circuit when Eckert, who had surged off the outside pole to lead from the initial green flag, ran into trouble with lapped traffic. He lost his momentum momentarily when he clipped the sliding Eric Jacobsen of Santa Cruz, Calif., in turn four.

The contact left Eckert's Raye Vest-owned Rocket with minor front-end damage

"One lapped car run into another one and they slid up across the racetrack," remembered Eckert. "I got on the brakes and got into (Jacobsen) a little bit, just enough to break the hood pin off. After that the hood was up so high (flapping in the air) I could never see to turn into the corner."

That was a major problem for Eckert.

"This place is a circle and you gotta look left all the time, so I couldn't see where I needed to be," said Eckert. "I ran looking at the hood, so I kept looking at the inside guardrail guessing where I was at. I made sure I didn't miss the corners too much, but I was too low three-quarters of the time.

"I may have been good enough to win the race," he added, "but we'll never know."

Eckert, 40, did end the season on a strong note, registering just his second top-five finish in the tour's last 13 events. The run helped him hold on to seventh place in the final WoO LMS point standings.

Francis, 39, also shook himself out of an extended slump with his third-place finish. He got his Mopar Rocket up to second before losing the position to Eckert on a lap-42 restart.

But Francis couldn't pick up any positions in the final points rundown. He settled for sixth place in the standings, four points behind Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., who finished eighth in the 100.

Richards, 18, was the race's biggest mover-and-shaker, shuffling his Rocket house car steadily forward during the main. He overtook Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., for fourth shortly after a lap-65 restart and caught Francis 10 circuits later, but he couldn't find a way to snare third place, finishing 0.366 of a second behind Francis.

The battle for the WoO LMS title between McCreadie and Clanton, who entered the night separated by only eight points, didn't materialize as expected. Neither driver was a major factor in the event, and Clanton's only bid to overtake McCreadie was a fleeting one following a lap-42 restart.

Clanton struggled to navigate the track using the high groove.

"I couldn't go on the bottom, so I had to try something," said Clanton, whose two-race WoO LMS win streak came to an end. "I tightened the car up too much to run the bottom, and I think I needed to tighten it up more to run the top."

Describing his effort to pass McCreadie, Clanton said, "I thought if I could just get in front of him, I'd either pull left or stay wide and beat him. But it didn't work out."

Clanton walked to Victory Lane following the race and congratulated McCreadie. He was disappointed with the outcome but certainly not unhappy.

"Anytime you run second in points, you gotta say it's a pretty good season," said Clanton, who missed a portion of the 2005 WoO LMS campaign while recovering from a shoulder injury. "We wanted to win a race this year and we did, but we just fell a little bit short in the points. I guess we'll have to get 'em next year."

The time is now for McCreadie, who hung on to capture the title despite failing to record a top-five finish in the season's last four events, including a frustrating Gator 100 outing.

"We missed something tonight," said McCreadie, who is in his third season driving Carl Myers's dirt Late Model on the WoO LMS. "I thought at the start that I had something, but after that one (mid-race) restart, I don't know if a tire sealed up or something, but we just went right in the tank from then on.

"It was just a matter of hoping for the best. I figured Shane would be coming along, but I guess it was just our night.

"I'm disappointed with the way we ran, but it was enough," he added. "We're happy right now. It's a lot of relief to win this championship."

Frank finished sixth in the 100, allowing the veteran racer to place third in the WoO LMS point standings. He overtook defending tour champion Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., who pitted to change shocks after bringing out a caution flag on lap 42 and was lapped by Madden on the 64th circuit, leaving him 15th at the finish.

With time trials and heat races completed on Friday, two B-Mains highlighted Saturday's qualifying agenda. Richards and Johnny Cloer Jr. of Chatsworth, Ga., captured the last-chance events.

Moyer won the dash to earn the pole position for the feature.

Most of the WoO LMS teams were planning to remain in the Sunshine State on Sunday night (Oct. 15) to attend the tour's annual awards banquet at The Shores Resort in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Results of WoO Late Model Series Gator 100 (Finishing Position/Start/Driver/Laps Completed/Money Won): 1. (3) Chris Madden/100 $20,000; 2. (2) Rick Eckert/100 $10,000; 3. (5) Steve Francis/100 $6,000; 4. (17) Josh Richards/100 $5,000; 5. (9) Scott Bloomquist/100 $4,000; 6. (10) Chub Frank/100 $3,500; 7. (8) Earl Pearson Jr./100 $3,000; 8. (4) Darrell Lanigan/100 $2,700; 9. (6) Tim McCreadie/100 $2,500; 10. (15) Dale McDowell/100 $2,200; 11. (12) Clint Smith/100 $2,000; 12. (20) John Blankenship/100 $1,800; 13. (13) Shane Clanton/100 $1,700; 14. (14) Chris Wall/100 $1,600; 15. (1) Billy Moyer/99 $1,500; 16. (25) Steve Shaver/98 $1,500; 17. (7) Dan Schlieper/96 $1,500; 18. (26) Rick Briggs/96 $1,500; 19. (22) Patrick Sheltra/90 $1,500; 20. (16) Shannon Babb/64 $1,500; 21. (24) Garrett Durrett/59 $1,500; 22. (18) Johnny Cloer Jr./55 $1,500; 23. (19) Ray Cook/24 $1,500; 24. (23) Eric Jacobsen/20 $1,500; 25. (21) Dan Stone/10 $1,500; 26. (11) Eddie Carrier Jr./0 $1,500.

Time of Race: 50 Mins., 14.996 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 3.174 Secs.
Yellow Flags: 4 (Laps 21, 26, 42, 65)
Lap Leaders: Eckert (1-20); Madden (21-100)

B-Main No. 1 (12 laps - Top 3 Transfer): Josh Richards, Ray Cook, Dan Stone, Steve Shaver, G.R. Smith, Tony Knowles, Brian Shirley, Marshall Austin, Casey Barrow, Ivedent Lloyd, Garrett Durrett.

B-Main No. 2 (12 laps - Top 3 Transfer): Johnny Cloer Jr., John Blankenship, Patrick Sheltra, Eric Jacobsen, Johnny Collins, Larry Perry Jr., David Browning, Rick Briggs Jr., Homer Leonard, Bodine Massengill, Michael Lloyd.

Dash (4 laps): Moyer, Eckert, Madden, Lanigan.

Final 2006 WoO Late Model Series Point Standings: 1. Tim McCreadie 4,110; 2. Shane Clanton 4,094; 3. Chub Frank 4,076; 4. Billy Moyer 4,068; 5. Darrell Lanigan 4,066; 6. Steve Francis 4,062; 7. Rick Eckert 3,956; 8. Dale McDowell 3,926; 9. Josh Richards 3,894; 10. Clint Smith 3,847; 11. Eddie Carrier Jr. 3,439; 12. John Blankenship 3,404; 13. Eric Jacobsen 3,281; 14. Garrett Durrett 3,227; 15. Dave Hess Jr. 1,158; 16. Robbie Blair 1,065; 17. Mike Balzano 998; 18. Ricky Elliott 953; 18. Brady Smith 953; 20. Jimmy Mars 932.

LISTEN ONLINE: If fans can't get to a track to see the series, they can experience the excitement of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series live on Dirtvision.com through the DIRT Radio Network.

To listen to the audio broadcasts, log on to www.dirtvision.com and click on the DIRT Radio Network logo.

Listeners will need Windows Media Player 9 or higher to listen to the DIRT Radio Network. For technical support or questions, e-mail webmaster@dirtvision.com.









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