TUESDAY NOTES from EAST BAY SPEEDWEEKS 2000 SHOW | What a show it is turning out to be, from the longest tow, to the rookie runners, from the gentlemen racers who have made STARS racing, to the never say die attitudes we see each night. Tuesday's Feature event will rank as one of the best 75 lap, $7000 to win A-Main's of all time.
But to get to the feature event of the evening we must get through 90 time trials, 5 heats, 3 B-mains, and a Start Position Dash. No fan of racing would have been disappointed in Tuesday's ACTION packed program. From the STAR studded heats that read like a who's who of dirt Late Model racing, to the flat-out pure gut performance of a young kid named Rick Eckert. The SHOW was on, as Eckert made the feature by way of his qualifying time, (fastest of the non-qualifyers), then began a march toward the front from his 25th grid position. Eckert and Booper Bare's #00 were moving forward in the 26 car field, performing the dirt ballet of slide jobs and horsepower turns. On lap 8, as the two cars reached 12th and 13th positions, Bare's #00 slide under, into, and then up on to the Eckert #24. After visiting the infield for crew inspections, both returned to the rear of field, with Eckert looking closer to an open wheeled modified, than Bare. Driving with the heart of a hero, Rick Eckert work through the field like a master. By lap 35 he is 8th.He makes it as high as 3rd before the sprit of the crowd would be broken. On lap 66 of the scheduled 75, as every fan looked on in disbelief, the #28 of Dennis Erb got a flat and Eckert was collected by the #30 of Steve Shaver, as they both tried to miss the slow moving Erb. This left Eckert frustrated, but still driving his heart out as he once again dropped to the rear of the field, and with only 9 laps left, Rick would come from the rear a second time to claim the 11th spot. THANKS Rick Eckert, for a GREAT SHOW!!!
The winner of the Feature event and $7000 dollars was #s9 of Dan Shlieper of Pewavkee, WI. Here is the complete run down of runners for day 2 of the STARS:
FAST QUALIFYERS 14.816 - 1 Steve Lucus 15.029 - 28b Dick Barton 15.032 - 24 Rick Eckert 15.070 - 6m Wendall Wallace (Monday's $5000 Feature Winner) 15.113 - 30 Steve Shaver
A-Main FEATURE RESULTS 1. s9 DAN SHLIEPER (first STARS Win) 2. 71 Don O'Neal 3. 31 Skip Arp 4. 1* Chub Frank 5. e1 Mike Balzano 6. 0 Scott Bloonquist 7. 12a Rick Aukland 8. 29 Darrell Lanigan 9. b12 Kevin Weaver 10. 02 Keith Nosbisch 11. 24 Rick Eckert 12. 33 Al Purkey 13. 1 Steve Lucas 14. 00 Booper Bare 15. 32 Greg Lucas 16. 99 Donnie Moran 17. 71r Rod Conley 18. 71d Dalmas Conley 19. 42 Todd Andrews 20. 77b Barry Bargdon 21. 71m Lance Mathees 22. 30 Steve Shaver 23. 28 Dennis Erb Jr. 24. 28b Dick Barton 25. 66 Bill Frye 26. 17m Dale McDowel
TOP 10 POINTS after 2 Rounds
550 Don O'Neal 510 Rick Aukland 430 Chub Frank 410 Mike Balzano 400 Keith Nosbisch 360 Dale McDowell 360 Darrell Lanigan 360 Todd Andrews 350 Wendell Wallace 350 Dan Shlieper
-byBILL GREEN Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! or send a letter to the editor!
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