Fountain, Colo. (May 19, 2002) Eddy McKean of Jerome, Idaho collected his first career Featherlite Southwest Series, NASCAR Touring victory in convincing fashion Sunday afternoon by leading 65 of 100 laps at Pikes Peak Int'l Raceway. McKean qualified fifth in a field of 38 cars and never fell below tenth before he started to make his move back to the front. McKean collected more then $10,975 and the Gatorade Front Runner Award for leading the most laps, and by virtue of his finish has reclaimed the championship points lead by two markers over Sean Woodside.
Although McKean was in another zip code most of the event, there was a great battle for the rest of the top ten. Todd Souza, the 2000 Featherlite Southwest Series ROTY rallied to finish second ahead of a determined M.K. Kanke. Fellow Idaho native Scott Lynch finished fourth, with Sean Woodside rounding out the top five. Rick Carelli led the second five, with Frank Maronski Jr. in sixth, followed by Roger Avants, Kevin Clark, and Frank Deiny Jr. in tenth. Zach Neissner from the Raybestos Brakes Northwest Series ran in the top five before a fuel leak ended his day on lap 69.
Threatening weather caused a torrid pace to be set and resulted in a new record time of the event (1 hour, 1 minute, 18 seconds). A light rain fell on parts of the track for most of the event, however, the track never got wet. 34 of the 38 starters were running at the conclusion of the race with 23 cars on the lead lap. Burney Lamar won the Bud Pole Award, with Eddy McKean taking home the Gatorade Front Runner Award, and Brandon Whitt claiming Rookie-of-the-Race honors with his 17th place finish.
The Featherlite Southwest Series takes two week off before returning to Irwindale Speedway on Saturday, June 8 for the running of the K&N Filters "150".
NASCAR Touring
Southwest Series "100"
Pikes Peak Int'l Raceway, Fountain, Colo., May 19, 2002
100 Laps/100 Miles on One-Mile Paved Oval, Purse: $90,650
Finishing position, starting position, driver, car, laps completed, reason out, money won.
1. (5) Eddy McKean, Pontiac, 100, Running, $10,925;
2. (8) Todd Souza, Ford, 100, Running, $7,250;
3. (17) M.K. Kanke, Chevrolet, 100, Running, $6,400;
4. (12) Scott Lynch, Chevrolet, 100, Running, $5,100;
5. (28) Sean Woodside, Chevrolet, 100, Running, $3,600;
6. (13) Rick Carelli, Chevrolet, 100, Running, $2,000;
7. (10) Frank Maronski Jr., Chervolet, 100, Running, $2,200;
8. (20) Roger Avants, Ford, 100, Running, $1,500;
9. (31) Kevin Clark, Chevrolet, 100, Running, $1,400;
10. (23) Frank Deiny Jr., Chevrolet, 100, Running, $1,300;
11. (2) Matt Crafton, Ford, 100, Running, $1,275;
12. (4) John Baker, Chevrolet, 100, Running, $1,750;
13. (14) Doug McCoun, Chevrolet, 100, Running, $1,725;
14. (7) Auggie Vidovich Jr., Chevrolet, 100, Running, $1,700;
15. (1) Burney Lamar, Chevrolet, 100, Running, $2,050;
16. (10) Scott Brandt, Chevrolet, 100, Running, $1,150;
17. (16) Brandon Whitt, Chevrolet, 100, Running, $1,625;
18. (38) Ray Daniels, Chevrolet, 100, Running, $1,100;
19. (32) Steve Belletto, Chevrolet, 100, Running, $1,575;
20. (30) Greg Fowler, Chevrolet, 100, Running, $1,550;
21. (21) Jim Pettit II, Ford, 100, Running, $1,525;
22. (9) Scott Busby, Chevrolet, 100, Running, $1,500;
23. (34) Tony Toste, Chevrolet, 100, Running, $975;
24. (35) Brett Thompson, Chevrolet, 99, Running, $950;
25. (29) Bruce Yackey, Chevrolet, 99, Running, $925;
26. (25) Danny Mientka, Chevrolet, 99, Running, $900;
27. (36) Ken Walter, Pontiac, 99, Running, $900;
28. (24) Ed Belec, Chevrolet, 99, Running, $900;
29. (33) Rocky Nash, Pontiac, 99, Running, $1,400;
30. (19) Jimmy White, Chevrolet, 98, Running, $1,400;
31. (27) Nick Joanides, Chevrolet, 97, Running, $1,400;
32. (15) Mike Ledbetter, Chevrolet, 96, Running, $1,400;
33. (37) Mike Pratt, Chevrolet, 96, Running, $900;
34. (26) Scott Schmidt, Chevrolet, 81, Running, $900;
35. (11) Joe Herold, Chevrolet, 72, Differential, $1,400;
36. (3) Zach Niessner, Chevrolet, 69, Fuel Leak, $1,900;
37. (6) Dan Holtz, Ford, 49, Differential, $900;
38. (18) Bob Lyon, Chevrolet, 33, Suspension, $900;
# Rookie-of-the-Year Contenders
Failed to Qualify: Dave Finley, Scott Backman, Bill Yalotz, Ronnie White II, Nick Lynch, Mike Snow, David Gammel
TIME OF RACE: 1 Hour, 1 Minute, 18 seconds
AVERAGE SPEED: 97.613 mph
MARGIN OF VICTORY: 1.9 seconds
BUD POLE AWARD: Burney Lamar, TRI-C Mfg. Chevrolet 26.979/133.437 mph
GATORADE FRONT RUNNER AWARD: Eddy McKean, Victory Circle/Magic Valley Pipe & Steel Pontiac
ROOKIE-OF-THE-RACE AWARD: Brandon Whitt, MOEN/STR/Simpson Race Products Chevrolet
CAUTION FLAGS: Five for 22 laps (24-27, 33-35, 52-55, 61-66, 72-76)
LAP LEADERS: Burney Lamar (start), Matt Crafton (1-35), Eddy McKean (36-100)
