DAYTONA BEACH, Florida -- Defending NASCAR Elite Division, Featherlite Southwest Series champion Eddy McKean from Twin Falls, Idaho scored his first victory of the 2003 season by dominating the John Baker “150” Saturday night at Tucson Raceway Park. McKean took the checkers 1.59 seconds ahead of series’ point leader Auggie Vidovich Jr., who scored his tenth top ten finish of the season. Victory Circle Chassis’ Rookie-of-the-Year contender Danny Burson finished a career best third, followed by Steve Belletto and Dan Holtz.
Thomas Martin of Auburn, Calif. picked up his first career Bud Pole Award with a time of 15.359 seconds/87.896 mph on the 3/8-mile paved oval. Martin was followed by Burney Lamar, JR Patton, Local Hotshoe Branden Bonnett, and Eddy McKean. Keith Spangler and Donald Kerr transferred to the feature event from the non-qualifiers race. Trevor Morrical, Curtis Lansing, John Luecht, and Chris Hines failed to qualify.
Steve Belletto from Modesto, Calif. started on the inside front row alongside of Eddy McKean after Thomas Martin drew a six-car invert. Belletto led the first 43 circuits with McKean in tow. The first of three cautions flew on lap 36 a multi-car incident involving Darrell LaMoure, Thomas Martin, Ben Walker, and Greg Potts. All cars were able to continue but lost laps to the field.
On the lap 42 restart, Belletto led McKean, Branden Bonnett who was making his first career series start, JR Patton, and Auggie Vidovich Jr. McKean passed Belletto for the lead on lap 43, with Bonnett following in McKean’s tracks, dropping Belletto to third. With the field stringing out single file, Burney Lamar moved into the sixth spot, followed by David Gilliland, Craig Raudman, Dan Holtz, and Danny Burson.
Vidovich moved by Bonnett for third on lap 50 with the rest of the top ten the same. Doug McCoun who started ninth began to fall back as his car started to get loose and was unable to stay with the leaders. Eric Holmes who has been a fixture in the top ten missed the setup also and was never a factor. Holmes started 17th and was able to make up to the 11th position by the end of 150 laps. Jim Pettit II who started at the rear of the field after working on his Ford after qualifying, was set to make another run from the back, but found the route to the front paved with fast cars. Pettit had moved to the 12 position by lap 60, but was mired in a heavy traffic during the middle portion of the race.
By the halfway mark at lap 75, McKean had increased his advantage on Vidovich to six car lengths, with Belletto and company nearly half a lap behind. Bonnett held onto the fourth position, but began to lose ground as his Chevrolet got very loose. Patton stayed in the fifth spot, followed by Lamar, Raudman, Burson, Gilliland, and Holtz. The top ten raced single file over the next 25 laps, but had to contend with lapped traffic at every turn. McKean was able to dispatch with the lapped cars a little quicker than Vidovich and built his lead at times to 10-car lengths.
The running order at lap 100 saw McKean out front followed by Vidovich, Belletto, Bonnett, Patton, Burson, Lamar, Raudman, Gilliland, Mike Ledbetter, Pettit, Kevin Vernon, and Dan Holtz all on the lead lap. The second caution flew for Bonnett as he looped his car exiting turn four. Bonnett’s loose condition finally caught up with the 21-year old former track champion ending his night with an overheating condition. McKean hated to see the caution as his car really picked up speed on the long green flag run. The race restarted on lap 119 with McKean pacing Vidovich, Belletto, Burson, and Patton.
Danny Burson form Albuquerque, NM had one of the fastest cars in the field and was able to make his way into the top five after starting 12th. The third and final caution waved on lap 127 when Gilliland and Vernon touched and spun entering turn one. Both Gilliland and Vernon went a lap down. The race for the checkers restarted on lap 133.
Vidovich tried McKean on the low side of the progressively banked track but was unable to make it stick. McKean gave Vidovich plenty of room as the duo raced side-by-side for several laps. In the end, McKean had the better line and pulled away to a 1.59 second victory of Vidovich. Burson got by Belletto on lap 138 to capture the third position, with Belletto and Holtz rounding out the top five finishers.
“Wining this race is certainly a huge boost for our team,” McKean said. “After coming close last week at Magic Valley (McKean led the race on the final lap only to have contact with another sending him spinning and finishing in the 12th position) we were really hungry for this one. I really did not want to start on the front row because I knew we would have to set a fast pace, but it worked for me as we hit the setup. Auggie (Vidovich) ran a great race but his car did not get off the corner as good as I did, so I was pretty comfortable over the closing laps.
Recording his seventh top five and tenth top ten finish of the season along with increasing his point lead to 100 markers was Auggie Vidovich Jr. “It seemed like I could catch Eddy, but he had the better line,” Vidovich said. “My car worked better in the middle of the track, but there was very little grip so I just tried to be smooth. I am thrilled to finish second and pad the point lead because anything can happen atPhoenix so every point is important.”
Recording his career best finish of third was Victory Circle Chassis’ Rookie-of-the-Year contender Danny Burson. “The car was great,” Burson said. “I was just loose enough that I could drive the car out of the corner pretty hard. I really never got on the gas until mid-way through the straight, but I knew it would be tough to catch Eddy and Auggie. I would have liked to have another 50 laps to find out.”
Mike Ledbetter led the second five, followed by Lamar, Pettit, Patton, and Gilliland. “It sure is fun to run good and finish in the top ten,” Ledbetter said. Eric Holmes, Kevin Vernon, Keith Spangler, Joe Herold, and Doug McCoun rounded out the top 15 finishers. Thomas Martin finished 16th after starting sixth and collecting his first Bud Pole Award.
The championship standings going into the final three events has Vidovich expanding his advantage over Pettit to 100 points, with Holmes dropping a few point but maintaining the third position. Dan Holtz moves up to forth, dropping Gilliland to fifth. Eddy McKean maintains the sixth position just ten points behind Gilliland. Belletto, Patton, Raudman, and Lamar round out the NASCAR Top 10.
The race took 47 minutes and 7 seconds to complete to establish a new race record for the 150-mile distance. The action was slowed three times for only 16 laps of caution. Martin won the $325 Bud Pole Award with a lap of 15.359 seconds/87.896 mph. Mike Ledbetter won the $750 Powerade Power Move-of-the-Race for improving the most positions in the race (19th to 6th). Danny Burson was the Victory Circle Chassis’ Rookie-of-the-Race with his thi9rd place performance. There was one lead change between two drivers with McKean leading the most laps (106) en route to his first victory of the season.
The next race for the Featherlite Southwest Series is Sunday, October 5 at Phoenix Int’l Raceway. Drivers and their teams will be in town early for a special fan appreciation party to be held at Home Depot in Avondale, Ariz. Friday, October 3 from 5:30-8:00 pm. This race is a two-day event with practice and qualifying taking place on Saturday, October 4 and the race scheduled to start at 12 noon on Sunday, October 5. For all the latest news and information regarding the Featherlite Southwest Series log onto www.nascartouring.com/featherliteswseries .
