Source: Gary Jacob
Date: 05/07/2001

Las Vegas, NV. (May 6) -- Leading the final 8 laps after Idaho star Eddy McKean spun while leading, Craig Raudman from Bakersfield collected $7,325 for his victory in the Star Nursery 250 Featherlite Southwest Series race at the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the 3/8 mile paved oval, Sunday afternoon. Raudman had won the pole position for the race in time trials with his Dave Reed owned, Yerf Dog sponsored Victory Circle Chassis Chevy. He did lead the first 19 laps of the race, but never made it back to the front until McKean spun in turn 3 while attempting to withstand the challenges of Raudman. McKean is racing for rookie of the year honors in the Series this year and was rewarded with $4,630 for his runnerup finish. The winner of a similar event at the track last fall, Mark Reed, battled back to finish third, two laps down in the race that went 254 laps to finish under the green. Also finishing two laps down were Tucson's John Baker, Nick Joanides and Bob Lyon. The race was run on a Sunday afternoon to avoid conflicting with the major Motocross event in town and the teams struggled with the 90 degree temperatures in one of the longest races on their schedule.

The one day format made for a long day for the teams as hot laps started at 8 AM in the morning. In time trials, Raudman's 14.758 second (91.476 mph) lap paced the 35 car turnout. M K Kanke ran a 14.850, Washington's Marc Groskreutz a 14.855, Super Truck graduate Steve Smith a 14.875, Greg Pursley a 14.879 in the Star Nursery car with Baker rounding out the 14.8 efforts with his 14.896 lap. It took a 15.063 lap to make the 22 car cutoff in time trials, with Jim Pettit II, McKean, Burney Lamar and Todd Souza using provisionals to make the grid. The remaining 9 cars ran a 20 lap B Main to determine the final two slots. NASCAR insists on counting yellow flag laps in these B Main efforts and that greatly limits the number of green flag laps. Outside front row starter Jimmy White failed to accelerate on the initial green and Colorado's Kevin Clark suffered damage in the incident. Another Colorado racer Jim Sikes Jr also suffered damage in the incident, but battled back to a non-transferring third as Las Vegas regular Mike Ayers won over another Colorado long tow Scott Backman. Scott Busby was fourth ahead of Mike Strobl.

Because of the long distance feature, the field was lined up straight up off the qualifying runs for the 250 lapper. Raudman raced into the lead over Kanke and Groskreutz. The first yellow fell early as leading rookie of the year candidate Scott Brandt and Ben Walker tangled. During the caution, Todd Souza stalled and he lost laps to the field. Groskreutz moved up to challenge Kanke for second and he gained that spot on lap 20. A lap later, Groskreutz used an inside pass on the front stretch to take over the lead from Raudman. At the 30 lap mark, Pursley began a drive to the front in the crowd favorite Star Nursery car. He gained third on lap 35 and took second from Raudman a lap later. Raudman was able to regain second on lap 41. Pursley spun while lapping Backmanon lap 50 and fifth place Reed pitted, eventually going three laps down to the leaders. Groskreutz now led Raudman, Kanke, Auggie Vidovich and Lyon. Idaho's Brett Thompson dropped out after he was lapped and Vidovich moved up to take third from Kanke. A lap 68 caution wiped out a 1/3 lap lead for Groskreutz. Jon Nelson lost laps when he had to pit with a flat right front tire. On lap 82, Smith, Super Truck feature winner Herold, Greg Fowler, Darrell LeMoure, Frank Maronski Jr, Baker and Joanides all tangled in turn 4 for another caution flag. When LeMoure, Backman and Mike Ledbetter all spun for a lap 111 yellow, the leaders all elected to make the pit stop. Green flag racing resumed on lap 118 with Groskreutz leading Kanke, McKean, Pursley, Lyon, Raudman and Vidovich as only those 7 cars remained on the lead lap. When Burney Lamar spun for a lap 125 yellow, both Kanke and Lyon pitted again. Groskreutz continued to lead McKean with Vidovich working his way back to third when he passed Raudman on lap 146. Pursley shuffled Raudman back to fifth on lap 159, but Vidovich pitted on a lap 164 yellow flag. Vidovich's strong run ended when Brandt and Scott Lynch tangled. The incident forced Vidovich high in turn 4 and he slammed hard into the wall. He tried to continue without pitting, but blew a tire and slammed into the turn 2 fence for a lap 181 yellow.

After leading the event from lap 20, Groskreutz suddenly fell off the pace with a broken hub on his Patrick's Carpets sponsored Pontiac. McKean took the lead from him on lap 194. Kanke made up a lost lap only to break a motor on the Crown Motorsports entry on lap 200. Lyon fell from contention when he slowed on the restart. McKean now led Pursley, Raudman and the limping Groskreutz. McKean's move onto the Southwest Series has exposed the talents of the veteran Idaho pavement racer to the west coast racing scene. Groskreutz parked his mount on lap 220. Raudman regained second at lap 238 when Pursley and Backman again got together. The incident ended with Pursley spinning Backman on the front stretch and then Pursley slammed head on into the front wall. Both were eliminated and just McKean and Raudman were now on the lead lap. McKean continued to repulse the efforts of Raudman until he got into turn 3 too hard on lap 247 and spun. He was hit by Fowler and Lyon in the incident, but was able to limp the remaining laps after pitting to remove loose sheet metal. Raudman led the 8 remaining laps as the race was extended to end with two green flag laps. McKean ran second over Reed, who battled to regain one of his lost laps and finish third. Baker was fourth over Joanides, Lyon, Brandt, Fowler and Pursley.

Summary Fast Time-Craig Raudman 14.758 B Main-Mike Ayers, Scott Backman, Jim Sikes Jr, Scott Busby, Mike Strobl, Troy Adams, Kevin Clark, Eddie Bryans, Jimmy White. A Main-Raudman, Eddy McKean, Mark Reed, John Baker, Nick Joanides, Bob Lyon, Scott Brandt, Greg Fowler, Greg Pursley, Backman, Joe Herold, Marc Groskreutz, Brett Thompson, Scott Lynch, Doug McCoun, M K Kanke, Steve Smith, Auggie Vidovich, Burney Lamar, Jon Nelson, Jim Pettit II, Mike Ledbetter, Todd Souza, Frank Maronski, Darrel LeMoure, Ben Walker, Rocky Nash, Ayers.

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