McCreadie Captures Second Gator Of DIRTcar Nationals With Win In Thursday’s Big Block Mod Feature

Story By: JOE GRABIANOWSKI / DIRTCAR – BARBERVILLE, FL – Tim McCreadie now has two Gator trophies to take home to New York State. Wednesday night McCreadie found himself in Victory Lane for the World of Outlaws Craftsman® Late Model Series 50-lap Feature and Thursday he strapped into the Sweetners Plus Big-Block Modified and held off Stewart Friesen and hard-charger Danny Johnson for the win.

Tim McCreadie, Justin Haers, and Stewart Friesen dominated most of the race and traded blows lap after lap. T-Mac used the cushion to maintain his lead throughout but Friesen repeatedly attempted slide jobs to make the pass. Haers stuck his nose in too and they were three-wide for the lead at times.

After a roof-pounding celebration McCreadie noted, “It’s amazing how things can turn in a week and a half. When I came over here I thought we were gonna be in big trouble. These guys that run these Modifieds, they’re just as good as the Late Model guys. You see the 27j [Danny Johnson] out there, you see Stewie [Friesen] beside you, and Justin [Haers]. I made a lot of mistakes on the last three laps, but I was just lucky enough that the cushion would hold me in.”

It was a busy night for McCreadie as he also competed with the World of Outlaws grabbing a seventh-place finish. He credited his crew for making the changes to the car he needed. “I love making all our guys happy. I gave them zero feedback, but they changed up the car while I ran the Late Model.” The changes proved to be the right ones as the No. 39 was covered in celebratory confetti at the end of the night.

Stewart Friesen, in the Halmar No. 44 machine, drove up from eighth place to finish second. He seemed to find grip in the center of the track while others drove around the very top or bottom. Friesen said, “The first one still stings…but we have a great group of guys and had a lot of fun.” A flat right-rear tire took him out of the lead in the make-up Feature earlier in the night.

“The Doctor” Danny Johnson was the race’s hard-charger. He made up 12 positions to take his place on the podium in third. “I’m really glad to come up with a third-place finish after coming from deep in the field.” When asked if he would have had a chance at the win had he started farther up, Johnson laughed and said, “you never know!”

On Friday, Night 11 of the DIRTcar Nationals will showcase the Super DIRTcar Series Big-Block Modified once again for a 30-lap Feature.

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 39-Tim McCreadie [1]; 2. 44-Stewart Friesen [8]; 3. 27J-Danny Johnson [15]; 4. 3-Justin Haers [3]; 5. 88-Mike Mahaney [5]; 6. 9s-Matt Sheppard [14]; 7. 1-Billy Pauch [4]; 8. 9-Ryan Watt [20]; 9. 19k-Brett Kressley [21]; 10. 4-Billy VanInwegen [11]; 11. 42p-Pat Ward [7]; 12. 99L-Larry Wight [10]; 13. 43-Jimmy Horton [16]; 14. 74-J.R. Heffner [2]; 15. 5-Ryan Godown [22]; 16. 91-Billy Decker [24]; 17. 109-Billy Whittaker [28]; 18. 165-Rex King [23]; 19. 98h-Jimmy Phelps [27]; 20. 118-Jim Britt [26]; 21. 5s-Tyler Siri [12]; 22. 46-Jeremy Smith [17]; 23. 20-Brett Hearn [9]; 24. 25R-Erick Rudolph [19]; 25. 30M-Joseph Watson [18]; 26. 19m-Jessey Mueller [25]; 27. 6h-Max McLaughlin [13]; 28. 85-H.J. Bunting [6]

Qualifying Flight-A: 1. 1-Billy Pauch, 17.86; 2. 85-H.J. Bunting, 18.083; 3. 20-Brett Hearn, 18.195; 4. 48t-Dave Rauscher, 18.272; 5. 109-Billy Whittaker, 18.338; 6. 165-Rex King, 18.404; 7. 46-Jeremy Smith, 18.419; 8. 6h-Max McLaughlin, 18.419; 9. 30-Jamie Mills, 18.647; 10. 13-Rick Regalski, 18.888; 11. 44R-Russell Morseman, NT

Qualifying Flight-B: 1. 39-Tim McCreadie, 17.726; 2. 9s-Matt Sheppard, 17.81; 3. 30M-Joseph Watson, 18.129; 4. 74-J.R. Heffner, 18.145; 5. 99L-Larry Wight, 18.187; 6. 5-Ryan Godown, 18.324; 7. 91-Billy Decker, 18.375; 8. 96-J-F Corriveau, 18.624; 9. 118-Jim Britt, 18.884; 10. 6d-Dillon Steuer, 18.887; 11. 73-Kevin Poitras, 20.871

Qualifying Flight-C: 1. 3-Justin Haers, 17.665; 2. 42p-Pat Ward, 17.799; 3. 7-Rick Laubach, 17.879; 4. 65-Scott Hitchens, 18; 5. 25R-Erick Rudolph, 18.051; 6. 4-Billy VanInwegen, 18.129; 7. 27J-Danny Johnson, 18.15; 8. 19-Tim Fuller, 18.187; 9. 98h-Jimmy Phelps, 18.247; 10. 19k-Brett Kressley, 18.603; 11. 35-Francois Bellemare, 19.098

Qualifying Flight-D: 1. 44-Stewart Friesen, 17.738; 2. 88-Mike Mahaney, 17.818; 3. 9-Ryan Watt, 17.829; 4. 5s-Tyler Siri, 17.895; 5. 43-Jimmy Horton, 17.93; 6. 21-Yan Bussiere, 18.239; 7. 32-Jim Rasey, 18.294; 8. cb3-Chad Brachmann, 18.525; 9. 19m-Jessey Mueller, 18.602; 10. 1g-Darwin Greene, 18.662; 11. 17-Kyle Sheldon, 19.123

Heat #1 – Flight (A) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer: 1. 85-H.J. Bunting [2]; 2. 1-Billy Pauch [1]; 3. 20-Brett Hearn [3]; 4. 6h-Max McLaughlin [8]; 5. 46-Jeremy Smith [7]; 6. 165-Rex King [6]; 7. 30-Jamie Mills [9]; 8. 48t-Dave Rauscher [4]; 9. 13-Rick Regalski [10]; 10. 109-Billy Whittaker [5]; 11. 44R-Russell Morseman [11]

Heat #2 – Flight (B) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer: 1. 39-Tim McCreadie [1]; 2. 74-J.R. Heffner [4]; 3. 99L-Larry Wight [5]; 4. 9s-Matt Sheppard [2]; 5. 30M-Joseph Watson [3]; 6. 5-Ryan Godown [6]; 7. 91-Billy Decker [7]; 8. 6d-Dillon Steuer [10]; 9. 96-J-F Corriveau [8]; 10. 118-Jim Britt [9]; 11. 73-Kevin Poitras [11]

Heat #3 – Flight (C) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer: 1. 3-Justin Haers [1]; 2. 42p-Pat Ward [2]; 3. 4-Billy VanInwegen [6]; 4. 27J-Danny Johnson [7]; 5. 25R-Erick Rudolph [5]; 6. 19k-Brett Kressley [10]; 7. 98h-Jimmy Phelps [9]; 8. 65-Scott Hitchens [4]; 9. 35-Francois Bellemare [11]; 10. 19-Tim Fuller [8]; 11. 7-Rick Laubach [3]

Heat #4 – Flight (D) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer: 1. 44-Stewart Friesen [1]; 2. 88-Mike Mahaney [2]; 3. 5s-Tyler Siri [4]; 4. 43-Jimmy Horton [5]; 5. 9-Ryan Watt [3]; 6. 21-Yan Bussiere [6]; 7. cb3-Chad Brachmann [8]; 8. 32-Jim Rasey [7]; 9. 1g-Darwin Greene [10]; 10. 19m-Jessey Mueller [9]; 11. 17-Kyle Sheldon [11]

Last Chance Showdown (10 Laps) – Top 2 Transfer: 1. 19k-Brett Kressley [2]; 2. 165-Rex King [1]; 3. 98h-Jimmy Phelps [4]; 4. 65-Scott Hitchens [6]; 5. 48t-Dave Rauscher [5]; 6. 109-Billy Whittaker [9]; 7. 19-Tim Fuller [10]; 8. 30-Jamie Mills [3]; 9. 13-Rick Regalski [7]; 10. 35-Francois Bellemare [8]; 11. 44R-Russell Morseman [11]; 12. 7-Rick Laubach [12]

Last Chance Showdown (10-Laps): 1. 5-Ryan Godown [1]; 2. 91-Billy Decker [3]; 3. 19m-Jessey Mueller [10]; 4. cb3-Chad Brachmann [4]; 5. 21-Yan Bussiere [2]; 6. 118-Jim Britt [9]; 7. 96-J-F Corriveau [7]; 8. 6d-Dillon Steuer [5]; 9. 1g-Darwin Greene [8]; 10. 73-Kevin Poitras [11]; 11. 17-Kyle Sheldon [12]; 12. 32-Jim Rasey [6]