Watertown NY-Native Tim McCreadie Captured First DIRTcar Nationals Big-Block Mod Championship

Story By: JOE GRABIANOWSKI / DIRTCAR – BARBERVILLE, FL – Tim McCreadie brought the house down at Volusia Speedway Park by carving through the field from 27th to first, winning the 50-lap Big-Block Modified Feature and the DIRTcar Nationals Championship.

McCreadie’s charge and late-race pass on Stewart Friesen earned himself his first DIRTcar Nationals Big Gator. The crowd roared as the No. 39 Sweeteners Plus crossed the finish line ahead of Stewart Friesen and Mike Mahaney.

Tim McCreadie’s feat was made that much more impressive by the fact that he pulled double-duty all week long by racing in both the Big-Block Modified and World of Outlaws Craftsman® Late Model divisions. “It’s amazing,” said Big-Block Modified Big Gator Winner Tim McCreadie. “I didn’t have time to give the right feedback (to the team). It’s so hard to run two divisions. I love doing it and we might forget how hard it was and do it again next year.”

Despite the wins, nothing came easy to the No. 39 team as they needed to use a provisional to even participate in the finale Feature of the DIRTcar Nationals after failing to qualify in the Last Chance Showdown. “I told Vic [Coffey], I don’t know what’s wrong on the right rear, we were having a lot of issues. He made the change, I jumped in the car. I could tell we both had a bunch of desperation on our faces as I pulled away. The thing came alive in the Feature. The slower it (the track) got, the better I felt,” added McCreadie.

Lapped traffic factored heavily in the winning pass. “It’s one of those things when you’re running second, the lapped cars are hard to pass for the leader. I got lucky (with the pass),” McCreadie noted.
The pass was made even more impressive because of the apparent domination Stewart Friesen had on the field up to that point. McCreadie recognized his fellow competitor in Victory Lane. “It’s never shameful to lose to Stewart Friesen. He beat me twice last year because he’s one of the best at this and that’s why he’s making a name for himself down at the big track (Daytona International Speedway). Tonight, I was able to snooker him. If a yellow came out it would be different but on that one green (flag) run, it just kept getting better. I think he [Friesen] got a little baffled up in traffic and it opened the door,” said McCreadie.

Stewart Friesen was understandably disappointed, “We had a great car,” said runner-up Stewart Friesen. “These guys worked really hard. I’m not going to sit here and moan about it. It was a heckuva a race. He [Tim McCreadie] just got a couple breaks in lapped traffic. Great race. Great guy to race with. It’s cool. It sucks but it’s a good run for us.”

Mike Mahaney captured his best result of the 2018 DIRTcar Nationals with a third-place finish. “We stepped up every night and got better and better,” said podium-finisher Mike Mahaney. “Hats off to my team, they worked so hard. I want to thank Buzz Chew for giving me this ride and all the fans for coming out all week. It’s been a long week, washing cars and working on cars. I want to thank everybody that came and helped out. I’m loving getting to do this and I hope we can come back next year.”

That concludes the DIRTcar Nationals for 2018. The Big-Block Modifieds’ next race is at Fulton Speedway on Saturday April 28th for the 100 lap High Bank Holdup.

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 39-Tim McCreadie [27]; 2. 44-Stewart Friesen [6]; 3. 88-Mike Mahaney [5]; 4. 1-Billy Pauch [16]; 5. 5-Ryan Godown [11]; 6. 9s-Matt Sheppard [3]; 7. 19-Tim Fuller [20]; 8. 21-Yan Bussiere [23]; 9. 91-Billy Decker [4]; 10. 9-Ryan Watt [9]; 11. 6h-Max McLaughlin [7]; 12. 32-Jim Rasey [25]; 13. 42p-Pat Ward [15]; 14. 25R-Erick Rudolph [18]; 15. 27J-Danny Johnson [19]; 16. 4-Billy VanInwegen [8]; 17. 20-Brett Hearn [26]; 18. 85-H.J. Bunting [28]; 19. 30M-Joseph Watson [10]; 20. 109-Billy Whittaker [29]; 21. 74-J.R. Heffner [12]; 22. 19k-Brett Kressley [24]; 23. 3-Justin Haers [14]; 24. 5s-Tyler Siri [2]; 25. 96-J-F Corriveau [30]; 26. 98h-Jimmy Phelps [21]; 27. 43-Jimmy Horton [1]; 28. 99L-Larry Wight [22]; 29. 118-Jim Britt [17]; 30. cb3-Chad Brachmann [13]

Qualifying Flight-A: 1. 44-Stewart Friesen, 17.899; 2. 5s-Tyler Siri, 17.95; 3. cb3-Chad Brachmann, 17.993; 4. 19m-Jessey Mueller, 18.025; 5. 118-Jim Britt, 18.11; 6. 9-Ryan Watt, 18.279; 7. 17-Kyle Sheldon, 18.313; 8. 165-Rex King, 18.431; 9. 13-Rick Regalski, 18.556; 10. 35-Francois Bellemare, 19.184; 11. R13-Ralph McBride, 19.677

Qualifying Flight-B: 1. 88-Mike Mahaney, 17.691; 2. 91-Billy Decker, 17.858; 3. 30M-Joseph Watson, 17.958; 4. 3-Justin Haers, 18.084; 5. 99L-Larry Wight, 18.091; 6. 20-Brett Hearn, 18.112; 7. 25R-Erick Rudolph, 18.214; 8. 6d-Dillon Steuer, 18.23; 9. 48t-Dave Rauscher, 18.487; 10. 85-H.J. Bunting, 18.501; 11. 65-Scott Hitchens, 18.753

Qualifying Flight-C: 1. 4-Billy VanInwegen, 17.818; 2. 43-Jimmy Horton, 17.877; 3. 32-Jim Rasey, 17.946; 4. 42p-Pat Ward, 18.039; 5. 27J-Danny Johnson, 18.106; 6. 5-Ryan Godown, 18.137; 7. 98h-Jimmy Phelps, 18.162; 8. 21-Yan Bussiere, 18.424; 9. 109-Billy Whittaker, 18.516; 10. 44r-Russell Morseman, 18.541; 11. 1G-Darwin Greene, 18.77

Qualifying Flight-D: 1. 6h-Max McLaughlin, 17.712; 2. 9s-Matt Sheppard, 17.761; 3. 19-Tim Fuller, 17.906; 4. 74-J.R. Heffner, 18.051; 5. 96-J-F Corriveau, 18.175; 6. 1-Billy Pauch, 18.25; 7. 39-Tim McCreadie, 18.37; 8. 46-Jeremy Smith, 18.377; 9. 19k-Brett Kressley, 18.402

Heat #1 – Flight (A) – Spon.-1 (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer: 1. 44-Stewart Friesen [1]; 2. 5s-Tyler Siri [2]; 3. 9-Ryan Watt [6]; 4. cb3-Chad Brachmann [3]; 5. 118-Jim Britt [5]; 6. 13-Rick Regalski [9]; 7. 17-Kyle Sheldon [7]; 8. 35-Francois Bellemare [10]; 9. 19m-Jessey Mueller [4]; 10. R13-Ralph McBride [11]; 11. 165-Rex King [8]

Heat #2 – Flight (B) – Spon.-2 (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer: 1. 88-Mike Mahaney [1]; 2. 91-Billy Decker [2]; 3. 30M-Joseph Watson [3]; 4. 3-Justin Haers [4]; 5. 25R-Erick Rudolph [7]; 6. 99L-Larry Wight [5]; 7. 20-Brett Hearn [6]; 8. 48t-Dave Rauscher [9]; 9. 6d-Dillon Steuer [8]; 10. 65-Scott Hitchens [11]; 11. 85-H.J. Bunting [10]

Heat #3 – Flight (C) – Spon.-3 (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer: 1. 4-Billy VanInwegen [1]; 2. 43-Jimmy Horton [2]; 3. 5-Ryan Godown [6]; 4. 42p-Pat Ward [4]; 5. 27J-Danny Johnson [5]; 6. 32-Jim Rasey [3]; 7. 98h-Jimmy Phelps [7]; 8. 21-Yan Bussiere [8]; 9. 109-Billy Whittaker [9]; 10. 44r-Russell Morseman [10]; 11. 1G-Darwin Greene [11]

Heat #4 – Flight (D) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer 1. 6h-Max McLaughlin [1]; 2. 9s-Matt Sheppard [2]; 3. 74-J.R. Heffner [4]; 4. 1-Billy Pauch [6]; 5. 19-Tim Fuller [3]; 6. 19k-Brett Kressley [9]; 7. 39-Tim McCreadie [7]; 8. 96-J-F Corriveau [5]; 9. 46-Jeremy Smith [8]

Last Chance Showdown (10 Laps) – Top 3 Transfer: 1. 98h-Jimmy Phelps [4]; 2. 21-Yan Bussiere [6]; 3. 32-Jim Rasey [2]; 4. 19m-Jessey Mueller [7]; 5. 85-H.J. Bunting [11]; 6. 109-Billy Whittaker [8]; 7. 44r-Russell Morseman [10]; 8. 13-Rick Regalski [1]; 9. R13-Ralph McBride [9]; 10. 35-Francois Bellemare [5]; 11. 17-Kyle Sheldon [3]

Last Chance Showdown 1 (10 Laps) – Top 3 Transfer: 1. 99L-Larry Wight [1]; 2. 19k-Brett Kressley [2]; 3. 20-Brett Hearn [3]; 4. 39-Tim McCreadie [4]; 5. 6d-Dillon Steuer [7]; 6. 48t-Dave Rauscher [5]; 7. 46-Jeremy Smith [8]; 8. 1G-Darwin Greene [11]; 9. 96-J-F Corriveau [6]; 10. 65-Scott Hitchens [9]; 11. 165-Rex King [10]