Chub Frank at McKean County Raceway. (Gary Shrey)

ULMS/Fastrak: Frank Finds His Way Back to "RaceFan 50" Win; Robertson Gets First Fastrak

Series report

E. SMETHPORT, Pa. - Sept. 24. It all started in 2006 with the first annual "Fall Classic" when Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa. captured the very first "Priority Care RaceFAN 50" at McKean County Raceway. On Saturday night, Frank became the first two-time winner of the event, sanctioned by the Northern Tier Inc ULMS Late Models.

In other Late Model action, Wayne Robertson of Corning, N.Y. won the FASTRAK Northeast Regional Late Model event.

The front row for the highly anticipated event saw 2008 winner Boom Briggs shoot out in front of Dutch Davies on the start with Frank in tow befor getting around Davies for second. Briggs built a quick four car length lead over Frank with sixth place starter Dan Stone quickly into third on lap two as Davies slid back to fourth.

Chub Frank gets an outside challenge from Dan Stone at McKean County. Stone eventually slipped to third behind Frank and Rick Eckert at the finish. (Gary Shrey)

The first yellow of the event came out on lap five for Rob Blair and local World of Outlaw star Ron Davies. Davies was done for the night and Blair, the 2007 event winner, was able to return. On the restart, Frank outgunned Briggs and the two Bear Lake residents ran door to door, with Frank scored the leader on lap six by a nose. Once out in front, Frank started to pull away as Briggs was getting a challenge from Stone, Davies and Rick Eckert.

Frank saw his first lap car on lap 18, while Eckert picked off both Davies and Stone and was working on Briggs for second. Briggs, Eckert and Stone ran two and three-wide for multiple laps and the makings of barnburner was coming. Stone got around Briggs on lap 29 and Jared Miley got by Davies on lap 32 to claim fifth.

Up front, Frank was having difficulty getting around the lap car of Chad Valone, allowing Stone and Eckert to pull up alongside of Frank for the lead. On lap 35, Stone went around Frank to lead lap 36, but Frank came roaring back and got the lead back from Stone, who then slipped high and allowed Eckert to jump into second. With Eckert nipping at Frank's heals and Stone charging back on the outside, the fans were on their feet.

The complexion of the event changed on lap 46 when Davies stopped on the front stretch for the second yellow of the event. With the double "Delaware Restart", Frank rocketed on the restart away from Eckert as Stone, Briggs and Miley battled for third. Frank would easily pace the final four laps to capture the win over Eckert, Stone, Briggs, and Miley rounding out the top five.

The FASTRAK Late Models had their 25-lap regional series event, which saw Mike Pegher, Jr. and Robertson on the front row with series point leader, Max Blair in the third position. Blair quickly moved into second behind Pegher on the opening lap. Pegher had Blair on his rear bumper for the opening laps and the other car on the move was Joe Martin, who worked his way to third by lap five from his eighth place starting spot.

Josh Holtgraver moved into the top five by the halfway point as Pegher still had Blair glued to his rear bumper, with Martin just in front of Robertson until a lap 17 yellow for Ryan Montgomery tightened the field back up and put Blair on the outside of Pegher. with Martin and Robertson on their rear bumpers.

After the restart, Chad Valone made a few bold moves to enter the top five as Blair and Pegher waged war for the lead. With one lap to go, Blair made a darting move to the inside of Pegher in turn one and made contact with Pegher, who spun on the backstretch. Inheriting the lead was Robertson, who had been sitting in third watching the leaders swap tin. Robertson would survive two more restarts in the final lap to hold of Martin for his first ever FASTRAK Regional Series win. Valone came home third ahead of Kyle Zimmerman and local teenage standout, Damien Bidwell.

Sept. 24 - ULMS PRIORITY CARE Racefan 50 1) Chub Frank, 2) Rick Eckert, 3) Dan Stone, 4) Boom Briggs, 5) Jared Miley, 6) Dick Barton, 7) Mike Knight, 8) Russ King, 9) Gregg Satterlee, 10) Rich Gardner, 11) John Lobb, 12) Rich Gardner, 13) John Lobb, 14) Greg Oakes, 15) David Scott, 16) Rob Blair, 17) Bump Hedman, 18) Matt Lux, 19) Chad Valone, 20) Chad Hollenbeck, 21) John Garvin, 22) Dave Hess, 23) Dutch Davies 24) Mike Blose, 25) Chris Hackett, 26) Ron Davies Heat winners (40 entries): Gardner, Eckert, Stone, Briggs, Barton; B-Main winners: Oakes, Blair
Gary Shrey photo