Young, Russ King of Bristolville, Ohio captured his very first dirt late model win of his career and it was the season finale of McKean County Raceway’s 25th Anniversary Season. King the current World of Outlaw Rookie of Year driver captured the $12,000 Priority Care RaceFAN 50. It was his first late model win in the Northern Tier Inc. ULMS Late Model Series as well.
Thirty-seven late model entries from four states were on hand for the Northern Tier Inc ULMS season finale. Local favorite, Jason Dupont of Cyclone set fast time in the Weber Hydraulic Time Trials with a time of 14.44 seconds around the 3/8 mile fairground oval in E. Smethport, PA.
The fifty lap, 4th annual Priority Care RaceFAN 50 rolled onto the facility as the fans were treated with a four wide salute with the 2009 Stateline Speedway champion, Chad Valone and 2009 World of Outlaw Late Model Series current Rookie of Year point leader, Russ King sat on the front row of the 24 car field. King would shoot out to the lead on the start with Valone, former track and series champion Dick Barton in third. The first yellow would come out on the next lap as seventh place running Dupont would get completely sideways in turn three and the field would bunch up and Gregg Satterlee would spin to a stop avoiding the melee to bring out the yellow. King would refire the field and as lap three was being completed, fourth place runner, Big Brother, Dan Stone would spin in turn four and this would stack field up again and the cars of Scott Lebarron, Ron Davies, Darrell Bossard and Greg Satterlee all being involved with Bossard, Lebarron retiring.
The field would reset and King would choose the inside lane on the double file restart only to see Valone blast into the lead with his Valone Ford Dealership #2V Rocket Chassis. King would stay with Valone as Barton and twelfth place starting Mike Knight was up to fourth and Brent Rhebergen was in fifth with five laps down. Lap eight would see the third yellow of the event, this time for Chris Hackett who spun in turn three. Valone would choose the outside lane on the restart powered back to the front as King and Barton waged war for second, while Knight, Rhebergen, Dave Hess and Denny Fenton were all battling for the fifth position. Lap 15 would click off the board and Valone had opened up a comfortable lead over King as he was still feeling pressure from Barton, who was in one of his final events driving the Ron Nielson Bolt Place #28 machine. Lap 18 would see the next yellow flag and this time it was for Gregg Satterlee. Satterlee would retire from the event. Valone would again lead on the restart as Rhebergen would get around Knight for fourth Bump Hedman would now come into play as he was up to sixth after starting twenty-second. At the halfway point it was Valone powering away from the field with King, Barton, Rhebergen, Knight, Hess, Hedman, Dillon Yoder, Jeff Hoffman and Jim Yoder rounding out the top ten. Lap 30 would see disaster for the leader. A left rear tire went flat while Valone was rounding turn four resulting in the leader to spin out in front of his competitors to bring out the yellow.
King would now inherit the lead as now it was the King and “King” show of Russ King and “King Richard” Dick Barton on the rear bumper of the young Ohio driver. Russ would get a good start on Barton but the Bolt Place #28B driver of Barton stayed with King as the wiley veteran was waiting patiently for an opportunity. Mike Knight would go to the top side of turn three and four to grab third from Rhebergen on lap 33 and lap thirty eight would see Bump Hedman now in fifth ahead of Hess. Lap thirty nine would see the final yellow of the event for series point leader Bob Close who came to a stop in turn four and at the same time, third place running Mike Knight would stop right behind Close. King still had Barton on his bumper with Rhebergen, Hedman, who had started in 22nd position and Dave Hess Jr. was now back in fifth. King would refire the field and would charge down into turn one with Barton in tow. That would be as close as Barton and the black #28 machine would get to King for the next eleven laps as Russ King would cross the stripe under John Powell’s double checkers to capture his first ever dirt late model feature win! Barton came home second in his next to last event driving for car owner Ron Nielson for nearly twenty years. Brent Rhebergen was third but still fell twenty-five points short in the championship battle over Close. Bump Hedman charged to fourth place finish over Dave Hess. The rest of the top ten was Dillon Yoder in his first ever appearance at MCR was sixth over Greg Oakes, Dutch Davies, Jeff Hoffman and Chad Valone came back from his flat tire for a very disappointing tenth.
RESULTS:
Priority Care RaceFAN 50
RUSS KING (Bristolville, OH), Dick Barton, Brent Rhebergen, Bump Hedman, Dave Hess, Dillon Yoder, Greg Oakes, Dutch Davies, Jeff Hoffman, Chad Valone, Chris Hackett, Alan Sagi, John Lobb, Denny Fenton, Jim Yoder, Mike Knight, Bob Close, Jason Dupont, Gregg Satterlee, Ron Davies, John Mollick, Dan Stone, Scott Lebarron, Darrell Bossard.
Heat Winners:
Russ King, Chad Valone, Ron Davies, Denny Fenton
Bmain Consolation Winners: John Mollick and John Lobb
Fast Time: Jason Dupont (1FastTime: Jason Dupont (14.44 seconds)
