Night two of the annual Winternationals for Lucas Oil Late Models at East Bay Raceway Park looked much like night one, with the blue #1 of Josh Richards nestled in victory lane at the end of a quick night of racing. Even though the track was one hundred percent different than on Monday night, the result was still the same as the field continued to chase the Rocket house car.
Forty one cars signed in to race on Tuesday with the addition of Lucas Oil big names Bloomquist, O'Neal and Lanigan who all decided after a night off to partake in the action along with Florida drivers Kirkpatrick and Whitener who also took a night off to freshen up their equipment after a weekend of Georgia racing.
After a great night of racing on Monday on a track that everyone raved about, things made a complete change on Tuesday, proving that even a renowned track like East Bay can drop the ball from time to time. From the start of the night it was clearer that the track was much dryer than it had been on Monday, but it seemed to surprise even the veteran drivers how quickly it blacked off and then even more surprisingly, how fast in the feature it took rubber. Perhaps the tide didn't come in as expected but very early in the main event the tires were already squealing in the corners and the smell of burning Hoosiers was in the air. Those that caught the rubber strip early made the most of it and some blocking resulted as faster cars ran up the back of those slower but then couldn't get by. It was clearly not the night of racing that Monday provided.
Richards didn't need the benefit of the rubber however, as he has shown to be one of the few drivers able to move around the track and pass people. He has been perceptibly quicker driving through the corners than anyone else and that is where he has been able to gain much time. I'm no technical guy(and don't pretend to be one) but I'm told by some of the other Rocket chassis owners that the new XR-1 has a completely different front end on it from any other race car on the track and the boys in Shinnston appear to have hit on something, at least for the present until the rest of the field figures out what they have going for them. If the goal to sell more cars was the plan, than goal one has been reached by Rocket, as I'm sure the phone is ringing off the wall at the shop as one of the benefits of running well in Florida is that the rest of the whole country is watching what goes on down here in the Sunshine state.
Richards added the bright orange spoiler to the back of his race car Tuesday, which is indicative of the series point leader. Rumors are running wild that with his good start, Richards will jump ship and run the Lucas Oil series rather than with the Outlaws but I doubt that will happen. Perhaps instead he is just trying to get a "dig" in against his Lucas foes.
The first couple nights of racing have been relatively calm but the first "big one" occurred tonight during one of the B mains when Mike Marlar went head on into the turn one wall and took several cars with him. Surprisingly, most were able to drive away and Marlar even started the main as the fast time provisional but he quickly pulled off as the car had just been cobbled together to take the green and receive a check.
Expenses are starting to mount up early and Steve Francis was seen changing a motor in his car already before the show tonight. As the days go by, the bills will start to mount for many of the teams and the amount of spare parts and tires that some are carrying with them is mind blowing. Even the mid level teams are towing extra trailers that are completely filled with parts and tires! While we all long for huge fields of cars every night, some common sense thinking for just a few minutes can easily explain why there are no more cars on hand than there are.
The first controversy of the week developed during the main event tonight as Bloomquist tried and tried to get past a slowing Jared Landers who was clearly holding back several cars. When Bloomquist misjudged his pass in turn two when he pulled out to pass, he clipped Landers and sent him spinning out of second. Since the two are team mates of a sort and Landers is driving one of several Bloomquist cars that he owns, it probably wasn't the best thing to do, accident or not. While Bloomquist's explanation was rather matter of fact, behind closed doors things might have been just a bit higher key. Such is the way things work in the often explosive and political world of short track racing.
Lucas and track officials continue to run off a very quick paced program, something that was much appreciated on a blustery night. The final checkered flag flew even earlier than on Monday night with it being before 9 p.m. when all racing was complete. However, for the amount of money the drivers are racing for, I would be just as happy if they would add a few more laps to the feature with twenty five seeming to be awful short on this smallish track.
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