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Crabtree
and Ebeling Grab Clean and Green Lonesome Pine Twin 50s
Coeburn,
Virginia (August 6, 2017) – A
total of only one yellow flag slowed the field across 100 laps of
Super Cup Stock Car Series racing, but the 18 drivers on hand put on
some fast and exciting competition for fans at Lonesome Pine Raceway
on Saturday night.
Brad Teague, a
local crowd favorite and former track champion at the Southwest
Virginia facility, and current points leader Jim Crabtree Jr.
started from the front row for the first Extreme Awards &
Personalization / Patrick Miller Photography
Twin 50 presented by United Tire after a six car redraw.
Crabtree, fast qualifier in his only Lonesome Pine SCSCS
start back in 2008, broke out into the early lead
from the outside line in his No. 63 Jim's Automotive / Judy's
Apartments Chevrolet.
Bob
Schacht, returning to the 3/8-mile for the first time in more than
30 years, was Crabtree’s main challenger in the No. 75 Engineered
Components Chevrolet after winning his first career SCSCS Pole Award
earlier in the evening. The
only caution of the night flew when Brian Harrison lost power on the
frontstretch, bunching the field for the restart.
Crabtree and
Schacht dueled side by side for numerous laps, all while giving each
other enough room. The
outside line prevailed at the start-finish line every time and
Crabtree would notch his first SCSCS victory since 2013.
It was an
accomplishment the Muncie, Indiana driver had to work for not only
on the track, but in the pits between practice sessions after
battling an extremely tight car
in the afternoon.
“We changed
everything – sway bar, springs, panhard bar, wedge,” Crabtree
commented. “It felt
good (during the race).”
Schacht held on for
second and most recent winner from Jennerstown, Brent Nelson,
rounded out the podium in race number one.
For
the second Twin 50, fourth place finisher Ben Ebeling drew the pole
with fifth place finisher JP Crabtree starting alongside.
Ebeling got the
advantage from the start in the No. 44 Wrench Rags / Custom Graphics
/ Battery Specialists Ford prepared out of the Potter Racing shop.
Last year’s Lonesome Pine winner had to contend with
Schacht, who quickly made his way up to the runner-up spot, with
Ebeling leading by a nose at the line in the early laps during their
intense but respectful battle.
A few laps later,
Crabtree took his turn in the second position, attempting to
maneuver under Ebeling for the top spot.
The 50-lap event went caution-free, which meant that slower
traffic had the potential to play a factor in the result.
In the closing laps, the two frontrunners caught up to the
tail end of the top five, where Nelson, Brian Harrison, and Harvey
Harrison all were trying to finish as best as possible.
Crabtree ended up
boxed in with only a couple circuits remaining, allowing Ebeling to
pull a few car lengths ahead for his second career SCSCS victory.
“I didn’t think
we had the car for it today, but the guys kept working on it,”
Ebeling admitted. “We
made some changes before the second race and my crew chief made a
judgement call that could have gone either way and luckily we made
the right decision. I’m
just thankful to the guys for racing me clean so that we could get a
good finish.”
A
year ago, Ebeling worked his way to the front in the second half of
the race when the car came to life.
2017’s win was a slightly different story with the same
positive result.
“It was all about
track position,” Ebeling continued.
“The high line comes in the longer you run, so I knew that
second 50 would be where I could come on a little bit better.
Last year in that 75 lapper it was around lap 40 that it
really came on strong so I kind of knew that was going to be the
thing today.”
Crabtree had to
settle for second in the race that concluded the night for SCSCS,
but was still pleased.
“I had tires on
it from Midvale that probably had 150 laps before the first race,”
Crabtree noted regarding the durable American Racer rubber.
“We did a good job hanging on and it was a good race.”
Schacht held on for
third, a strong night of racing that came up just short of the win
on both occasions despite trying to loosen up the racecar.
“It still was
tight, but we took some diagonal and stuff out of it and that just
lost all its forward drive off the corner and I just spun the
tires,” Schacht mentioned. “It’s
in one piece; Engineered Components will come back and do it again.
Fastest car doesn’t always win, right?”
Due to an off night
for his closest competitor Kevin Kromer, who could only muster a
ninth and 10th place finish with an ill-handling car,
Crabtree has now developed a commanding lead heading into
championship weekend at Jennerstown Speedway Complex in three weeks.
A more than 100 point advantage is held over his son JP
Crabtree, a sign of consistency for both drivers.
Nevertheless,
Kromer still has a shot at the Northern Division title, which will
be decided in the first Jennerstown Twin 50, with only a 40 point
deficit. In addition,
Crabtree, a two-time runner-up in the overall standings, knows that
he has to go into each of the remaining races with the same focus as
he has all season long.
“It’s
not over until it’s over,” Crabtree said.
“Anything can happen so I’m happy to finish, not tear
anything up, finish top two or three, take that and go home.”
Ebeling meanwhile
sets the pace in the Southern Division standings with his strong
finishes at Lonesome Pine. That
title will also be determined during the first Jennerstown Twin 50
on Saturday, August 26.
“I hope there are
some good things to come,” Ebeling said.
“I don’t want to start points racing because that always
gets me in trouble, but that would definitely be a feather in the
cap.”
The Extreme Awards
& Personalization / Patrick Miller Photography Twin 50s
presented by United Tire will air at a future date on MAVTV and
LucasOilRacing.TV.
Please visit the
official web site at www.supercupstockcarseries.com,
the Super Cup Stock Car Series Facebook
or Twitter for more
information on the 10th Anniversary season.
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