LOCUST GROVE -- In what he assumed were the closing laps of Saturday night's Bad Boy Mowers 98 at Batesville Motor Speedway, race leader Tim McCreadie slowed as he took the caution flag and stole a glance toward the scoreboard at the end of the frontstraight.
His heart sank.
"I thought it was lap 60 because the board wasn't working really well over there," McCreadie said. "I was like, 'Damnit, we've still got 30-something laps to go. I feel like I've been out here for ever.' "
Some burned-out bulbs on the track scoreboard kept McCreadie from knowing that 95 laps had actually been completed; race officials informed him, along with the other drivers, over the radio.
McCreadie, who led every lap, survived the restart and the final three laps to take Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event and the $20,000 top prize.
It was McCreadie's second major victory at the track. He won the Topless 100 at Batesville in 2008 and pocketed $40,000.
"I've only been 3 or 4 times, but I've always loved this place," said McCreadie, of Watertown, N.Y. "It was fun to lead but also nerve-wracking. I knew I had some guys bearing down on me."
McCreadie started from the pole and took the lead from the green flag. But he was pressured throughout most the race, first by Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., and from about lap 20 on by Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn., the defending Bad Boy 98 winner and a four-time Topless winner.
"You always worry about tire wear here," McCreadie said. "But when you see Lanigan or Scott behind you. ... I know one thing for me personally is if I take it easy, I get beat. I have to give 110 every lap. That may be why I don't win all the long races, but I just try as hard as I can because I know if I fall asleep for a lap, Scott or one of these guys is going to go by me."
Rare is the Batesville race that Bloomquist doesn't find a way to win if he is a contender late. But Bloomquist said his car wasn't as good as McCreadie's on shorter runs and several late-race cautions worked against him.
"Normally you don't have that many cautions here," said Bloomquist, who finished second. "On the starts you could see that he pulled me on the straightaways a little bit. Then we would start pulling him in and I felt like we got better, but then just another caution."
Shannon Babb of Mowequa, Ill., finished third after starting 14th. Defending World of Outlaws Late Model Series champion Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., took fourth and Don O'Neal of Martinsville, Ind., was fifth.
Greenbrier's Jack Sullivan was the top Arkansan, finishing sixth. Rounding out the top 10 were Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., Batesville's Billy Moyer Jr., Dennis Erb Jr. of Carpentersville, Ill., and Gregg Satterlee of Indiana, Pa.
"I always feel just as good to win the small ones as I do the big ones," McCreadie said. "But I haven't won a big one in a while, so this one is a little bit more jacked up. Its going to be a fun ride home."
Sports on 04/10/2017