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Photo Gallery:
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Twenty-seven Road Runner
drivers prepare for 166 white knuckle laps at the historical
Darlington Raceway in preparation for the start of the 2006
Herb Thomas Memorial 166. Tennessee's Horace Brooks (#28) earned
his second pole of 2006 with a blistering lap of 28.080 seconds.
Jeremy Wiedeman (#03) accompanied Brooks (#28) on the front row. |
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GREEN! GREEN! GREEN!!!! |
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Pole-sitter Horace Brooks (#28) still leads early on Lap 5 but
Jeremy Wiedeman (#03) keeps Brooks (#28) on a short leash. |
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Jeff Leung (#24) makes a pass on Bill Hull
(#12) for 4th place on Lap 8. |
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Later on Lap 8, Danny Sanchez (#44) goes a
sliding in Turn 4 after Ron Henson's (#97) John Deere Chevrolet would
lose control in Turn 3 and push up off of the apron into the
racing groove. Caution #1 would fly as several cars would become
involved. |
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On Lap 12, Jeremy Wiedeman (#03) takes the second spot from Michael
Poe (#45). |
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Third place Michael Poe (#45) would lose the
back end in Turn 4 and go around to bring out caution #2. Steve
Stiely (#55) and Bill Hulll (#12) go by on the high side. |
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A broken left front axle would put an early
end to Jeff Butler's (#11) chances of his first win on Lap 25 after spinning
and wrecking. With sparks flying everywhere, Butler (#11) tried
driving his Chevy back to his pits. Butler (#11) would finish in
26th. |
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Jeremy Wiedeman (#03) goes for a pass for the
lead on Keith McLain (#88) and gets it on Lap 29. Wiedeman (#03)
would eventually lead for a race-high 75 laps. |
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After getting hung up in the Turn 2 wall on
Lap 29, Jeff Leung's (#24) Chevy would get racked in the rear by Terry
Riggins (#68) who had limited visibility of the slowed Leung (#68).
The result would be a chaotic mess of cars sliding at the start of the
back straightaway. |
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With having gotten one lap led, leader Bill Hull (#12) gives the
lead up to the strong Goodwrench Chevy of Jeremy Wiedeman (#03) on Lap
40. |
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On Lap 43, a little too much bumping by
Andrew Lewis (#038) gets the 2006 ALLTEL Dodge of Bill Hull (#12) into
the wall and out of control. Rookie sensation Chris Hughson
(#84) gets a front row seat to this action but scrambles to get ready
to react to save his car. |
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With both Bill Hull (#12) and Andrew Lewis (#038) spinning into Turn 3
on Lap 43, Christopher Hughson (#84) amazingly shoots between the
spinning cars at exactly the correct time to avoid contact before they
came back together again right behind Hughson (#84). |
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On Lap 65, last week's winner at Richmond,
Joe Lamberti (#8) wrestles the lead away from Jeremy Wiedeman (#03). |
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A Lap 68 spin by the #68 of Terry Riggins
(#68) unfortunately collects Keith McLain (#88) on the front stretch. |
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Rick Hubler (#53) and David Gibson (#74) duke
it out for 10th place on Lap 82. |
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Mike Horton (#37) makes an outside pass on
Danny Sanchez (#44) for 8th. |
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Veteran Sam McAllister (#59) makes a pass on
Jeff Christianson (#47) for 5th place on Lap 89. |
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Caution #8 would fly on Lap 95 as Michael
Spivey (#7) would loop it on the backstretch. Tom Emasie (#41)
and Steve Stiely (#55) shoot the small gap to the high side to avoid
contact with the stopped Spivey (#7). |
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Pole-sitter Horace Brooks (#28) once again
leads the field on Lap 106. |
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Seventeenth place Bill Hull (#12) blows the
motor on Lap 110. Hull (#12) had sustained motor damage in an
earlier incident. He would finish in 18th place. |
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After a spin by Jeff Sykes (#15) on Lap 126,
Chris Hughson (#84) and Matt Fields (#06) get together and wreck in
Turn 2. Caution #9 would fly. Fields (#06) would go on to
finish in 8th while Hughson (#84) would salvage a 10th place finish. |
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After 4th place Rick Hubler (#53) would blow
up in Turn 2, Mike Horton (#37) and Jason Bowlin (#1) make it a three
wide to get around the slow Hubler (#53) who was up against the wall.
Hubler (#53) would finish in 17th place. |
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On Lap 139, Jeremy Wiedeman (#03) steals the
lead from Horace Brooks (#28). |
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Less than one lap later, Horace Brooks (#28)
shoots back under Jeremy Wiedeman (#03) for the lead again.
Brooks would lead for 60 laps and Wiedeman (#03) would lead for 75
total laps. |
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On Lap 147, Jeff Christianson (#47) passes
David Gibson (#74) for 4th place. |
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A great battle for the lead on Lap 149 would
shape up between Horace Brooks (#28), Jeremy Wiedeman (#03), and Joe
Lamberti (#8) after slower traffic would pull the leaders together
some. |
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Seventh place Steve Stiely (#55) makes
contact with Jeff Sykes (#15) on Lap 150 to bring out the final
caution flag. Stiely (#55) would rebound back in the last green
flag stretch to finish in 12th while Sykes (#15) would keep moving
forward and finished in 6th. |
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On Lap 152, everyone goes for fresh rubber as
only 14 laps would remain till the checkered flag. |
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On Lap 158, Illinois' Joe Lamberti (#8)
passes Tennessee's Horace Brooks (#28) for the final time. |
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With 6 laps to go, Keith McLain (#88) passes
Jeff Christianson (#47) for the 5th spot. |
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On Lap 165, second place Jeremy Wiedeman
(#03) catches leader Joe Lamberti (#8) with less than 2 to go; but
catching and passing are two different things. (especially at
Darlington) |
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On the white flag lap, Keith McLain (#88)
would get hung up on the wall in Turn 3 allowing for Jeff Christianson
(#47) to snag a position and register his first Top 5 of 2006 with his
fifth place. McLain (#88) would drop to 7th at the finish line. |
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Illinois's Joe Lamberti (#8) takes the
checkered flag under green to win the 2006 Herb Thomas Memorial 166. |
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Official Results of the 2006 Herb Thomas Memorial 166 -Click here
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