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August 18, 2008
Tri-City Speedway Press Release

Bolland Wins Forth Tri-City Track Championship

Joe Crawford of Polk, Pa., scored a popular and well-earned victory in the final 20-lap DIRTcar Big Block Modified feature of the season. Driving his Jolley Industrial Supply/Venango Glass/Crawford Chiropractic Bicknell No. 25, Crawford and his team suffered a blown engine on Saturday night at Mercer Raceway Park. They worked all night and into the day to make repairs, even struggling during hot laps. Crawford then led every lap of the feature event holding off the stout challenges of Kevin Bolland and Russell King to capture his first win of the season and the seventh of his career at Tri-City.

“This is great,” whooped Crawford to the cheers of the crowd. “I have to thank my crew and family for all the hard work on this car last night and today. I’m glad to beat Bolland because he owes me one. I want to dedicate this win to Lou Blaney, who showed me a lot about racing when I was younger.”

Bolland finished second and earned his fourth career track title beating Jeremiah Shingledecker by 23 points. Shingledecker finished sixth in a disappointing run. It was Bolland’s third consecutive track title at Tri-City. His other DIRTcar Big Block Modified championships came in 2000, 2006 and 2007. With four titles, he matches Brian Swartzlander’s modern era record.

“I can’t say enough about my car and crew,” said Bolland to the cheers and boos of the crowd as he puffed a cigar and played up his role as fan favorite to some and ruthless villain to others. “I have to thank this entire crew. To win three championships in a row is a major accomplishment. We have a lot of fans that cheer us and a lot that boo us. We like them all, and we are proud to win this title and represent Tri-City Speedway with the folks at DIRTcar Racing.”

Crawford jumped into the lead at the start and first held off Russell King, who was driving for his father, Rex. Bolland quickly moved into third. Crawford almost lost the handle drifting high in turn two on the eighth circuit, then was the meat in a sandwich with Bolland inside and King outside on a restart on the ninth circuit. At each turn, Crawford was superior. Bolland admitted to protecting his position on the track in the late stages of the race when he realized that Crawford was fast. But it didn’t matter because Crawford was unbeatable on this night.

At the finish, Crawford defeated Bolland and Andy Priest, who drove from 20th to third after suffering mechanical problems earlier in the night that relegated him to a last place start. Del Rougeux Jr. and King rounded out the top five. Dave Schrader and Bolland won the DIRTcar Big Block Modified heats.

...Point totals:

POS NO. NAME TOTAL
1 777 Kevin Bolland 1001
2 37 MD Jeremiah Shingledecker 978
3 25 Joe Crawford 917
4 6 PK Dave Schrader 904
5 41 Andy Priest 893
6 17 H Kevin Hoffman 827
7 20 D Del Rougeux 821
8 96 Mike Turner 726
9 26 Z Tommy Kristyak 724
10 6 Carl Murdick 691