Tim McCreadie Returns to Victory Lane in Dominant Fashion at Raceway 7

📸 Trent Gower

CONNEAUT, OH (May 15, 2025) – Tim McCreadie has won everything there is to win in dirt Late Model racing.

He’s a former champion of the World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision. He’s won at Eldora, Fairbury, Knoxville, and every other showplace of dirt track racing under the sun. But Thursday night’s victory in the Great Lake Showdown at Raceway 7 will forever be one of the most memorable of his illustrious career.

At the start of the 2025 season, McCreadie unveiled a throwback to his father, “Barefoot” Bob McCreadie’s No. 9 with one mission in mind – bringing it back to Victory Lane. One year to the day after Bob’s passing, “T-Mac” led every lap on his way to the checkered flag.

The McCreadie-Briggs pairing didn’t get off to the start that either of them expected, as they finished top 10 twice in the first 10 races of the year. But a seventh-place run at the Talladega Short Track in April signaled that the tide was shifting back in their favor.

McCreadie followed that up with a pair of top fives at Mississippi Thunder Speedway, making it clear that his first World of Outlaws win in four years wasn’t far away.

That win coming at Raceway 7 didn’t come as a surprise – in four Late Model starts at the track, McCreadie has now won twice and has never finished worse than fourth.

“I don’t know, I’ve never really run here that much,” McCreadie said. “Maybe the way the style is, keeping the car straight and not spinning so much kind of lends itself to what I like to do. When I was younger I liked to spin the tires a lot, now that I’ve gotten older, I like to keep the car underneath me.”

Not only is Conneaut one of McCreadie’s favorite places to race, it’s also one of Briggs’ home tracks and a place he’s been turning laps around for decades. That combination proved to be unbeatable as the No. 9M spent the 35-lap caution-free Feature driving away to a 2.6-second margin over the field.

“He told me where to be in Qualifying, he ran over and told me where he thought I needed to be and it was good,” McCreadie said. “He’s just positive. Since driving with him, the whole deal, it’s been amazing. He keeps me focused, and with everything going on today, he was just there for me.”

Behind McCreadie, Ashton Winger collected his second runner-up finish of the season in his Raceway 7 debut. The Georgian’s season got off to a nightmarish start with five missed Features at Volusia Speedway Park, but the Jeff Mathews Motorsports team have found their stride as of late with two top fives in their last three World of Outlaws starts.

“I knew from the Heat Race, you probably wanted to start on the top, I got a better launch than I thought I’d get here leaving four,” Winger said. “About halfway down the back straightaway, I could kind of hear him. Two choices, you kind of block and take a chance on crashing or just blow off down into three and try to get crossed over. I knew I slid getting into one, I think we all knew it was going to be important to get out front. It’s cool, we needed good runs. Didn’t do anything too stupid tonight.”

Much like McCreadie and Shirley, third-place runner Brian Shirley has also been finding his footing after a slow start to the season. “Squirrel” failed to crack the top five on the first eight nights of the year; he’s now done so in four of his last six starts.

“I feel like we’ve got to be just a little bit more tight,” Shirley said. “I feel like we’re just really, really loose. Just can’t get in the corner. But all in all, it was a good night.”

Drake Troutman extended his MD3 Rookie of the Year lead with a fourth-place run while Bobby Pierce notched his fifth-straight top five in the fifth spot.

RACE NOTES:

Cody Overton set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.

Drake Troutman earned the Simpson Quick Time Award.

Tim McCreadie won Real American Beer Heat 1.

Bobby Pierce won STAKT Products Heat 2.

Ashton Winger won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.

Brian Shirley won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.

Ryan Gustin won the Landa Pressure Washers Last Chance Showdown.

Ashton Winger won the Bilstein Pole Award.

Max Blair won the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.

Drake Troutman was the MD3 Rookie of the Race.

Ashton Winger won the WELD Racing Second-Place Finisher Award.

Drake Troutman was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.

Bobby Pierce was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.

Nick Hoffman was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.

Dustin Sorensen was the VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.

Ethan Dotson was the Lifeline USA Ninth-Place Finisher.

Tristan Chamberlain was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.

Dennis Erb Jr. was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision heads south into Pennsylvania to Marion Center Raceway for the Connor Bobik Memorial on Friday and Saturday, May 16-17. Tickets will be available at the gate.

If you can’t make it to the track, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.

Feature (35 Laps): 1. 9M-Tim McCreadie[2]; 2. 12-Ashton Winger[1]; 3. 3S-Brian Shirley[3]; 4. 22*-Drake Troutman[6]; 5. 32-Bobby Pierce[4]; 6. 9-Nick Hoffman[7]; 7. 2-Cody Overton[13]; 8. 19-Dustin Sorensen[8]; 9. 74X-Ethan Dotson[10]; 10. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[5]; 11. 111-Max Blair[19]; 12. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[12]; 13. 96-Tanner English[14]; 14. 19R-Ryan Gustin[17]; 15. 11-Austin Smith[15]; 16. 9Y-Levi Yetter[11]; 17. 49-Jake Timm[21]; 18. 57-Matt Tifft[20]; 19. B1-Brent Larson[23]; 20. 9S-Breyton Santee[22]; 21. 99B-Boom Briggs[16]; 22. 22B-Darrell Bossard[9]; 23. 555-Brock Pinkerous[24]; 24. 44-Dave Hess Jr[18]