|
Mike Leone
MERCER, Penn. (August 16) - For the first time this season, Mercer Raceway Park was blessed with sunny skies and no chance of rain on Saturday for The Return. Celebrating in the Hoosier Tire victory lane were Russell King-BRP Big-Block Modified Tour, Brian Booher-McElwain Motors FASTRAK Late Model July 12 make-up, Max Blair-McElwain Motors FASTRAK Late Models, Rod Jones-Big Daddys Speed Center Mod Lites, and Kyle Colwell-M&D Paving Mini Stocks. One hundred five cars were on hand for the four-division show that also included a huge fireworks spectacular presented by Walts of Mercer Plaza.
Brian Booher kicked off the night winning the 20-lap McElwain Motors FASTRAK Late Model make-up feature from July 12 for his second win with the most dominating effort seen this season. "I didn't have any idea," revealed the Sandy Lake, Pa. driver when asked about his big lead. "I knew I didn't want to slow. There are a lot of fast cars here and the way my luck has been going, I just kept trying to go every lap."
Booher started from the pole position and the only things to slow his run to the checkered flag were two cautions that occurred with two laps completed. By the halfway point, Booher opened up a straightaway lead. Booher fended off lapped traffic on lap 18 and when the checkered flag waved, Booher's margin of victory was nearly nine seconds as the last 18 laps went green-to-checkered. Boohers 34th career Mercer win came in the Terry Hoover-owned, Ed & Jerrys Auto Service/Harry & Tims Roofing/Brad McEwen Garage Doors/Campbell Heating & Cooling-sponsored #00H.
Kyle Drum, who made his only start at Mercer back on June 4, 2005 in a 360 Sprint Car, was second. The New York racer fell back to fourth, but was able to pass Rusty Moore for third on lap five and drove under Steve Hollabaugh in turn four for second on lap nine. Moore, who started eighth, finished third after passing Hollabaugh on lap 18. Hollabaugh dropped to fourth over 13th starting Bobby Powell. Rounding out the top 10 were Frank Guidace, Max Blair, Dan Angelicchio, Chad Myers, and Tyler Dietz.
Max Blair regained the $10,000 to-win National Weekly Series point lead from his good friend Bobby Powell for the FASTRAK Late Models following his impressive 25-lap win in the $800 to-win McElwain Motors feature. "He (Bobby Powell) kind of pulled one on me," acknowledged the Centerville, Pa. 18-year-old when asked about Powell winning at Dog Hollow Speedway on Friday night. "He snuck off and went down there, but we got him back tonight. It's nice having dad (Super Late Model standout Robbie Blair) here- makes stuff a whole lot easier and much more fun. My car was real good. I couldn't mess up tonight; if I did, the car saved me."
Powell jumped into the lead from the pole position with Andy Buckley and Drum in tow. Blair, who started eighth, wasted little time moving to the front as he got past Drum on a lap three restart then drove to the inside of Buckley in turn four on lap four for second. Blair started to run down Powell as laps two through nine went non-stop until Mike Anderson, Jr. spun with nine laps completed.
When green replaced yellow, Blair made his move on the restart to lead lap 10. Following another restart with 13 laps completed, Moore, Tom Snyder, Jr., and Guidace all slipped past Powell for second through fourth. Snyder and Moore ran side-by-side for second on laps 22 and 23. Snyder though drove too hard into turn four getting into Moore and looped his mount. This moved Guidace to third for the restart. Back under green flag, Blair led the final two laps for his second Mercer win in the past three weeks in his Specialty Products/Loney Timber/Moody Welding/Eagle Hoist & Winch-sponsored #111.
"Anybody that has anything bad to say about this division really doesn't know what they're looking at," expressed Blair. "People say you cant pass in this class, but the top three cars all came from seventh and on back- thats passing."
Guidace drove under Moore in turn two on lap 24 to finish second and maintained his Mercer point lead. Moore had a great run in third after starting 20th. Powell dropped to fourth with 12th starting Butch Lambert fifth. Sixth through tenth were Chris Haines, Snyder, Drum, Carl McKinney, and Chad Myers. Topping the heat races over the 24-car field were Dan Angelicchio, Haines, and Blair.
McElwain Motors FASTRAK Late Models July 12 Make-up (20 laps): 1. BRIAN BOOHER (Hoover 00H) 2. Kyle Drum (47) 3. Rusty Moore (17M) 4. Steve Hollabaugh (3H) 5. Bobby Powell (Bidwell B1D) 6. Frank Guidace (1G) 7. Max Blair (111) 8. Dan Angelicchio (54) 9. Chad Myers (01) 10. Tyler Dietz (10) 11. Mike Anderson, Jr. (72) 12. Paul Reiser (293) 13. Rusty Cade (47) 14. Bill Vance, Jr. (93) 15. Gary Miller, Jr. (1m).
McElwain Motors FASTRAK Late Models (25 laps, $800): 1. MAX BLAIR (111) 2. Frank Guidace (1G) 3. Rusty Moore (17M) 4. Bobby Powell (Bidwell B1D) 5. Butch Lambert (27) 6. Chris Haines (35H) 7. Tom Snyder, Jr. (1) 8. Kyle Drum (47) 9. Carl McKinney (6m) 10. Chad Myers (01) 11. Steve Hollabaugh (3H) 12. Tom Copeland (98) 13. Dan Angelicchio (54) 14. Rusty Cade (47) 15. Alex Anderson (Woodard 22x) 16. Tyler Dietz (10) 17. Mike Anderson, Jr. (72) 18. Brian Booher (Hoover 00H) 19. Andy Buckley (Robinson 34R) 20. Bill Vance, Jr. (93) 21. Dennis Lunger, Jr. (17L) 22. Steve DApolito (84)-DNS 23. Paul Reiser (293)-DNS 24. Gary Miller, Jr. (1m)-DNS.
BRP Big-Block Modified Tour (30 laps, $1,300): 1. RUSSELL KING (65) 2. Dave Murdick (61) 3. Lonny Riggs (Black 58) 4. Kevin Hoffman (17H) 5. Tommy Kristyak (26z) 6. Tom Mattocks (69) 7. Eric Gabany (3E) 8. Jeremiah Shingledecker (37MD) 9. Rex King, Jr. (165) 10. Rick Hall (B4) 11. Del Rougeux, Jr. (20D) 12. Randy Brown (67R) 13. Steve Barr (25B) 14. Garrett Krummert (29) 15. Chris Dye (23D) 16. J.R. McGinley (66) 17. Steve Feder (45) 18. Gary Smoker (516) 19. Kevin Green (74) 20. Frank Guidace (1G) 21. Tim Doran (12) 22. Mike Miller (72) 23. Carl Murdick (6) 24. Brian Swartzlander (83) 25. Skip Moore (17M) 26. Ron Eperthener, Jr. (333) DNQ: Mark Frankhouser (03), Les Myers (Hoffman x17), Mike Turner (96), Randy Chronister (71), Shawn Kozar (3K), Howard Duff (812), Brian Sadler (5), Rick Ryder (Snider 189), Mark Rossey (Brown 67J), Rodney Beltz (64), Kevin Bolland (777), Dean Pearson (8J), Brad Rapp (11R), John Buchanan (93), Joe Crawford (25).
Big Daddys Speed Center Mod Lites (15 laps, $300): 1. ROD JONES (820) 2. Bud Watson (15) 3. Kenny Meadows (Teague 10T) 4. Terry Young (98) 5. Levi Spinneweber (10s) 6. Kotie Kirkbride (97N) 7. Garrett Krummert (Spinneweber 20s) 8. Alan Knepper (Lawson 70x7) 9. Bill Stivason (116) 10. Chad Yeager (7) 11. Lynn Knepper (10) 12. Angie Grzelak (57) 13. George Englert (11x) 14. Shane Pfeuffer (Lawson 40L) 15. Mark Marcucci (8M) 16. Mikey Hay (22) 17. Todd Canter (Teague 9T).
M&D Paving Mini Stocks (12 laps): 1. KYLE COLWELL (80JR) 2. Stephen Laslo (55) 3. Curtis Brown (67) 4. Dan McEwen (44) 5. Ed Haylett (8-ball) 6. Jerry Batcher (Blazczak 7) 7. Shannon Heberling (H1) 8. Wally Stearns, Jr. (33) 9. Sam Kloos (62K) 10. Kyle Crawford (14c) 11. Troy Lehnorth (46) 12. Scott Gilliland (27) 13. Rudolph Troples (28) 14. Dan Nagy (17B) 15. Dillon Kineston (19) 16. Bill Fuchs (10) 17. Tyler Powell (36) 18. Pete Blazczak (77) 19. Tim Callahan (Stewart 26T) 20. Cody Colwell (67R) 21. Dillon Barr (15) 22. John Shannon (14)-DNS 23. James Edison (48)-DNS.
Upcoming Events:
8/23 Sprints, Mods, FASTRAK Late Models, Mod Lites, & Mini Stocks. Free general admission for all Butler County residents presented by McClymonds Supply & Transit & Armstrong. $5 admission for all automotive service/truck repair employees and $5 for their significant others, and $15 for families presented by Hovis Auto & Truck Supply
8/30 No racing.
9/05 (Fri) Open Wheel Shootout presented by FireDEX of Butler. Bill Emig Memorial for Mods ($1,500), Sprint Cars ($1,500), Limited Sprints, Micro Sprints ($300), Mod Lites ($300), & Mini Stocks. Anderson Bros. Tool Corp Night. Note: racing begins at 7:30 p.m. (Rain date Sunday, September 7)
|
