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Mike Leone
MERCER, Penn. (October 4) - Mercer Raceway Park concluded the 2008 season Saturday night with the inaugural running of the "Fall Brawl" presented by McElwain Motors. After a week of rain, sunny skies returned on Saturday for one of the few times this seasons, but by night's end the temperature dropped into the 30s. Celebrating in the Hoosier Tire victory lane were Max Blair-McElwain Motors FASTRAK Late Models, John Mollick-Super Late Models, Joel Watson-United E-Mod Series, and Steve Mowery-M&D Paving Mini Stock feature 1 and 2. One hundred thirty-seven cars filled the pit area. It was also PPC Lubricants Corp. Night. Over $1,000 was collected for veteran push truck driver Dana "Tiny" Reeher to cover the costs of the recent passing of his father.
Max Blair is one step closer to $50,000. The Centerville, Pa. racer has already won the $10,000 National Weekly Point Championship and the $5,000 Northeast Touring Series Championship. Saturday night, Blair passed veteran Dick Barton to win the 30-lap $2,000 McElwain Motors feature in the kickoff of the $250,000 FASTRAK Grand Nationals for the Northeast Region.
"This is awesome I don't even know what to say, but I can't wait to go down south," expressed Blair. "I'm shaking; this is the best thing and the biggest race I've ever won. Definitely the highlight of my whole career. If I can go down and compete with those boys I'll be happy, but man is this the way to start it out. When I started this year I wanted to win and race or two. I never ever dreamed it would work out the way it did this year. The year I've had is a once in a lifetime season and I'll probably never have one again. I'm just enjoying every second of it."
Mike Pegher, Jr. overtook John Lacki at the start for the early lead. Barton and Blair started fourth and fifth and raced under Lacki for second and third respectively on lap two. After a caution with two laps completed, Barton and Blair took over the top two spots from Pegher. Blair hounded Barton diving under the leader and the two raced side-by-side on laps five and seven. Tom Snyder, Jr., who started sixth, became a contender when he grabbed fourth from the fading Lacki on lap eight.
The laps ticked off under green flag conditions. Barton caught lapped traffic on lap 14. Fast qualifier, Bobby Powell, came from eighth to take fourth from Snyder on lap 14. It was a five-car race up front as all of the top five were potential winners. Barton stretched out his lead in lapped traffic on lap 15. The 14 laps of green flag conditions ended when Andy Buckley spun bringing out the caution with 16 laps completed.
Powell and Snyder had a great battle going for fourth as the two kept swapping the position back and forth. Third place Pegher got sideways on lap 19 and a 10-car melee ensued. Most of the cars suffered minor damage and would restart. When racing resumed, Blair again got alongside Barton and the two raced side-by-side on lap 19. Blair made his winning move as he went up top in turns three and four and came out with lead coming off the outside of turn four. Snyder got back by Powell for third on lap 21.
The last 10 laps went green-to-checkered. Blair pulled away on lap 22 and went on for his third Mercer win of the year and biggest of his career in his Specialty Products/Loney Timber/Moody Welding/Eagle Hoist & Winch-sponsored #111. "Dad (Robbie) skipped the Big Kahuna ($12,000 MACS show in Cumberland, MD) tonight and even considered bringing his car here tonight, but I didn't want my deal on the back burner and he said ok. He never asked a question and just said I'm going to go and help you. The number one cool thing about winning this race is I passed Dick Barton. He's one of the best drivers in the country and that makes this 10 times more special if I hadn't had to pass him."
Barton, who finished fifth in the 2001 Grand National points, set himself up nicely with a run for the $50,000 with his second place finish. Snyder held on to third and will look to improve on last year's 18th place Grand National finish. Dennis Lunger, Jr. and Butch Lambert had solid runs in fourth and fifth after starting 11th and 13th respectively. Completing the top 10 were Steve Hollabaugh, Powell, Jay Watson, Brian Booher, and Kevin Meadows. Heat winners were Lambert, Watson, and Jim Frank. Rusty Moore won the B main. Powell set fast time with a lap of 17.594. Twenty-seven of the 43 eligible racers were on hand.
John Mollick came out on top of a wild, caution-filled 25-lap Super Late Model feature for the $2,000 victory. "We got a pretty good Ford in there," acknowledged the Toronto, Ohio racer. "We had some stumbling problems on the restarts, but we brought her home. I'm not sure what's going on with it, but we've got to fix it. I got lucky every single restart. I would have liked to put on a better show for the fans. I hate to start up front, but I'll take it- we've had a tough year."
Pole-sitter Dan Swartzlander got into Jason Flory on the start and a seven-car crash occurred in turn one on the opening lap. Mollick, who then restarted from the pole, was slow on the restart allowing Jeff Henry and Doug Eck to take the top two spots. On lap two, it was three-wide coming off turn two down the backstretch with Eck coming out with the lead, Mollick to second, George Lee to third, and Henry back to fourth.
Eck's lead would only last a lap as he spun coming off turn four on lap three. The lead was then handed to Mollick with 11th starting Brent Rhebergen up to second. Three cautions slowed action between laps five and 15 before the final 10 went non-stop.
Mollick pulled away under green flag conditions to score his first career Mercer win in his L&R Racing/Ridge Machine-sponsored #4J. Greg Oakes had an excellent run coming from 15th to finish second. Oakes passed Lee for third on lap 12 and then ran down and drove under Rhebergen for second coming off turn four on lap 22. Rhebergen was third over Lee and 18th starting John Flinner, Jr. Chad McClellan and Billy Henry were sixth and seventh. Recent Stock Car graduate Jason Fosnaught finished eighth after starting 20th in his FASTRAK-legal car. Jeff Walters and Jim Rozum were ninth and 10th. Mollick, Lee, and Chris Hackett won the heats over the 29-car field. Jim Detman won the B main.
Joel Watson put on a great drive to the front coming from 12th to win over a star-studded field in the 30-lap $2,000 to-win United E-Mod Series feature. A record 58 cars battled in the richest E-Mod race in the history of Mercer.
"I tried to do a little different line," explained the Conneaut, Ohio winner. "I went down to the inside cause every time I restarted it seemed like somebody was putting it right up underneath me and I wasn't about to lose it on the last lap. We like towing all over to improve our game and all be a son of a gun she was hooked up tonight. The $2,000 will help big time."
McElwain Motors FASTRAK Late Models Grand Nationals Night 1 (30 laps, $2,000 to-win): 1. MAX BLAIR (111) 2. Dick Barton (Nielson 28B) 3. Tom Snyder, Jr. (1F) 4. Dennis Lunger, Jr. (Schwartz 17L) 5. Butch Lambert (27) 6. Steve Hollabaugh (3H) 7. Bobby Powell (Bidwell B1D) 8. Jay Watson (7x) 9. Brian Booher (Hoover 00H) 10. Kevin Meadows (Welsch 49) 11. Chris Haines (35H) 12. Dan Angelicchio (14) 13. John Lacki (7) 14. Bob Diver (23) 15. Andy Buckley (Robinson 34R) 16. Chris Angelicchio (54) 17. Rusty Moore (17M) 18. Alex Anderson (Woodard 22x) 19. Dave Lyon (14L) 20. Mike Pegher, Jr. (Geisler 1C) 21. Carl McKinney (6M) 22. Mike Anderson, Jr. (72) 23. Jim Frank (14*) 24. Dereck Frank (16*) DNQ: Bob Kish (5), Gary Miller, Jr. (1m), Chad Myers (01).
Super Late Models (25 laps, $2,000 to-win): 1. JOHN MOLLICK (4J) 2. Greg Oakes (22) 3. Brent Rhebergen (07R) 4. George Lee (61) 5. John Flinner, Jr. (48) 6. Chad McClellan (119) 7. Billy Henry (McGee 21*) 8. Jason Fosnaught (J19) 9. Jeff Walters (Damico 18) 10. Jim Rozum (91) 11. Kari Gasser (0K) 12. Ron Bem (49) 13. Jim Detman (111) 14. Bryan Salisbury (26) 15. Doug Eck (03) 16. Charles Suplee (67) 17. Jeff Henry (J7) 18. Corey Ruffo (38R) 19. Jeremy Canada (23c) 20. Dave Hess, Jr. (44) 21. Greg Gellner (21G) 22. Dan Swartzlander (3) 23. Jason Flory (02) 24. Chris Hackett (33) DNQ: Tom Bateman (32), Ray Kroll, Sr. (15), Ben Porter (16B), Tim Burns (*2B), Jeremiah Shingledecker (37MD).
United E-Mod Series (30 laps, $2,000 to-win): 1. JOEL WATSON (Cooper 92) 2. Randy Hall (10) 3. Shawn Shingledecker (54s) 4. Russ Dunn (Oliveri 47) 5. Dick Barton (Carlson 16) 6. Bob McCann (Fornataro 33) 7. Carl McKinney (Hendrickson 6M) 8. Daryl Charlier (12) 9. Scott Gurdak (5G) 10. Mike Eschrich (37B) 11. Tim Deutsch (White 53) 12. Vic Vena (01) 13. Tim Peterson (07P) 14. Butch Lambert (Neely 27) 15. Mike Knight (Clinger 222) 16. Kyle Scott (3JR) 17. David Scott (Petsko 00) 18. Dave Hess, Jr. (44H) 19. Justin Carlson (16) 20. Rich Michael, Jr. (17x) 21. Brent Rhebergen (Suppa/Stitzinger 4s) 22. Scott Jones (71J) 23. Mike Munsee (Hagberg 27H) 24. Gary Eicher (Clinger 222) 25. Craig Bedell (7J) DNQ: Fuzzy Stiffler (11), Greg Oakes (Michael 17), Darren Tarabori (6), Andy Sweetland (06), Rick Robinson (34R), Bill Taylor (41), Kyle Bedell (44), Gary Sullivan (47s), Tom Norland (52), Bruce Dreistadt (18D), Brandon Blackshear (59), Bill Westlake (51), Jeff Hassay (10), Dave Atkinson (Beck 7), Ed Wilson (33), Chuck Steinle, Jr. (71K), Tom Martineck (65), Denny Nakutis (48), Jeff Walters (18), Shane Crotty (4), Steve Haefke (73), Rick Pratschler (5T), Tim Engles (68), Bob Diver (23), Randy Sprouse (R5), Mike Butler (52), Ed Snyder (Cryster 25), Howard Fraley (217), Jason Stanke (44), Bob Williamson (93), Scott Stiffler (14), Justin Tatlow (81), Al Brewer (71).
M&D Paving Mini Stocks (12 laps, $100 to-win): 1. STEVE MOWERY (48) 2. Curtis Brown (67) 3. Pete Blazczak (77) 4. Tim Callahan (Stewart 26T) 5. Dillon Barr (15) 6. Wally Stearns, Jr. (33) 7. John Shannon (14) 8. Bill Fuchs (10) 9. Troy Lehnortt (46) 10. Adam Bulfone (19JR) 11. Jr. Baker (Haylett 12) 12. Dave Heberling (1H) 13. Jerry Batcher (Blazczak 7) 14. Rudolph Troples (28) 15. Ed Zahniser (Kloos 62K) 16. Steve Walker (McEwen 4) 17. Scott Gilliland (27) 18. Dillon Kineston (19) 19. Dan Nagy (17B) 20. Stephen Laslo (55) 21. Ed Haylett (8-ball) 22. Cory Kilgore (0)-DNS 23. Brad Shaffer (17)-DSQ.
M&D Paving Mini Stock "Leland Haylett Memorial" (15 laps, $200 to-win): 1. STEVE MOWERY (48) 2. Dillon Kineston 3. Ricky Mellinger (Kloos 62K) 4. Rudolph Troples (28) 5. Ed Haylett (8-ball) 6. Dan McEwen (44) 7. Pete Blazczak (77) 8. Adam Bulfone (19JR) 9. Jr. Baker (Haylett 12) 10. Tim Callahan (Stewart 26T) 11. Wally Stearns, Jr. (33) 12. Jerry Batcher (Blazczak 7) 13. Dillon Barr (15) 14. Bill Fuchs (10) 15. Stephen Laslo (55) 16. Dan Nagy (17B) 17. Curtis Brown (67) 18. John Shannon (14) 19. Scott Gilliland (27)-DNS 20. Dave Heberling (1H)-DNS.
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