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Mike Leone
MERCER, Penn. (September 12) - The FASTRAK Northeast Late Model Touring Series headed back to Mercer Raceway Park for the second time this season in preparation for next month's Night 1 of the Grand Nationals for the Northeast Region. Event #13 of 17 on the 2009 slate brought out 30 cars from Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, and West Virginia.
The "Slow Ride" was the "Smooth Ride" Saturday night as David Scott put on an impressive performance coming from the 10th starting spot to pass track champion Max Blair to win the 25-lap FASTRAK Northeast Late Model Touring Series event. The $1,200 victory was Scott's second of the season at Mercer and second of his career in Touring Series competition.
"This is the best this race track has ever been- racey and smooth," described the Garland, Pa. winner. "Vicki (Emig) and everybody did a fantastic job and I hope it's like this every time we come back. The track was perfect and that Bullitt car in this slick deal is really, really good. That was a lot of fun."
"I was talking with Max earlier in the night and said he was the guy to beat," revealed Scott. "He's better here than we've been. I rolled around the outside to keep my momentum up. Max did that to get the lead and he moved to the bottom- that's what he's good at and I just stayed on top and kept digging. I didn't know if I was going to be able to get him, but I kept picking at him in the corners and kept at it. This FASTRAK deal is a really good deal. They police the motors and that's what they have to do to keep this class honest."
Mike Blose led the initial lap before a caution slowed action. Blair lined up sixth on the restart, but used the outside to dart around Tommy Schirnhofer, Jr., Steve Hollabaugh, Butch Lambert, and Bud Watson for second. Blair quickly caught Blose and the two ran side-by-side on laps three and four with Blair leading both laps. Lambert advanced to second when he edged ahead of Blose on the inside on lap four. The exciting lap four also saw Mike Pegher, Jr. and Scott make it three-wide for fourth with Scott coming out on top.
A caution for debris with six laps completed ruined an excellent race. When green replaced yellow, Scott passed both Blose and Lambert for second using the outside; meanwhile, Pegher and Watson also used the outside to get around Blose for fourth and fifth.
Scott slowly began chewing into the deficit and on lap 12 was closing on Blair. On lap 14, Blair left the top open and Scott drove by off turn four for the winning move. Lapped traffic came into play on lap 19, but Scott just pulled away further as the last 19 laps went green-to-checkered to the delight of Scott. Scott's eighth FASTRAK-sanctioned victory of the season came in the John and Janet Powell-owned, Bullitt Chassis #100 and was his fourth overall in his career at Mercer. Scott also continues to lead the Northeast Touring Series points by 19 over Blair with two races to go.
Blair, the defending Northeast Touring Series and National Weekly Series champion, clinched his first ever Mercer championship with the runner-up. Fresh off his runner-up at the last event at Mercer, Lambert came home a close third. Pegher's fourth advanced him from fifth in points back to third. Watson, who is a rookie FASTRAK driver and the defending Mercer Mod Lite champion, finished fifth for the second straight Touring Series race. Watson's fourth top five of the season propelled him from sixth to fourth in the standings- just four points behind Pegher for third.
Completing the top 10 were Blose, Bryan Salisbury, Andrew Satterlee, Carl McKinney, and Ben Satterlee, who subbed for Bryan Force. Winning the heat races were Blair, Brian Booher, and Gary Knollinger, while Joe Martin won the B main.
FASTRAK Northeast Late Model Touring Series Race #13 (25 laps $1,200 to-win): 1. 1. DAVID SCOTT (Powell 100) 2. Max Blair (111) 3. Butch Lambert (27) 4. Mike Pegher, Jr. (Geisler 1C) 5. Bud Watson (2) 6. Mike Blose (5) 7. Bryan Salisbury (26) 8. Andrew Satterlee (2) 9. Carl McKinney (6M) 10. Ben Satterlee (Force 69) 11. Tommy Schirnhofer, Jr. (8s) 12. Joe Martin (55) 13. Steve Hollabaugh (3H) 14. John Watson (Horton 48) 15. Gary Knollinger (38K) 16. Bill Thomas (22) 17. Brian Booher (Hoover 00H) 18. Tom Copeland (98) 19. Jamie Brown (135) 20. Garrett Mott (43X) 21. Dan Angelicchio (14) 22. Chris Force (68) 23. Tom Snyder, Jr. (1F) 24. Jim Frank (14*) DNQ: Dereck Frank (16*), Andrew Wylie (84), Ben Black (27B), Tyler Barris (32B), Shawn Schaltenbrand (26), Leigh Wheeler (Smith 717).
Lap leaders: Blose (1-2), Blair (3-13), Scott (14-25)
Heat winners: Blair, Booher, Knollinger
B main winner: Martin
Car count: 30
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