Sarver, PA...July 16, 2004
Friday evening at Lernerville Speedway, Kevin Bolland of New Brighton captured the Ferrante Motor Cars/BRP Modified Tour 2004 feature by besting a stellar field of 33 excellent cars. Garland's David "the great" Scott "drove the wheels" off his #3 Friedman's Supermarkets/Bi-Lo Foods Late Model to record his third win of the season. With intense concentration and dazzling driving, "cool" Kevin Schaeffer of Kittanning won his season's first St. Barnabas Health System Sprints by keeping Ed Lynch Jr at bay. For the second time in 2004, Rob Shook of Creighton "shined" in the extremely competitive Dingbats Restaurant Pure Stock's main. It was Ferrante Motor Cars and Twin State Night at the speedway with 121 cars providing continual "action packed" events. There were 30 wonderful veteran drivers gathered for "Nostalgia Night!"
It was de-jevu! For the second consecutive year, "Revin" Kevin Bolland ruled in the 30-lap Ferrante Motor Cars/BRP Modified Tour after narrowly defeating the strong-running Ron Smoker. Hugging the inside line in "wheel-to-wheel" action, Bolland reigned victorious after a late lap-15 charge from Smoker, who came from 18th to assert himself. Bolland said, "What a good show! Lernerville had a nice track! I tried to keep it as tight as I could tonight." With four laps to go a caution flag waved for George Hobaugh's #40 that stopped in turn four. When the race continued, the field tightened, there was electricity in the air, and the fans knew there would be a shoot-out! Bolland said "Late cautions are usually bad for you when you have some distance on those guys, but I knew Ronnie was coming and he had to go high where there were some slippery spots and he couldn't get off the corners as fast as I could in the low groove." Smoker, the 2002 BRP victor said,"We had to come from 18th tonight. When you do that, the guy leading has the perfect line so I just had to go where he didn't." Bolting from third to first, Bolland's Northland Ford /Brighton Hot Dog Shoppe/Bolland Machine/Cintas #777 took the lead on an eighth lap restart after the yellow flag was thrown for leader Bob Dorman and Brian Swartzlander's collision. Approaching lapped traffic, Bolland had another significant scare on lap 17 when his racer and Carl Murdick's made contact on the front straight sending the field scattering but Bolland recovered quickly. Murdick's #6 went over turn one and almost collected Smoker in the process. As the fireworks sprayed victory lane, Bolland said, "I especially want to thank my father and crew. We had to "thrash" to get here tonight after losing a motor at Sharon last week!" This was Bolland's third of the season and 26th overall. Behind Smoker was Tom Winkle in third. Joe Crawford was fourth, Mark Flick fifth, and Dave Murdick sixth. Jim Weller got high on the last lap and lost several spots to finish 7th. Rodney Beltz, Chanda Reitz, and Andy Priest rounded out the top ten. Josh Skarzenski, Brian Swartzlander, Kevin Bolland, and Rodney Beltz scored in the preliminary events. JR McGinley and Ron Smoker won the B-Mains.
In a display of sheer talent, David Scott used the "ragged edge" of the track to put his "Slow Ride" in the fastest lane to win the Friedman's Supermarkets/Bi-Lo Foods Late Model feature over Ron Davies. "We were decent tonight," Scott said, "We haven't had a lot of breaks going our way lately but my guys did a great job tonight!" Starting third, Scott took the lead from Mike Johnson on lap four and guided the field the distance. With two laps to go on the final restart, it looked as though former track champion Ron Davies had a possibility of catching Scott but Scott used each restart to literally "launch" his #3 into the lead for the win. Davies said, "We started 12th and when the track is slow like it was tonight, it takes awhile to get through the field." He added, "We were good everywhere on the track and I thought we worked our way through without problems." Running third was Keith Zimmerman who was followed by Doug Eck, Bob Wearing Jr, Chuck Kennedy, Lynn Geisler, Gary Lyle, Mike Blose and Nick Jones. Zimmerman, Lyle, and Scott were victorious in the heat events. Jim's Auto Repair in Sarver added $50 Scott's winnings.
Kevin Schaeffer drove an impeccable race to win a season first 20-lap St. Barnabas Health System Sprint main to defeat the legendary Ed Lynch Jr. Schaeffer's Tire, Highland Tire/Kings Lanes/Reeseman's Body Shop #9 was dialed perfectly into the track and he said, "My American Race tires kicked in after four or five laps and I could go anywhere I wanted. I really like to race on a slick track, it puts more of a set up and a race driver together. You have to get your car good and feather it around there to get the traction." Coming from fourth, Schaeffer overtook leader Chad Hill on lucky lap 9. Starting 12th, Budweiser point leader and defending 2003 Champion Lynch passed his brother-in-law Chad Hill and moved into second on lap 15 and it looked to be another exciting finish. Using his expertise, Schaeffer kept cool and even used lapped traffic to his advantage. Lynch did not have an opportunity to capture him. At the checker Lynch was about two lengths behind. In victory circle Schaeffer said, "I couldn't do this without my Mother and Dad. They put everything together." Schaeffer has a total of four wins at all the tracks and it was a career fourth at the Sarver oval. Hills third place keeps him second in the points chase. Gary Kriess Jr was fourth. Charlie Holben was fifth and was followed by Scott Priester, Rod George, Arnie Kent, Dan Shetler, and Brent Matus. Shetler, Priester, and Kent won the heat races and Gary Rankin checkered the B-Main.
It was the day Jason Fosnaught was to be married and it looked like he would win a career first 15-lap Dingbats Restaurant Pure Stock main event but on the last lap rounding turn four, Rob Shook claimed the checkered flag. You could have put a blanket over the top three cars of Shook, Fosnaught and Joe Kelley the entire race. Using precision skills lap after lap the threesome drove side-by-side and wheel-to-wheel never being separated by more than a car length. At the end of the race, Fosnaught was using the cushion and finding an opening between lapped cars, Shook went low and carved out his second win and Budweiser Point leader Kelley crossed the line in third. An ecstatic Shook said, "This was definitely one heck of a race!" Lapped traffic sort of cost him (Fosnaught). I feel bad for him!" In victory lane Shook thanked his Mom & Dad, his crew, the Golden Goblet, Three Rivers Trucking, and Don's Catering service. Fourth through tenth went to Mike Pegher, Dave Spangler, Mike Turner, Greg Beach, Jeff Bastin, Nick Reges and Butch Lambert. Lambert, Kelley, and Beach won the prelims and Pat Hanley scored in the B-Main. The Stover-Net Connecion Hard Charger was Mike Turner. It was an exciting ending to a great race night!