SMITH RUNS DOWN DODSON FOR $2,500 MID-AMERICAN SPRINT WIN AT MERCER; TWO-IN-A-ROW FOR MURDICK IN BIG BLOCKS; HALL & BUCKLEY ADD
Sat, Aug 21, 2004 -- Chuck Marsh Memorial "Sprint Slug-Out"
Written by: Mike Leone
Mercer Raceway Park hosted the eighth annual Chuck Marsh Memorial “Sprint Slug-Out” on Saturday night along with a complete program of racing action presented by the friends & family of Chuck Marsh and Grove City Paving. Capturing victories and celebrating in the McClung Auto Body victory lane were Jamie Smith-Luxaire Heating & Cooling Mid American Sprint Car Series, Dave Murdick-Campbell-Peterson Trail & Turf Big-Block Modifieds, Rick Hall-Tire Express Sportsman Modifieds, Andy Buckley-Stock Cars, and Ronnie Boyd-Maurer’s Trading Post Strictly Stocks.
It was youth versus experience and experience paid off as the cagey veteran, Jamie Smith, ran down and passed 16-year-old Cameron Dodson with two laps to go to win the 35-lap Chuck Marsh Memorial Mid American Sprint Car Series feature event. The win also solidified Smith’s fourth track championship.
“How about that,” exclaimed the Sewickley, Pa. winner after his second $2,500 sanctioned victory of the season. “I think he (Dodson) got hung up there a bit as traffic wasn’t cooperating with him. I was getting quicker and quicker. My tires started heating up. Things started going better and it stayed green. I kind of snuck up on him and caught him by surprise. I wanted to get in there and get the job done. I didn’t want to race with him too long. I snuck in there and we split the lapped cars. That was close racing going on.”
Dodson quickly established himself as the driver to beat racing into the lead from the pole position. Jamie Martin fell into second as Gary Kriess, Jr. passed Smith for third on the first lap. Dodson caught the back-markers on lap five allowing Martin to stay within striking distance. Smith finally made the pass stick to reclaim third from Kriess with an inside move off turn two on lap nine. Smith then began to work on Martin and grabbed second from the youngster on lap 13 with an inside move this time in turn four.
By the time Smith got to second, Dodson had built a straightaway advantage. Martin continued to run strong in third while 11th starting Rob Eyler entered the picture by taking fourth from Kriess on lap 18 just before the first caution was displayed when Gary Edwards and Brandon Martin tangled with Edwards going over. Both drivers were okay, but done for the night. Andrew Palker brought out the second and final caution with 20 laps completed.
When racing resumed, Dodson quickly pulled away and distanced himself from the field, while Smith cleared the lapped cars. Dodson had more than a straightaway advantage with 10 laps to go. Eyler drove around Martin for third on lap 28. Up front, Dodson caught traffic with five laps to go, while Smith finally had a clear track. Lap by lap Smith cut into the lead as Dodson struggled with lapped traffic, which were running his preferred line.
On lap 33, Smith was right on Dodson’s tail going into turn one. Coming off turn two and down the backstretch, the duo split the lapped car of Andy James as Smith was able to sneak by on the inside in the lead. Dodson didn’t give up as the two raced side-by-side through lapped traffic on lap 34. Smith’s longtime track experience paid off through close, wheel-to-wheel racing in traffic as he took the checkered flag first for the fifth time this season and 31st of his career in his American Agip/NAPA Auto Parts/Alternative Power Sources-sponsored #5G.
Dodson, the current MASS point leader, extended his point lead with a runner-up over a late charge by Eyler in third. Martin of Wooster, Ohio was a career best fourth and was the highest finishing Moore CDL Driving Academy 360 Sprint for the first time this year earning the $150 bonus. Kriess was fifth. Completing the top 10 were Rod George, Arnie Kent, Jeff Banyas, Chad Levingston, and Jason Dolick. Heat winners over the season high 33-car field went to Kent, Levingston, John Ivy, and Dodson. Gary Edwards won the B main. Dodson won the dash and earned the right to start on the pole.
It took Dave Murdick nearly nine years to return to victory lane in a Big-Block Modified at Mercer with his victory one week ago. Saturday night, Murdick made it two-in-a-row winning the 25-lap $1,500 to-win Campbell-Peterson Trail & Turf event.
“I can’t believe it,” stated the Slippery Rock, Pa. veteran, who’s celebrating his 25th anniversary of racing. “We struggled here for so long. We’ve been good, but just couldn’t get into victory lane and then to do it back-to-back with two different cars. This is a 2004 Troyer and we had a fresh motor.”
Murdick raced past Jeremy Paup on the opening lap for the early lead. Rob Curtis, who started seventh, quickly made his way to the front moving into fourth on the opening lap then got past Tommy Marshall III and Paup for runner-up on lap two.
Andy Priest passed Paup for fourth on lap four then got a great restart following a spin by Scott Kay to dispose of Marshall and Curtis for second on lap five. Priest had three restarts and 20 laps running second, but was no match for Murdick on this night as Murdick raced his Armstrong Zoom Cable Internet Service/Bravo Pizza/Dr. Pepper-sponsored #61 to the checkered flag first for his fourth career big-block win and ninth overall at the track.
Priest came home second and cut Tommy Kristyak’s point lead in half with one night remaining. Jeremiah Shingledecker, who started 12th, had another strong run to finish third after passing Carl Weatherby for the spot on lap 13. Weatherby was fourth ahead of Kristyak. Sixth through tenth were Les Myers, Rick Hall, Carl Murdick, John Buchanan, and Lee Miller. Priest and Dave Murdick won the heat races over the 20-car field.
Rick Hall continued one of his best career seasons by capturing his fourth win of the year in the 20-lap $600 to-win Tire Express feature event. “This is probably one of our better years for winning,” acknowledged the Stoneboro, Pa. resident. “The car was really hooking up on the outside. That’s how I got around him (Jeff Schaffer) and there was bite there. It ran good.”
In a race that had little drama, Hall powered around Jeff Schaffer on the outside in turn four on lap seven and kept him at bay through lapped traffic to claim his 14th career sportsman win and 21st overall at Mercer in the Hall’s Safety Equipment/Grove City Dodge/Campbell’s Asphalt/Thomas Construction-sponsored, “Skinny” Hall-owned #B2 Bicknell.
Schaffer’s second draws him one step closer to his first sportsman track championship. Defending champion, Jerry Schaffer, followed his brother and his car home in third. Steve Toth was fourth over 13th starting Gary Smoker. Hall and Jeff Schaffer won the heats over the 19-car field.
Andy Buckley came out on top of a wild, eight-car battle with a last lap pass of Joe Lockhart to win the 20-lap $600 to-win Stock Car feature and clinched his second track championship. “I didn’t know if that was going to work, but I figured those guys were too involved with each other to even know I was coming so I tried a bonsai run and it worked,” as described by the Stoneboro, Pa. racer on his winning move. “They were too worried about blocking each other and didn’t see me coming. There was no one on the top and it was real bitey up there.”
Joe Lockhart, Rick Norco, and Gary Norman put on quite a battle for the entire event as Lockhart and Norco were searching for their first career wins. Lockhart took the early lead from the pole before Norco edged ahead to lead lap five. The trio went three-wide on lap six as Lockhart regained the lead. Norman moved up to second on lap 14 getting by Norco. Buckley, who started 14th, used the outside to race to the front and took third from Norco on lap 19.
On the final lap with Lockhart guarding the bottom and Norman all over the youngster, Buckley went to the extreme outside and made it three-wide through turns one and two. The bonsai pass worked and propelled Buckley into the lead and on to his division leading fifth win of the season of which three have been $600 specials. Buckley’s 18th career win came in his MPR Lumber/Kristyak’s Korner-sponsored #965.
Lockhart edged Norman and Norco for a career best second as the three came across three-wide at the checkered. Tim Deutsch was a season best fifth. Scoring the heat race wins over the 27-car field were Norman, Norco, and Jarrot Moore. Joe Updegraff won the B main.
Ronnie Boyd of Fredonia, Pa. became the latest driver to dethrone the Bishs in the Strictly Stocks as he narrowly edged the father-son duo to win his first career feature in the 12-lap “Redneck Racers Shotgun Series” event. Boyd led the opening six laps before Curt Bish, Sr. took over. Boyd, a Demolition Derby standout, then reclaimed the lead following a restart on lap 10 and held off Bish, Sr. and Bish, Jr. for the victory in his #10. Wearne Cook was fourth with Randy Ealy fifth.
Chuck Marsh Memorial Luxaire Heating & Cooling Mid-American Sprint Cars (35 laps): 1. JAMIE SMITH ($2,500) 2. Cameron Dodson 3. Rob Eyler 4. Jamie Martin 5. Gary Kriess, Jr. 6. Rod George 7. Arnie Kent 8. Jeff Banyas 9. Chad Levingston 10. Jason Dolick 11. Tom Busch 12. Chris Shuttleworth 13. Shane Helms 14. Andy James 15. John Ivy 16. Doug Stanley 17. Andrew Palker 18. Gary Edwards 19. Brandon Martin 20. Mark Clark 21. Mike Linder 22. Scott Bonnell 23. Mike Shearer-DNS DNQ: Mark Murphy, Jeremy Cook, Charlie Holben, Butch Beasley, Patrick Haynes, Vaughn Nystrom, Bill Kiley, Scott Groves, Bill Shaw, John Miller.
Campbell-Peterson Trail & Turf Big-Block Modifieds (25 laps): 1. DAVE MURDICK ($1,500) 2. Andy Priest 3. Jeremiah Shingledecker 4. Carl Weatherby 5. Tommy Kristyak 6. Les Myers 7. Rick Hall 8. Carl Murdick 9. John Buchanan 10. Lee Miller 11. Ed Alcorn, Jr. 12. Rick Kress 13. Leonard Baker, Jr. 14. Rob Curtis 15. Scott Kay 16. Rodney Beltz 17. Tommy Marshall III 18. Travis Shingledecker 19. Jeremy Paup 20. Chris Dye-DNS.
Tire Express Sportsman Modifieds (20 laps): 1. RICK HALL ($600) 2. Jeff Schaffer 3. Jerry Schaffer 4. Steve Toth 5. Gary Smoker 6. Dave Murdick 7. Ron Eperthener, Jr. 8. Mike Turner 9. Bill Adams 10. Mike Anderson 11. Kevin Green 12. Alex Anderson 13. Jim Rombold, Jr. 14. Joe Gibson, Jr. 15. Jim Thompson 16. Morgan Sasse 17. Branden Porter 18. Kevin Thompson 19. Terry Young-DNS.
Stock Cars (20 laps): 1. ANDY BUCKLEY ($600) 2. Joe Lockhart 3. Gary Norman 4. Rick Norco 5. Tim Deutsch 6. Terry Kroner 7. Chris Brown 8. Brian Booher 9. Cody Smith 10. Bill Lanigan 11. Gary Johns 12. Wayne Carbo 13. Clyde Roberts 14. Ryan Moyer 15. Dave Ferringer 16. Doug Iorio 17. Joe Updegraff 18. Terry Wheeler 19. Andy Thompson 20. Shaun Hooks 21. Jarrot Moore 22. Doug Iorio, Jr. 23. Ray Bailey, Jr. 24. Russ Coyne DNQ: Carl Ealy, Bill Vance, Jr., Tony Spaghetti.
Maurer’s Trading Post Strictly Stocks: 1. RONNIE BOYD 2. Curt Bish, Sr. 3. Curt Bish, Jr. 4. Wearne Cook 5. Randy Ealy 6. Jim Boring 7. Lauren Simmons 8. Dave Fugate 9. Jon Mabry 10. Jesse DeLoe-DNS.