KRIESS GIVES PRESTON HIS THIRD WIN IN THE EXCITING SPRINT FEATURE; MURDICK BEATS KRISTYAK FOR 1ST MOD WIN SINCE 1995; #6 FOR SMOKER IN SPORTSMAN; NORMAN CLAIMS FIRST STOCK WIN; FAAS SWEEPS SENIOR SERIES; BISH, JR. WINS STRICTLYS
By Mike Leone
August 14, 2004
Mercer, PA…Mercer Raceway Park hosted another action-packed night of wheel-to-wheel racing on Saturday night as three drivers scored their first wins. Capturing victories and celebrating in the McClung Auto Body victory lane were Gary Kriess, Jr.-Luxaire Heating & Cooling Sprint Cars, Dave Murdick-Campbell-Peterson Trail & Turf Big-Block Modifieds, Gary Smoker-Tire Express Sportsman Modifieds, Gary Norman-Stock Cars, Curt Bish, Jr.-Maurer’s Trading Post Strictly Stocks, and Terry Faas-PCTC Senior Series (4/17 make-up & regular program). It was the second annual Ken Carbone Memorial as the Carbone Family presented plaques to the feature winners, tear-off to the top 10 finishes, and a $200 bonus to the Stock Car winner.
It’s been a season of highs and lows for Gary Kriess, Jr. Last week, Kriess crashed with leader Jeff Banyas for his fourth straight non top 10 finish; this week it was a high as the hard charger more than doubled his career win total with his season’s third win in the 20-lap Luxaire Heating & Cooling Sprint Car feature.
“I bided my time tonight,” relayed the Butler, Pa. driver in his winning interview. “Last week I was a little impatient and I caused a wreck I shouldn’t have. I apologize for that. The pit crew put the car back together. I took my time tonight and worked the traffic. The track was really nice tonight.”
Chris Shuttleworth raced out into the early lead over fellow 360 Doug Stanley. Stanley worked the top of the track to drive around Shuttleworth off turn four for the lead on lap three. Kriess began to pressure Shuttleworth and finally made the move for second down the backstretch on lap nine. Point leader Jamie Smith, who started seventh, made his way into contention and snuck under Shuttleworth off turn four for third also on lap nine.
Kriess and Smith’s 410s reeled in the rim-riding Stanley on lap 11. Traffic became a factor on laps 13 and 14 as ninth starting Arnie Kent joined the fray making it a four-car race for the lead. Kent made the move on Smith for third on lap 14. Kriess’ winning move came on the 15th circuit when he raced under Stanley in turns three and four to make the pass stick.
Kent appeared that he may have had something for Kriess as he disposed of Stanley for second on lap 17 with a similar move in turns three and four. Kent then got a great run down the backstretch on lap 19 and momentarily nose ahead of Kriess going into turn three on the outside. Kent though jumped the cushion in turn four getting too high and slammed the frontstretch wall ending his night.
A one-lap shootout to the checkered saw Kriess pull away for his fifth career win, this time in his former #55J Hine Racing-powered, Preston America-owned with sponsorship coming from McClung Auto Body, Flynn Tire Group, Barris Supply, Jones Performance, and Atwell & Perrine Excavating.
Behind Kriess the battled raged for second on back. A tire going down ruined Stanley’s best career Mercer 410 run and allowed Smith, Shuttleworth, 11th starting Eyler, and 15th starting Jamie Martin to all get by for positions second through five. Stanley dropped to sixth over Scott Bonnell, Gary Edwards, Rod George, and Jeff Banyas, who rebounded from a flip in his heat. Eyler, Edwards, and Smith were heat race winners over the 23-car field.
Chris Shuttleworth of Wellsville, New York made his return after destroying a car on July 10 to win the Bully Hill All-Star Dash Qualifier for Black Rock Speedway as the highest finishing Moore CDL Driving Academy 360 Sprint Car and also earned the $150 bonus with his best career 410 finish. Also receiving 360 bonus monies were Martin, Stanley, and Bonnell. 360s claimed four of the top seven spots.
Dave Murdick could be titled “Mr. Consistency” over the past two seasons with 17 top 5s and 25 top 10 finishes in 31 Big-Block Modified starts. Despite those numbers and runs at the championship, the second generation racer had been shutout of victory lane in a big-block since September 11, 1995. That skein ended Saturday night with an impressive hard run edging point leader Tommy Kristyak in the 20-lap Campbell-Peterson Trail & Turf feature event.
“It was real exciting,” expressed the jubilant Slippery Rock, Pa. victor after quickly emerging from his winning car. “It’s been so long since I’ve won here I can’t believe it!”
Andy Paden raced ahead of Rodney Beltz on the start for the early lead. Murdick, who started eight, wasted little time flying to the front as he passed Beltz for runner-up on lap four. Murdick’s winning move came following a restart when he took the lead away from Paden on lap seven. The caution-plagued event allowed Kristyak, who started 21st after breaking a driveshaft in his heat, to methodically work his way to the front. Kristyak grabbed second away from Paden on lap eight and set his sights on Murdick.
A final caution with 15 laps completed gave Kristyak one more shot at his seventh win of the season. On the restart, Kristyak drove in hard in turn one and got under Murdick. The two made slight contact, but Murdick was able to ride the cushion and power by Kristyak off turn two and down the backstretch to maintain the lead. The two raced side-by-side the next two laps, but Murdick was able to hold on to collect the popular win in his Armstrong Zoom Cable Internet Service-sponsored #61. The victory was Murdick’s third of his career in big-block competition and eight overall at the track.
Paden came home third for his best finish in his rookie big-block season. Beltz was fourth over Carl Weatherby. Completing the top 10 were Rick Hall, Travis Shingledecker, Rob Curtis, Carl Murdick, and Scott Kay. Heat wins went to Weatherby and Dave Murdick over the 21-car field.
Gary Smoker chalked up win #6 matching Tommy Kristyak as the track’s top winner of 2004 with his win in the 20-lap Tire Express Sportsman Modified feature. “We have a little bit of an oil leak,” revealed the Mercer, Pa. winner. “I was hoping I could keep enough oil in it again so I shut it off on the red to save some oil. I have to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It’s all up to him, I just ride.”
Kevin Green took off on the start and led the first five circuits before Steve Toth made the pass for the lead off turn four on lap six. Smoker, who started sixth, moved ahead of Green for second on lap seven. A caution for Jerry Schaffer allowed Smoker to make the winning move on the restart. Smoker survived four more cautions to collect his division-leading 28th career win in the David Smoker-owned, MBMR Inc./Mito Insulations-sponsored #516.
Dave Murdick completed an excellent night as he came from 10th to finish second after getting past Toth on lap 12. Ron Eperthener, Jr. passed Toth on lap 16 to place third. Toth dropped to fourth over Jeff Walters. Eperthener and Smoker won the heats over the 23-car field.
Veteran Stock Car driver Gary Norman has been suffering through a season he would like to forget as he’s been battling mechanical woes all season long. Norman finally captured his first win of the season nosing out Rick Lanigan to win the exciting 15-lap $550 to-win Ken Carbone Memorial. “It was by about a foot, foot and a half,” described the New Castle, Pa. winner’s margin of victory. “I tried not to crowd Ricky (Lanigan). If I did, I’m sorry. I’m glad we won to get the monkey off our back. There are a lot of good drivers out there. It was just my night. This feels real good.”
While Norman led every lap, the win was far from easy. He had to fend off Jarrot Moore for much of the race then a late charge by Lanigan, who started sixth. Lanigan got by Moore for second on lap 14. A caution then set up a one-lap shootout. Norman and Lanigan raced nearly side-by-side the entire lap, but Norman had just enough power to inch out the exciting win. Norman’s 13th career win came in the Neely Lumber/Triple-S Auto Sales, Gabany-powered #9N. Lanigan was a career best second over Moore, Shaun Hooks, and 17th starter Doug Iorio giving New Castle, Pa. drivers a sweep of the first five spots. Tim Deutsch, Brian Booher, and Hooks won the heats over the 28-car field. Iorio won the B main.
Terry Faas made it a clean sweep on the night of PCTC Senior Series racing. The Tarentum, Pa. driver won the April 17 fogged-out feature, the heat race, and night’s regularly scheduled 15-lap feature in his #T2. In the first feature, Faas took the lead from Fred Casagni on the opening lap and held him off for his first ever Mercer win. Joe Betz, Joe Yakich, and Sid Haas completed the top five. In the nightcap feature, Faas came from sixth and passed Yakich on lap eight for the win. Don Bauer, Yakich, Casagni, and Betz rounding out the top five.
Curt Bish, Jr. won the wild 12-lap Maurer’s Trading Post “Redneck Racers Shotgun Series” Strictly Stock feature for the fourth time. After destroying a car in a wild flip two weeks ago at Tri-City Speedway, the younger Bish charged from the ninth starting spot and passed both Ronnie Boyd and Randy Ealy for the lead on lap three. Bish pulled away to win by more than a straightaway in his Dennis Baker Construction/Gravett Painting/Deet’s Sugar House-sponsored #00X. Boyd and Carl Feely, Jr. matched career best runs in second and third. Joe Blake was fourth over a career best finish by Paul Reiser. Thirteen cars were on hand.
Luxaire Heating & Cooling Sprint Cars: 1. GARY KRIESS, JR. 2. Jamie Smith 3. Chris Shuttleworth 4. Rob Eyler 5. Jamie Martin 6. Doug Stanley 7. Scott Bonnell 8. Gary Edwards 9. Rod George 10. Jeff Banyas 11. Charlie Holben 12. Jason Dolick 13. Chad Levingston 14. Aaron Shaffer 15. Butch Beasley 16. Cory Good 17. Paul Kish 18. Arnie Kent 19. Rob Kohan 20. Paul Kapuchuck 21. Jeremy Barnard 22. Gale Ruth, Jr.-DNS 23. Mark Murphy-DNS.
Campbell-Peterson Trail & Turf Big-Block Modifieds: 1. DAVE MURDICK 2. Tommy Kristyak 3. Andy Paden 4. Rodney Beltz 5. Carl Weatherby 6. Rick Hall 7. Travis Shingledecker 8. Rob Curtis 9. Carl Murdick 10. Scott Kay 11. Jeremy Paup 12. Rick Kress 13. Lee Miller 14. Howard Duff 15. Joe McEwen 16. Tommy Marshall III 17. Andy Priest 18. John Buchanan 19. Les Myers 20. Jeremiah Shingledecker 21. Kyle Ripper.
Tire Express Sportsman Modifieds: 1. GARY SMOKER 2. Dave Murdick 3. Ron Eperthener, Jr. 4. Steve Toth 5. Jeff Walters 6. Rick Hall 7. Jeff Schaffer 8. Jerry Schaffer 9. Kevin Green 10. Kevin Thompson 11. Terry Young 12. Mike Anderson 13. Jim Thompson 14. Jim Rombold, Jr. 15. Dave Cogswell 16. Alex Anderson 17. Morgan Sasse 18. Mike Turner 19. Rick Ryder 20. Leroy Johnson, Jr. 21. Matt Reeher 22. Pud Welsh 23. John Larkin.
Ken Carbone Memorial Stock Cars: 1. GARY NORMAN ($550) 2. Rick Lanigan 3. Jarrot Moore 4. Shaun Hooks 5. Doug Iorio 6. Chris Brown 7. Gary Johns 8. Tim Deutsch 9. Brian Booher 10. Andy Buckley 11. Bill Lanigan 12. Dave Ferringer 13. Terry Kroner 14. Terry Wheeler 15. Carl Ealy 16. John Reiser 17. Rick Norco 18. Ray Bailey, Jr. 19. Clyde Roberts 20. Andy Thompson 21. Cody Smith 22. Ryan Moyer 23. Gary Tolbert, Jr. 24. Doug Calvert 25. Tim Zuschlag-DNS 26. Matt Cwynar-DNS DNQ: Tony Spaghetti, William Smiley.
Maurer’s Trading Post Strictly Stocks: 1. CURT BISH, JR. 2. Ronnie Boyd 3. Carl Feely, Jr. 4. Joe Blake 5. Paul Reiser 6. Jon Mabry 7. Wearne Cook 8. Curt Bish, Sr. 9. Randy Ealy 10. James Boring 11. Bryan Shaffer 12. Lauren Simmons 13. Jesse DeLoe-DNS.
PCTC Senior Series (4/17/04 make-up): 1. TERRY FAAS 2. Fred Casagni 3. Joe Betz 4. Joe Yakich 5. Sid Haas 6. Darrell Calvert 7. John Muron 8. Don Bauer 9. Ed Moyer 10. Bob McWilliams 11. Terry Wheeler-DNS 12. Harold Reges-DNS 13. Tim Engles-DNS 14. Bob Sloss-DNS 15. William Reges-DNS 16. Tom Knight, Sr.-DNS 17. Ron Spangler-DNS 18. Pat Wilcox-DNS.
PCTC Senior Series: 1. TERRY FAAS 2. Don Bauer 3. Joe Yakich 4. Fred Casagni 5. Joe Betz 6. Darrell Calvert 7. Sid Haas 8. John Muron 9. Ed Moyer 10. Bob McWilliams.