SMITH’S NON-STOP RUN EARNS $2,500 URC 360 SPRINT ACCOLADES; DORAN RETURNS TO WIN BIG-BLOCK MODS; BUCKLEY WINS #3 IN STOCKS; BISH, SR. CHALKS UP 9TH STRICTLY STOCK WIN AT MERCER
July 3, 2004
Mercer, PA… Mercer Raceway Park hosted the third annual “Wheelman” URC 360 Summer Nationals on Saturday night presented by Armstrong Zoom Cable Internet Service. The event was carried live to over 220,000 cable subscribers throughout western Pa. Celebrating with big wins in the McClung Auto Body victory lane were Jamie Smith-Moore CDL Driving Academy URC 360 Sprint Cars, Tim Doran-Campbell-Peterson Trail & Turf Big-Block Modifieds, Andy Buckley-Stock Cars, and Curt Bish, Sr.-Maurer’s Trading Post Strictly Stocks. Andy Bordt of Sewickley, Pa. won the “Gladiator Series” Demolition Derby.
Jamie Smith brought out “old faithful”- an 11-year old car and used a leased motor from Victory Engines to top the East Coast and Midwest’s top 360 Sprint Cars in the non-stop 25-lap $2,500 to-win URC feature timed in 6:37.15. “It’s something running green-to-checkered like that,” stated the Sewickley, Pa. 410 Sprint Car point leader. “This car has set in my garage for two years as a spare. It’s always been a good car. I can’t tell you how many races I’ve won with it. We did some adjusting and it was real good for the feature and she won another one.”
Smith raced into the lead from the pole position while Scott Bonnell raced by Trevor Lewis and Kramer Williamson for second on the opening lap. Bonnell caught Smith and the two local racers went at it between laps two through six with Smith on top and Bonnell on the bottom. Finally on lap seven, Bonnell had enough momentum off the bottom of turn three to take over the top spot.
By lap nine, Williamson joined in on the fray making it a three-car race for the lead. Laps 10 and 11 saw Smith challenge Bonnell and the two resumed their battle for the lead racing side-by-side. Smith retook the lead with the winning move on lap 11 going under Bonnell in turn two.
By the halfway point, Smith began to open up some ground on the rest of the field, while the battle really heated up for second as Bonnell fought off the challenges of Williamson, Lewis, and Darren Long. Lewis finally cleared Williamson for third on the backstretch of lap 20. Lewis then was all over Bonnell on the 21st circuit before taking runner-up on lap 22. By the time Lewis got to second, Smith had built up a straightaway lead, which he maintained as he took the checkered flag first for his first ever Mercer 360 win.
“We kind of lucked out starting up front,” acknowledged Smith following his third victory of the year and 29th of his career at Mercer in his American Agip/NAPA Auto Parts/Alternative Power Sources-sponsored #5. “We timed ninth fastest and I thought we could have done a little better than that. I knew they were inverting the top six times and three guys didn’t qualify through their heats so that moved us up to the front. I’m used to starting 12th and back in the middle with the handicapping so I wasn’t sure if I knew how to do it from up here.”
Lewis, who was making his first ever Mercer appearance, brought the Fred Kennedy/Bill Turpin-owned #56 home in second in the same car that won the inaugural “Wheelman” driven by Chris Coyle. Bonnell was a strong third ahead of Randy West and Williamson. Sixth through tenth were URC point leader Curt Michael, NRA top runner Darren Long, former Wayne County Speedway Champion Duffy Smith, former URC Champion Sean Michael, and current Mercer 360 point leader Jason Dolick. Nineteen of the twenty-three finishing cars were on the lead lap. West broke the track record in time trials with a lap of 14.315 and earned $225. Heat winners over the 39-car field were Dolick, Bill Brian, Jr., Midge Miller, Jeff Banyas, and Curt Michael. Aaron Shaffer won the C main and Kevin Welsh won the B main.
Tim Doran returned after a two-week absence to win his second race of the year in the 25-lap $1,500 to-win Campbell-Peterson Trail & Turf Big-Block Modified feature. “This makes up for a couple weeks ago when I screwed up on a restart and let (Tommy) Kristyak beat me,” revealed the New Castle, Pa. winner. “He’s tough and there’s no shame in losing to someone as good as he is. I’m glad to win this one here tonight. The car shut off coming down for the checkered. I don’t know if it’s out of fuel or electrical.”
Doran got off to a great start as he maneuvered his way past John Buchanan and pole-sitter Dave Murdick for the lead on the opening lap. Murdick settled into second, while eighth starter Andy Priest moved ahead of Buchanan and Kristyak for third on lap two.
By lap five, Doran began to pull away while Murdick was trying to fend off Priest, Kristyak, and Rob Curtis. Kristyak slipped past Priest for third on lap eight then drove by Murdick down the backstretch for runner-up on lap 10. Kristyak was able to get under Doran on lap 13, but Doran was able to hold the lead. The two then raced side-by-side between cautions that slowed action with 14 laps and 18 laps completed.
The last seven laps went green-to-checkered as Doran wasn’t seriously challenged for his 26th career win in his Richard Smith Construction-sponsored #12. “Our car works better on the top and I feel better there,” described Doran in front of the television cameras after missing the last two weeks due to an illness last Saturday and tow rig problems the week prior. “The track was perfect tonight. If it was like this every night I’d be a happy person. It was good from top-to-bottom. I’m sure Kristyak was able to get a good bite on the bottom.”
Kristyak meanwhile fought off the challenge by Murdick over the last five laps to finish second and maintained his point lead. Priest edged Curtis for fourth. Completing the top 10 were Jeremiah Shingledecker, Tommy Marshall III, Carl Weatherby, Rodney Beltz, and Jeremy Paup. Topping the heat races over the 26-car field were Buchanan, Marshall, and Priest.
After winning two of the season’s first three features, Andy Buckley was shut out of victory lane for nearly three months. That all changed Saturday as the former track champion went wire-to-wire leading all 20 laps of the $600 to-win feature. “The field of cars here is incredible,” expressed the Stoneboro, Pa. winner. “I race a lot of places and you can’t go anywhere where there is this many good cars, so position is everything.”
Buckley took over the helm from pole-sitter Chris Brown on the first lap. Shaun Hooks, Terry Kroner, and Chris Brown swapped positions two through four back and forth for the majority of the event. Following a restart with 16 laps completed, Kroner was able to get back by Brown and Hooks for second. Meanwhile, Buckley was never challenged up front as he cruised to his 16th career win in his MPR Lumber/Kristyak’s Korner-sponsored #965 moving him into sole possession of second place on the all-time Stock Car win list 14 behind Alan Dellinger.
After scoring a runner-up in the make-up feature and his first career win on April 24, Kroner suffered through a string of bad luck, but that ended Saturday with a strong second place finish. Gary Norman passed John Reiser and Hooks on the final lap to place third. Reiser was fourth over a slowing Hooks. Heat winners over the 21-car field were Norman and Brian Booher.
Curt Bish, Sr. of Titusville, Pa. made it three-in-a-row and nine on the season with the victory in the 12-lap Maurer’s Trading Post “Redneck Racers Shotgun Series” Strictly Stock feature. While the wins are seemingly getting tougher every week, Bish still managed to come from his 11th starting spot to keep the Bish Family a perfect 12-for-12. For the second week in a row, Bryan Shaffer looked like he was going to upset the Bish’s, but on lap seven got sideways down the backstretch again as did runner-up Travis Norman. This allowed Curt Bish, Jr. and Sr. to go by for first and second. The elder of the Bishs made his winning move on lap nine taking the lead from his boy to capture the win in his Dennis Baker Construction/A&C Buffet-sponsored #00. Bish, Jr. was second. Ronnie Boyd edged Norman for third. Randy Ealy was fifth. Twelve cars were on hand.
Moore CDL Driving Academy URC 360 Sprints (25 laps): 1. JAMIE SMITH ($2,500) 2. Trevor Lewis 3. Scott Bonnell 4. Randy West 5. Kramer Williamson 6. Curt Michael 7. Darren Long 8. Duffy Smith 9. Sean Michael 10. Jason Dolick 11. Dave McGough 12. Arnie Kent 13. Kevin Welsh 14. Gary Edwards 15. Chris Shuttleworth 16. Jeff Banyas 17. Ed Aikin 18. J.R. Stewart 19. Bill Brian, Jr. 20. Gary Gollub 21. Chris Matthews 22. Tim Hogue 23. Scott Purcell 24. Brian Seidel 25. Midge Miller DNQ: Doug Stanley, Josh Weller, Nick Mulheim, Jamie Martin, Jason Clauss, Cliff Brian, Jeremy Cook, Ashley Parlett, Aaron Shaffer, Vaughn Nystrom, Jerry Yoder, Nick Patterson, Barney Westler, Kyle Purks.
Campbell-Peterson Trail & Turf Big-Block Modifieds (25 laps): 1. TIM DORAN ($1,500) 2. Tommy Kristyak 3. Dave Murdick 4. Andy Priest 5. Rob Curtis 6. Jeremiah Shingledecker 7. Tommy Marshall III 8. Carl Weatherby 9. Rodney Beltz 10. Jeremy Paup 11. Rick Hall 12. Carl Murdick 13. John Buchanan 14. Scott Kay 15. Dave Reges 16. Travis Shingledecker 17. Lee Miller 18. Les Myers 19. Adam Siegel 20. John Larkin 21. Joe McEwen 22. Adam Kozar 23. Rick Kress 24. Jeff Baker 25. Leonard Baker, Jr.-DNS 26. Adam Paden-DNS.
Stock Cars (20 laps): 1. ANDY BUCKLEY ($600) 2. Terry Kroner 3. Gary Norman 4. John Reiser 5. Shaun Hooks 6. Bill Lanigan 7. Chris Brown 8. Brian Booher 9. Terry Wheeler 10. Carl Ealy 11. Bobby Whitling 12. Cody Smith 13. Andy Thompson 14. Doug Iorio 15. Rick Norco 16. Joe Updegraff 17. Gary Johns 18. Ryan Moyer 19. Tim Deutsch 20. Jarrot Moore 21. Clyde Roberts-DNS.
Maurer’s Trading Post Strictly Stocks (12 laps): 1. CURT BISH, SR. 2. Curt Bish, Jr. 3. Ronnie Boyd 4. Travis Norman 5. Randy Ealy 6. Earl Snyder 7. Paul Reiser 8. Bryan Shaffer 9. Chad Myers 10. Jon Mabry 11. Wearne Cook 12. Lauren Simmons.