DORAN WAITS OUT RAIN TO WIN BIG-BLOCK MOD FEATURE AT MERCER; SMITH HANDED FOG-SHORTENED SPRINT CAR FEATURE WIN ; REMAINING FEATU
Sat, Apr 17, 2004 -- Saturday Night Live
Written by: Mike Leone
Mercer Raceway Park fought Mother Nature Saturday night, but in the end it was the fog taking the final checkered flag of the night. One hundred forty-four cars waited out a two and half hour rain delay before Tim Doran won the Campbell-Peterson Trail & Turf Big-Block Modifieds and Jamie Smith was credited with the fog-shortened Luxaire Heating & Cooling Sprint Car feature win.
The Stock Car and Strictly Stock features will be made up this coming Saturday, April 24. The Tire Express Sportsman Modifieds will run their make-up feature on May 1 pending the completion of the April 24 program. Plans for the Pittsburgh Circle Track Club Senior Series will be announced.
After struggling with mechanical woes on opening night, Tim Doran put it all together in an impressive fashion winning in the 20-lap Campbell-Peterson Trail & Turf Big-Block Modified feature. The win was the New Castle, Pa. driver’s 25th of his career in big-block competition at Mercer.
Doran raced into the lead at the start with Rob Curtis taking second from Steve Young. Sixth starter Rodney Beltz and ninth starter Lonny Riggs made their way to fourth and fifth on lap eight taking the spots away from Sportsman Modified graduate Andy Paden. One lap later, Riggs and Andy Priest drove by Beltz for fourth and fifth.
While Doran continued to hold off Curtis, the action was hot and heavy behind with Riggs moving up to third on lap 10 after getting by Young. Riggs would bring out the caution with 10 laps completed. Just before action was set to resume, Curtis pitted with a tire losing air ending his career best run. With Riggs and Curtis out of the lineup, Young moved back to second with Priest up to third.
When racing resumed, Priest made an inside move on Young to grab the second spot at the start-finish line. Rob Kristyak and Beltz dropped Young back to fourth with passes on laps 13 and 14 respectively. With five laps to go, Doran and Priest pulled away from the field. On lap 16, Doran caught lapped traffic and Priest was right on the leader’s back bumper. Coming down for three laps to go, Priest nearly got under Doran while he was negotiating lapped traffic. The two made contact with Priest getting sideways just past the starter’s stand. Just when Priest got regrouped, he nearly spun out in turns one and two on lap 18. This allowed Rob Kristyak and Beltz to take over second and third.
By now, Doran stretched out a commanding lead and took the checkered flag first by a margin of almost a half-lap. The win was Doran’s first since June 21 of last season in his Richard Smith Construction-sponsored #12. After starting 13th, Rob Kristyak took second for a career best big-block finish on the circuit and best finish since winning a Sportsman Modified feature on August 14, 1999. Beltz was third over 14th starter Tommy Kristyak and Young. Completing the top 10 were Carl Weatherby, Chanda Reitz, Skip Moore, Priest, and Carl Murdick. Heat winners over the 29-car field were Paden, Weatherby, and Riggs. Dean Pearson won the B main.
Jack Sodeman, Jr. appeared primed to win his first career Mercer feature. Last week a flat tire before the start of the Sprint Car feature ending his night, this week his bad luck continued when he jumped Butch Beasley’s wheel sending his #23Jr barrel-rolling through turns three and four. Under the red flag, the fog that had been trying to work in for the last hour set in and the scheduled 20-lap Luxaire Heating & Cooling feature was checkered with a shortened 12-lap win going to Jamie Smith.
Sodeman got off to a great start from the pole position with Smith in tow. Sodeman began dealing with lapped traffic on lap five, but a spin by Indiana’s Cameron Dodson slowed action with five laps completed. When racing resumed, Jimmy Weller III, Rob Eyler, and Ohio invader George Hawkins tangled in turn one with Weller tipping over. All three drivers would resume the race.
Sodeman took off on the restart and jumped out to a sizable lead thanks to three lapped cars that separated himself from Smith. The second generation racer caught traffic again on lap nine and by lap 10 had opened up a straightaway lead over Smith. Meanwhile, Jason Dolick was all over Gary Edwards as the two put on a great race for third.
With a fast track and Sodeman locked down, it appeared nothing was going to stop the youngster from an impressive win. Then the disaster struck on lap 13, which sent Sodeman into violent series off flips. Luckily Sodeman was okay.
The thick fog quickly engulfed the track on the down time and at that point the decision was made to cancel the remainder of the program. Smith was credited with his first win of the season and his 27th of his career at Mercer in his American Agip/NAPA Auto Parts/Alternative Power Sources-sponsored #5. Gary Edwards brought the Jeff Rudzik-owned #94 360-powered sprint home in second matching his best finish since a runner-up on July 8, 2000. Ohio’s Jason Dolick and New York’s Chris Shuttleworth gave 360 cubic-inch cars three of the top four spots. Rod George was fifth. Rounding out the top 10 were Scott Bonnell, Arnie Kent, Jeff Banyas, Mike Shearer, and Doug Stanley. Scoring heat race wins over the 29-car field were George, Dolick, and Sodeman.
In the Tire Express Sportsman Modifieds, Rick Hall, Gary Smoker, and Jeff Schaffer won heat race action over the 25-car field. Stock Car heats fell to Rusty Moore, Rick Lanigan, and Brian Booher over the 34 cars, while Rick Norco won the B main. A record field of 18 Pittsburgh Circle Track Club Senior Series contested two heats with Joe Yakich and William Reges winning the heats. The “Redneck Racers Shotgun Series” for Strictly Stocks saw their car count grow from four to nine this week.
Luxaire Heating & Cooling Sprint Cars: 1. JAMIE SMITH 2. Gary Edwards 3. Jason Dolick 4. Chris Shuttleworth 5. Rod George 6. Scott Bonnell 7. Arnie Kent 8. Jeff Banyas 9. Mike Shearer 10. Doug Stanley 11. Cameron Dodson 12. George Hawkins 13. Jack Sodeman, Jr. 14. Chad Levingston 15. Rob Eyler 16. Todd McQuillen 17. Nick Mulheim 18. Jimmy Weller III 19. Brad Knab 20. Vaughn Nystrom 21. Butch Beasley 22. Jerry Yoder 23. Paul Kapuchuck 24. Chris Matthews 25. Randy Kriegisch-DNS 26. Jeremy Cook-DNS 27. Scott Groves-DNS 28. Ralph Spithaler, Jr.-DNS 29. Gary Kriess, Jr.-DNS.
Campbell-Peterson Trail & Turf Big-Block Modifieds: 1. TIM DORAN 2. Rob Kristyak 3. Rodney Beltz 4. Tommy Kristyak 5. Steve Young 6. Carl Weatherby 7. Chanda Reitz 8. Skip Moore 9. Andy Priest 10. Carl Murdick 11. Rick Hall 12. Jeremy Paup 13. Tommy Marshall III 14. Lee Miller 15. Rick Kress 16. Jeff Baker 17. Andy Paden 18. Rob Curtis 19. Lonny Riggs 20. Frank Guidace 21. Greg Unrue, Jr. 22. Dave Murdick 23. Dean Pearson 24. Steve Barr DNQ: Travis Shingledecker, Terry Young, Dave Schrader, Jeremiah Shingledecker, Garrett Krummert.