Three in a row for Hawley in Sprints; Beltz wins first of the season in Mercer Modifieds
By Mike Leone
August 11, 2001
Mercer (PA)...As the summer continues to wind down, Mercer Raceway Park completed its 16th racing program of the season Saturday night. Picking up wins and celebrating in the Moore’s Auto Body victory lane were Jimmy Hawley-Luxaire Heating & Cooling Sprint Cars, Rodney Beltz-Bolland Machine Big-Block Modifieds, Andy Priest-New Castle School of Trades Sportsman Modifieds, and Andy Buckley-Butterfield’s Pub Stock Cars.
It was Dean Dairy Corp. Night and they gave out free Milk Chugs to the fans along with giving away t-shirts and hats. It was the last McElwain Family of Dealerships "Meet Your Hero" Night as the Sprint Cars signed autographs and met the fans behind the grandstands prior to racing. McElwains gave out another four-pack of tickets to a Pittsburgh Pirates game at the new PNC Park. Kids also participated in bike races for the second time this season.
Jimmy Hawley is on a roll in western Pa. Sprint Car action. Hawley followed his seventh win at Lernerville Speedway on Friday night by winning his third straight 20-lap Luxaire Heating & Cooling feature. "My crew gave me a completely different race car than what we had over the weekend," said the West Middlesex, Pa. driver after dedicating the win to Brad "Squeak" Smith, a Mike Kekich crew member, who passed away during the week. "I think we really found something that we like."
Bob Whitacre took the early lead with Goob Schuller taking second from Randy Kriegisch on the opening lap. Action got halted with one lap completed when Jason Jacoby got upside down and collected Mark Murphy and Brian Woodhall. Only Woodhall would continue as all drivers were okay.
When racing resumed, Whitacre and Schuller battled over the next four laps until Schuller got the advantage on lap five. On lap seven, both Kriegisch and McCollum moved into second and third past Whitacre. Hawley, who started 11th, moved into contention on lap nine taking fourth from Whitacre. Whitacre’s run came to an end on lap 10 when he tangled with another car and got upside down on the frontstretch. He was okay, but done for the night.
The red flag erased Schuller’s straightaway lead over Kriegisch and was just what Hawley needed. When green replaced yellow, Hawley blasted around both McCollum and Kriegisch in turns one and two for second and McCollum got ahead of Kriegisch for third. Hawley made the winning move on lap 12 going around Schuller on the outside off turn four.
Once in front, Hawley pulled away for his fifth Mercer win of the year and 26th of his career in the Dr. John and Debbie Crawford-owned, Mihalcak Motorsports #cIII. Schuller held on for a career best 410 finish in second. "Goob (Schuller) is going to be a great racer," said Hawley. "He’s got good equipment. I think the only thing I did any different was go up a little bit higher. When he gets a lot more laps under his belt he’ll be doing the same thing."
Point leader Tom Quarterson moved through the field late in the race passing Kriegisch for fifth on lap 13, Kekich for fourth on lap 18, then got third from McCollum on lap 19. McCollum dropped to fourth for his first top five since 1998. Kekich was fifth. Completing the top 10 were Rob Eyler, Arnie Kent, Jack Sodeman, Jr. from 19th, New York’s Mike Woodring, and Gary Edwards. Kekich and Hawley won the heats over the 22-car field.
Rodney Beltz endured a caution-plagued 20-lap Bolland Machine Big-Block Modified event and the challenges of Tim Doran for his first win since May 19, 1999. "Timmy (Doran) runs good," said the Ellwood City, Pa. racer from victory lane. "He’s good to run with without any bumping and banging. It was a good race. We haven’t had the car hooked up, but we got it hooked up tonight."
Carl Murdick led lap one before spinning off turn four on the second lap giving the lead to Dean Pearson and moving Beltz, who started sixth, into second. Doran, who started 12th, entered the picture on lap five taking third away from rookie Nick Ritchey following another caution for Murdick. Beltz gained the lead on lap five when he went around Pearson off turn four. Pearson pitted under the caution period for Don McKnight moving Beltz up to second with five laps completed.
The last 15 laps saw Beltz and Doran race hard for the win running side-by-side for numerous laps. Doran would actually lead lap nine, before Beltz nosed back ahead to lead the rest of the way to win by less than a car-length over Doran. The win was Beltz’s fifth big-block win of his career at Mercer driving his McElwains/KD Machine-sponsored #64.
Doran’s streak of three straight wins and five wins in the past six events was ended. Point leader Lou Blaney came from twenty-fourth to pass Lonny Riggs for third on lap 14. Riggs dropped to fourth over Jeff Schaffer. Rounding out the top 10 were Steve Young, Guy Griffin, Pearson, John Boyer, Jr., and Bob Dorman. Heat victors over the 24-car field were McKnight, Rob Curtis, and Dorman.
Andy Priest of New Castle, Pa. became the track’s top winner of the season by recording his sixth 20-lap New Castle School of Trades Sportsman Modified win. The win was also Priest’s 11th overall sportsman win of the year- tops for the division. Rick Ryder led the opening lap before John Buchanan took command on lap two. Priest, who started 11th, charged through the field taking third from Ryder on lap four. A caution with four laps completed bunched up the field. On the restart, Priest passed Chanda Reitz and then Buchanan on the inside of turn two for the lead. Priest held off Buchanan the rest of the way in the Ted Hull-owned, Bossard-Crawford Chevrolet/MPR Lumber-sponsored #41 for his 25th of his career Mercer sportsman win. Al Priester came from ninth to record a career best third. Bill Adams was fourth over Andy Paden. Scoring heat race wins over the 22-car field were Buchanan and Priest.
Point leader Andy Buckley of Stoneboro, Pa. continued his outstanding career best season by capturing his fourth 15-lap Butterfield’s Pub Stock Car feature win. Brian Miller led the first two laps before Dave Ferringer came from seventh to take the lead on lap three. Ferringer held down the top spot until Miller regained the lead following a restart with six laps completed. Buckley, who was handicapped to the 12th starting spot, entered the battle on lap 11 getting around both Russ Kapalin and Ferringer for runner-up using the outside. Buckley caught Miller with the two-to-go signal given by the flagman and made the winning move coming off four on the outside with the white flag waving. Buckley held off Miller for his sixth career Mercer win in his Hapeman Electronics/Arctic Cat-sponsored #965. Third through fifth were Ferringer, Kapalin, and Shaun Hooks, who started 18th. Scoring heat race wins over the 37-car field were Buckley, Kapalin, Bill Hanna, and Ferringer. Greg Beach and Hooks won the two B mains.
Luxaire Heating & Cooling Sprint Cars: 1. JIMMY HAWLEY 2. Goob Schuller 3. Tom Quarterson 4. Gary McCollum 5. Mike Kekich 6. Rob Eyler 7. Arnie Kent 8. Jack Sodeman, Jr. 9. Mike Woodring 10. Gary Edwards 11. Randy Kriegisch 12. Brian Woodhall 13. Troy Preston 14. Dave Wagner 15. Gregg McCandless 16. Joe Laugherty, Jr. 17. Butch Beasley 18. Jeff Kasbee 19. Bob Whitacre 20. Jason Jacoby 21. Mark Murphy 22. Chris Matthews-DNS.
Bolland Machine Big-Block Modifieds: 1. RODNEY BELTZ 2. Tim Doran 3. Lou Blaney 4. Lonny Riggs 5. Jeff Schaffer 6. Steve Young 7. Guy Griffin 8. Dean Pearson 9. John Boyer, Jr. 10. Bob Dorman 11. Nick Ritchey 12. Rick Kress 13. Rob Curtis 14. Carl Murdick 15. Adam Siegel 16. Randy Ferguson 17. Dana Gearhart 18. Don McKnight 19. Lee Miller 20. Howard Duff 21. Les Myers 22. Rich Ferguson 23. Carl Weatherby-DSQ 24. Dave Reges-DSQ.
New Castle School of Trades Sportsman Modifieds: 1. ANDY PRIEST 2. John Buchanan 3. Al Priester 4. Bill Adams 5. Andy Paden 6. D.J. Schrader 7. Rick Hall 8. Rick Ryder 9. Jay Priest 10. John Jones 11. Brad Watson 12. Randy Rodemoyer 13. Jerry Schaffer 14. Morgan Sasse 15. Steve Young 16. Dave Cogswell 17. Chanda Reitz 18. Allen Ferry 19. Gary Smoker 20. Fred Sasse 21. Greg Unrue 22. Leroy Johnson, Jr.-DNS.
Butterfield’s Pub Stock Cars: 1. ANDY BUCKLEY 2. Brian Miller 3. Dave Ferringer 4. Russ Kapalin 5. Shaun Hooks 6. Bill Hanna 7. Jim Davis 8. Kevin Thompson 9. Jarrot Moore 10. Jim Miller 11. Willie Aley 12. Duane Grinnell 13. Dan Fedorchak 14. Rick Anthony 15. Terry Kroner 16. Phil Kaufman 17. Greg Beach 18. Gary Miller, Jr. 19. Gary Norman 20. Rick Norco 21. Gary Robinson 22. Keith Nagy 23. Corey Ruffo 24. Mike Aley DNQ-J.R. Brown, Ed Hays, Dean Sherbondy, Erick Cwynar, Mark Covert, Lonnie O’Brien, Jeff Kravec, Ray Bailey, Jr., Andy Thompson, Lynn Preston, Robert Caszatt, Jr., William George, Sr., Tim Deutsch.