Quarterson wins Triathlon Sprint Series Opener; Crawford wins first at

Mercer in Modifieds

By Mike Leone

May 26, 2001

Mercer (PA)...It was the kickoff to American Thunder Weekend on Saturday

night at Mercer Raceway Park presented by Hunter's Truck Sales & Service.

Four new winners celebrated in the Moore's Auto Body victory lane including

Tom Quarterson-Triathlon Series Luxaire Heating & Cooling Sprint Cars, Joe

Crawford-Bolland Machine Big-Block Modifieds, Rick Ryder-New Castle School

of Trades Sportsman Modifieds, and Russ Kapalin-Butterfield's Pub Stock

Cars.

Tom Quarterson will go down in the history books as the first driver to win

a Triathlon Sprint Car Series event. The West Middlesex, Pa. driver won the

20-lap Luxaire Heating & Cooling event and earned an extra $500 for being

the ERACERS "Cash Chaser" and winning. "I want to thank ERACERS," said

Quarterson, who became the first ERACERS winner. "The track was tacky and

rough and I just went for it."

Jimmy Hawley blasted around Jack Sodeman, Jr. in turn four to lead the

initial lap. Hawley, who appeared to be the man to be, brought out the

initial yellow with two laps completed when his mount came to a rest with a

broken throttle linkage. Sodeman would regain the lead for the restart, but

lost it to Kent on the backstretch of the fourth circuit.

Quarterson started the event from fifth and moved into third on lap four

when he passed Jamie Smith. Heavy traffic came into play on lap seven.

Quarterson used his Mercer experience to get by Sodeman off turn three. Kent

now had a half-straightaway lead on Quarterson. Two red flags, one on lap 11

and the other on lap 15, slowed action. The first was for Ralph Spithaler,

Jr., who got upside down. The second was for Mike Kekich, who went over, and

collected Andy Priest and Gary Kriess, Jr. Everyone was okay, but done for

the night.

When racing resumed, Quarterson made the winning move passing Kent off turn

four to edge him at the start-finish line of lap 16 just before the caution

was displayed for a Todd Bauer spin. Quarterson held off Kent the rest of

the way to become the fifth different winner in five races. The win was

Quarterson's 11th of his career at Mercer, and third in a row following two

straight Sunday night wins at Sportsman's Speedway in the Powell Family's

R&R Engine Rebuilders #27.

"Arnie's a good runner," said the happy winner. "I got past him on the

bottom and I didn't know if I was past him long enough (before the yellow).

They put me in front so I just went up and took his line away in (turn)

one."

While Quarterson and Kent battled for the win, a heated battle took place

from positions third through sixth. Scott Bonnell and Brad Ellenberger both

passed Jamie Smith for fourth and fifth on lap 16, then both disposed of

Sodeman for third and fourth on lap 19. Bonnell and Ellenberger then raced

each other hard for third with Ellenberger, who started 10th, edging

Bonnell, who started 12th. Sodeman and Smith dropped to fifth and sixth.

Completing the top 10 were Jason Jacoby, Tommy Burns, Jr., Mike Kaminski,

and Brian Woodhall. Winning the heats over the 33-car field were Hawley,

Smith, Quarterson, and Kent. Jarod Larson returned from his heat race flip

to win the B main.

Joe Crawford put on a driving clinic to win his first career Mercer win in

the 20-lap Bolland Machine Big-Block Modified Feature. "This feels great-

praise the Lord," said the jubilant Polk, Pa. driver in victory lane.

Steve Young took the early lead from the pole position as Carl Murdick and

Scott Gurdak followed in second and third. Crawford started from sixth and

used the outside to race to the front. He passed both Les Myers and Lonny

Riggs for fourth on lap four. Three laps later he drove around Gurdak for

third.

With the laps ticking off, Crawford caught Murdick and made the pass for

runner-up on lap nine. Young had a straightaway lead built by the time

Crawford was in second. Myers, who started seventh, was now on the move. He

passed Murdick for second on lap 10, and caught back up to Crawford as the

two both ran down Young.

On lap 15, Myers got back around Crawford, and then took over the lead from

Young on lap 16 racing off the inside of turn four. Crawford blasted around

Young for second on lap 18 as it was a great three-car race. Crawford, who

crashed in the lead on the next to last lap on May 12, wasn't going to let

this one slip away. On the final turn of the last lap with traffic in the

mix, Crawford drove by Myers to win by less than one-half car-length. "I

want to thank Les for running me clean," said the winner. "If it wasn't for

the lapped traffic, I wouldn't have got him."

Crawford became the seventh different winner in eight features this season

driving his parent's-owned, Fletcher's Artic Cat/Schiffer

Excavating-sponsored #25. The event went non-stop in 6:08.65. Young's third

was his best finish of the year. Riggs was fourth over Rodney Beltz. Sixth

through tenth were Gurdak, Frank Guidace, Carl Murdick, Dean Pearson, and

Rob Curtis. Heat victors over the 21-car field were Pearson and Gurdak.

Rick Ryder won his first 20-lap New Castle School of Trades Sportsman

Modified feature. The Gibsonia, Pa. driver took the lead from Leroy Johnson,

Jr. on lap one and led all of the way for his second career win in the

Attorney Suzanne Woodings #18. The win ended a rough season for Ryder, who

recorded his first top 10 since opening night. Andy Priest came from 23rd to

second and challenged Ryder. The two made contact on lap 13, with Priest

coming to rest on lap 14. Bill Adams, who started ninth, passed Fred Sasse

on lap 14 to finish second. Last week's winner, John Buchanan, came from

12th to place third over Chanda Reitz and Ron Eperthener, Jr. in his first

start. Al Priester and Buchanan won the heats over 23-car field.

Russ Kapalin was a happy driver after winning his first career Mercer win in

the 15-lap Butterfield's Pub Stock Car event. The Jefferson, Ohio driver

became the sixth different stock winner in six races this season and the

first ever to win with just a spec-358 engine. Kapalin jumped into the lead

from the pole position, while the race was on behind him. Mike Aley used the

outside to pass Greg Beach for third on lap three, then Brian Miller for

second on lap six.

At the halfway mark, Kapalin had a half-straightaway lead built up. Aley

began to erase Kapalin's lead and really closed in on him on lap 12. The two

were nearly side-by-side on the final lap in traffic, but the race was

halted when Dave Ferringer got upside down. He was okay. The one-lap

shootout saw Aley take the lead momentarily in search of his first career

win, but Kapalin got on the outside coming off turn four and had enough

momentum to take the checkers first in his #R40. Last week's winner, Bobby

Whitling, passed Willie Aley on lap 12 to finish third. Willie dropped to

fourth over Gary Robinson. Claiming the heat wins over the 36-car field were

Mike Aley, Kapalin, and Miller. Kevin Thompson won the B main.

Triathlon Series Luxaire Heating & Cooling Sprint Cars: 1. TOM QUARTERSON 2.

Arnie Kent 3. Brad Ellenberger 4. Scott Bonnell 5. Jack Sodeman, Jr. 6.

Jamie Smith 7. Jason Jacoby 8. Tommy Burns, Jr. 9. Mike Kaminski 10. Brian

Woodhull 11. Skip Dougherty 12. Mark Spence 13. John Toth III 14. Nathan

Hines 15. Jeff Weaver 16. Todd Bauer 17. Charlie Holben 18. Mike Kekich 19.

Gary Kriess, Jr. 20. Andy Priest 21. Ralph Spithaler, Jr. 22. Bob Whitacre

23. Jimmy Hawley 24. Jarod Larson DNQ-Deana Barbara, Sheila Rankin,Gary McCollum, Rob

Eyler, Troy Preston, Scott Priester, Gregg McCandless, Gary Rankin, Butch

Beasley.

Bolland Machine Big-Block Modifieds: 1. JOE CRAWFORD 2. Les Myers 3. Steve

Young 4. Lonny Riggs 5. Rodney Beltz 6. Scott Gurdak 7. Frank Guidace 8.

Carl Murdick 9. Dean Pearson 10. Rob Curtis 11. Don McKnight 12. Nick

Ritchey 13. Rick Hall 14. Rich Ferguson 15. Rick Kress 16. Red Fordyce 17.

Dave Reges 18. Carl Weatherby 19. George Davis 20. Gary Risch, Jr.-DNS 21.

Dave Harbaugh-DNS.

New Castle School of Trades Sportsman Modifieds: 1. RICK RYDER 2. Bill Adams

3. John Buchanan 4. Chanda Reitz 5. Ron Eperthener, Jr. 6. Al Priester 7.

Steve Young 8. Dean Pearson 9. Andy Paden 10. Dave Coggswell 11. Zack Moran

12. Jerry Schaffer 13. Rick Hall 14. Fred Sasse 15. Morgan Sasse 16. Randy

Rodemoyer 17. Andy Priest 18. Gary Bollinger 19. Greg Unrue 20. Allen Ferry

21. Brad Watson 22. Curt Matthews 23. Leroy Johnson, Jr.

Butterfield's Pub Stock Cars: 1. RUSS KAPALIN 2. Mike Aley 3. Bobby Whitling

4. Willie Aley 5. Gary Robinson 6. Andy Buckley 7. Bill Hanna 8. Gary

Miller, Jr. 9. Rusty Moore 10. Jim Brunson 11. Shaun Hooks 12. Rick Anthony

13. Kevin Thompson 14. Greg Beach 15. Dave Lewis, Sr. 16. Jeff Kravec 17.

Lonnie O'Brien 18. Brian Miller 19. Rick Norco 20. Bob Hays 21. Ray Bailey,

Jr. 22. Dave Ferringer 23. Mark Felicetty 24. Dan Fedorchak 25. Lynn

Hostetler-DNS DNQ-Terry Kroner, Ron Ehrman, Earl Snyder, Robert Caszatt,

Jr., Adam Aley, Erick Cwynar, Donny Baughman, Ed Hays, Andy Thompson, Keith

Nagy, Jim Miller.