Hawley Again in Sprints,

Doran Wins First in

Mercer Modified Action

by Mike Leone

June 19, 1999

Mercer (PA)...Jimmy Hawley (Waste Management Sprint Cars) and Tim Doran (MercerPros.com DIRT Modifieds) were the big winners Saturday evening at Mercer Raceway Park. Other drivers celebrating wins were Lou Gentile (Miller Lite/Amsoil Six-Cylinder Modifieds), Jeremiah Shingledecker (Quaker Steak & Lube West-Penn Limited Modifieds), and Gary Robinson (Butterfield’s Pub Pure Stocks).

For the second straight week, Jimmy Hawley came from the eighth starting position to win the 20-lap Waste Management Sprint Car Feature. Just one night after destroying a car at Lernerville Speedway in a nasty flip, Hawley came back to record his ninth overall win of the season beating a 23-car field which featured cars from four states. "Luckily we good enough tonight. We’ve got some things to straighten out on those race cars. We just picked up a motor from Kriner’s on Thursday and that’s what’s in there. It worked pretty good, but there are a few more things we need to change to make it better," said the West Middlesex, Pa. driver.

Joe McEwen jumped into the early lead from the outside pole, while Tommy Burns, Jr. passed Mike Kekich, Mike Marano II, and Terry Young to move into third on the start. Burns continued his march to the front grabbing second from Edwards on lap three, while Hawley entered the picture passing Young for fourth. Edwards’ car slowed on lap four moving Hawley up one more spot into third. Hawley ran down Burns and made the pass for runner-up on lap eight.

McEwen continued to pace the field in search of his first career 410 Sprint win driving a nice race through lap traffic, while Hawley closed as the laps ticked off. On lap 14, McEwen came off turn two on the inside and was slowed by central Ohio’s Tim Kern, allowing Hawley to blast by on the outside and never looked back. "Joe (McEwen) had a nice line to run and we were just waiting our time to get a good run on him and luckily we got into traffic and everything worked out pretty good for us. Lap cars can really slow you up and they can also help you. It just depends where you’re at," said the driver of the Dr. John Crawford Family Practice/Mihalcak Motorsports sponsored #cIII owned by John and Debbie Crawford from victory lane.

While Hawley set sail and checked out, positions two and on back were being hotly contested. Troy Preston, who started 16th, may have been the fastest car on the track. Preston passed Burns for third on lap 17 and then slid by McEwen for second on lap 19 using the inside of the track. Preston was a straightaway behind Hawley in his best finish of the year. Jamie Smith was third after passing McEwen for the position on lap 19. McEwen and Burns fell to fourth and fifth. Mike Kekich was sixth and kept his string top tens going as he is the only driver with a perfect eight for eight. Scott Bonnell came from 15th to finish seventh in only his third start of the year. Arnie Kent was eighth with New York’s Mike Woodring ninth, and Staple Nash 10th. Ronnie Myers made his first ever visit in the Pete Smith #1 from West Virginia and finished 11th. Gary Kriess, Jr., Burns, and Hawley won the heats.

Tim Doran won the thrilling 20-lap MercerPros.com DIRT Modified Feature sliding home sideways to win the wild race. Better known as "Mr. Outside" to Sharon Speedway fans. The defending back-to-back Sharon champion almost turned Mercer into a half-mile using every inch of the top side of the track to secure his first win at Mercer since June 14, 1997. "I tried the inside early and I just couldn’t get going. I just figured I’d stick it on the outside and see what happens and I hit the fence at least once," said Doran. The first 11 laps ran non-stop with Lonny Riggs, Carl Murdick, and Doran running one, two, and three. Then three separate incidents occurred on the 12th lap. The first was for Rick Hall, who lost the rear end while running fourth. The second was for a spin by Jim Reagle. And the third was for Carl Murdick, who got tore up as he along with Riggs, Doran, Blaney, and Steve Young were all going for the lead coming off turn four. Murdick was done for the night, Riggs and Young both pitted and returned giving the lead to Doran with Blaney second and Guy Griffin third.

When racing resumed, Blaney used the inside to pull even with Doran and edged ahead to lead his only lap on the 12th circuit. But the following lap, Doran had enough run off the outside to regain the lead. As the laps wound down, Doran slowly opened up his lead and appeared to be headed for the win. Then on the final lap, Jerry Bickel slowed going into turn three. Doran was using his typical outside lane and had to quickly shoot to the inside. Bickel went low as well and Doran hooked on his rear bumper coming off turn four. Bickel pulled Doran down the frontstretch as Doran finally shook free sliding across sideways and spinning out just past the flag stand to edge Blaney by about a car-length to become the seventh different winner in eight races. "We didn’t have enough gear in it tonight. I was really hard getting off the corner. I got caught on his (Bickel) bumper and I just couldn’t get away from him. I thought I was going to lose it. We got lucky," said the happy New Castle, Pa. driver from victory lane in his Richard Smith Construction/Book & Book Well Drilling #12. Griffin was third for the third time in the past four weeks. Jeff Hoffman was fourth as Riggs came back to get fifth. Sixth through tenth were Randy Myers, Young, Reagle, Bickel, and Rodney Beltz. Young and Doran were heat winners.

Youngstown, Ohio’s Lou Gentile won his second 20-lap Miller Lite/Amsoil Six-Cylinder Modified Feature and donated his winnings to M.A.D.D. Gentile took the lead from Rick Kress on lap one from his fourth starting spot. Kenny Hardy and Carl Weatherby joined Gentile at the front passing Mark Welsh for second and third on lap two. On lap eight, Gentile slipped high allowing Hardy to go under to lead laps eight through 14. Then on the lap 15 restart, Gentile got by and raced the Emig #1 to victory. Hardy was second for the fifth time this year. Randy Ferguson was third after Weatherby broke on the 17th lap. Frank Guidace and Gregg McCandless completed the top five. Hardy and Weatherby were heat victors.

Jeremiah Shingledecker won his first 20-lap Quaker Steak & Lube West-Penn Limited Modified Feature of the year and second of his career. The Stoneboro, Pa. driver passed Skinny Hall for second on lap two. Shingledecker took over the lead on lap six taking the position from Ron Eperthener, Jr. at the line. Shingledecker lost the lead on lap nine and didn’t regain it back until lap 19 passing Skinny Hall for the win in his #37MD. Skinny Hall was a season-best second over son Rick. Rob Kristyak, who led the middle part of the race, was fourth over Marty Kristyak. Heat victors were McKnight, Scott Kay, and Shingledecker over the 27-car field.

Gary Robinson of Greenville, Pa. won his third 15-lap Butterfield’s Pub Pure Stock Feature. Robinson came from seventh to pass Bill Banick, Jr. for third in lap four. Lynn Hostetler dropped to third when Robinson got by on the fifth lap. Robinson’s winning move came on lap six when he passed Albert Hays for the win in his Cresswell’s Auto Align #44R. Robinson drove off to the checkers in the non-stop race in 5:19.85. Hostetler passed Hays for second on lap seven. Leigh Wheeler recorded his fourth straight top four finishing third and dropped Hays to fourth on lap 14. Andy Buckley came from 21st to finish fifth. Winning the heats were Tim Mailliard, Robinson, and Bill Hanna. Brian Booher won the B main.

Waste Management Sprint Car Feature Finish:

1. JIMMY HAWLEY

2. Troy Preston 3. Jamie Smith 4. Joe McEwen 5. Tommy Burns, Jr. 6. Mike Kekich 7. Scott Bonnell 8. Arnie Kent 9. Mike Woodring 10. Staple Nash 11. Ronnie Myers 12.Jason Jacoby 13. Tim Kern 14. Gary Kriess, Jr. 15. Gary McCollum 16. Tom Quarterson 17. Mike Marano II 18. Dan Taylor 19. Terry Young 20. Gary Edwards 21. Jim Chappel 22. Randy Johnson-DNS 23. Dave Wagner-DNS.

MercerPros.com DIRT Modified Feature Finish:

1. TIM DORAN

2. Lou Blaney 3. Guy Griffin 4. Jeff Hoffman 5. Lonny Riggs 6. Randy Myers 7. Steve Young 8. Jim Reagle 9. Jerry Bickel 10. Rodney Beltz 11. Skip Deane 12. Bob Dorman 13. Carl Murdick 14. Rick Hall 15. Troy Schaffer 16. Bill Dorman 17. Mark Sevin-DNS.

Miller Lite/AMSOIL Six-Cylinder Modified Feature Finish:

1. LOU GENTILE

2.Kenny Hardy 3. Randy Ferguson 4. Frank Guidace 5. Gregg McCandless 6. Jerry Schaffer 7. Jim Bickel 8. Conny Allen 9. Mark McEwen 10. Harold Michaels 11. Carl Weatherby 12. Mark Welsh 13. Joe Kane 14. Rick Kress 15. Dana Gearhart-DNS 16. Dustin Kress-DNS.

Quaker Steak & Lube West-Penn Limited Modified Feature Finish:

1. JEREMIAH SHINGLEDECKER

2. Skinny Hall 3. Rick Hall 4. Rob Kristyak 5. Marty Kristyak 6. Gary Bollinger 7. Shon Derr 8. Joe Walsh, Jr. 9. Scott Kay 10. Randy Rodemoyer 11. Mike Kelley 12. Steve Walsh 13. Fred Sasse 14. Don McKnight 15. Andy Paden 16. Ron Eperthener, Jr. 17. John Buchanan 18. Boyd Johnston, Jr. 19. Zack Moran 20. Rick Ryder 21. Buck Buchanan 22. Jim Thompson 23. Mike Mathieson 24. Gary Smoker 25. Tom Mattocks 26. Bob Young-DNS 27. Jeff Miller-DNS.

Butterfield’s Pub Pure Stock Feature Finish:

1. GARY ROBINSON

2. Lynn Hostetler 3. Leigh Wheeler 4. Albert Hays 5. Andy Buckley 6. Gary Reiber 7. Rick Anthony 8. Jim Brunson 9. Bill Hanna 10. Jim Riffenberrick 11. Buck Sevin 12. Tim Mailliard 13. Bill Banick, Jr. 14. Brian Miller 15. Pat Hile 16. Tony Spaghetti 17. Willie Aley 18. Jeff Kravec 19. Charlie Baptiste 20. Randy Snider 21. Mike Aley 22. Terry Kroner 23. Brian Booher 24. Ray Bailey 25. Larry Boumans-DNS 26. Lisa Whitehouse-DNS DNQ-Mike Harmon, Tim Zushlag, Dan Fedorchak, Brian Mathieson, Todd Titus, George Davis, Pat McMenamin, Chuck Kerr, Dan Lewis, Mark Covert.