First wins for Smith

and Young at Mercer

by Mike Leone

May 15, 1999

Mercer(PA)...Highlighting wins on Saturday evening at Mercer Raceway Park were Jamie Smith (Waste Management Sprint Cars) and Steve Young (MercerPros.com DIRT Modifieds). Other winners were Gregg McCandless (Miller Lite/Amsoil Six-Cylinder Modifieds), Rick Hall (Quaker Steak & Lube West-Penn Limited Modifieds), and Gary Robinson (Butterfield’s Pub Pure Stocks). A season-high 138 cars were on hand to do battle.

Jamie Smith looked like the “Jamie Smith” from years past as the Sewickley, Pa. driver won his first 20-lap Waste Management Sprint Car Feature since August 26 of last season. Referring to the switch to Maxim chassis, Smith related, “It’s the best night we have had so far. We really hit on something pretty good tonight. I learned it takes a little different driving technique to drive these.”

Smith’s run to the front began from the fifth spot. On lap four, Smith cracked the top three with a pass of Gary Edwards. Two laps later, Smith disposed of Gary McCann for runner-up. The following laps saw the 1996 and 1997 track champion close on leader Arnie Kent. By lap eight, Smith was all over Kent as the two raced traffic. On lap nine, Kent had trouble with a slower car and Smith raced by coming off the inside portion of turn two for the lead.

Two-time winner, Jimmy Hawley, who started ninth, made his way up to third taking McCann on ap 15. McCann’s fine run came to an end as he slowed on lap 16 moving Troy Preston into fourth. As the laps began to wind down, Kent and Hawley closed on Smith in heavy traffic as the top three distanced themselves from the field. On the final lap, Smith made the right moves through traffic for his 17th win since 1994 in his GBG/Butterfield’s Pub #5. Kent held off Hawley tying a career-best Sprint Car finish. Preston was fourth over Mike Kekich. Sixth through tenth were Bob Felmlee, Jack Sodeman, Jr., Tommy Burns, Jr., Randy Johnson, and Gary Kriess, Jr. Heats for the 24-car field went to Smith and Joe McEwen. Tom Quarterson and Jason Jacoby both flipped in separate incidents during hot laps. Both cars were done for the night, but both drivers were okay.

“I can’t believe I held off (Tommy) Kristyak! That’s a real thrill!” Those were the words out of Steve Young’s mouth crawling out of his #67 DIRT Modified in victory lane. Young held off a excellent field of 27 cars for his second career DIRT Modified win.

Young started from the outside pole in the 20-lap MercerPros.com feature and assumed the lead on lap one when he and Randy Myers made contact sending Myers spinning. Meanwhile, eighth-starter, Tommy Kristyak picked his way to the front and passed Carl Murdick for the third position on lap two. Rich Ferguson looked good early on holding off all of the top cars in second for six laps, but the on seventh circuit lost the spot to Kristyak.

Following the restart for a Rodney Beltz spin with eight laps completed, Carl Murdick got an excellent start passing the lap car of Ed Alcorn as well as Ferguson and Kristyak to take runner-up. But on the 11th go-around, Kristyak reestablished second dropping Murdick back to third. Young stretched out his lead to a straightaway with five laps to go. Two cautions bunched up the field for a two-lap shoot-out, but on this night the Grove City, Pa. driver had them all covered racing to victory by about a five car-length margin over Kristyak, the defending track champion. Young became the fourth winner in four races this season.

Carl Murdick was third for the third time out of four races this season. Andy Priest was fourth after starting 11th in his first start of the season. Tim Doran was fifth also making his first start of the season. Sixth through tenth were Lou Blaney, Bill Dorman, Randy Myers, Jerry Bickel, and Skip Deane.

Heat winners were Blaney, Kristyak, and Doran.

Gregg McCandless ended a long streak of bad luck scoring the 20-lap Miller Lite/Amsoil Six-Cylinder Modified win. The Mercer, Pa. driver started on the outside pole and quickly assumed the lead from Steve Barr. McCandless quickly distanced himself from the field and never looked back driving the McCandless Ford #20 to his first win since June 28, 1997 when he won back-to-back weeks. Jim Bickel, who started 5th, had his best run in years, but had a tire go down while running second on lap 10. This moved Randy Ferguson, who started ninth, into second and he kept the spot over Frank Guidace. Lou Gentile and Harold Michaels completed the top five. The race went non-stop in six minutes and 14 seconds. Winning the heats were Gentile and Guidace.

Rick Hall won his second race of the season, but first in the 15-lap Quaker Steak & Lube West-Penn Limited Modified Feature. Jeremiah Shingledecker jumped into the lead from the outside pole. Hall, who started sixth, was on the move taking third away from Ron Eperthener, Jr. on lap five. Three laps later, the Grove City, Pa. resident, did away with Scott Kay for second. On lap 12, Hall a winner in the DIRT Modified division this year, went to the inside of Shingledecker in turns three and four and slid on by for the lead and the win in his father’s Hall’s Safety Equipment #2. Shingledecker, Eperthener, and Gary Bollinger recorded season-best finishes in the second through fourth positions. John Buchanan was fifth. Marty Kristyak, Gary Smoker, and Scott Kay won the heat events over the season-high 28-car field.

Greenville, Pa.’s Gary Robinson won his second 15-lap Butterfield’s Pub Pure Stock Feature of the season. Bill Wheeling got the lead from a spinning Andy Buckley in the opening laps. Robinson, who started 11th, made his way to the front joining Mailliard as the two tracked down Wheeling for a three-car fight to the finish. Robinson got around Mailliard for second on lap 13 and was all over Wheeling, a former Sprint Car champion. On the final lap, Robinson got a run coming out of turns one and two and made the pass. Robinson held off Wheeling to the checkers in his Cresswell’s Auto Align/Speir Homes #44R. Mailliard was third. Brian Booher and Lynn Hostetler completed the top five with season-best finishes. Taking heat wins were John Reiser, Booher, Robinson, and Buckley in the 44-car field. Winning the two B mains were Albert Hays and Bill Banick, Jr.

Waste Management Sprint Car Feature Finish:

1. JAMIE SMITH

2. Arnie Kent 3. Jimmy Hawley 4. Troy Preston 5. Mike Kekich 6. Bob Felmlee 7. Jack Sodeman, Jr. 8. Tommy Burns, Jr. 9. Randy Johnson 10. Gary Kriess, Jr. 11. Gary Edwards 12. Brian Staph 13. Joe McEwen 14. Dave Penezich, Jr. 15. Gary McCollum 16. Mike Marano II 17. Gary McCann 18. Eric Hysong 19. Terry Young 20.Rick Anderson 21. Dave Wagner 22. Tom Quarterson-DNS 23. Jason Jacoby-DNS 24. Buddy

Cochran-DNS.

MercerPros.com DIRT Modified Feature Finish:

1. STEVE YOUNG

2. Tommy Kristyak 3. Carl Murdick 4. Andy Priest 5. Tim Doran 6. Lou Blaney 7. Bill Dorman 8. Randy Myers 9. Jerry Bickel 10. Skip Deane 11. Rob McClimans 12. Bob Dorman 13. Randy Snider 14. Rich Ferguson 15. Mike Gordon 16. Mark Sevin 17. Ed Alcorn 18. Rick Hall 19. Guy Griffin 20. Jim Reagle 21. Scott Rodgers 22. Rodney Beltz 23. Howard Duff 24. Todd Schaffer 25. Randy Ferguson-DNS 26. Troy Schaffer-DNS 27. Skip Moore-DNS.

Miller Lite/AMSOIL Six-Cylinder Modified Feature Finish:

1. GREGG MCCANDLESS

2. Randy Ferguson 3. Frank Guidace 4. Lou Gentile 5. Harold Michaels 6. Carl Weatherby 7. Conny Allen 8.Bill Adams 9. Mark Welsh 10. Dana Gearhart 11. Joe Kane 12. Steve Barr 13. Jim Bickel 14. Rick Kress 15. Stan Bell-DNS.

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

1. RICK HALL

2. Jeremiah Shingledecker 3. Ron Eperthener, Jr. 4. Gary Bollinger 5. John Buchanan 6. Marty Kristyak 7. Rob Kristyak 8. Rick Ryder 9. Randy Rodemoyer 10. Gary Smoker 11. Buck Buchanan 12. Shon Derr 13.Steve Walsh 14. Mike Kelley 15. Doug Upton 16. John Larkin 17. Bob Young 18. Don McKnight 19. Scott Kay 20. Boyd Johnston, Jr. 21. Joe Walsh 22. Jeff Miller 23. Mike Gardner 24. Bill Thompson-DNS 25. Tom Mattocks-DNS 26. Kevin Nagy-DNS 27. Fred Sasse-DNS 28. Dave Norcross-DNS.

Butterfield’s Pub Pure Stock Feature Finish:

1. GARY ROBINSON

2. Bill Wheeling 3. Tim Mailliard 4. Brian Booher 5. Lynn Hostetler 6. Bill Hanna 7. Brian Miller 8. Jim Davis 9. John Reiser 10. Chuck Kerr 11. Albert Hays 12. Charlie Baptiste 13. Bill Banick, Jr. 14. Lisa Whitehouse 15. Pat Hile 16. Willie Aley 17. Terry Kroner 18. George Davis 19. Rick Anthony 20. Jeff Kravec 21. Jim White, Jr. 22. Sean Shook 23. Jim Brunson 24. Andy Buckley 25. Sammy Wheat-DNS

DNQ-Bill Marsh, Mike Aley, Waldo Caszatt, Sr., Steve Reed, Dan Fedorchak, Buck Sevin, Ed Hays, Byron Brannon, Jr., Ray Bailey, Leigh Wheeler, Jim Riffenberrick, Tony Bruno, Dan Lewis, Brian Mathieson, Todd Titus, Tim Zushlag, Andy Thompson, Brian Couselman, George Kafantaris.