Felmlee and Beltz Celebrate

Mercer Sprint and Mod Wins

by Mike Leone

May 29, 1999

Mercer (PA)...Highlighting wins on the fifth night of action were Bob Felmlee

(Waste Management Sprint Cars) and Rodney Beltz (Mercer.Pros.com DIRT

Modifieds). Other victors were Carl Weatherby (Miller Lite/Amsoil Six-Cylinder Modifieds), Rob Kristyak (Quaker Steak & Lube West-Penn Limited Modifieds), and John Reiser (Butterfield’s Pub Pure Stocks). Bob Felmlee came out on top of the 20-lap Waste Management Sprint Car Feature. The Franklin, Pa. driver came from eighth to pass Mike Kekich on lap five for the lead. The driver of the World of Wheels/Lutz Auto Body Maxim #6 said in victory lane, "We were still a little too tight, but JamesWray (Sprint Car driver) was my one man crew and did a job."

Randy Johnson flipped violently down

Mercer's frontstretch Saturday. © BRP

The race got off to a scary start when Randy Johnson flipped violently down the frontstretch. He was okay. Buddy Cochran also got caught up in the melee. He was knocked unconscious and his throttle stuck sending him into a wild series of doughnuts which started in the infield and continued for a long period of time until the car finally came to rest on the backstretch. Luckily the car never hit anything. Cochran was taken to the hospital with a possible arm injury.

When action got underway, Mike Kekich stormed into the lead with Jason Jacoby trailing. On lap three, Felmlee was already making his move toward the front passing both Terry Young and Arnie Kent to move into third. One lap later, Felmlee edged Jacoby at the flagstand for runner-up. Then on lap five, Felmlee used the outside of turn four to make the winning move from Kekich. Point leader, Jimmy Hawley, who started 11th, was quickly making his presence known. Hawley got around Kent for third on lap eight and passed Kekich for second with a turn two pass on the outside. Hawley then began to run down Felmlee as the two worked traffic. But on lap 15, another scary incident took place. Hawley was within a couple car-lengths of Felmlee, but as Hawley entered turn two something came off the track striking him in the arm. Hawley was also taken to the hospital with a possible arm injury.

The remaining laps saw Felmlee pull away for his second win. A good battle ensued for second with Kent, Kekich, Jacoby, and Tommy Burns, Jr. all battling. Jacoby took Kekich for third on the restart, then passed Kent at the flagstand on lap 19 to finish a career-best second. Kent fell to third. Burns came from 19th to finish fourth after passing Kekich for the spot on lap 17. Jamie Smith was fifth. Sixth through tenth were Kekich, Young, Joe McEwen, Rick Anderson, and Mike Marano II. Heat winners were Young and Hawley.

Rodney Beltz of Ellwood City, Pa. won a wild 20-lap MercerPros.com DIRT Modified Feature for his first win of 1999. Beltz, who arrived late and missed his heat, started at the tail of the feature. "We just ended putting the motor in. We picked up the motor at 10:30 and were up all night and worked all day."

Guy Griffin and Jerry Bickel got out in front of the field at the start. Following a lap nine restart, Tommy Kristyak and Beltz passed Scott Rodgers for third and fourth. The following lap saw Kristyak pass Bickel for second. Beltz followed suit moving into third on the 11th circuit. Griffin, Kristyak, and Beltz began to pull away from the field by the half-way point. It was lap 13 when Kristyak took the lead from Griffin. Then following a restart with 15 laps completed, Griffin and Kristyak tangled. This gave the lead to Beltz and he was able to hang on for his first win of 1999 in his McElwain Chevrolet/KD Machine #6. Bickel passed Steve Young for second on lap 17 for a season-best finish. Griffin came all the way back to get third at the finish dropping Young to fourth. Carl Murdick was fifth. Completing the top ten were Rodgers, Howard Duff, Michigan’s Don Whitney, Todd Schaffer, and Bill Dorman. Winning the heats were Kristyak and Murdick.

Mercer Modified Action with Bill Dorman-19, Rob McClimans-5m, and Steve Young-67.

© BRP

Three-time defending track champion, Carl Weatherby, won his second 20-lap Miller Lite/Amsoil Six-Cylinder Modified Feature of the season. Jim Bickel assumed the early lead with a pass of Steve Barr on lap two. Lou Gentile and Weatherby drove by Barr for second and third on lap three. Bickel, Gentile, and Weatherby quickly began to distance themselves from the field. Weatherby used an outside move to pass Gentile on lap eight for second. Then on the ninth lap passed Bickel for the lead. On lap 10, Gentile disposed of Bickel for runner-up. Gentile re-passed Weatherby for the top spot on lap 12. But following a restart with 13 laps completed, Weatherby of Volant, Pa.reassumed the lead and never looked back for his 30th career Six-Cylinder win. Gentile was second. Frank Guidace was third after passing Bickel for the spot on lap 14. Randy Ferguson was fourth and dropped Bickel to fifth at the finish. Gentile and Weatherby were heat winners.

Very close six cylinder action at Mercer with

Lou Gentile -1, Jim Rowe-6, Carl Weatherby-919 and Rich Kress-222. ©BRP

Rob Kristyak of Bristolville, Ohio won his first career race winning the 15-lap Quaker Steak & Lube West-Penn Limited Modified Feature.

Mercer Modified Action with Bill Dorman-19, Rob McClimans-5m, and Steve Young-67. © BRP

Jeremiah Shingledecker led the first four laps before slowing with mechanical problems on lap five giving the top spot to Don McKnight. McKnight’s lead lasted until lap eight when Kristyak made the winning move. Point leader Gary Smoker got by McKnight for the second spot on lap nine, but didn’t have anything for the Kristyak in his Klaben Crown Ford/Cook’s IGA #00. McKnight held onto third with Scott Kay and Shon Derr completing the top five. Heats for the season-high 29-car field were won by Shingledecker, Mike Kristyak, and Derr. Randy Rodemoyer won the B main.

FOUR-WIDE PURE STOCK ACTION at Mercer with Brian Miller-99, Biran Booher-2B,

Lynn Hostetler-33, and Willie Aley-99.© BRP

John Reiser of Stoneboro, Pa. was the victor in the 15-lap Butterfield’s Pub

Pure Stock Feature. Reiser started fifth on the grid, but took over second

from Leigh Wheeler on the first lap. On lap two, Reiser drove his #26II past

Brian Booher for the lead. Reiser never looked back for his first win since

May 17, 1997. Booher was a season-best second. Bill Hanna came back from an early spin to finish third. Wheeler and Gary Robinson completed the top five. Scoring heat wins were Robinson, Booher, Wheeler, and Andy Buckley. Byron Brannon, Jr. and Tim Mailliard won the two B mains.

Waste Management Sprint Car Feature Finish:

1. BOB FELMLEE

2. Jason Jacoby 3. Arnie Kent 4. Tommy Burns, Jr. 5. Jamie Smith 6. Mike Kekich 7. Terry Young 8. Joe McEwen 9. Rick Anderson 10. Mike Marano II 11. Gary Edwards 12. Bob Lime 13. Dave Wagner 14. Gary McCollum 15. Troy Cochran 16. Mike Latsch 17. Jimmy Hawley 18. Randy Johnson 19. Buddy Cochran.

MercerPros.com DIRT Modified Feature Finish:

1. RODNEY BELTZ

2. Jerry Bickel 3. Guy Griffin 4. Steve Young 5. Carl Murdick 6. Scott Rodgers 7. Howard Duff 8. Don Whitney 9. Todd Schaffer 10. Bill Dorman 11. Tommy Kristyak 12.Rick Hall 13. Mark Sevin 14. Rob McClimans 15. Skip Moore 16. Troy Schaffer 17. Tom Armstrong-DNS 18. Lonny Riggs-DNS.

Miller Lite/AMSOIL Six-Cylinder Modified Feature Finish:

1. CARL WEATHERBY

2. Lou Gentile 3. Frank Guidace 4. Randy Ferguson 5. Jim Bickel 6. Conny

Allen 7. Bill Adams 8. Mark Welsh 9. Steve Barr 10. Kenny Adams 11. Mark McEwen 12. Harold Michaels 13. Gregg McCandless 14. Joe Kane 15. Jerry Schaffer 16. Dana Gearhart 17. Nicole Kress 18. Rick Kress.

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

1. ROB KRISTYAK

2. Gary Smoker 3. Don McKnight 4. Scott Kay 5. Shon Derr 6. Gary

Bollinger 7. John Buchanan 8. Rick Ryder 9. Randy Rodemoyer 10. Joe Walsh, Jr. 11. Jeff Miller 12. Doug Upton 13. Ron Eperthener, Jr. 14. Jeremiah Shingledecker 15. Fred Sasse 16. Dave Norcross 17. Zack Moran 18. Rick Hall 19. Kevin Thompson 20. Mike Kristyak 21. Mike Kelley 22. Mike Gardner 23. Skinny Hall 24. Tom Mattocks DNQ-Boyd Johnston, Jr., Bill Thompson, Buck Buchanan, Bob Young, Steve Walsh.

Butterfield’s Pub Pure Stock Feature Finish:

1. JOHN REISER

2. Brian Booher 3. Bill Hanna 4. Leigh Wheeler 5. Gary Robinson 6. Rick Anthony 7. Andy Buckley 8. Chuck Kerr 9. Bill Wheeling 10. Brian Miller 11. Todd Titus 12.Buck Sevin 13. Pat Hile 14. Mike Aley 15. Bill Banick, Jr. 16. Jim Brunson17. David Beatty 18. Byron Brannon, Jr. 19. Ed Hays 20. Albert Hays 21. Lisa Whitehouse 22. Terry Kroner 23. Charlie Baptiste 24. Tim Mailliard DNQ-Tony Spaghetti, Andy Thompson, Ray Bailey, George Davis, Tim Zushlag, Bill Marsh, Willie Aley, Steve Reed, Lynn Hostetler, Jerry Ryder, Brian Mathieson.