Hawley and Kristyak Highlight

Opening Night Mercer Winners

by Mike Leone

April 10, 1999

Mercer(PA)...A big crowd turned out on a clear and cool evening as MercerRaceway Park kicked off the campaign of new owner Vicki Emig on Saturday, April 10. A fast and efficient five division program was run off in lessthan four hours under great track conditions. Checking into victory lane were Jimmy Hawley, West Middlesex, Pa.-Waste Management Sprint Cars; Tommy Kristyak, Stoneboro, Pa.-MercerPros.com DIRT Modifieds; Lou Gentile,Youngstown, Oh.-Miller Lite/Amsoil Six-Cylinder Modifieds; Gary Smoker,Mercer, Pa.-Quaker Steak & Lube West-Penn Limited Modifieds; and Gary Robinson, Greenville, Pa.-Butterfield’s Pub Pure Stocks.

Its been a long time coming, but Jimmy Hawley finally returned to victorylane at his home track by scoring the 20-lap Waste Management Sprint Car win in the #cIII for car owner Dr. John Crawford III. Central Ohio drivers Eric Hysong and Tim Kern led the 25-car field to green for the first feature of the 1999 season. Kern, who was injured in a crash a week ago at Attica Raceway Park and whose car was run over by a push truck during push-off, jumped into the early lead in search of some better luck. Tommy Burns, Jr. got by Rob Chaney for third on the start, then passed Hysong for second going through turns one and two. The two made slight contact with Hysong receiving front-end damage ending his night and bringing out the first caution. Hawley, who started 11th, was moving through the pack. On lap two, Hawley made an outside pass of both Bob Felmlee and Chaney coming off turn four for third position. Bob Whitace came to rest necessitating the second caution with two laps completed, and John Nervo needed the wrecker after hitting the wall. Bob Felmlee also spun to avoid the incident. When racing resumed, Hawley continued to make his trek to the front getting by Burns for second with an inside move in turn one. On lap five, rookie driver Mike Roxberry spun collecting Gary Edwards, then as Kern was coming around had nowhere to go and looped his mount as his bad luck streak continued. This moved Hawley into the lead with Burns third. Jamie Smith, who started ninth, now was up to third when he passed Chaney on lap five at the starter’s stand. Whitacre brought out the fourth and final caution when he stopped with eight laps completed. Felmlee was now working his way back to the front as he passed Mike Kekich for fifth on lap 15. At this point, Hawley stretched his lead to a straightaway over Burns as the two raced through heavy traffic. A battle for third began to develop as Chaney was racing with Smith and in the meantime Felmlee was catching the two. Back up front, Hawley cruised to his first Mercer win since August 20, 1994, the year when Mercer reopened. Burns ran a solid a second. Chaney drove it hard into the outside of turn four on the final lap and edged Smith at the stripe for third. Smith and Felmlee were fourth and fifth. Sixth through tenth were Kekich, Scott Bonnell, Chuck Wilson, Jason Jacoby, and Arnie Kent. Heats for the twenty-five Sprints were won by Kekich and Hawley. Ohio drivers Paul Weaver, Mike Linder, and Eric Manfrass made their first ever Mercer appearances.

Tommy Kristyak continued his dominance of the DIRT Modifieds at Mercer taking the 20-lap feature win. Rick Hall and Randy Myers brought the 25-car field down to green with Hall taking the early advantage. Jeff Schaffer passed Dean Pearson and Del Rougeux on the opening lap for third. Carl Murdick and Kristyak, who started eight and 10th respectively, ran down Schaffer and the three put on quite a battle for the show position during laps four through seven. It was then on lap seven when Murdick got by Schaffer for good, and then on the next lap, Kristyak also disposed of Schaffer for fourth. Murdick ran down Myers by lap 11, and Kristyak also entered the battle for second. As Murdick slipped high on the 11th lap, Kristyak snuck under him for third. Brothers Todd and Troy Schaffer, who ran Six-Cylinders last year, tangled with Troy getting upside down. Before racing resumed, Myers came to rest putting him on the tail for the restart and moving Kristyak to second and Murdick to third. When action again took to the track, Kristyak made the winning move on lap 12 dropping Hall back to second. The rest of the race went green to checker with Kristyak in his #26z scoring his fourth straight Mercer win dating back to last season. Hall was able to hold off a great run by Murdick for runner-up. Jeff Schaffer was fourth over Dave Murdick. Rounding out the top ten were Joe Crawford,

Pearson, Jerry Bickel, Jimmy Faas, and Del Rougeux. Crawford and Kristyak won the heats.

After ending the year winning double features, Lou Gentile put the Emig Racing #1 back into victory lane in the 20-lap Miller Lite/Amsoil

Six-Cylinder Modified main. Gentile raced by Harold Michaels on the start for the lead. Kenny Hardy also got around Michaels for second on the first lap. Gentile and Hardy pulled away from the field as the laps ticked off. Hardy stayed right with Gentile and on lap 14, was all over the leader as the two raced around the lap car of Bill Adams. Gentile was able to withstand Hardy’s pressure for the win. Frank Guidace elected to start at the tail and came back to get third. If Guidace would have won, he would have received the $100 bonus put up by the track, a $100 bonus from his sponsor Alltel, and a $50 bonus from Bud Miller. Carl Weatherby and Michaels were fourth and fifth. Hardy and Weatherby were heat winners.

Gary Smoker won the 15-lap Quaker Steak & Lube West-Penn Limited Modified Feature to become the all-time Mercer Limited Modified winner. Teammates Mike Kristyak and Smoker led the field to green with Smoker getting by on the start. Don McKnight dropped Kristyak to third on lap one. Ninth starter, Jeremiah Shingledecker, drove his way into third as he passed Kristyak on lap six. At the half-way point, Shingledecker spun and kept going, but lost third to Skinny Hall. On lap nine, Scott Kay and Ron Eperthener, Jr. both got by Hall for third and fourth. But up front, Smoker went on for his 13th career Mercer win in the Kristyak’s Service Plaza #401. McKnight was second ahead of Kay, Eperthener, and Hall. Taking the heats were Shingledecker and John Buchanan.

Gary Robinson picked up the win in the 15-lap Butterfield’s Pub Pure Stock Feature. Robinson passed Tim Mailliard and Charlie Baptiste on lap one for the lead. Tenth starter, Dwayne Clay, was already up to third when he took Todd Titus for the spot on the fifth lap. Jim Riffenberrick, who started alongside Clay in the ninth spot, caught back up to Clay and got by him for third on the eighth lap. In the closing laps, Mailliard and Riffenberrick

closed on Robinson, but Robinson was able to hold on for the win in the Cresswell’s Auto Align/Speir Homes #44R. The #44R has now won four straight races and six of the last eight dating back to last season, including the last race of last season when Robinson’s brother, Rick, won. Mailliard recorded a career-best second over Riffenberrick, Rick Anthony, and Titus, who had his first career top five. Dan Lewis, Robinson, and Brian Miller won the heats over the 36-car field. Gary Norman won the consy.

Waste Management Sprint Car Feature Finish: 1. JIMMY HAWLEY

2. Tommy Burns, Jr. 3. Rob Chaney 4. Jamie Smith 5. Bob Felmlee 6. Mike Kekich 7. Scott Bonnell 8. Chuck Wilson 9. Jason Jacoby 10. Arnie Kent 11. Paul Weaver 12. Mike Linder 13. Buddy Cochran 14. Dan Leech 15. Troy Preston 16. Eric Manfrass 17. Mike Roxberry 18. Troy Cochran 19. Tim Kern 20. Ed Etzel 21. Bob Whitacre 22. Gary Edwards 23. John Nervo 24. Gale Ruth, Jr. 25. Eric Hysong.

MercerPros.com DIRT Modified Feature Finish: 1. TOMMY KRISTYAK

2. Rick Hall 3. Carl Murdick 4. Jeff Schaffer 5. Dave Murdick 6. Joe Crawford 7. Dean Pearson 8. Jerry Bickel 9. Jimmy Faas 10. Del Rougeux 11. Skip Deane 12. Mike Gordon 13. Jamie Smith 14. Randy Myers 15. Don Blaney 16. Jim Reagle 17. Steve Young 18. Troy Schaffer 19. Todd Schaffer 20. Dan Campbell 21. Skip Moore 22. Ron Took 23. Mark Sevin-DNS 24. Bill Dorman-DNS 25. Tom Armstrong-DNS.

Miller Lite/AMSOIL Six-Cylinder Modified Feature Finish: 1. LOU GENTILE 2. Kenny Hardy 3. Frank Guidace 4. Carl Weatherby 5. Harold Michaels 6. Bill Adams 7. Rick Kress 8. Randy Ferguson 9. Dana Gearhart 10. Conny Allen 11. Gregg McCandless-DNS 12. Jerry Schaffer-DNS 13. Kevin Nagy-DNS 14. Steve Barr-DNS.

Quaker Steak & Lube West-Penn Limited Modifieds: 1. GARY SMOKER

2. Don McKnight 3. Scott Kay 4. Ron Eperthener, Jr. 5. Skinny Hall 6. Jeremiah Shingledecker 7. Rick Ryder 8. Rob Kristyak 9. Chanda Reitz 10. Steve Walsh 11. Allen Ferry 12. Randy Rodemoyer 13. Dave Norcross 14. Boyd Johnson, Jr. 15. Mike Kristyak 16. Jeff Miller 17. John Buchanan.

Butterfield’s Pub Pure Stocks: 1. GARY ROBINSON 2. Tim Mailliard 3. Jim Riffenberrick 4. Rick Anthony 5. Todd Titus 6. Bill Hanna 7. Dwayne Clay 8. Tom Tuite 9. Brian Miller 10. Pat Hile 11. Charlie Baptiste 12. Bill Banick, Jr. 13. Chuck Kerr 14. Terry Faas 15. Rick Norco 16. Willie Aley 17. Brian Mathieson 18. Gary Norman 19. Dan Lewis 20. Leroy Johnson, Jr. 21. Jim Davis 22. Buck Sevin 23. Andy Buckley 24. Jeff Covelli 25. George Davis-DNS

DNQ-Jim Brunson, Tony Bruno, Mike Faas, Steve Reed, Tim Zushlag, Al Priester, Ed Hays, Ray Bailey, Kevin Bailey, Jeff Natale, Leigh Wheeler.