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HOLTGRAVER HOLDS OFF GEORGE AGAIN FOR 2ND WIN IN 3 TRIES IN MERCER SPRINTS; BELTZ WINS 1ST IN MODS IN NEARLY 5 YEARS; MARCUCCI WINS 1ST EVER IN MOD LITES; BOOHER WINS 2ND IN STOCKS; CAREER 1ST FOR ANDERSON IN MINIS
By Mike Leone
May 5, 2007 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mercer, PA.Mercer Raceway Park presented the third straight five-division "Saturday Night Live" program. Celebrating in the Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic victory lane were Danny Holtgraver-Luxaire Heating & Cooling Sprint Cars, Rodney Beltz-American Racer/Lias Tire Modifieds, Brian Booher-Tire Express Stock Cars, Mark Marcucci-Big Daddy's Speed Center Mod Lites, and Mike Anderson (Jr.)-M&D Paving Mini Stocks. Three of the five winners were high school students. It was "Dollar Dayz" presented by Coca-Cola as all students 6-15 were admitted for $1 and hot dogs, fries, popcorn, and soda were just $1 for everyone.
On opening night 17-year-old Danny Holtgraver held off last week's winner and western Pa. great Rod George for his first career Sprint Car win. Last week saw Holtgraver take a nasty series of flips in turn three getting upside down for the first time in Sprint Car. Fast forward to Saturday night and it was Holtgraver once again holding off a hard-charging Rod George without power steering for the victory in the 20-lap Luxaire Heating & Cooling feature.
"Wow I'm surprised," expressed the Pittsburgh, Pa. "The power steering went out on lap five. My arms are about to fall off. I was almost stopping in the corners just to get through. That was my first flip (last week) and I was a little nervous about coming back, but I just tried to hold on and race the same away I always have."
With teenage rookie Cole Duncan choosing to start on the tail, Holtgraver moved to the outside pole for the start and was able to have just enough momentum off the topside of the speedway to take the lead from Brent Matus. George, who started seventh, made his way to fourth on the opening lap. The laps ticked off caution-free as Holtgraver maintained a comfortable lead over Matus.
At the halfway point, Bryan Grove and George closed on Matus making it a three-car race for runner-up. One lap later, Arnie Kent entered the fray as the foursome put on a good race for second. Duncan spun and brought out the event's only caution with 14 laps completed. George finally was able to work his way under and past Grove for third on lap 16, while Kent followed one lap later taking fourth. George then caught and quickly disposed of Matus for second with a slider in turn four.
George stormed around the 3/8-mile oval on the final lap quickly cutting Holtgraver's lead from more than a one-half straightaway as he was right on the youngster at the finish, but ran out of time for the second time this year. Holtgraver's third career Mercer win came in his West View Motors/Martin Auto/Kargo Sales & Storage-sponsored, Blackshear-powered #D4.
George now has a win and two seconds. Kent passed Matus on the last lap for third. Matus dropped to fourth over Grove. Completing the top 10 were Mike Dehner, Davey Jones, Duncan, Joe Butera, and Richard Reinhart. Heat winners were Kent and George.
Rodney Beltz survived two first lap melees ending a near five-year dry spell as he returned to victory lane in the 20-lap American Racer/Lias Tire Modified feature and at the same time ended a five-year drought for the Emig #1 car. "Bill (Emig) was a good guy," stated the Ellwood City, Pa. veteran. "We raced with him a long time with Lou Gentile and Paul Krause and Jimmy Winters. Bunch of good people and Bill liked racing a lot. I never got the opportunity to drive this car so now we got the time to try it. This Ford has a lot of power it just needs a little work, we found some at the practice and it seemed to work."
Pole-sitter Jr. Baker got sideways in turn four on the opening lap and collected Rich Whitney, Eric Gabany, and Rick Kress, then when racing resumed and before another lap was completed Kevin Green got sideways collecting Brian Fink, Jimmy Holden, and Gabany. Matt Reeher led three laps before spinning and brought out the event's final caution as the last 17 went green-to-checkered.
Reeher's spin handed the lead to Beltz, who was battling with Steve Young prior to the caution as the two swapped second back and forth. With Beltz in command, he never wavered keeping the Emig Racing, Blackshear-powered #1 planted on the bottom as he kept Young at bay without any serious challenges. Beltz disposed of some late race lapped traffic and took the checkered flag for his first win since a big-block score on July 22, 2002. It also marked the first win for the Emig #1 since 2002 when Lou Gentile last won. Young was a season-best second. Brad Rapp came from 10th to place third like he did opening night. Kevin Hoffman was fourth with Garrett Krummert completing the top five. Sixth through tenth were Rick Hall, Fink, Gabany, Reeher, and Rod Artman. Young and Beltz won the heats over the 18-car field.
Brian Booher looks primed to make a run for his third straight championship in the Stock Cars as he won his second 15-lap Tire Express feature and finished third last week. Booher out-dueled last week's winner Andy Buckley for the thrilling victory. "I got to thank my team," expressed the Sandy Lake, Pa. driver. "We tried a different setup last week and we went back to what we had the first night. That was great race with Andy Buckley. I always enjoy racing with him, he's always fun."
Rick Norco took off from the outside pole getting the advantage on rookie Matt Wagner. Buckley, who started seventh, was up to third after the completion of one lap and then made the pass of Wagner on lap two. Norco, Buckley, and 10th starting Booher were three-wide for the lead racing off turn four on lap three with Buckley getting the nod over Booher and Norco. Andy Thompson moved into third on lap four taking the position from Norco.
Buckley and Booher then put on a quite a show for the fans out in front. The two standouts raced side-by-side with Booher on the bottom and Buckley on the top from laps 4-6 then again between laps 9-11. It was lap 10 when Booher made the pass with a perfect slider off turn four. Buckley charged back on the low side on lap 11, but to no avail as the Terry Hoover-owned, Ed & Jerry's Auto Service/Harry & Tim's Roofing/Brad McEwen Garage Doors-sponsored #00H went on to his 22nd career win. Booher trails Buckley now by just one win for the most since the track reopened in 1994. Thompson, Norco, and Rod Laskey were third through fifth. Kevin Thompson and Booher won the heats.
High school senior Mark Marcucci held off a valiant effort by standout Brian Woodhall, who came from the tail, to win his first ever at Mercer in the 15-lap Big Daddy's Speed Center Mod Lite feature. Former Micro Sprint racer J.J. Metheney took the early lead, while ninth starting Marcucci worked his way to the front. Marcucci was fourth after the completion of a lap then third on lap two when he passed Angie Grzelak. Marcucci dropped Kenny Meadows back to third on lap three then took charge of the event from Metheney on lap five. Metheney's fine run ended when he spun the following lap handing second to Meadows.
Rod Jones, who started 12th, made a great move on lap seven to pass both Meadows and Marcucci for the lead. Jones and Marcucci, who are neighbors, raced side-by-side on lap seven with Marcucci regaining the lead. Jones slipped high off the banking in turns three and four on lap eight allowing teammates Meadows and Todd Canter to take second and third. Jones didn't give up as he charged back and reclaimed second when he passed both Meadows and Canter on lap nine, only to spin the following lap.
On the restart, Woodhall made a nice move to get by Meadows for second. Woodhall was all over Marcucci, but couldn't make the pass work and had to settle for second. Marcucci became the third different winner of the season in as many races and eighth in 11 races held all-time. Meadows, Doug Stanley, and Canter were third through fifth.
Making his first ever start, former go-kart racer and high school student Mike Anderson (Jr.) came out on top victorious in the 12-lap M&D Paving Mini Stock feature. Anderson started fourth and took the lead on lap three when he and leader Bill Fuchs made contact. Wally Stearns passed Fuchs for second on lap four, but didn't have enough as Anderson of Harmony, Pa. scored the win. Fuchs was third over Leland Haylett. Stearns won the heat race.
Luxaire Heating & Cooling (410) Sprint Cars: 1. DANNY HOLTGRAVER 2. Rod George 3. Arnie Kent 4. Brent Matus 5. Bryan Grove 6. Mike Dehner 7. Davey Jones 8. Cole Duncan 9. Joe Butera 10. Richard Reinhart.
American Racer/Lias Tire (358) Modifieds: 1. RODNEY BELTZ 2. Steve Young 3. Brad Rapp 4. Kevin Hoffman 5. Garrett Krummert 6. Rick Hall 7. Brian Fink 8. Eric Gabany 9. Matt Reeher 10. Rod Artman 11. Fred Sasse 12. Jr. Baker 13. Rich Whitney 14. Kevin Green 15. Jimmy Holden 16. Rick Kress 17. Gary Smoker-DNS 18. Lonny Riggs-DNS.
Tire Express Stock Cars: 1. BRIAN BOOHER 2. Andy Buckley 3. Andy Thompson 4. Rick Norco 5. Rod Laskey 6. Kevin Thompson 7. Mark Sanders 8. Russ Byler 9. Shaun Hooks 10. Matt Wagner 11. Bill Vance, Jr. 12. Terry Wheeler.
Big Daddy's Speed Center Mod Lites: 1. MARK MARCUCCI 2. Brian Woodhall 3. Kenny Meadows 4. Doug Stanley 5. Todd Canter 6. Ben Black 7. Lynn Knepper 8. Angie Grzelak 9. Rod Jones 10. J.J. Metheney 11. Barry Lasosky 12. Levi Spinneweber 13. Bill Stivason 14. Chad Yeager 15. Zach Morrow 16. Wilbur Juillerat 17. Alan Knepper 18. Jeremy Adamik 19. Jarred Barclay 20. Kotie Kirkbride-DNS.
M&D Paving Mini Stocks: 1. MIKE ANDERSON (JR.) 2. Wally Stearns 3. Bill Fuchs 4. Leland Haylett.
Upcoming Events:
5/12 Sprints, Mods, Stocks, Mod Lites, and Mini Stocks plus kids bike races. Bring the family for $10 presented by Armstrong.
5/19 Wingless Sprints ($1,500), Mods, Stocks, Mod Lites, and Mini Stocks. Free general admission for all Crawford County residents presented by Armstrong.
5/26 Sprints, Mods, Stocks, Mod Lites, and Mini Stocks. "Pack the Track"/Fan Appreciation Night ($5 adult, $12 family, $2 student admission) & "Meet Your Heroes" Autograph Night presented by Froggy 95.1
Gates open at 4:30 p.m. with hot laps at 6:15 p.m. and racing at 7 p.m.
Mercer Raceway Park is located minutes from both Interstate 79 and 80 just off Route 19 on Fairground Road in Mercer, Pa. Dirt track racing and quality family entertainment are presented weekly late March through early October. The office in New Bedford, Pa. is open year-round after 1:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information call the office at 724-964-9300 or the track on race day at 724-662-1310. Check out our website at www.mercerracewaypark.com for the latest.
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