Rick’s Racing Roundup: Another Rainy Week for Area Racers

| August 1, 2017

Like a broken record, this past weekend started off with yet another rainy Friday.

(Photo: Mike Marano)

Thunder Mountain Speedway was up for the challenge as they moved the program along despite rain all around the raceway and got the entire show in, minus the last few laps of the fwd feature when rains hit. Charles Powell Jr was the winner of the late model feature while Will Fleming was in victory lane for the second week in a row with his 305 sprint car.

Other winners at Thunder Mountain included: Andrew Gordon (street stocks), John Lee (semi-late), Marbles Mahoney (Vintage Racing Series), and John Campisano took the checkers in the rain shortened fwd feature. With the threat of rain, Fan Appreciation Night has been moved to this Friday and it will also be Pittsburgh Circle Track Club night along with a regular five division racing program.

Lernerville Speedway was not so lucky Friday as they completed heat races for all four divisions in between rain showers before lightning and more rain ended the night’s program. Lernerville will try again this Friday with another Fab 4 racing program. This Friday will also be Nostalgia Night/Meet the Drivers Night, along with Twin State Club Night. Pit passes and rain checks from this past Friday can be redeemed for the next two Fab 4 racing events.

Saturday the weather would cooperate where Mercer Raceway Park was able to return to racing. Dan Kuriger scored his first Mercer sprint car victory Saturday while Mike Marano got his first 305 win of the season. Jimmy Holden returned to victory lane in 358 modified competition while Icaac Paden won the mini stock feature, and Mark Marcucci was victorious in the mod lite main.

The August schedule at Mercer is filled with specials starting with the 4th Annual Putzy Kekich Memorial this Saturday for the 410 sprint cars. August 12th the big block modifieds will make their return to the Mercer oval to take on the 358 modified regulars in the “SMACKDOWN” BRP vs 358 show.

August 19th will be the F.A.S.T. Summer Shootout as the tough Fremont/Attica Ohio series invades to take on the 410 and 305 Mercer regulars. Then on August 26th the Patriot Sprint Tour will return and join the 410 and 305 sprints making for a sprint car triple header.

The Penn-Ohio Pro Stock series invaded Sharon Speedway this past Saturday and always bring large car counts. This past Saturday was no different as fifty-one stock cars filled the pits to do battle in their regularly scheduled program and the Apple Festival Nationals make up feature. Chris McGuire would take home the 1,000 winner’s check for the regular feature over Seneca driver Bobby Whitling after the original winner Andrew Gordon was disqualified for illegal suspension.

In the makeup feature, it was Chris Schneider scoring his first win of the season worth 2,000 dollars over Oil City driver Randy Wyant. The big block modified feature found Rex King Jr in victory lane for the second time this season matching his Dad’s win total at the Hartford oval this season.

Rex King Jr scored his second Sharon win of the season Saturday night

After winning Friday night at Thunder Mountain Speedway Charles Powell Jr backed up his win Saturday night at Hummingbird Speedway with another win over a full field of late models that saw Paul Kot and Seve Scaife Jr round out the podium. This Saturday Hummingbird will be back in action with five divisions of racing along with Pittsburgh Circle Track Club night.

Sprint car legend Sammy Swindell returned to victory lane over the weekend with the All-Star Circuit of Champions. The series spent the weekend in New York where Swindell found victory lane Saturday night at Orange County Speedway driving for Bradford racer Jared Zimbardi. All-Star regular Ryan Smith scored his first win of the season Friday at Outlaw Speedway.

On Sunday the series visited Lebanon Valley Speedway where Pa Posse invader Danny Dietrich was the victor. It was a strong showing for Swindell who finished third both Friday and Sunday in his first time driving for Zimbardi.

Rick’s Racing Roundup is brought to you by:

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About Rick

Rick Rarer, a Franklin resident, is the owner of Racestud.com and SprintCarNews.com. He has been covering racing for 18 years, taking racing photos for 13 years, and has covered races at over 100 tracks in 15 states. Most recently, Rick won the Bill Steinbach Media Award at the Lernerville Speedway Annual Awards Banquet.


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