Despite a rainy weekend, there was still plenty of news this past week as the local racing season begins to wind down.
(Photo: Hummingbird champ Paul Kot (36) will look to beat the invaders this Saturday during The Eric Witherite Memorial. Photo by Rick Rarer)
The biggest news this week is that racing will return to Mercer Raceway Park for one more weekend this season. On October 5-6 a Western Pennsylvania tradition will continue with the running of the 19th annual Little Guy Nationals. Headlining the two-day event will be the 358 modifieds, which have been a staple at the Mercer oval for well over a decade now.
Joining the Modifieds will be the popular Penn-Ohio Stock Car Series, which is sure to bring the area’s best stock car drivers to the track. Also on the card will be the RUSH modifieds, the 270 micro sprints, econo mods, mod lites, and the mini stocks making for a full weekend of action. Purse structures and starting times will be announced soon for the event. Ticket prices and other info are available at the track’s website www.mercerracewaypark.com
The popular Little Guy Nationals will return to Mercer Raceway Park this season.
Hummingbird Speedway will close out their 2018 season this Saturday with the track’s biggest late-model race of the season. The Eric Witherite Memorial will take center stage and will pay the winner of the 35-lap main $3,000. There will also be a king of the hill race along with lap money for the late models. Along with the late models, there will also be make-up features for the semi lates, pure stocks, and four cylinders, so fans will defiantly get their monies worth. Racing is scheduled to get underway two hours earlier than usual with the first green flag scheduled for 5 p.m. this Saturday.
Thunder Mountain Speedway managed to get their racing program in this past Friday just before the rains hit. Michael Lake held off the challenges of Jared Miley to win the super-late-model feature, while Joe Martin was the winner of the semi-late special worth $2,000. This Friday at Thunder Mountain it will be Season Championship Night with double points for all four weekly classes.
Sharon Speedway tried their best to get the first night of the Apple Festival Nationals completed Friday before the rains came. They completed three of the six scheduled features before rain halted the action. Rex King scored his first win of the season in the big block modified main. James Hill won the Mark Marcucci Memorial for the mod lites while Teddy Williams visited victory lane in the sportsman dwarf car main. The second night of the Apple Festival Nationals, which was supposed to feature the 410 sprint cars, was lost to rain but will be made up in the spring of 2019.
It will be a busy week at Lernerville Speedway where the track will see action twice this week starting with the annual Autumn-Motive Fest this Saturday featuring the Penn-Ohio Stock Car Series. The ultra-competitive pure stocks and the Allegheny 305 sprint tour will also be on the card Saturday. Before the races Saturday there will also be a custom car show, a vendor show and Ribfest which gets underway at 11 a.m. and runs up until race time.
Racing resumes at the Sarver oval Wednesday, Sept. 19, when the inaugural RK Virgile Wednesday Mayhem Series featuring the RUSH wingless sprint cars will come to a close. The Four cylinders and UTVs will also be on the card. There will also be a test and tune session after the racing action on Wednesday.
It’s been a great season for sprint car racer AJ Flick of Apollo who just clinched his third track championship in four years at Lernerville Speedway. Although his six wins this season at the Sarver oval are very impressive, the young driver recently scored the biggest win of his career when he upset the field at Port Royal Speedway in Central Pennsylvania. Flick’s win came against some of the top drivers not just in Pennsylvania but the country. Flick also became the first Western Pa regular to win at the track in several decades. With his seven wins, Flick is currently the winningest driver on the Western Pa circuit.
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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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