For the second consecutive week wet weather spoiled much of the racing action scheduled on the western Pennsylvania scene. The weekend started with a wash out at Lernerville Speedway as rains moved through the area during the late afternoon and evening.
(Photo of George Hobaugh Jr, who will look to return to victory lane this Friday at Thunder Mountain Speedway in Brookville. Photo by Rick Rarer)
Saturday Mercer Raceway Park and Pittsburgh Motor Speedway both decided not to battle the rain and canceled their scheduled events. Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio had other thoughts as they went on with the show and completed racing action without interruption.
Jim Weller scored his first victory of the season winning the big block modified feature by holding off two of the area’s top winners; Rex King and Rex King Jr. The Penn-Ohio Stock Car series also joined the card on Saturday and a strong field of forty-five cars filled the pits. Chris Schneider was the victor and took home one thousand dollars for his win.
Other winners included Brandon Ritchey of Cranberry in the RUSH modifieds, along with Joel Watson, Butch Lambert, and Steve Walker. Sharon will be back in action this Saturday with another six division show and racing slated to start at 7:00.
Thunder Mountain Speedway in Brookville will open their season this Friday with 305 sprint cars, late models, semi lates, and street stocks. Last year George Hobaugh of Chicora was the driver to beat in the sprint car class. He will return this season with car owner Joe Lockhart to try and continue their dominance.
Defending champion and current point leader Dale Blaney will lead the All-Stars to the area this weekend. Photo by Rick Rarer.
This weekend should be a big one for sprint car fans as Tony Stewart’s All-Star Circuit of Champions will invade the area with shows at Lernerville Speedway on Friday and then Mercer Raceway Park on Saturday. It will be the only appearance of the traveling series at both tracks this season so you won’t want to miss these shows.
This year the series brings a nice mix of veterans and young guns to the area led by defending champion and current point leader Dale Blaney who already has a pair of wins this season. Blaney’s biggest challenger this season has been another former All-Star champion Chad Kemenah who has one win and is currently second in points.
Other competitors expected this weekend include former Knoxville Nationals winner Tim Shaffer, local turned All-Star Danny Holtgraver, Kraig Kinser son of legend Steve Kinser, along with Ohio invaders Sheldon Haudenschild and Lee Jacobs. Also expected are All-Star rookie contenders Caleb Armstrong of Indiana, Bradley Howard of Pennsylvania, TJ Michael of Texas, and Kory Crabtree of Ohio.
The RUSH modifieds will make their second appearance of the season Friday at Lernerville and the stock cars will fill out the card joining the All-Stars. The 305 sprint cars and 358 modifieds will fill out the card Saturday at Mercer with hot laps slated for 6:00 and All-Star time trails to follow.
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