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Spithaler and King Jr. Perfect 10s at Michaels Mercer Raceway

MERCER, PA – After two consecutive rain, outs and rain almost the whole week. Mother nature smiled at Michaels Mercer Raceway Saturday night with a beautiful early spring day, which brought out many fans and drivers to the facility. Brandon Spithaler picked up his 10th career winged 410 sprint car feature over 30 cars, Rex King Jr. also scored his 10th career win in the big block modifieds, Gage priester scored an emotional second career win in the fastrak crate modified, Josh Sieppel won his first career Mercer pro stock feature and Andy Thompson scored his 16th career mini stock win.

For The first of many sprint car spectaculars at Mercer this year, the name “spectacular” fit the bill as 30 cars came to race for $3000 to win as many came from the central Ohio area to challenge the western Pennsylvania regulars.

Dale Blaney set fast time on the new red clay surface with a 13.608 lap.
A top eight re-draw for the Feature event put 19 time winner Arnie Kent and Brent Matus on the front row. Kent would lead the field for the 1st lap but coming out of turn 4 for lap 2 Kent hooked a rut and flipped getting upside down in front of the field. All drivers would avoid Kent and he was ok.

In 3 laps seventh Place starter, Brandon Spithaler would be challenging Jeremy Kornbau for the lead
battling back-and-forth for the lead but then caution came out on lap 7 for Layton Wagner stopped on the backstretch.

Spithaler would then take the lead but then Roman Jones spun on the high side of turn 4 on lap 9 bringing out the yellow.

On Lap 12 Dale Blaney broke going into turn number one and Dan Kuriger tried to go underneath him to avoid him and clipped the front end of Blaney causing him to get upside down barrell rolling into turn one. He was ok .

On the restart several cars got bunched up in turn number 1 with Bob Felmlee and Layton Wagner, both getting airborne but not going over bringing out the yellow once again.

A few more yellows with plague the event, but at the end spithaler emerged victorious winning by .890 over 8th starting Mike Bauer picking up $3000. Kornbau ended up 3rd, Adam Kekich came from 9th to 4th, and Wayne county standout Chris Myers was 5th. The hard charger of the night went to the four time track champion Jack Sodeman Jr. as he moved up 11 positions to finish 8th. Spithaler would say in a popular win with the fans “one more to go!! Track was in really great shape with multiple grooves and little dust and coming from 7th, I hope we put on a good show for the fans. My whole family is here tonight which makes it special. We are going to go for 3 in a row tomorrow night at Tri city.”

The 13 car big block modified field racing for the 1st night of points had 2nd generation driver, Rex King Jr. dominate the 25 lap event, leading from the beginning also picking up his tenth career win at Mercer. King was never really challenged winning by 2.6 seconds but there was a fantastic battle behind him with former track champ Eric Gabany, Chas Wolbert and a rim riding Garrett Krummert all racing for 2nd. Despite all the challenges Gabany never lost 2nd place with Krummert 3rd, Wolbert 4th and Will Thomas 5th.

King would say “It’s cool to win my tenth here…watching my dad and Lou Blaney from the stands when I was a kid in turn 4..there were so many great drivers who won here.. Eric is really good and we criss crossed in turn 4 and I went back under him it’s great to race with him and it’s good to keep him behind me.”

In the fastrak crate modifieds all money was on 40 time winner Frank Guidace as he was on the pole for the 20 lap event but also on the front row was youngster Gage Preister whose family has been battling health issues with his father over the winter. Preister would not let Guidace out of his sights and took the lead in turn 3 on lap 4. Not only did Priester have Guidace to worry about but also three time track champion Brian Schaffer, 4 time winner Jeff Schaffer Jr, and Jordan Ehrenberg. Guidace would hold onto 2nd until lap 12 when he drifted high in turn 3 falling back to 5th. Schaffer, Ehrenberg, and Schaffer Jr would get around and try to catch Priester. B.Schaffer could only get as close as 1.89 at the end as Priester would go on for his popular first win since 2021. “I really wanted to get a win this year for my dad who’s battling cancer and I want to thank my sponsors.” Gage said “I tried to stay consistent and hit my marks and hit the gas!!” Brian Schaffer would follow in 2nd, Ehrenberg 3rd, Jeff Schaffer Jr 4th and Guidace 5th.

In the pro Stocks Josh Seippel got around opening night winner Chris Withers on lap 3 to take the lead but it wasn’t easy as 2 former raceway 7 track champions in Withers and Pat Fielding would inch closer and closer to Sieppel while battling side by side for several laps. Fielding would get around Withers for good on lap 18 and would set his sights on Sieppel but would come up .171 short as Sieppel would record his first ever Michaels Mercer Raceway Feature after winning at tri city last year. “this car isn’t mine..he let me drive it.. I’m just thankful to get a chance to drive it.. the tracks come a long way and will be a great surface as they keep working on it.”Withers was 3rd followed by Charlie Mcmillen and Russ Coyne.

23 mini stocks took the green flag with track champ Andy Thompson taking control immediately from his outside front row position.10 time winner Carl Ealy would get as close as .960 to Thompson but could not get around him in the non stop 15 lapper finishing 6.4 seconds behind for 2nd. Thompson would lap up to 12th place. Corey Bice had a great run from 6th up to 3rd passing Devin Haley on the last lap and Randy Ealy would finish 5th. The non stop feature took around 5 minutes to complete. Thompson would say “the minis have come a long way..the track had a lot of bite in it and was a little rough but was still racey.”

Next week will be a regular four division show for points with the big block modifieds, the racesaver 305 sprints, the fastrak crate modifieds, and the mini stocks. It will also be twin state auto racing fan club night all members with valid membership card will be amid free to the grandstand area and have access to the VIP booth .

For more information on Mercer please visit our Facebook page or our website: www.MichaelsMercerraceway.com You can also contact the track at 724-662-1310 or on Facebook messenger.

Media Results for 5/6/2023 at Michaels Mercer Raceway – Mercer, PA

Dirt Big Block Modifieds 14 Entries
A Feature 1 25 Laps

1. 165-Rex King Jr[1]; 2. 318-eric gabany[4]; 3. 29-Garrett Krummert[6]; 4. C3-Chas Wolbert[3]; 5. 9T-Will Thomas[5]; 6. 20P-Mike Kinney[8]; 7. 29*-Eric Beggs[2]; 8. 13-Rick Regalski Jr[11]; 9. 35-Steve Slater[12]; 10. 9-Chad Reitz[13]; 11. 11R-Brad Rapp[7]; 12. 64-Rodney Beltz[10]; 13. 83T-Tom Glenn[9]; 14. (DNS) 74-Kevin Green

Heat 1 8 Laps

1. 29-Garrett Krummert[1]; 2. 318-eric gabany[6]; 3. 29*-Eric Beggs[5]; 4. 11R-Brad Rapp[3]; 5. 83T-Tom Glenn[7]; 6. 13-Rick Regalski Jr[2]; 7. 35-Steve Slater[4]

Heat 2 8 Laps

1. 9-Chad Reitz[1]; 2. C3-Chas Wolbert[3]; 3. 165-Rex King Jr[5]; 4. 20P-Mike Kinney[4]; 5. 64-Rodney Beltz[6]; 6. 74-Kevin Green[7]; 7. 9T-Will Thomas[2]

Sport Compact 25 Entries
A Feature 1 15 Laps

1. 5-Andy Thompson[2]; 2. 0-Carl Ealy[4]; 3. 10-Corey Bice[9]; 4. 02-Devin Haley[1]; 5. 38-Randy Ealy[11]; 6. 55-Josh Eakman[8]; 7. 16-Daniel Hostetler[3]; 8. 10S-trevn schaffer[14]; 9. 6-Mike Kelley[7]; 10. 60-Dillon Thorne[5]; 11. 66M-Matt Miller[12]; 12. 79-John McCraken[18]; 13. 16R-Jordan Reges[13]; 14. 45-Andrew Thompson[15]; 15. 029-Ben Aley[20]; 16. 3-Craig Thorne[16]; 17. 79X-Summer Pitts[23]; 18. 325Z-Zack Swartz[24]; 19. 40-Ray Seibert[17]; 20. 33-Brianna Parker[19]; 21. 312-Jason Fry[25]; 22. 22D-Chuck Davis[6]; 23. 999-Adam Aley[10]; 24. (DNS) 56M-Jacob McElravy; 25. (DNS) 17J-Mike Salsgiver

Heat 1 6 Laps

1. 22D-Chuck Davis[2]; 2. 16-Daniel Hostetler[5]; 3. 6-Mike Kelley[1]; 4. 999-Adam Aley[4]; 5. 16R-Jordan Reges[3]; 6. 3-Craig Thorne[7]; 7. 33-Brianna Parker[8]; 8. 56M-Jacob McElravy[6]

Heat 2 6 Laps

1. 60-Dillon Thorne[2]; 2. 5-Andy Thompson[7]; 3. 55-Josh Eakman[1]; 4. 38-Randy Ealy[4]; 5. 10S-trevn schaffer[8]; 6. 40-Ray Seibert[3]; 7. 029-Ben Aley[5]; 8. 79X-Summer Pitts[6]

Heat 3 6 Laps

1. 0-Carl Ealy[6]; 2. 02-Devin Haley[2]; 3. 10-Corey Bice[3]; 4. 66M-Matt Miller[4]; 5. 45-Andrew Thompson[8]; 6. 79-John McCraken[1]; 7. 17J-Mike Salsgiver[7]; 8. 325Z-Zack Swartz[5]; 9. 312-Jason Fry[

Limited Modified 20 Entries
A Feature 1 20 Laps

1. 71-Gage Priester[2]; 2. 41-Brian Schaffer[4]; 3. JD57-jordan ehrenberg[3]; 4. 14-Jeff Schaffer Jr[5]; 5. 1G-Frank Guidace[1]; 6. 717-Bill Adams[8]; 7. 1R-Brandon Ritchey[12]; 8. 404-MIchael Kristyak[6]; 9. 12L-Patrick Lane[10]; 10. 33G-Todd Gabriel[11]; 11. 07L-Mark Sevin[13]; 12. 7-Brenten Kay[18]; 13. 312-Ryan Gutherie[16]; 14. 93-Phill Kapcewich[15]; 15. 119-Joe Gibson[19]; 16. 1-JIm Bryce[9]; 17. 7P-Caden Petry[7]; 18. 86-Shayne Izzo[20]; 19. 113-Don Cornelius[17]; 20. 55-Scott Kay[14]

Heat 1 8 Laps

1. 1-JIm Bryce[7]; 2. JD57-jordan ehrenberg[4]; 3. 14-Jeff Schaffer Jr[5]; 4. 7P-Caden Petry[8]; 5. 1G-Frank Guidace[1]; 6. 33G-Todd Gabriel[9]; 7. 07L-Mark Sevin[3]; 8. 93-Phill Kapcewich[2]; 9. 113-Don Cornelius[10]; 10. 119-Joe Gibson[6]

Heat 2 8 Laps

1. 71-Gage Priester[2]; 2. 41-Brian Schaffer[6]; 3. 404-MIchael Kristyak[1]; 4. 717-Bill Adams[5]; 5. 12L-Patrick Lane[4]; 6. 1R-Brandon Ritchey[7]; 7. 55-Scott Kay[10]; 8. 312-Ryan Gutherie[9]; 9. 7-Brenten Kay[3]; 10. 86-Shayne Izzo[8]

410 Sprints – Winged 30 Entries
A Feature 1 30 Laps

1. 22-Brandon Spithaler[7]; 2. 46-Michael Bauer[8]; 3. 27K-Jeremy Kornbau[4]; 4. 5K-Adam Kekich[9]; 5. 25-Chris Myers[5]; 6. 6-Bob Felmlee[15]; 7. 2-Ricky Peterson[10]; 8. 23JR-Jack Sodeman Jr[19]; 9. 20B-Cody Bova[16]; 10. 13-Brandon Matus[17]; 11. 35W-Jeremy Weaver[21]; 12. 35-Jared Zimbardi[11]; 13. 20M-Vivian Jones[3]; 14. 86-Michael Lutz Jr[22]; 15. 82M-Roman Jones[20]; 16. 57N-Tyler Newhart[23]; 17. 34M-Mike Marano[24]; 18. 33-Brent Matus[2]; 19. 32-Dale Blaney[13]; 20. 11-Carl Bowser[6]; 21. 08-Danny Kuriger[14]; 22. 38-Leyton Wagner[18]; 23. 18-Arnie Kent[1]; 24. 12-Kasey Jedrzejek[12]

B Feature 1 10 Laps

1. 35W-Jeremy Weaver[2]; 2. 86-Michael Lutz Jr[1]; 3. 57N-Tyler Newhart[4]; 4. 34M-Mike Marano[3]; 5. 2A-Joe Adorjan[6]; 6. 13B-Stevie Bright[10]; 7. 4W-Eric L Williams[5]; 8. (DNS) 154-Shamus O’Donnell; 9. (DNS) 31C-Chase Metheney; 10. (DNS) 41G-John McCracken

Heat 1 8 Laps

1. 27K-Jeremy Kornbau[2]; 2. 11-Carl Bowser[1]; 3. 5K-Adam Kekich[3]; 4. 32-Dale Blaney[4]; 5. 13-Brandon Matus[5]; 6. 86-Michael Lutz Jr[6]; 7. 4W-Eric L Williams[7]; 8. 13B-Stevie Bright[8]

Heat 2 8 Laps

1. 20M-Vivian Jones[1]; 2. 18-Arnie Kent[3]; 3. 2-Ricky Peterson[2]; 4. 08-Danny Kuriger[4]; 5. 38-Leyton Wagner[5]; 6. 35W-Jeremy Weaver[6]; 7. 2A-Joe Adorjan[7]; 8. 154-Shamus O’Donnell[8]

Heat 3 8 Laps

1. 46-Michael Bauer[1]; 2. 22-Brandon Spithaler[4]; 3. 35-Jared Zimbardi[3]; 4. 6-Bob Felmlee[2]; 5. 23JR-Jack Sodeman Jr[5]; 6. 34M-Mike Marano[6]; 7. (DNS) 31C-Chase Metheney

Heat 4 8 Laps

1. 33-Brent Matus[1]; 2. 25-Chris Myers[2]; 3. 12-Kasey Jedrzejek[3]; 4. 20B-Cody Bova[4]; 5. 82M-Roman Jones[5]; 6. 57N-Tyler Newhart[6]; 7. 41G-John McCracken

Stock Cars 13 Entries
A Feature 1 20 Laps

1. 84S-Josh Seippel[2]; 2. 23-Pat Fielding[4]; 3. 21W-Chris Withers[1]; 4. 61M-Charlie McMillen[11]; 5. 8C-Russ Coyne[7]; 6. 71-Joey Anderson[10]; 7. 97-Tony Bruno[9]; 8. 1M-Gary Miller[12]; 9. 44-Jacob Wheeler[8]; 10. 7-Coleton Longwell[3]; 11. 77-Randy Wheeler[6]; 12. 67J-Jamie Duncan[5]; 13. (DNS) 99T-Theo Baumgartner

Heat 1 8 Laps

1. 21W-Chris Withers[4]; 2. 7-Coleton Longwell[7]; 3. 67J-Jamie Duncan[2]; 4. 8C-Russ Coyne[5]; 5. 97-Tony Bruno[1]; 6. 61M-Charlie McMillen[6]; 7. 99T-Theo Baumgartner

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