By Jim Balentine
(Mercer, PA)
On a day surrounded by heavy rain, hot and humid temperatures Michaels Mercer raceway presented by Sunbelt rentals was able to complete its fourth show of the year as the All Star sprint cars returned to the track for the first time since 2017 in the Bud Miller tribute race as they honored the living legend who began the All-Stars way back in 1970. Cale Thomas lead flag to flag in the 35 lap All-Star Bud Miller tribute feature; defending champion Vivian Jones picked up her fifth career IMCA racesaver 305 Sprint win; former dirt 602 crate sportsman track champion Jordan Ehrenberg led flag to flag picking up his third career win; and Tim Callahan also led flag to flag in the SCDRA Mini Stock feature to collect his 22nd career win. The entire program was completed by 10:45.
Cale Thomas from the pole would hold off several challenges by Devon Borden including several restarts, but would be strong enough to pick up the win in the Bud Miller tribute with the All-Star sprints. Borden would finish second as AJ Flick would move up from eighth to finish third. Matt Farnham would have a wonderful night finishing fourth and Kalib Henry 5th. “It’s great to win here at Mercer especially when I can win for Rudzik excavating as they are local to here!! I was losing my brakes with 5 laps to go when I was getting into lapped traffic but they held on for the win.”
Defending IMCA racesaver 305 sprint track champion Vivian Jones would take the lead from Jarrett Rosencrance on lap 7 coming out of turn 4 you and went on to dominate the 20 lap feature winning by 7.5 seconds in the 10 minute affair. Rosencrance was 2nd; Ace Pruitt finished 3rd; Kasey Weaver 4th and Joe Coggin 5th. Vivian would say, “I can’t believe my lead was that big!! I felt all right but the car was blubbering really bad but maybe that worked in my favor… we made some quick adjustments and obviously it’s the right direction so can’t think my dad enough in my team and everybody that comes out and supports me so yeah I’m really happy to get this one.”
The King’s forestry products SCDRA mini stock feature ran green to checkered in just 5:18 as Tim Callahan scored an emotional 22nd career Mercer win as his mother passed away Friday morning. A solemn Tim would say , “My mom passed away so I’d like a moment of silence…thank you Mercer for keeping our class… There’s nothing worse than having to travel to other tracks far away to race when this is your home.”
In the Top shelf trucking DIRT 602 crate sportsman feature Jordan Ehrenberg would take his 3rd Mercer checkered but it would not be easy as Gage Priester, Caden Petry, Eric Gabany, Billy Adams and Brian Schaffer would all battle behind, trying to catch the leader. After many laps of battling back and forth Gabany would fall just short of the win, Schaffer would get third Petry 4th and Priester would fall back to 5th. Jordan would say, “Eric (Gabany) is the “OG” here man he’s always on. I remember watching him when I was a kid I got to thank my little brother..This is pretty much half his car, and Garrett and Jo Krummert.. it’s actually kinda hard to run the lead there for a while cause I don’t know if I’m in the right spot or somewhere faster to be or not!”
Michaels Mercer Raceway presented by Sunbelt Rentals will be dark until Saturday, July 19 when the BRP modified tour makes another stop for the annual Michaels Memorial Race.
All star 410 Sprints – Winged 27 Entries
Bud Miller A Feature 35 Laps | 00:19:37.155
1. 49X-Cale Thomas[1]; 2. 45-Devon Borden[4]; 3. 2-AJ Flick[8]; 4. 7NY-Matt Farnham[3]; 5. 101-Kalib Henry[5]; 6. 29-Logan McCandless[10]; 7. 7N-Darin Naida[7]; 8. 46-Michael Bauer[12]; 9. 13-Brandon Matus[9]; 10. 5E-Bobby Elliott[14]; 11. 5K-Adam Kekich[11]; 12. 20B-Cody Bova[13]; 13. 22-Brandon Spithaler[6]; 14. 16M-Jim Morris[18]; 15. 33-Brent Matus[17]; 16. 38-Leyton Wagner[15]; 17. 47L-Dusty Larson[23]; 18. 7T-David Kalb[22]; 19. W20-Greg Wilson[21]; 20. 47-Todd King[16]; 21. 23JR-Jack Sodeman Jr[19]; 22. 5-Jeremy Weaver[20]; 23. 4-Zane DeVault[2]
Level Utilities Dash 1 6 Laps |
1. 49X-Cale Thomas[1]; 2. 4-Zane DeVault[2]; 3. 7NY-Matt Farnham[3]; 4. 45-Devon Borden[5]; 5. 101-Kalib Henry[6]; 6. 22-Brandon Spithaler[4]
Premier Planning Heat 1 10 Laps | 00:09:51.000 |
1. 49X-Cale Thomas[2]; 2. 22-Brandon Spithaler[3]; 3. 101-Kalib Henry[4]; 4. 46-Michael Bauer[5]; 5. 38-Leyton Wagner[7]; 6. 16M-Jim Morris[8]; 7. 99-Cameron Nastasi[9]; 8. 31C-Chase Metheney[1]; 9. 5-Jeremy Weaver[6]
All Pro Heat 2 10 Laps | 00:02:26.000 |
1. 13-Brandon Matus[1]; 2. 4-Zane DeVault[3]; 3. 45-Devon Borden[4]; 4. 29-Logan McCandless[2]; 5. 5E-Bobby Elliott[6]; 6. 47-Todd King[7]; 7. 23JR-Jack Sodeman Jr[5]; 8. 47L-Dusty Larson[8]; 9. (DNS) 2MD-Aiden Price
Adaptive One Heat 3 10 Laps |
1. 7N-Darin Naida[2]; 2. 5K-Adam Kekich[1]; 3. 7NY-Matt Farnham[4]; 4. 2-AJ Flick[3]; 5. 20B-Cody Bova[5]; 6. 33-Brent Matus[7]; 7. 7T-David Kalb[8]; 8. 21-Bryan Salisbury[9]; 9. W20-Greg Wilson[6]
Capital Renegade Qual Flight A 2 Laps | 00:14:02.000
1. 101-Kalib Henry, 00:13.405[10]; 2. 45-Devon Borden, 00:13.426[6]; 3. 7NY-Matt Farnham, 00:13.433[12]; 4. 22-Brandon Spithaler, 00:13.511[16]; 5. 4-Zane DeVault, 00:13.557[3]; 6. 2-AJ Flick, 00:13.587[15]; 7. 49X-Cale Thomas, 00:13.671[20]; 8. 29-Logan McCandless, 00:13.679[18]; 9. 7N-Darin Naida, 00:13.709[13]; 10. 31C-Chase Metheney, 00:13.723[8]; 11. 13-Brandon Matus, 00:13.743[1]; 12. 5K-Adam Kekich, 00:13.754[19]; 13. 46-Michael Bauer, 00:13.768[21]; 14. 23JR-Jack Sodeman Jr, 00:13.780[11]; 15. 20B-Cody Bova, 00:13.851[26]; 16. 5-Jeremy Weaver, 00:13.878[17]; 17. 5E-Bobby Elliott, 00:13.899[27]; 18. W20-Greg Wilson, 00:13.944[14]; 19. 38-Leyton Wagner, 00:14.090[24]; 20. 47-Todd King, 00:14.151[2]; 21. 33-Brent Matus, 00:14.417[4]; 22. 16M-Jim Morris, 00:14.477[22]; 23. 47L-Dusty Larson, 00:14.555[23]; 24. 7T-David Kalb, 00:14.756[25]; 25. 99-Cameron Nastasi, 00:14.771[7]; 26. 2MD-Aiden Price, 00:45.270[9]; 27. (DNS) 21-Bryan Salisbury
IMCA Racesaver 305 Sprints 9 Entries
A Feature 1 20 Laps
1. 20M-Vivian Jones[4]; 2. 25-Jarrett Rosencrance[1]; 3. 20-Ace Pruitt[5]; 4. 4W-Kasey Weaver[7]; 5. 71-Joe Coggin[3]; 6. 34M-Aaron Marano[2]; 7. 30-Jazlyn Boyles[6]; 8. 72-Mike Mathieson[8]; 9. 4B-Walt Tutak Jr[9]
Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:00:59.677
1. 25-Jarrett Rosencrance[1]; 2. 20M-Vivian Jones[5]; 3. 20-Ace Pruitt[2]; 4. 4W-Kasey Weaver[4]; 5. 4B-Walt Tutak Jr[3]
Heat 2 8 Laps | 00:03:30.772
1. 71-Joe Coggin[1]; 2. 34M-Aaron Marano[4]; 3. 30-Jazlyn Boyles[3]; 4. 72-Mike Mathieson[2]
Mini Stocks King’s Forestry 14 Entries
A Feature 1 15 Laps | 00:04:59.704
1. 54-Tim Callahan[3]; 2. 13S-Chaz Smith[4]; 3. 40C-Joe Campbell[2]; 4. 0-Carl Ealy[5]; 5. 5-Andy Thompson[7]; 6. 38-Randy Ealy[6]; 7. 45-Andrew Thompson[1]; 8. 10JOK-Bill Fuchs[13]; 9. 55-Josh Eakman[9]; 10. 6-Mike Kelley[8]; 11. 29-Mike McCool[12]; 12. 9A-Ben Aley[11]; 13. (DNS) 22D-Chuck Davis; 14. (DNS) 16-Daniel Hostetler
Heat 1 6 Laps
1. 54-Tim Callahan[1]; 2. 13S-Chaz Smith[4]; 3. 40C-Joe Campbell[5]; 4. 5-Andy Thompson[6]; 5. 55-Josh Eakman[2]; 6. 9A-Ben Aley[7]; 7. 10JOK-Bill Fuchs[3]
Heat 2 6 Laps | 00:02:01.311
1. 0-Carl Ealy[2]; 2. 38-Randy Ealy[3]; 3. 45-Andrew Thompson[5]; 4. 6-Mike Kelley[7]; 5. 22D-Chuck Davis[4]; 6. 29-Mike McCool[1]; 7. (DNS) 16-Daniel Hostetler
DIRT 602 Crate Sportsman Top Shelf Trucking 18 Entries
A Feature 1 20 Laps
1. JD57-Jordan Ehrenberg[1]; 2. 318-Eric Gabany[9]; 3. 41-Brian Schaffer[10]; 4. 7P-Caden Petry[2]; 5. 71-Gage Priester[3]; 6. 12L-Patrick Lane[7]; 7. 1-Jim Bryce[11]; 8. 404S-Max Smoker[6]; 9. 77-Tommy Kristyak[15]; 10. 717-Bill Adams[5]; 11. 10-Jerry Schaffer[13]; 12. 1X-Ryan Riffe[12]; 13. 29A-Anthony Antus[16]; 14. 404X-Gary R Smoker[14]; 15. 113-Don Cornelius[18]; 16. 51R-Thomas Rodgers[4]; 17. 29-Cole Edwards[8]; 18. (DNS) 02-Jeremy Beichner
Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:02:22.499
1. 7P-Caden Petry[1]; 2. 71-Gage Priester[2]; 3. 29-Cole Edwards[3]; 4. 41-Brian Schaffer[4]; 5. 10-Jerry Schaffer[6]; 6. 29A-Anthony Antus[5]
Heat 2 8 Laps | 00:02:22.438
1. 717-Bill Adams[1]; 2. 51R-Thomas Rodgers[3]; 3. 404X-Gary R Smoker[4]; 4. 1-Jim Bryce[5]; 5. 404S-Max Smoker[6]; 6. 02-Jeremy Beichner[2]
Heat 3 8 Laps
1. 318-Eric Gabany[1]; 2. JD57-Jordan Ehrenberg[2]; 3. 12L-Patrick Lane[4]; 4. 1X-Ryan Riffe[6]; 5. 77-Tommy Kristyak[3]; 6. 113-Don Cornelius[5]
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