WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA POINT BATTLES WINDING DOWN

As the season starts to wind down in western Pennsylvania track championship
chases are heating up and champions are being crowned. Friday at Lernerville
Speedway Rod George won the battle but Ed Lynch Jr. won the war as Lynch
clinched the sprint car championship over George despite the fact George
scored his fourth win of the season at the track.

The modified title was also decided Friday when Dave Murdick clinched the
championship over Brian Swartzlander. The championship is Murdick’s second
consecutive title. The late model and stock car crowns will be decided this
Friday in the final point night as John Flinner and Lynn Geisler go into
this Friday separated by just two points in the late model standings and
stock car racers Greg Beach and Butch Lambert are separated by just one
point.

Rain washed out action at Mercer Raceway Park on Saturday and it allowed Rod
George to clinch his first ever sprint car championship at the track. The
battle behind George and the other divisions will be decided this Saturday
when Mercer presents the 6th annual sprint car Slug Out.

This year’s edition will feature a new unique format with the sprint cars
racing in three separate fifteen lap features each paying 1,000 dollars to
the winner. There will also be a 500 dollar bonus to any driver that can win
all three features. With nearby Sharon Speedway not running sprint cars
there should be a good turn out of winged warriors for this show.

The small block modifieds and stock cars will join the sprint cars for this
special show and both will be racing for higher purses. The strictly stocks
will also be in action and will be signing autographs for the fans before
the show. Gates will open at 4:30 with hot laps at 6:15 followed by time
trials and racing. You can obtain more info at www.mercerracewaypark.com

Another driver who locked up a championship over the weekend was thundercar
driver Chad Myers at Tri-City Speedway. The Oil City driver rebounded from a
nasty crash a week earlier and won his eighth feature of the season. Myers
was the rookie of the year in the thundercars last season and this season
his win has broken the record for most thundercar wins in a season at the
track.

Like Lernerville and Mercer, Raceway 7, and Tri-City will all crown the rest
of their champions this weekend with their final point races of the season.
Sharon Speedway will decide their points championships on Septemeber 17th
when all five divisions will race for double points.

Sharon Speedway will give their support divisions a chance to headline the
show this Saturday when the stock cars, e-mods, and green flag sprints will
be joined by the stock car senior series for the annual Fall Classic. Racing
is scheduled to get underway at 6:00pm.

Joel Watson was the big winner at Raceway 7 over the weekend when he bested
a field of forty-three e-mods to win the thirty lap “Summer Bash” presented
by Applebee Motorsports which was worth 1,000 dollars to the Ashtabula
driver.

In late model action the “Titusville Terror” Rob Blair scored his third
straight feature win, and sixth of the season. The win was Blair’s
thirty-first of his career at the track and moves him into a tie with Dick
Barton for second on the all time list behind Chub Frank. Other winners
included Dan Maxim; semi-lates, Rusty Wheeler; street stocks, and Steve
Horvath; hobby stocks.

Despite the local point battles winding down most of the area tracks have
some big shows planned in the next month. I’ll be back soon to let you know
about all the special events coming up. Until then stop by
www.sprintcarnews.com for the latest results and area pictures.