10/3/2020
Michaels Mercer Raceway
21st annual little guy nationals 10.2.20 night one results
Michael’s Mercer Raceway kicks off the 21st annual little guy nationals Friday as Fink fends off Rudolph for small block modified Main; McGuire masters Penn/Ohio stocks; Gabany, Morris, Bale,King repeat in other features .
By Jim Balentine
Mercer,Pa
Oct 2
Under beautiful blue skies Michaels Mercer Raceway began its 21st annual little guy nationals on Friday night Oct 2nd with 6 divisions in the pits on a chilly October evening.
Winners were Kyle Fink(small block modifieds); Chris McGuire( penn/Ohio stocks); Jimmy Morris(305 sprints); Eric Gabany(FASTRAK modifieds); Nathaniel Bale(Mod lites) and Phil King(mini stocks).
In the open small block modified feature Kyle Fink started up 3rd and held off challenges from modified stand out Eric Rudolph to take his 3rd career little guy nationals win. Rudolph who was involved in a tangle with Fink as they were battling had to go to the rear for bringing out the caution and Fink, who never stopped , went back to his lead position. Rudolph would make his way through the pack and once again challenged Fink for the lead but he kept his line and held off the New York star to capture the event. New York dominated the top spots as Rudolph finishes second, Ron Cartwright 3rd, Tony Pangrazio 4th and last years winner Phil Vigneri 5th all from the Empire State.
Chris McGuire has taken a liking to Mercer as he held of John Boardman to win his second Penn/Ohio pro stock feature of the year at the speedway. Tim Bish who was looking to capture another little guy nationals win broke while leading and McGuire would get around Penn/Ohio point champ Jackson Humanic to go on for the win.
After a 6 year dry spell Jimmy Morris now has won 2 Mercer Racesaver 305 sprint features in a row and he was never challenged from the pole for a 7 second victory. Greg Dobrosky was 2nd, last years winner Kyle Colwell 3rd, Jeremy Kornbau 4th, and Steve Cousins 5th.
Eric Gabany from his 4th starting spot picked up his historic 15th career FASTRAK limited modified feature and his 3rd little guy win. Kole Holden challenged Gabany at the end to finish 2nd, Jeff Schaffer Jr was 3rd, Preston Cope moved up 6 spots to finish 4th and Chas Wolbert passed 13 cars to finish 5th.
Nathaniel Bale has now won 2 career Mercer mod lite features in his young career coming from the 7th position for the win. Last years winner Shane Webb was 2nd, Roman Jones 3rd, Darryl Jones up 6 spots for 4th and Darryl Hoon up 8 positions for 5th.
Phil King survived a caution and accident marred mini stock feature to pick up his second career win. Last week’s winner Andy Thompson Bounced back to second, Adam Aley who won two weeks ago finish third, Summer Pitts up 12 spots for 4th and Carl Ealy 5th.
Open small Block Modifieds
- 6F-Kyle Fink[3]; 2. 25-Erick Rudolph[4]; 3. 2B-Ron Cartwright[5]; 4. 41-Tony Pangrazio[6]; 5. 44V-Phil Vigneri III[2]; 6. 4-Ken Titus[13]; 7. 58-Lonny Riggs[8]; 8. 8-Kyle Martell[14]; 9. 9K-Chad Gump[11]; 10. 817-John Zvenuto[7]; 11. 17-Brandon Ritchey[16]; 12. 5-Max Smoker[9]; 13. 10-Jeff Schaffer Jr[1]; 14. 18-JR McGinley[10]; 15. 60J-Chris Ostrowsky[12]; 16. 74-Kevin Green[17]; 17. (DNS) 28H-Jimmy Holden
305 Sprints
- 16-Jim Morris[1]; 2. 88-Greg Dobrosky[2]; 3. 80JR-Kyle Colwell[6]; 4. 4J-Jeremy Kornbau[7]; 5. 56-Steve Cousins[8]; 6. 29-logan mccandless[4]; 7. X7-Andy Cavanagh[3]; 8. 21-Rob Felix[5]; 9. 12G-Tommy Jasen[9]; 10. 25-Jarrett Rosencranze[11]; 11. 97-JR Jameson[10]; 12. 40C-Joe Campbell[12]
Mini Stock 32 Entries
- 12-Phil King[2]; 2. 5-Andy Thompson[9]; 3. 999-Adam Aley[5]; 4. 64-Summer Pitts[16]; 5. 0-Carl Ealy[7]; 6. 27-Patrick Lane[13]; 7. 1-Joesph Ronanko[21]; 8. 36PACK-DJ MacRae[6]; 9. 23MP-Michael Porterfield[17]; 10. 7X-Justin Bailey[20]; 11. 0R-Randy Ealy[1]; 12. 20A-Jesse Armstong[8]; 13. 54-Tim Callahan[3]; 14. 77H-Cameron Hutchins[15]; 15. 325Z-Zack Swartz[23]; 16. 7-Brad Gamble[11]; 17. 7H-Pat Hanlon[19]; 18. 7UP-Phil Bennett Jr[14]; 19. 10X-Todd Hanlon[18]; 20. 14M-Jay Sweat[24]; 21. 0B-Joe Campbell[4]; 22. (DNS) 34-JR Shaner; 23. (DNS) 17J-Mike Salsgiver; 24. (DNS) 59-Jerry Batcher
FASTRAK Limited Modified 19 Entries
- 4S-Eric Gabany[4]; 2. 2-Cole Holden[5]; 3. 14-Jeff Schaffer Jr[1]; 4. 24-Preston Cope[10]; 5. C3-Chas Wolbert[18]; 6. 44-Vivian Jones[16]; 7. 5C-Ayden Cipriano[9]; 8. 68-Dave Dipitetro[11]; 9. 404-MIchael Kristyak[8]; 10. 113-Don Cornelius[3]; 11. 9D-Josh Deems[6]; 12. 104-Zack Sam[12]; 13. 17-Brandon Ritchey[2]; 14. 8-Kyle Martell[7]; 15. 55R-Clayton Deems[14]; 16. 71-Gage Priester[19]; 17. 70B-Steven Burns[13]; 18. 33G-Dalton Gabriel[15]; 19. 7P-Caden Petry[17]
Mod Lites
- 01-Nathaniel Bale[7]; 2. 267-Shane Webb[5]; 3. 82M-Roman Jones[8]; 4. 52-Doug Williams[10]; 5. 1-Darryll Hoon[13]; 6. 5-Jason Darocha[3]; 7. 86-Kenny Hardy Jr[4]; 8. 12-Alan Atkins[2]; 9. 22-Kyle Demo[1]; 10. 19H-Steve Haefke[11]; 11. 15-Chris Robinson[15]; 12. 51-Brian Stivenson[14]; 13. 06-Mike Mullen[12]; 14. 19-Brad Harris[17]; 15. 17-Jason Gracey[6]; 16. 155-Clayton Brewer III[9]; 17. 49-Jereme Bean[16]
Submitted By: Edward Michaels
