Memorial Day weekend turned out to be one for the books. Not only was it a four day weekend away from work, rain, and daily responsibility; it was a weekend at the races – compiling of a 3 race weekend at three different facilities across Pennsylvania. Actually, I lied; it was a 2 and 1/32 race weekend. A trip to Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania on Friday night turned out to be a misfortune. Sunny skies at the beginning of the evening would quickly turn to black masses of moisture and complete downpours, eventually resulting in the cancellation of the evening’s scheduled Keystone Cup round number 3 time trial event. But, suffice it to say, Saturday and Monday turned out to be beautiful evenings at the races with some large car counts and good, quality racing at Mercer and Lernerville Speedway’s.
Kevin Schaeffer
Team Fully Injected had another solid weekend of competition. Most of the Team FI drivers and teams had multiple nights of competition this Memorial Day weekend. Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pennsylvania would suffer another rainout on Friday night leaving most racers in western Pennsylvania with another boring Friday night to waste at home. Mercer Raceway Park hosted another $5,000 to win event on Saturday night with just over 30 cars signing in for the Auto Racers Charity special. Fully Injected was well represented on Saturday evening with Rod George, Brandon Matus, and Kevin Schaeffer all competing at the Mercer, PA bullring. Brian Ellenberger, former World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series regular and regional standout, took the $5,000 to win payday with $2,000 being donated back to the organization. Rod George would be the highest FI finisher – coming home 4th in his Proshot Directional Boring, Maxim. Brandon Matus would be scored 17th after continuing his stretch of Mercer frustration. Kevin Schaeffer would be behind the 8 ball all night – pulling the highest numbered pill in the jar which would eventually result in him running the consolation and being scored 23rd in the main event after pulling off.
Danny Holtgraver
Sunday night would offer Fully Injected drivers, as well as other western Pennsylvania 410ci competitors, a chance to race at the Tri-City Speedway in Franklin, Pennsylvania for a $3,000 to win, 30 lap main event. Bob Felmlee would come out on top at the Franklin half-mile with a small margin of victory over 30 year veteran, Rod George. Rod would be the highest Fully Injected finisher of the evening; coming home in the runner up position.
Scott Preister, competing in his own familiar Metplas red number 11, would rally from a 17th starting spot and finish 7th. Scott suffered motor issues early on in the evening making his bid at a win even harder. Suffering issues during qualifying, he would have to start at the back of a heat which eventually resulted in the Rhimersburg native to have to start 17th. A climb to 7th would mark for a positive evening outcome. Brandon Matus and Kevin Schaeffer would be scored 19th and 20th on Sunday evening.
Rod George
Danny Holtgraver, the 2010 Lernerville Speedway Track Champion, ventured away from home this weekend to race with the All Star Circuit of Champions at the Fremont Speedway in Fremont, Ohio. The Pittsburgh native explained that he was fast on both nights but suffered from the all too famous, Murphy’s Law. Whatever could have went wrong for the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania team, did go wrong. Accidental involvements in on track cautions and motor problems eventually resulted in the young western PA hotshoe to be scored behind his potential on both evenings. “We were a top five car on Sunday with the All-Stars – no doubt…” explained Danny yesterday afternoon when describing his weekend at Fremont. “…Just bad luck.” Danny would finish 14th in the Saturday night program after qualifying 10th fastest of the 31 entries and being involved in an early A-main accident. In the Sunday night portion of the weekend, Danny would improve to a top five qualifying effort- timing in 5th fastest overall of the 34 entries. Danny would suffer motor problems on Sunday night after making the A-main lineup; resulting in him being scored 22nd.
The Keystone Cup has finally come to a halt and none other than Fred Rahmer came out on top in the final points standings. Four out the originally six scheduled races were contested with Rahmer only winning one of those; that being at Big Diamond yesterday evening. Brian Leppo picked up the win at Grandview on the 25th, Monteith picked up a win at Lincoln on the 28th, Greg Hodnett grabbed the victory at Selinsgrove Speedway on the 29th, with Rahmer picking up the last event win last night (May 30th). Daryn Pittman was the 2010 Keystone Cup Champion.
The World of Outlaws had a busy weekend consisting of two racing in two different states well over 8 hours apart. The ‘Greatest Show on Dirt’ suffered a rainout at The Dirt Track at Charlotte on Friday night which resulted in the race being contested on Saturday night, instead. Paul McMahan took advantage of Sammy Swindell’s misfortune of lap traffic misjudgment and grabbed his first win of 2011. The California native and now resident of Nashville, Tennessee, continues to be the ‘fastest’ driver of the WoO tour; leading in the ‘Fast Time’ category with the series. The World of Outlaw Sprint Car Series continued their Memorial Day weekend at I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, Michigan on Monday evening. Jason Sides withstood multiple cautions and a water leak to take home the $10,000 victory over two time I-96 WoO race winner, Jason Meyers. Joey Saldana still continues to lead the World of Outlaws point’s standings.
The All Star Circuit of Champions had a double header weekend at the Fremont Speedway in Fremont, Ohio. The regional traveling sprint car series suffered some wet conditions late into the program on Saturday which forced the series to postpone the remainder of the Saturday night event to the beginning of the Sunday night portion of the weekend. Dale Blaney, the current All Star national points leader as well as regional points leader, took the Saturday night feature event while World of Outlaw invader, Jason Meyers , grabbed the victory in the Sunday night portion of the weekend. Dale Blaney and the rest of the All Stars will take on the Clinton County Raceway locals next Sunday evening for their first ever appearance ever at the north-central PA oval.
ASCS Regional competition was in full effect over the weekend. Big named 360ci competitors took victories in ASCS regional events all across the United States. Jason Johnson, Brady Bacon, Jason Solowold, and Danny Lasoski are just a few of the names who could be found under the ASCS win column for Memorial Day Weekend 2011. Speaking of Danny Lasoski, he would find victory lane Saturday night at the Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa.
The Amsoil USAC National Sprint Cars continued their quest across Pennsylvania tonight as a stop at Grandview Speedway in eastern Pennsylvania would conclude night number 2 of the 2011 Eastern Storm. Bobby East would pick up the victory at Grandview just a few hours ago, with living legend, Jon Stanbrough, taking the victory last night at Lernerville Speedway.
Lots more to talk about as the week continues- USAC Eastern Storm continues for the rest of the week with USAC Mopar National Series Midget Week picking up next week!!
Thanks for reading this week’s edition of Monday (Tuesday) Night Review!
And as always; RACE OPEN WHEEL!
