Mercer Raceway Park Results 2000-06-07

All Star Sprint Western Pa. Speedweek Results - Mercer Raceway Park - Wed. 6/7/00 By Scott Hall

MERCER, PA - Mark Keegan took advantage of a misfortune by Ed Lynch, Jr. Wednesday night at Mercer Raceway Park in the All Star sprint 30-lap 8th annual Western Pa. Speedweek opening feature. Keegan’s win was his first ever Western Pa. Speedweek triumph and he pocketed $5,000. "We missed the setup in the heat race and we went out for the B and it gave us another chance at the racetrack and it sure helped this car," Keegan stated, standing beside Chuck Steinbrick’s American Racer-shod Kistler-Chevrolet powered Maxim in victory lane. "When we went back to the pits (after the B) we didn’t have to touch it, just dump in fuel and race." Brian Ellenberger ran second most of the race. "I was tired out, the track was heavy and it wore me out. I thought I might have something for Mark at the end and I tried the high side of the track but I ran out of tear offs the last couple laps and I was having trouble seeing." Ellenberger rode Hoosier tires to his best finish of the season. Ed Lynch, Jr. started on the ButlerBuilt Hot Seat pole with Keegan alongside. Chad Kemenah and Ellenberger made up row two. Lynch jumped out to a strong lead over Keegan and Ellenberger. Lynch sliced through lapped traffic when he encountered it on lap five. But as Lynch exited turn two on lap seven disaster struck as Joe McEwen got a bit sideways and Lynch ran over his right rear and the two machines became stuck together. This brought out a red to untangle the mess with McEwen towed off, but he returned and Lynch was out with front end damage. Keegan now had the lead for the restart and pulled away from Ellenberger with Kemenah now third. Sean Keen spun on lap 10, and was tagged by last starter Jimmy Hawley. Both were eliminated by the incident. Keegan and Ellenberger pulled away from the pack, making it a two car race when action slowed again when 10th place Skip Jackson spun in turns three and four at the half-way mark. Keegan now had a clear track ahead of him and pulled to a six car length lead in the open track, but Ellenberger closed back in lapped traffic as Kemenah maintained third over Rahmer. A pair of lap 26 yellows set up a four lap charge to the finish, but Keegan maintained even though Ellenberger tried the highest groove of Mercer’s surface to gain an advantage, but to no avail. Keegan took the checkered four lengths ahead of Ellenberger with Kemenah third. "The track was pretty tricky tonight," Kemenah recalled. "But we finished, it was a battle of survival." Rahmer started 10th and finished fourth with Duncan fifth and Jerrod Hull sixth after running fourth most of the race and surviving an encounter with a lapped car. Mike Lutz finished seventh, winning the Team Simpson Racing Lucky Seven award after starting 21st on his home track. Byron Reed, Craig Rankin and local Rob Eyler completed the top ten. The heats went to Scott Bonnell, Mike Lutz, Joe McEwen and Kenny Jacobs and Mark Keegan won the Georgia Marketing & Promotions B Main. Brian Ellenberger captured the Commercial Truck & Trailer Dash. Jerrod Hull set a new track record of 13.550, erasing the 13.745 mark of Jacobs set in 1997. Doug Kekich flipped in his heat race, ending his evening.

Time Trials: 1. Jerrod Hull, Webb 51, 13.550 (NTR); 2. Rodney Duncan, Harrison 22, 13.619; 3. Brian Ellenberger, Ellenberger 20, 13.628; 4. Chad Kemenah, Harble 15k, 13.664; 5. Mark Keegan, Steinbrick 92, 13.704; 6. Ed Lynch, Jr., Lynch 2L, 13.742; 7. Byron Reed, B&S 5, 13.745; 8. Doug Kekich, Kekich 19, 13.755; 9. Todd Gracey, Cooper 25, 13.823; 10. Greg Wilson, Hampshire 63, 13.855; 11. Fred Rahmer, Hamilton 77, 13.863; 12. Kenny Jacobs, Jacobs/Honecker 6, 13.920; 13. Skip Jackson, Purple Reign 53K, 13.985; 14. Rob Eyler, Eyler 5B, 13.998; 15. Frankie Kerr, Shoff 23s, 14.021; 16. Sean Keen, Purple Reign 53, 14.023; 17. Arnie Kent, Dionise 15, 14.037; 18. Scott Bonnell, Bonnell 3, 14.089; 19. Craig Rankin, Guzzo 77, 14.124; 20. Joe McEwen, McEwen 44, 14.174; 21. Ryan Flynn, Flynn F1, 14.181; 22. Robert Huisken, Huisken 46, 14.307; 23. Mike Lutz, Powell 27, 14.354; 24. Daryl Stimeling, Stimeling 30, 14.453; 25. Jamie Smith, Smith 5, 14.453; 26. Andy McKisson, McKisson 0, 14.519; 27. Terry Young, Young 98, 14.699; 28. Pat Cooper, Cooper 26, 14.726; 29. Brent Matus, Matus 33, 14.857; 30. Barry Ruble, Ruble 63, 14.913; 31. Gary Rankin, Rankin 16, 15.357; 32. Jimmy Hawley, Crawford C3, NT.

Heat (8 laps): 1. Bonnell 2. Gracey 3. Huisken 4. Hull 5. Jackson 6. Keegan 7. McKisson 8. Ruble.

Heat (8 laps): 1. Lutz 2. C. Rankin 3. Eyler 4. Lynch 5. Wilson 6. Duncan 7. Young 8. G. Rankin. Heat (8 laps): 1. McEwen 2. Kerr 3. Stimeling 4. Ellenberger 5. Rahmer 6. Hawley 7. Reed 8. Cooper.

Heat (8 laps): 1. Jacobs 2. Smith 3. Keen 4. Flynn 5. Kemenah 6. Matus 7. Kekich.

Commercial Truck & Trailer Dash (4 laps): 1. Ellenberger 2. Lynch 3. Hull 4. Gracey 5. Kemenah 6. Wilson. Georgia Marketing & Promotions B Main (12 laps): 1. Keegan 2. Reed 3. Hawley 4. Duncan 5. Young 6. Cooper 7. Matus 8. G. Rankin 9. Ruble 10. McKisson.