It’s been quite a start to the 2012 season for Kevin Bolland. Bolland raced to the April 7 opening night victory then worked his way through the pack to finish second last Saturday night to Rex King. On Saturday night, Bolland was back in victory lane this time holding off King in the 20-lap DIRTcar Big-Block Modified feature for his milestone 20th career victory at the speedway. Bolland also has a victory at Lernerville Speedway this season.

“I knew he was going to be there,” stated the 52-year-old New Brighton, Pa. veteran when asked about King’s challenges. “The car was awesome up top. I have to thank God for following us and opening up those doors to tell us where to go. I’m thankful to be here. I couldn’t do it without Boundary/CREO Systems, all my sponsors and Bolland Machine for the good horsepower. We have a skeleton crew tonight, but we got it done!”

Bolland jumped into the lead past pole-sitter Jim Rasey and immediately began to pull away from the field. On lap three, it was three-wide for second with Kevin Hoffman taking the spot over Rasey and King. Following a restart, King overtook Rasey for third on lap four then one lap later drove under and past Hoffman for second in turn four.

King began eating away at Bolland’s lead until the next stoppage when Jimmy Weller III’s #31W went up in flames with 12 laps scored. Back under green flag conditions, King was all over Bolland looking for a way by. The two veterans went at it hard racing side-by-side for the lead between laps 14-16; meanwhile, as those two pulled away, the battle was on for third as Hoffman was trying to hold off seventh and 10th starting Dave Murdick and Rex King, Jr.

A caution for Bob Warren with 17 laps completed allowed King, Jr. to overtake both Murdick and Hoffman for the third spot on the restart before the final caution when rookie Jeff Monoskey spun with two laps to go. When racing resumed, Bolland was able to hold off King by 1.237 seconds for the $1,100 victory in the Bol-Tech Motorsports-owned, Boundary/CREO Systems/Bolland Machine/Cintas/Cranberry Coin & Currency-sponsored #777.

The battle over the final two laps for third was hot and heavy. Murdick passed both Hoffman and King, Jr. on lap 19, but on the final lap King, Jr. was able to nose back ahead for a season best third. Murdick edged Hoffman for fourth. Sixth through 10th were Jim Weller, Jr., Dean Pearson, Rasey, newcomer Tom Mattocks, and Carl Murdick. Heat victors over the season high 17-car field were Weller III and Dave Murdick.

 

 Thorold, Ontario (May 13 For Immediate Release       from Jim Irvine          Merrittville Speedway Public Relations      905-892-8266, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or www.twitter.com/merrittville )

The 2012 Edition of the David Chevrolet King of the Crates Series for the Original Pizza Logs DIRTcar Sportsman kicked off with Cody McPherson out battling his older brother Tyler in winning the 40 lap Special at Merrittville Speedway Saturday May 12th. In other Lucas Oil Weekly Racing Series action, Todd Gordon made a return to Bobcat of Hamilton 358 Modified Victory Lane with Rocco Conte, Rob Murray and Josh Sliter also winning the Turn 4 Collision 4 Cylinder, Hoosier Stock and J&S Heating and Air Conditioning Modified Lite Features. “This is the best feeling ever,” exclaimed Cody McPherson after out dueling his older brother Tyler in the opening round of the David Chevrolet King of the Crates Series 40 lap Sportsman Feature, “I’ve been waiting for 5 years for this!”

Older brother Tyler returning for a full season in 2012 after a year away from weekly competition appeared to have checked out on the field until his younger brother reached the runner up spot on lap 27. The question was could anyone catch the leader? The next lap the answer took shape as a caution on lap 28 slowed the field for the first time.

On the restart, it was Tyler back out front – enjoying the luxury of a couple lap cars between the leader and the rest of the field. Once Cody cleared them another caution on lap 32 again closed the gap relaxing the four wide racing in the pack for position.

With the two brothers on the front row on the restart – the family feud had no clear leader with one final caution on lap 35 setting up one final run to the checkered flag. Neither one was giving an inch with the two side by side … back and forth until Tyler slingshotted around Cody taking a clear lead until the white flag appeared on lap 39.

Crossing the start finish line Cody would jump out to a half car lead – an advantage he would enjoy the entire lap until the checkered flag.

“There was nothing left out there,” answered Tyler who ran much of the race in the high groove, “we were up as high as we go … I thought I had the momentum going … but great job bro!”

Tyler took control of top spot entering Turn 3 of lap 3 – threading the needle between the two previous leaders – Mark Chiddy and Brent Begolo who had a spirited battle in the early going. Quickly Brad Rouse landed in the runner up spot with Chiddy holding on to third by lap 10.

Soon after leading the field into lap traffic Tyler would not be slowed before the cautions nor would Cody – setting the stage for the late race sibling showdown. Gary Lindberg would make a late race charge to take third – spoiling the sweep for the extended family with the McPherson’s cousin BJ Willard fourth and their brother-in-law Brandon Easey rounding out the top 5.

24 hours after the Niagara IceDogs were eliminated from the OHL Championship, Bobcat of Hamilton 358 Modified veteran Fred Carleton was looking for a win of his own in his tribute to the team – skating off to an early lead in the 35 lap Feature.

Carleton showed his breakaway speed by opening up a huge lead by lap 10 before being whistled down with a caution on lap 11. Taking control on the restart was Todd Gordon with Travis Braun and Mike Bowman quickly joining the rush in taking over the top 3 spots.

Quickly another caution stopped the clock on the Lucas Oil Live Leaderboard with Travis Braun the new leader. Braun was surely looking to celebrate his Birthday with his first win of the season drove away to a huge lead by lap 20 with Chris Steele taking second spot from Gordon.

Three laps later, Officials called for a debris caution after a car lost an aluminum wheel disc along the front stretch with Gordon back out front on the restart. Braun would almost lose control of his car out of Turn 4 of lap 26 but made the save but lost second to Steele.

Two drivers looking to have their say were Pete Bicknell and Tim Jones who were racing hard for fifth as was Steele for the lead. Down the frontstretch of lap 31 Steele would edge ahead of Gordon with the two back and forth for top spot in the closing laps.

At the finish … Gordon would breakaway to a couple car lead over Steele with the Bicknell and Jones battle finding Jones scoring third over Bicknell with Braun settling for fifth.

“It’s been a long time,” remarked an emotional Gordon in Victory Lane, “running the outside was tricky tonight … but I kept my cool and stayed focused – thanks so much to my crew … my dad and my girlfriend!”

Courtesy Finish Line Web Design

A perfect weekend in this sport is hard to accomplish, with the ultra competitive field of 358 Modifieds in this area, but that didn’t stop Danny O’Brien from accomplishing the nearly impossible task, as he won the season opening races at Mohawk International Raceway on Friday night, and Brockville Speedway on Saturday.

By winning the second heat race of the night at Mohawk, Danny started from the outside of the front row for the 40 lap main event. By lap two, he had the lead and held it through lap eight until a caution slowed the field. On the restart, Danny fell back to second, but that was short lived, as he was back in the lead, and was unchallenged until the final 10 laps. With seven laps remaining, he had dropped to second, and a restart with four laps remaining put him back to third. On the final lap, just as it appeared that a third place finish was imminent, the leader slowed with the second place car in hot pursuit, opening the door for O’Brien on the outside to capture the win.

“We were in the right place at the right time tonight”, commented O’Brien after the race. “I had a feeling something was going to happen between the first two cars as they were fighting hard for the win, and we just happened to be there. Sometimes its good to be a little lucky. It is a great way to start the season here, and I look forward to racing here each week”.

At Brockville on Saturday, O’Brien won his qualifying heat once again, putting him on the front row for the 30 lap feature. O’Brien battled for the lead on several restarts, but prevailed each time, pulling away each time. The 10 time Brockville Speedway champion captured the opening night win, leaving no doubt that he will contend this year for the 2012 title as well.

“It was a perfect weekend for us, it doesn’t get any better than this”, says O’Brien in victory lane. “I really have to thank all of our sponsor, and the crew for their help each week at the track and in shop, I wouldn’t be able to do any of this without them”.

BECHTELSVILLE, PA

Four feature races produced four first time winners in the Whelen Engineering NASCAR sanctioned stock car racing events at Grandview Speedway on Saturday night.
 Doug Manmiller and Meme DeSantis won the 30-lap NASCAR 358 Modified features while Lou Egrie Sr. took top honors in the 20-lap Late Model feature and Craig Whitmoyer was tops in the 25-lapper for Sportsman.
Brad Missimer went to the front in the first 30-lap Modified feature of the evening and held the top spot until two thirds of the feature had been completed. The 21st lap had several cautions that eliminated a few cars from competition and at the 22nd lap marker Doug Manmiller, coming from 13th starting spot, put the GMI First Solutions No. 46 in front of the pack.
Manmiller, who calls Shoemakersville home, held off the late race challenge of three feature winner Duane Howard (Oley) to grab the victory by a narrow margin in the Mobil 1 sponsored feature that had been rained out on May 5. Second spot went to Howard followed by Jeff Strunk (Pottstown), Craig VonDohren (Boyertown) and Brad Missimer (Bechtelsville).
In the 20-lap Late Model veteran Bill Henning led more than half of the event before Mark Minotto spun in the first turn, with 12 laps completed, and Henning was unable to avoid him just nipping the Minotto racer. The contact sent a disappointed Henning to the pits and gave the lead to Lou Egrie Sr. The balance of the feature race had Egrie (Huntington Valley) holding off the strong challenges of Danny Snyder to gain his first feature win since 2004. Snyder (Green Lane) took second followed by point leader Chuck Schutz (Pottstown), Dallas Redenbacher (Spring City) and Jason Miller (New Tripoli).