MERCER, Pa. — On Friday, Michaels Mercer Raceway celebrated the first night of the BRP modified 25th anniversary showdown two-day show with Garrett Krummert picking up the early victory.
Krummert defeated Erick Rudolph and Mike Kinney in the BRP modified division to claim the winner’s check for his second-highest paying race of the year. Jimmy Morris picked up his second 305 sprint feature of the year, Curt Bish won the pro stock invitational and track champ Andy Thompson won his seventh mini stock feature of the year.
Morris would take off from his outside pole position and was not seriously challenged until the end when Vivian Jones closed the gap. Still, Morris held on by .451 to win his second 305 sprint feature and his historic 15th career triumph in the class at Mercer.
“I could hear a motor back there and the car got freeer and I knew someone was coming and when I saw the white flag I knew I had to take it easy as the car was getting loose. I’m blessed to still be doing this. Wow, 15 wins. It’s a team effort with my family and crew I can’t thank everyone enough. Track is racey and I appreciate the hard work from the team so we can race here,” Morris said.
Jones would end up second, Jake Gomola was third, Greg Dobrosky fourth and Andy Priest fifth.
The pro stocks returned for the first time this season, with Bish picking up his 13th career Mercer feature.
Seven-time winner Gary Miller would lead from the pole. On lap eight, Bish got around Miller and continued to lead. However, veteran Chris Schneider attempted to reel him in lap after lap, but came across the finish line .686 behind Bish.
Raceway 7 and Eriez track champ Chris Withers would finish third, Coleton Longwell fourth and Miller fell back to fifth.
“I’m glad there wasn’t more than 20 laps tonight, it helped me out tonight with my tire choice. Gary made that car wide he’s a good driver and anytime you can beat Schneider it’s a good night. We’ve had a good year we’ve won five out of 10 starts and I couldn’t do it without my crew and sponsors,” Bish said.
Andy Thompson held off Josh Eakman by four seconds to wrap up his second mini stock track championship in a row and his seventh win of the season. The main battle of the night was for second as Eakman would get around Corey Bice who had been second since lap four.
Randy Ealy would come home third after going to the tail with rear end damage.
”I didn’t know how big of a lead I had, but I love racing here the track was beautiful tonight you didn’t have to lift at all,” Thompson said.
305 Sprints Feature (20 Laps)
1. 16-Jim Morris[2]; 2. 20M-Vivian Jones[6]; 3. 4J-Jacob Gamola[1]; 4. 88-Greg Dobrosky[5]; 5. 21N-Andy Priest[4]; 6. 27K-Jeremy Kornbau[8]; 7. 82M-Roman Jones[3]; 8. 25-Jarrett Rosencrance[10]; 9. 12G-Tommy Jasen[9]; 10. 17S-Shane Shook[7]; 11. X7-Andy Cavanagh[12]; 12. (DNS) 3-John Jerich
Pro stock Feature (20 Laps)
1. 29-Curt J Bish[3]; 2. 55-Chris Schneider[8]; 3. 21W-Chris Withers[1]; 4. 7-Colton Longwell[6]; 5. 1M-Gary Miller[2]; 6. 44-Jacob Wheeler[12]; 7. 23-Pat Fielding[7]; 8. 61M-Charlie McMillen[9]; 9. 28Y-Terry Young[11]; 10. 71-Joey Anderson[16]; 11. 12M-Scott Malone[13]; 12. 47-Mike Gilliland[15]; 13. 81-Mike Miller[10]; 14. 50-Ron Boardman[5]; 15. 8C-Russ Coyne[14]; 16. (DNS) 7B-Matt Bernard
Mini stock Feature (15 Laps)
1. 5-Andy Thompson[4]; 2. 55-Josh Eakman[6]; 3. 10-Corey Bice[1]; 4. 38-Randy Ealy[2]; 5. 10S-trevn schaffer[3]; 6. 36PACK-DJ MacRae[8]; 7. 66M-Matt Miller[7]; 8. 999-Adam Aley[11]; 9. 12N-Joshua Funkhouser[9]; 10. 60-Dillon Thorne[5]; 11. 6-Mike Kelley[19]; 12. C4-Alex Claypoole[10]; 13. 79-John McCraken[12]; 14. 325Z-Zack Swartz[17]; 15. 029-Ben Aley[15]; 16. 27B-Nancy Boughner[18]; 17. 33-Brianna Parker[13]; 18. 64-Jordan Reges[14]; 19. 16-Daniel Hostetler[16]; 20. (DNS) 00-Cole Miller