OPINION — THE TEMPERATURES were down and more reasonable, but the threat of rain affected race tracks throughout western Pa. and eastern Ohio every day during this past weekend.

On Friday night, I made my third visit to Wayne County Speedway located in Orrville, Ohio.  The Super Late Models were off due to a special event at Attica Raceway Park and replaced by the Mini Stocks.  The 410 Sprints, E-Mods, and Stock Cars were on the card.

Rodney Duncan competed for many years throughout the state of Ohio, the All Stars as well as several appearances in Pennsylvania.  His son Cole has been competing for about five years since he started racing at 15.  Cole was a standout quarter-midget racer and his family struck a friendship with NASCAR’s Bobby Labonte, who son competed with Cole.  Labonte has been one of Cole’s sponsors since he started in the 410s. 

Cole has made many starts throughout western Pa. including a pair of victories at Lernerville Speedway.  On Friday night, Cole was at Wayne County and dominated the 25 lap feature leading all the way for his first win at the track.  Cole’s father Rodney was a big winner at the track.  Danny Mumaw, Andrew Palker, Chris Myers, and Jason Dolick were third through fifth.

Norm Aronhalt blew away everyone in the E-Mods, while Sharon Speedway regular Jeff Johnson was sixth in his first start at the track in seven years.  Gary Hensel won his first in the Stocks after Jeremy Dickerson decided to take out leader Chase Alexander under caution and then went after him in the car.  Brad Hensel won the Mini Stock special. 

At Lernerville Speedway, Butler’s Brian Ellenberger continued his best ever season at the track with his fourth victory of the season in the Sprint Cars.  Jared Miley is also having his best season at the Sarver oval as he scored his fifth win in the Super Late Models.  Slippery Rock’s Dave Murdick was the benefactor ofKevin Bolland taking out Brian Swartzlander coming down for the checkered flag in the Big-Block Modifieds.  Tarentum’s Corey McPherson won the Stock Cars.

Lernerville was scheduled to have the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup for the World of Outlaw Sprint Cars on Tuesday night (July 17).  The twin 30-lap features pay $10,000 to-win.  More on this next time.

At Mercer Raceway Park on Saturday night, Will Thomas III and Dan Angelicchio put on a quite a show for the fans in the FASTRAK Late Models return to Mercer Raceway Park for the first time in two years. The duo battled for much of the event running side-by-side swapping the lead back and forth as seventh starting Thomas made a late race pass and then pulled away over the final four laps for his second series win.

The $1,200 victory came in the 25-lap event and was the first time the former asphalt racer from Sharpsville had ever competed at Mercer. The three-time Weekly Series Sharon winner recently picked up his first career Tour win on July 4 at Expo Speedway.

Angelicchio used the outside to power into the lead past Jamie Brown on the start with Josh Double moving into second after one lap. Fifth starting Andrew Wylie and Thomas made their way into third and fourth past Brown on lap two. Following a pair of spins by Brian Booher and Rusty Cade with three laps completed, Thomas overtook Wylie on the outside for third with eighth starting Chad Ruhlman following in fourth.

Double, who won his first career FASTRAK race at Mercer in 2010, caught Angelicchio and began applying pressure on lap five. Thomas joined the battle on lap six as the top three began to distance themselves from the field. On lap seven, Double pulled even with Angelicchio but slipped up and lost the runner-up spot to Thomas, while 10th starting Max Blair cracked the top five with a pass of Wylie.

Angelicchio was running around the cushion as Thomas had his mount stuck on the bottom as he ran caught the leader on lap eight and pulled alongside on the ninth circuit. Thomas made the inside work off turn four to lead lap 10 before Brad Kling came to rest bringing out the caution with 10 laps scored. Back under green, Angelicchio ran around the cushion and had the momentum off turn four to lead lap 11.

Two more cautions for Justin Kreider and Bobby Whiting with 12 laps scored were the final stoppages of the night as the last 13 went green-to-checkered. Whitling’s misfortunate earned him his first Brake Man “Tough Brake of the Night”.

After swapping the positions on a couple different occasions, Blair was able to get by Ruhlman for good on lap 13 for fourth. Josh Holtgraver had made his way from 11th into the top five when he passed Ruhlman on lap 15. Blair, Holtgraver, and Ruhlman really went at it with a great race for fourth.

Back up front, Angelicchio and Thomas continued their side-by-side battle with Angelicchio riding around the cushion and Thomas smooth on the bottom. The duo never touched lap after lap. On lap 21, Thomas really made his car stick off the bottom of turn two and won the drag race down the backstretch. This time, Angelicchio didn’t have enough momentum off the top in turn four as Thomas regained the lead.

Once in front, Thomas pulled away to win by 1.715 seconds.  Angelicchio’s runner-up was his fourth of the season and third in the past five races as he moved into fifth place in points. Blair’s fourth was his 11th top five in 14 start. Holtgraver’s fifth was his best Tour finish since last year’s finale at Roaring Knob Motorsports Complex.

It was a good night for drivers capturing their second wins as Strattanville’s Kyle Fink did it in the 358 Modifieds, Chicora’s Mike Miller in the Limited Sprints, Curtis J. Bish in the Stock Cars, and Mercer’s Tyler Fulton in the Mini Stocks.  Curtis J. Bish was the Stock Car winner!

Open wheel fans will be able to enjoy the “410” Sprints, Limited Sprints, and the second visit by the East Coast-based ARDC Midgets this Saturday night.

The BOSS Sprints made their first ever appearance at Sharon Speedway on Saturday night.  It marked the first ever non-wing Sprint Car race since the track was changed to a 3/8-mile oval in 2002 and was the first at Sharon since 2000 on the old half-mile track.

A nice field of 22 cars gathered for the Series’ eighth race of the season, which has already included stops at Mercer, Pittsburgh, and Wayne County.  On Saturday night, Jack Sodeman, Jr. became the Series’ eighth different winner in as many races as he won the 25-lap feature for his first career victory without a wing!  Sodeman does own a track championship and 10 victories in the winged Sprints! 

Boardman, Ohio’s Steve D’Apolito won his first of the season in the Stock Cars.  D’Apolito is currently second in points in search of his fifth track championship.  The victory was his 32nd of his career at Sharon.  D’Apolito also has a championship and 12 wins at Mercer. 

Brookfield, Ohio’s Brad Blackshear won his second of the season in the Econo Mods, while Austintown, Ohio’s Jim Haefke Jr. became the track’s top winner of the season with his sixth feature win in the Mini Stocks as he extended his point lead.

This Saturday night, the FASTRAK Northeast Late Model Touring Series will make a stop at Sharon for $2,000 to-win plus one lucky driver will win a GM 604 crate engine valued at over $5,000!  The Big-Block Modifieds will also be back after having last Saturday night off.

On Sunday, I was really looking forward to the return of the “410” Sprint Cars to Dog Hollow Speedway on Sunday night.  The $3,000 to-win event was also to include the ULMS & FASTRAK Late Models.  Rain showers hit at 6 p.m. and after waiting an hour the decision was made to postpone to this Sunday, July 22.

A great field of “410” Sprint Cars had already gathered far surpassing last year’s count. At least 23 winged warriors were already present with race time still an hour and half away featuring cars from all other the commonwealth along with Ohio and Australia. Central Pa. standout Logan Schuchart, grandson to the great Bobby Allen, was on hand. Schuchart already has two victories this season at Williams Grove Speedway including an All Star win and was returning home from competing at the Kings Royal at Eldora Speedway.

Other central Pa. racers like Lincoln Speedway winner Billy Dietrich, Johnny and Hunter Mackison, Bob Howard, Daryl Stimeling, Scott Lutz and other were prepared to take on western Pa’s best like last year’s winner Rod George, All Star victors Danny Holtgraver and Brandon Matus, Saturday’s Sharon non-wing winner Jack Sodeman, Jr., last year’s Lernerville champion Carl Bowser, current Lernerville point leader Kevin Schaeffer, Andy McKisson, Dan Shetler, and more. Australian Marty Perovich was back for the second straight year.



Mike Leone is motorsports columnist for Allied News. Follow his updates on Twitter @mikevleone