OPINION — AFTER THE rainiest weekend of the year, the region was blessed with a sunny, beautiful one this past weekend as all area tracks were able to complete their events.

On Friday, I headed to Dog Hollow Speedway located just east of Indiana in Strongstown for their rescheduled FASTRAK Northeast Late Model Touring Series event.  There were 33 cars back on May 4 when it rained out.  Nine of those racers were unable to return, but eight new ones joined the field for 32 with 41 different ones over the two nights.

Max Blair continued his unbelievable dominance this season with his unprecedented fourth straight Tour win and fifth in six tries.  Blair, 22 of Centerville, has won three of the past Touring championship and is quickly setting himself up for a strong run at number four.  Last year, Blair won just three Tour events and didn’t win after June 25.  He’s already far surpassed that and has 19 races remaining!

Blair passed nemesis Mike Pegher Jr. on a lap eight restart and ironically went on for his first ever Dog Hollow win.  The 25-lap win was worth $1,200.  Pegher edged out Andrew Satterlee, who recorded his career best Tour finish in third.  Ryan Montgomery beat out Dan Angelicchio for fourth.

The FASTRAK Northeast Touring Series will hold race #7 this Saturday night in the first of five races this season at McKean County Raceway in East Smethport.  The Series will be back in less than three weeks for the second annual “Cross the Borders” Speedweek.

Dog Hollow added the RaceSaver “305” Sprints to their weekly program this year and it was great to see 20 cars on hand!  Phillipsburg’s Craig Folmar was driving the back-up Jeff Taylor entry and he led all the way for his first ever win at the track.  Folmar runs his own “410” Sprint at Mercer on Saturday nights.

Taylor, who resides in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, was a former tight end for the Washington Redskins.  Taylor has made several visits to western Pa. over the past several seasons with his “410” and “305” Sprints.  Taylor recently purchased the former Hidden Valley/Gamblers Speedway in Clearfield.  Taylor and crew have worked all winter and spring and is hoping to get the track open later this season.  Meanwhile, Taylor has leased Thunder Mountain Speedway near Brookville for a race on Sunday, July 3 featuring Super Late Models, “305” Sprints and Stocks. Thunder Mountain hasn’t run a race this season.

At Lernerville on Friday night, Pittsburgh’s Danny Holtgraver came from eighth to pass Kevin Schaeffer on the final lap to win his second of the season in the Sprint Cars!  Alex Ferree was a big winner at the track several seasons ago; however, in recent years the wins have dried up.  Friday night it was good to see the Saxonburg second generation racer back in victory lane for the 19th time of his career in the Super Late Models.

Brian Swartzlander debuted a brand new Troyer Chassis and took it to victory lane for the first time this season!

The Leechburg veteran is no stranger to victory lane as his win on Friday night was the 73rd of his career at the Sarver oval!  Paul Schreckengost ended a four plus year win drought as he captured the Stock Car main.

On Saturday night, Danny Holtgraver, who has traveled a lot in 2012, stayed close to home again at Mercer Raceway Park and the decision paid off as he won for the second time this season in the Sprint Cars.  Greenville’s Rob Curtis was a new winner in the “358” Modifieds.  Mercer’s Joe McEwen was the benefactor of Jason Scoville being light at the scales as he was credited with his second Limited Sprint Car win.

Mark Marcucci has been on fire in the Mod Lites.  The West Middlesex driver charged from the last starting spot to win his fourth straight feature!  Defending champion Rusty Moore of New Castle nabbed the victory in the Stock Cars and took over the point lead.  Saxonburg’s Jerry Batcher picked up his third win in the Mod Lites.

At Sharon Speedway on Saturday night, it took an outsider to stop Rex King and Kevin Bolland in the DIRTcar Big- Block Modifieds.  Making his first appearance of the season, veteran Brian Swartzlander invaded Sharon and made it a clean sweep winning both his heat race and the 20-lap feature.  The 52-year-old 2006 champion led every lap holding off Slippery Rock’s Dave Murdick and King for his 11th career win at the track.  It was good to see a season high 18 Modifieds on hand.

One year ago, Will Thomas III was racing asphalt Late Models. Fast forward one year and Thomas has quickly become the driver to beat on the dirt in the FASTRAK Late Models at Sharon. Thomas tracked down and passed Matt Latta on lap 13 then cruised to his third win in six starts to go along with a pair of seconds and a fourth.  The 36-year-old Thomas resides in Sharpsville and is a graduate of Grove City College.

Latta’s runner-up matched a career best as he’s finished in the top five four of the six races. Garrett Mott’s third came in his first Sharon visit since May 29, 2010 and was his best finish at the track.  Bobby Whitling was fourth over Sandy Lake’s Brian Booher, who recorded his first career top five finish at Sharon.

It’s not often when Joel Watson’s leading that he doesn’t win the feature.  It’s even rarer for the E-Mod standout to lose a race on the final lap, but that’s exactly what happened in the best race of the night.  On May 12, Jack Young ended a winless drought at Sharon Speedway that dated back to the 1990s. On Saturday night, he scored his second victory in four tries after an impressive pass of Watson in turn four on the final lap in the 15-lap feature.

The victory was the Thompson, Ohio driver’s seventh overall at the track as became the division’s first repeat winner of the season. Watson was just 0.079 seconds back in second.  A great field of 26 cars was on hand.

Paul Davis dominated the 15-lap Stock Car feature for his second win of the season.  Davis became the division’s first repeat winner of the season after passing Steve D’Apolito on lap two and then cruised to his sixth career Stock Car win and ninth overall at the track.  D’Apolito was second for the second straight regular race as his streak of top six heat and features finishes continues since the beginning of last season.

Farmdale, Ohio’s Jim Dellinger opened the night leading all 15 laps of the May 27 $350 to-win Econo Mod make-up feature, while Brookfield, Ohio’s Brandon Blackshear became the division’s top winner of the season with his third checkered flag in the night’s regularly scheduled feature.  Blackshear continues to lead the division’s all-time win category with eight victories.  It was a good night for Stock Car graduate Steve Burns, Jr., who recorded a pair of third finishes.

Warren, Ohio’s Scott Gilliland started the night off right with a wire-to-wire victory in the 12-lap non-stop $200 to-win May 27 make-up Mini Stock feature.  Then Austintown’s Jim Haefke, Jr. became the Mini Stock’s top winner of the season with his third victory in the 12-lap regularly scheduled feature.

On Sunday, I was able to take in race #51 of the season for me and my first visit of the season to Sportsman’s Speedway in Knox.  Sportsman’s runs a low-key program with the “358” Modifieds being their top billing.  After getting their first two shows in, the track suffered back-to-back rain outs.  Sunday was a sunny and hot 90-degree day and Sportsman’s was rewarded with their biggest crowd and car count I’ve seen in several years.

The “358” Mods have really struggled with just about a half-dozen or so cars on average, but this year’s counts have been up and there were 12 in the field on Sunday.  Kyle Fink captured his first win of the season as the Strattanville racer became the third different winner.  A scary incident took place when ageless veteran Les Myers took a vicious flip on the frontstretch.  Thankfully he was ok.  Myers won the Vintage Mod race earlier in the night then ran the old Gale Ruth #1R Modified with the regular cars.

Dog Hollow and Marion Center Speedway regular Nick Goss came from the back to win the Stock Cars.  The Micro Sprints had a decent field with 15 on hand and it was Chicora’s George Hobaugh dominating the event.  The Mini Stocks led the way with 19 cars as Justin Forsythe captured the victory, while Jason Beichner won the Strictly Stocks.

How about Tony Stewart last week!?  Last Wednesday he finished runner-up to Kyle Busch at his own track Eldora Speedway in a Late Model for the “Prelude to the Dream” event that featured top NASCAR and World of Outlaw racers.

He then raced with the All Star Sprints in central Pa. on Friday and Saturday where he finished 14th at Williams Grove and 17th at Lincoln.  On Sunday, Stewart finished third in the NASCAR Sprint Cup event at Pocono.  Following the race, he hustled to Utica-Rome Speedway in New York where he picked back up with the All Star Sprints and finished fifth!  The guy just loves to race no matter what it is!



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