Rapp First To Repeat In Big Block Mods At Mercer
4 min read
By Jim Balentine
Mercer,Pa.
8.14.21
Frank Guidace out of racing since 2013, came back this season and in a few short weeks returned to victory Lane at Mercer for his 38th career limited modified victory in the FASTRAK modified tonight. Brad Rapp after winning the $5000 Michaels Memorial BRP modified feature last week, became the first repeat winner in the division picking up his second big block modified feature in a row. Veteran jimmy morris beat off the mechanical gremlins to pick up his first 305 sprint win of the season and Carl Ely continued his dominance picking up his fifth mini stock win of 2021.
Frank Guidace Began his career in the middle 1990s at Mercer competing in the old six-cylinder modified coupe division then moving up to the small block modified’s and then running the big block modified’s and also running in the FASTRAK late models over his illustrious career picking up track championships along the way. At the end of the 2013 season he went to retirement while his daughter continued racing in the small block division. Frank decided to come back this season and in just a few short weeks returned to victory Lane picking up his 38th career limited modified win. Guidace would start on the inside of row 2 and would overtake veteran Billy Adams on lap 3 and went on to dominate the event. The race would be for second as Caden Petry would battle point leader Brian Schaffer for second During the rest of the event with Petry finishing a career best second over Schaffer. Billy Adams would drop to 4th and Gage Preister 5th. A happy Guidace spoke in victory lane “it feels good!! my daughter coherest me to get back into racing. I was tied with Andy Priest with feature victories in different divisions here at Mercer and now I’m 1 up on him.”
In the Racesaver 305 sprint feature another veteran returned to victory Lane after having a season that could only be deemed as forgettable. Jimmy Morris picked up his lucky 13th career 305 sprint win at Mercer from the pole position and his first since winning last year‘s little guy nationals. Morris was never challenged for the lead despite a few yellows which would bunch up the field. “It feels really good… racing has so many ups and downs but you are still thankful no matter how bad it is that you have the ability to race .. we had a mag break 3 times .. broke driveshaft.. tonight hot laps.. no brakes.. heat race.. no brakes.. and feature.. no breaks.. the track was really racy tonight and it’s been fun and I thank the track for their effort. Lucky we didn’t have to touch the brakes tonight from the front.” Steve Cousins finished a career best 2nd, Jeremy Kornbau came in 3rd, Jarrett Rosencrance 4th and Jake Gomola 5th. Point leader Logan McCandless finished 6th.
The big block modifeds after not having a repeat winner all season finally ended as Brad Rapp who picked up $5000 last week returned to victory lane for his 2nd career back to back big block modifieds feature at Mercer. Rapp would come from his 5th starting position and overtook leader JR McGinley on a rare high side out of turn 4 move to take the lead and go on to win by 6 seconds over McGinley, point leader Eric Gabany, Kevin Greene and Brad Deeter.
Rapp said, “the track had more grip with a little cushion and I was running the bottom and I wasn’t gaining anything so I tried the outside around JR McGinley and it worked out. We tried some things for the big show last week and it worked and hopefully we can get some more wins.”
In the mini stock nightcapper another thrilling down to the wire feature event as Carl Ealy coming from the back of the pack in 12th went on the win his fifth of the season and also his fifth in his short career. Adam Aley and Andy Thompson would lead the field into turn one but Randy Ealy would go to the high side to lead lap one. He would lead until brother Carl would overtake him on lap 5. At halfway Thompson who was involved in an earlier skirmish tried to get under Joe Campbell for third running side by side for a few laps. A caution on lap 14 made for a one lap shootout and Randy Ealy and Thompson had one more chance at the win but was to no avail as Carl Ealy was too strong and with a bent right rear tire went on for the win. Randy Ealy would be 2nd, Andy Thompson 3rd, Joe Campbell 4th and Mike Kelley 5th.
Next week will be the final night of points plus the 410 sprints have been added paying $2500 to win.
Media Results for 8/14/2021 at Michaels Mercer Raceway –
305 Sprints feature
- 16-Jim Morris[1]; 2. 56-Steve Cousins[2]; 3. 27K-Jeremy Kornbau[3]; 4. 25-Jarrett Rosencrance[4]; 5. 4J-Jacob Gamola[5]; 6. 29-Logan McCandless[11]; 7. 20M-Vivian Jones[9]; 8. 82M-Roman Jones[8]; 9. 12G-Tommy Jasen[7]; 10. 86-Zack Miller[6]; 11. 34-Adam Noland[10]
Big Block Modified feature
- 11R-Brad Rapp[5]; 2. 189-JR McGinley[3]; 3. 18X-eric gabany[4]; 4. 74-Kevin Green[2]; 5. 17-Brad Deeter[6]; 6. 83T-Tom Glenn[7]; 7. 55-Scott Kay[1]
Mini stock Feature
- 0-Carl Ealy[12]; 2. 0R-Randy Ealy[4]; 3. 5-Andy Thompson[2]; 4. 40C-Joe Campbell[5]; 5. 6-Mike Kelley[6]; 6. 54-Tim Callahan[3]; 7. 22S-Chris Shipe[13]; 8. 33-Brianna Parker[14]; 9. 64-Summer Pitts[8]; 10. 16R-Jordan Reges[11]; 11. 9-William Aley[9]; 12. 999-Adam Aley[1]; 13. 029-Ben Aley[10]; 14. S0B-Leonard Baker Jr[7]
FASTRAK Modified Feature
- 1G-Frank Guidace[3]; 2. 7P-Caden Petry[2]; 3. 41-Brian Schaffer[10]; 4. 717-Bill Adams[1]; 5. 71-Gage Priester[4]; 6. 404-MIchael Kristyak[9]; 7. 113-Don Cornelius[6]; 8. 01-Nathaniel Bale[5]; 9. 7-Scott Kay[7]; 10. 25-Jolene Smith[8]
