Krummert Wins 2nd Big Block Mod Of Year

7 min read

The raindrops that fell earlier in the day ceased by the afternoon, enabling Michaels Mercer Raceway to complete its third program of the 72nd season. Garrett Krummert won his second big block modified feature of the year, last year’s track champ Jeremy Kornbau won his first racesaver 305 feature of the year; Curt Bish picked up his 14th pro Stock feature; Jordan Ehrenberg won his 1st career mercer Fastrak modified feature and Andy Thompson remains undefeated in a mini stocks to going three for three. Logan Jackson and Karley Miller won the 2 Jr sprint features. All winners received feature winner signs courtesy of the twin state auto racing club.

Garrett Krummert is having a stand out season in 2023. He has not finished worse than third in any race this entire season and dominated the event Saturday night leading flag the flag for his fifth career big block Modified win at Mercer.
The real battle was for second as Rick Regalski was looking to get his career best second place however, Chas Wolbert was able to get around him on lab 16 for second place and then a few laps later last weeks winner Rex King Jr. was around him as well for third .
Krummert won by 4.49 over Wolbert, King , Regalski and Dave Murdick. Garrett would say , “Anytime you win from the pole is good..we will take it anyway we can get it! we were good tonight but you go as hard as you can all 25 laps because you don’t know how close they are. This track gets better every week even with all the rain we have had.”
The Racesaver 305 feature was caution plagued for the 20 lap event. Jacob Begenwald would lead fro mother pole but it only lasted until lap 2 when 2019 champ Jake Gomola took over. Last years champ Jeremy Kornbau took 2nd on lap 3
A yellow for Adam Noland who spun in turn 1 on lap 6 would bunch up the field.
Mike Mathieson would bring out the yellow as he stopped in pit lane on lap 8. Gomola would restart and would be assumedly headed to another victory, however on
Lap 13 Gomola spun around on the front straightaway but he was able to continue but had to go to the tail. This put the lead in Jeremy Kornbau’s hands. A red came out for Joe Coggin as he hit the outside wall in turn 2 head on. On lap 18 briana lawson and Mike Marano came together in turn 4 with Lawson getting on top of Marano. When the race resumed Kornbau had 17 time winner Jim Morris all over his tail but Morris could get no closer to him as Kornbau would win his 5th career Racesaver 305 feature by 1.01 seconds. “Some of these newer guys with Jake in front of me I would be tough but when Jake spun from the lapped car I felt better being in the lead. I watched Spithaler last week run the high side so I thought we’d try it tonight. We won last years 1st point night and won the title so here we are again.” Morris would be 2nd, Andy Priest 3rd, Shane Heath a career best 4th and Gomola would rebound for 5th.
For the third straight week, a new winner emerged in the pro Stocks as Curt Bish won his 14th mercer career tying him with Bill Hanna for 7th all time going back to 1994.
at the drop of the green former raceway 7 track champion Rusty wheeler was in control until Jamie Duncan around him on lap 7. On Lap
10 Jacob Wheeler brought the red out as he climbed the wall in one getting into the catch fence. Jacob was OK but while this was going on, Duncan did not stop under red and continued around the track into turn number 1 therefore he was disqualified for not stopping under the red flag. Bobby Whitling, Rusty Wheeler and Bish would battle for the remaining 5 laps as Bish won by .698 over Whitling. Rusty Wheeler was 3rd, last weeks winner Josh Seippel was 4th and Pat Fielding 5th. Curt would say “anytime you have Whitling on your back bumper you better be on your game. It’s a shame we aren’t getting the car count but kudos to the track crew you did a great job on the track surface.”
The FASTRAK Crate mods also had yellow fever for the 18 car field. Michael Kristyak drove the race of his life leading the first 6 laps at the line but would go back and forth around the track with 40 time winner Frank Guidace. Guidace then took the lead on lap 6 and had a 5 second lead on lap 12. But then 2 multi car crashes would follow in 1 lap depleting more cars. Kristyak would hold on to 2nd until Jordan Ehrenberg was able to get around on lap 16. At the end Guidace would apparently win by .568 but after victory lane he did not go to the tech area as the top 5 in each class was required to do so… with the end result being a disqualification form the event. With this happening, Jordan Ehrenberg picked up his first career win at Mercer over Michael kristyak, last weeks winner Gage Priester, and Pat Lane. Ehrenberg would say on Sunday “I never expected that I would get my career first win this way. Unfortunately, I guess it is what it is.. I was definitely nervous starting 8th was uncertain what the out come would be. I made a few passes right away. Then hit the water coming out of turn 4 and after that i knew i had my work cut out for me however it seemed to come with ease. The season has been going pretty well so far. Especially after i originally intended to take the season off. Just hope we can keep this momentum rolling the remainder of the season.”
Any mini stock finale Andy Thompson, by virtue of winning two in a row started 12 in the 19 Car field. Trevn Schaffer would lead the first 4 laps in a Thompson back up car until Thompson would catch him and take the lead o. Lap 5 but Devin Haley would over take him to lead lap 6 and 7. Thompson well, then get around Haley and go on to win his third in a row and his 17th career mini stock feature by 4.02 seconds over Haley who tied his career best for second Trevn Schaeffer would be third, Mike Kelly woods move up one spot to 4th and Josh Eakman 5th. Andy would say “the track was slippery but it was a lot of fun. I hated to take the lead off of Trevis but Devin was coming so I had to do it.”
The track will sit idle for the next three weeks and will be back in action on Saturday, June 10 with the BOSS non wing sprint cars competing in the Steve Guthrie memorial.
Media Results for 5/13/2023 at Michaels Mercer Raceway – Mercer, PA
305 Sprints – Winged 18 Entries
A Feature 1 20 Laps

  1. 27K-Jeremy Kornbau[6]; 2. 16-Jim Morris[8]; 3. 21N-Andy Priest[7]; 4. 17S-Shane Heath[1]; 5. 4J-Jacob Gamola[5]; 6. 25-Jarrett Rosencrance[3]; 7. 3-Ryan Beatty[14]; 8. B5-Brianna `Lawson[13]; 9. 34M-Mike Marano II[11]; 10. 30-Jazlyn Boyles[17]; 11. 3J-Jacob Begenwalid[2]; 12. 12G-Tommy Jasen[4]; 13. 82M-Roman Jones[16]; 14. 71-Joe Coggin[10]; 15. 175Q-Glen Thomas[18]; 16. 19M-Bodey McClintock[12]; 17. 72-Mike Mathieson[9]; 18. 34-Adam Noland[15]
    Heat 1 8 Laps
  2. 16-Jim Morris[2]; 2. 27K-Jeremy Kornbau[7]; 3. 12G-Tommy Jasen[3]; 4. 3J-Jacob Begenwalid[5]; 5. 72-Mike Mathieson[6]; 6. 34M-Mike Marano II[4]; 7. 175Q-Glen Thomas[9]; 8. B5-Brianna `Lawson[1]; 9. 34-Adam Noland[8]
    Heat 2 8 Laps
  3. 21N-Andy Priest[5]; 2. 4J-Jacob Gamola[4]; 3. 25-Jarrett Rosencrance[8]; 4. 17S-Shane Heath[3]; 5. 71-Joe Coggin[6]; 6. 30-Jazlyn Boyles[9]; 7. 19M-Bodey McClintock[7]; 8. 3-Ryan Beatty[1]; 9. 82M-Roman Jones[2]
    Dirt Big Block Modifieds 12 Entries
    A Feature 1 25 Laps
  4. 29-Garrett Krummert[1]; 2. C3-Chas Wolbert[5]; 3. 165-Rex King Jr[6]; 4. 13-Rick Regalski Jr[2]; 5. 61-Dave Murdick[4]; 6. 318-eric gabany[3]; 7. 11R-Brad Rapp[9]; 8. 20P-Mike Kinney[11]; 9. 9-Chad Reitz[12]; 10. 35-Steve Slater[7]; 11. 29*-Eric Beggs[10]; 12. 83T-Tom Glenn[8]
    Heat 1 8 Laps
  5. C3-Chas Wolbert[1]; 2. 61-Dave Murdick[2]; 3. 13-Rick Regalski Jr[3]; 4. 35-Steve Slater[5]; 5. 11R-Brad Rapp[4]; 6. 20P-Mike Kinney[6]
    Heat 2 8 Laps
  6. 165-Rex King Jr[3]; 2. 318-eric gabany[6]; 3. 29-Garrett Krummert[2]; 4. 83T-Tom Glenn[4]; 5. 29*-Eric Beggs[1]; 6. 9-Chad Reitz[5]
    Mini stocks 19 Entries
    A Feature 1 15 Laps
  7. 5-Andy Thompson[12]; 2. 02-Devin Haley[2]; 3. 10S-trevn schaffer[1]; 4. 6-Mike Kelley[3]; 5. 60-Dillon Thorne[8]; 6. 55-Josh Eakman[4]; 7. 029-Ben Aley[11]; 8. 38-Randy Ealy[9]; 9. 33-Brianna Parker[16]; 10. 7-Lucas Geyer[19]; 11. 16-Daniel Hostetler[7]; 12. 22D-Chuck Davis[6]; 13. 66M-Matt Miller[13]; 14. 999-Adam Aley[18]; 15. 64-Summer Pitts[17]; 16. 0-Carl Ealy[5]; 17. 16R-Jordan Reges[10]; 18. 325Z-Zack Swartz[14]; 19. (DNS) 10-Corey Bice
    Heat 1 6 Laps
  8. 16-Daniel Hostetler[3]; 2. 55-Josh Eakman[4]; 3. 02-Devin Haley[5]; 4. 38-Randy Ealy[2]; 5. 66M-Matt Miller[7]; 6. 33-Brianna Parker[1]; 7. 7-Lucas Geyer[6]
    Heat 2 6 Laps
  9. 22D-Chuck Davis[6]; 2. 6-Mike Kelley[1]; 3. 10S-trevn schaffer[4]; 4. 16R-Jordan Reges[2]; 5. 325Z-Zack Swartz[5]; 6. 64-Summer Pitts[3]
    Heat 3 6 Laps
  10. 0-Carl Ealy[5]; 2. 5-Andy Thompson[1]; 3. 60-Dillon Thorne[4]; 4. 029-Ben Aley[6]; 5. 10-Corey Bice[2]; 6. 999-Adam Aley[3]
    FASTRAK crate Modified 18 Entries
    A Feature 1 20 Laps
  11. JD57-jordan ehrenberg[8]; 2. 404-MIchael Kristyak[1]; 3. 71-Gage Priester[11]; 4. 12L-Patrick Lane[7]; 5. 717-Bill Adams[6]; 6. 86-Shayne Izzo[10]; 7. 41-Brian Schaffer[18]; 8. 113-Don Cornelius[14]; 9. 55-Scott Kay[15]; 10. 312-Ryan Gutherie[12]; 11. 7P-Caden Petry[3]; 12. 29E-Eric Martin[4]; 13. 7-Brenten Kay[2]; 14. 07L-Mark Sevin[9]; 15. 93-Phill Kapcewich[16]; 16. (DNS) 1-JIm Bryce; 17. (DQ) 1G-Frank Guidace[5]; 18. (DQ) 25-Jolene Smith[17]
    Heat 1 8 Laps
  12. 41-Brian Schaffer[1]; 2. 12L-Patrick Lane[2]; 3. 1G-Frank Guidace[6]; 4. 29E-Eric Martin[8]; 5. 7-Brenten Kay[3]; 6. 07L-Mark Sevin[4]; 7. 312-Ryan Gutherie[5]; 8. 113-Don Cornelius[7]; 9. 93-Phill Kapcewich[9]
    Heat 2 8 Laps
  13. JD57-jordan ehrenberg[7]; 2. 717-Bill Adams[1]; 3. 71-Gage Priester[3]; 4. 7P-Caden Petry[6]; 5. 404-MIchael Kristyak[8]; 6. 86-Shayne Izzo[2]; 7. 1-JIm Bryce[9]; 8. 55-Scott Kay[4]; 9. 25-Jolene Smith[5]
    Pro Stock 9 Entries
    A Feature 1 15 Laps
  14. 29-Curt J Bish[5]; 2. 7W-Bobby Whitling[6]; 3. 77-Rusty Wheeler[1]; 4. 84S-Josh Seippel[4]; 5. 23-Pat Fielding[2]; 6. 12M-Scott Malone[8]; 7. 1M-Gary Miller[7]; 8. 44-Jacob Wheeler[9]; 9. (DQ) 67J-Jamie Duncan[3]
    Heat 1 8 Laps
  15. 7W-Bobby Whitling[1]; 2. 29-Curt J Bish[4]; 3. 84S-Josh Seippel[3]; 4. 67J-Jamie Duncan[8]; 5. 23-Pat Fielding[2]; 6. 77-Rusty Wheeler[6]; 7. 1M-Gary Miller[5]; 8. 12M-Scott Malone[9]; 9. 44-Jacob Wheeler[7]