Max Blair Inches One Step Closer To $50,000 With $2,000 Mercer Victory In Night 1 Of The $250,000 FASTRAK Grand Nationals
By Mike Leone
October 4, 2008
Mercer, PA…The FASTRAK Late Models closed out their sophomore season in the Northeast with the running of Night 1 of the $250,000 Grand Nationals on a cold Saturday night at Mercer Raceway Park that saw the temperature dip into the 30s by night’s end. Twenty-seven of the 43 eligible racers were on hand from western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and western New York.
Max Blair is one step closer to $50,000. The Centerville, Pa. racer has already won the $10,000 National Weekly Point Championship and the $5,000 Northeast Touring Series Championship. Saturday night, Blair passed veteran Dick Barton to win the 30-lap $2,000 feature in the kickoff of the $250,000 FASTRAK Grand Nationals for the Northeast Region.
“This is awesome I don’t even know what to say, but I can’t wait to go down south,” expressed Blair. “I’m shaking; this is the best thing and the biggest race I’ve ever won. Definitely the highlight of my whole career. If I can go down and compete with those boys I’ll be happy, but man is this the way to start it out. When I started this year I wanted to win and race or two. I never ever dreamed it would work out the way it did this year. The year I’ve had is a once in a lifetime season and I’ll probably never have one again. I’m just enjoying every second of it.”
Mike Pegher, Jr. overtook John Lacki at the start for the early lead. Barton and Blair started fourth and fifth and raced under Lacki for second and third respectively on lap two. After a caution with two laps completed, Barton and Blair took over the top two spots from Pegher. Blair hounded Barton diving under the leader and the two raced side-by-side on laps five and seven. Tom Snyder, Jr., who started sixth, became a contender when he grabbed fourth from the fading Lacki on lap eight.
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$250,000 FASTRAK Grand Nationals For The NE Kicks Off Saturday At Mercer; Chase For The $50,000 National Championship Begins
By Mike Leone
October 1, 2008
Mercer, PA…After a yearlong chase for National Weekly Series and Touring Series points, it’s now down the $250,000 Grand Nationals where every eligible FASTRAK Late Model driver starts fresh with zero points in the chase to determine the $50,000 National Champion in a little over two weeks.
It all begins this Saturday night at Mercer Raceway Park as 43 eligible Northeast racers will begin to accumulate points before meeting up with the other regions across the nation as everyone comes together at Friendship Speedway in Elkin, North Carolina on October 15 and 16 in Night 2 then off to Wythe Raceway in Rural Retreat, Virginia on October 17 and 18 for the Night 3 conclusion.
The FASTRAK Late Models will begin the night Saturday with one-lap qualifying. The top 24 will be inverted in the heats. The remaining cars will be lined up heads up on time staggered through the heat races. All transferring cars from the heats to the feature will get their times back. A pill will be draw to determine the invert of the feature (4, 6, 8, 10). After the invert the remaining transferring cars are heads up on time. The B main will be lined up straight up on time with the transferring cars tagging the back of the 30-lap feature.
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