May 23, 2009
Race Results

            Racing resumed Saturday night at Marion Center Speedway after a couple weeks of wet weather had washed them out.  Over a hundred cars came to participate in the five divisions racing at the quarter-mile clay oval and the fans came out in full force too!

            The first feature race of the night was in the Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic Limited Latemodels.  Scott Richwine from Carlisle brought the field onto the track and proceeded to lead every lap of the feature.  Near the end of the twenty laps, the white flag came out but then the caution flag was thrown bringing the race to a halt.  This happened several times, expecting to see the white or checkered flags and it was yellow.  This was good news to Rod Phillips from Punxsutawney who was running second to Richwine, because he finally got the jump he needed on one of those restarts to take the lead from Richwine and win the feature.  Richwine finished second to Phillips, and Bobby Watt from Latrobe was third.  Scott Stein from Cherry Tree finished fourth with Scott Alvetro from Reynoldsville in fifth.  The rest of the Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic Limited Latemodel top ten were Jerry Redden, Andrew Satterlee, Brian Force, Jim Whiteford and Jeff Weakland.  This was the second win in a row for Phillips in this division.  Alvetro, Phillips and Richwine won the heat races.

            Ray Hickok, Jr. from Commodore was also a repeat winner Saturday night.  Hickok took total control of the Pikel’s Universal Auto Repair Strictly Stock feature.  Hickok led every lap for the win.  Bryant Small from Cherry Tree followed Hickok every lap without ever overtaking the leader and settled into second place.  Nate Smith from Glen Campbell finished third and Justin Queen of Irvona was fourth leaving A. J. Flick from Pittsburgh in fifth.  Next in the top ten were Brett Bingaman, Larry McBryar, Gary Furman, Jr., Gregg Buterbaugh, and Rich Anderson.  Denny Smith, Brett Bingaman and Bryant Small won the Pikel’s Universal Auto Repair Strictly Stock heat races.

            Complete domination of the Lias Tire Latemodels made Greg Satterlee of Rochester Mills a repeat winner in that division.  Nobody seemed to be able to catch Satterlee as zipped around the track with power to spare.  Dane Laraway from Harrison City was the closest to Satterlee throughout the feature but at the checkered flag for second place it was John Britsky from Indiana who made his way through the slower cars and around Laraway for the position.  Laraway was third; Rick Strong from Chambersville was fourth and Rod Phillips from Punxsutawney was fifth.  Sammy Stile of Charleroi was sixth and then came Dave Blazavich, Mike Blose, Clate Copeman, and Jerry Redden.  George Fultz from Beach Creek, Greg Satterlee and Dane Laraway were the Lias Tire Latemodel heat race winners.

            Craig Decker from Cherry Tree claimed his first feature win for the Q-102 Front Wheel Drive 4 Cylinder Riceburners division.  Decker had the pole position from winning the first heat of the division and led almost every lap to secure the win.  Dan Luzier from Love Joy was the leader of a lap early on in the race, but Decker regained the lead immediately before they got to the backstretch.  One other lap Decker was not placed in the front for a restart after the caution flag came out and it was going to be a green- white- checker situation.  Bob Pease from Blairsville was marked as the leader for a single file restart.  It took several attempts to get the laps in to finish the race and Decker kept trying over and over to get the start he needed.  Decker got a great start when the green came out and was able to retake the lead for the victory.  Pease didn’t do as well on the restarts and lost ground to finish twelfth.  Dan Luzier claimed second place and Tom Pavelko from Cherry Tree also was third.  Larry Depp, Jr. of Punxsutawney was fourth and Tyler Laughard from Twin Rocks was fifth.  Rounding out the top ten were Randall Bouch, Tina Weaver, Jesse Laughard, Jay Fry and Tom Whiteford.  Besides Craig Decker, the other heat winners were Dan Luzier and Bob Pease.

            The last feature of the night was the W. G. Satterlee & Sons Street Stocks.  After finishing second the last time they ran, Nick Goss from Punxsutawney took the feature with a near perfect run.  Goss started third in the race and fellow Punxsy native, Tim White started on the outside pole to take the early lead.  By lap five, Goss had moved around second place car, Tim Bish from Ringgold and taken the lead from White.  Goss never let anyone else take the lead in the twenty-lap feature and won the event.  Eric Baun from Rossiter moved up from fifth to nudge out White for second place and White took third leaving Bish in fourth and Rich Waltman from Coolspring was fifth.  Randy Reitz from Punxsutawney was sixth and the rest of the top ten included Bill Phillips, Jr., Rick Henry, Rob Wilkins and Mike Valasek.  Nick Goss and Bill Phillips, Jr. won the W. G. Satterlee & Sons Street Stock heats.

Be sure to join us next Saturday night at Marion Center Speedway for the Memorial Day Special.  Racing continues every Saturday night this season until we reach the Butler Auto Supply Season Championships.  And don’t forget to check out the Force, Inc. Super Late Model Championship Challenge with Marion Center Speedway and Dog Hollow Speedway.  Also look for links to Cory Stivason’s Photo Pages.  A special thanks to all those that participated in the Marion Center Volunteer Fire Department's 50/50 raffle that raised over $1000 going to the winner and the MCVFD.   

by:  Don Peffer

MARION CENTER SPEEDWAY-MAY 16, 2009 (Last Week - rain out)

            Saturday night May 16 was cut short for racing at Marion Center Speedway.  The track became too wet to continue safely after the Pikel’s Universal Auto Repair Strictly Stock heat races.  Tim Laughard from Johnstown won the first heat race with Bryant Small of Cherry Tree second and Bobby Noel taking third.  In the second heat the winner was Nate Smith from Glen Campbell with Justin Queen from Irvona in second and Greg Buterbaugh of Clymer in third.  The support staff and vehicles barely made it out of the center area before a downpour came that would have trapped the vehicles inside the track.

by:  Don Peffer

Cory Stivason's Photos

Late Model	Limited Late Model	Street Stock	Strictly Stock	4-Cylinder
22 - Gregg Satterlee	1P - Rod Phillips	80 - Nick Goss	48 - Ray Hickok Jr.	75 - Craig Decker
Late Model	Limited Late Model	Street Stock	Strictly Stock	4-Cylinder

Results