Flying out front
BUFFALO TWP — Dave Murdick had a clear view on his way to Victory Lane Friday.
The Slippery Rock resident was the pole sitter for the Modified feature at Lernerville Speedway and never gave it up, leading all 25 laps for his second win at the track and third this year.
Of course, not that it was easy.
We tried out some new stuff tonight,” said Murdick, who also picked up a win at Sharon this year. “We've been too tight and we wanted to make it looser.”
Jeremiah Shingledecker and Kevin Bolland finished second and third, respectively, but swapped positions a few times behind Murdick.
“I know that Bolland tried to go underneath me a couple of times,” said Murdick. “I didn't see Shingledecker.”
Bolland had a bit of trouble in the heat race, where he was leading after eight laps but left after he broke the nose off the transmission. It affected his race in the feature, but he almost came from behind to win.
“We had a few bent parts on the dry shaft ... The vibration was so severe for the first 12 laps, we wondered, ‘Will it stay in there?',” Bolland said. “ We couldn't run it as deep and hard as we wanted.
“We got the caution flag and were able to get second place back. Davey just had a good run.”
The win was Murdick's second in three weeks and he hopes his car can continue the momentum.
“Last year we had nine wins here,” Murdick said. “Everyone wants to get to double digits. We're on a really good pace right now and the car's been fast.”
• Like Murdick, Butler's Brian Ellenberger also led all 25 laps of his Sprint car race, although he took the lead in the first lap and cruised to the win.
In all, just five cars were on the lead lap and Ellenberger almost had a full lap on the entire field.
“Those guys are really good here and they're really good guys,” Ellenberger said. “Our car was really good and it makes it easy for me.
“I feel like we have a really good handle on our car. We have some big races coming up and I really feel we're in a good position to be competitive.”
Ellenberger won last weekend at Lernerville, then followed up with a win at Mercer before taking the checkered flag Friday.Entering Friday's race, only 17 points separated the top five drivers in the field.“We're really running for the track championship,” said Ellenberger. “If it happens, it happens. We'll be running at some other tracks so that may take away some nights here, but this is still our home track.”• A.J. Flick of Apollo led the Sportsman Stock feature the first five laps, but Mike Miller stormed into the lead and never relinquished it en route to the win.He was sitting in seventh place after the first lap before moving through the top of the field.“I just got through traffic and found my line,” said Miller of Chicora. “You get comfortable in your momentum. The main thing was to get the same line.”Joe Kelley and Flick finished second and third and Miller knew they were close behind.“We were three wide there,” said Miller, who is hopeful the win can reverse some unfortunate luck that has slowed the team this year. “It's nice to know when everyone will run clean.”• Boom Briggs picked up the win in the Late Model feature edging out Darrell Lanigan and Dave Hess Jr.Lanigan had led the first eight laps before Briggs took the lead and maintained it the rest of the race.<B>Notes: </B>There were 77 cars in the pits ... Next up, the Firecracker 100 will take place Thursday through Saturday ... Each winner earned the Mid-Season Championship Award and each an automatic berth in a respective future race — Briggs at the Firecracker 100, Ellenberger at the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup XX July 19, Murdick at the upcoming DIRT Car Roundup Steel City Stampede Sept. 24 and Miller at the Sportsman/Stock Spectacular during the AutumnMotive Fest in October.
