For Immediate Release By Jim Balentine Jr. PATRIOT 360 SPRINTS TAKE ON THE NRA SPRINTS IN THE “SPRINT SLUGFEST” AS THIS WILL BE A CHALLENGING AND TOUGH COMPETITION AS THEY INVADE MICHAELS MERCER RACEWAY SATURDAY AUGUST 10 2019. As the calendar rolls into August the Mike Emhoff led Patriot 360 CI sprint tour invades Michael’s Mercer Raceway for the first time since 2017 when Scott Kruetter defeated a field of 18. As a bonus the Ron Hammons lead NRA Sprint Invaders out of Central Ohio will be on the card as well to take on our locals in the battle of Ohio/Pa and New York. Also on the card will be the Deihl Ram Big Block Modifieds, the Turn 4 Toilet FASTRAK Modifieds, the Barris Supply Mod Lites, and the Ray’s racing Collectables/Eperthener Auto Wrecking Mini Stocks. It will be a regular point night for all divisions except the Sprints. The Patriot 360 Sprints have appeared at Mercer 7 times in their history with 7 different winners. Besides Scott Kruetter, Kyle Drum, Jared Zembardi, Danny Holtgraver, Jamie Martin, Dave Ely, and Mike Lutz who won the inaugural event in 2003 over 52 cars!!! They will be coming in with Davie Franek leading the points and 4 wins on the season over Joe Trenca , who won his first ever Patriot feature at Woodhull last week, Jordan Thomas, Jared Zembardi with one win, and Pete Richardson. The National Racing Association (NRA) Sprint invaders was originally formed in the early 2000’s by Earl Baltes of Eldora Speedway and Jeff Jarvis of the University of Northwestern Ohio. The series raced at various track in the Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Pennsylvania regions. Ron Hammons purchased the series in 2017 and continues to promote the series to greater heights. They will be racing at Limaland Speedway their home track on Friday night, and are planning to come to Mercer Saturday. If they get rained out Friday night however Limaland will run the NRA on Saturday. The “Hurricane” Randy Hannigan leads the points with 1 win over Jared Horstman who has 5 wins , Shawn Dancer with 1 , Hud Horton, and Devon Dobie. Most of the drivers hail from North and Central Ohio and Michigan. It will be a Sprint Slugfest to see who is the King of the 360s with the Patriots and the NRA doing battle with a prediction of around 30 cars, so it should be a sprint lovers dream!! Adding to the excitement our Big Block Modfieds will be in competition as the point standings begin to wind down with 2 weeks left in the championship chase. Dave Murdick, who was last week and has 2 wins this season is holding down third place just 13 points out of first place. Rex King Sr with his 3rd place finish Saturday now leads his son Rex King Jr. by 7 points as they have been see-sawing back and forth with the lead. In the FASTRAK Modifieds consistency has been the key as Shayne Izzo is leading Brian Schaffer by a mere 8 points without either of them winning a feature!!! One tiem winner Jerry Schaffer with one wins stands third. Eric Martin, who has won twice this season is a distant sixth. The Mod Lites have been putting on some exciting racing as Vivian Jones, who has won 4 features is comfortably leading the points by 29 over Mr. Consistent Dusty Frantz. Young guns Jordan Simmons and Ayden Cipriano are third and fourth respectively. The Mini stocks have been averaging over 24 cars nightly with 27 starting last weeks feature event!!! Joe Campbell with one win is looking for his first Mercer track championship leading feature winner Mike Porterfield by 28 points. Johnny Bruce Sr, Kyle Donnelly, and Dwayne Reddinger have been spectacular this season with top 5 finishes but have yet to crack victory lane. To find out who will be the victor this weekend please plan on attending this action packed event!!!The 305 sprints will have the night off. Grandstand admission will be $15 just Three dollars extra for the special show!!!! Seniors $13; Kids under 13 FREE with an adult; Pit Pass $35; Seniors $30 ;Kids 10 and under $30Pit gates open at 4pm Grandstands 5pm Hot Laps 6:30pm Racing at 7pm. Remember that you can get alerts regarding the cancellation of any racing event at Mercer Raceway Park sent directly to your smartphone or other electronic device. To register, please go to the track’s website, www. mercerracewaypark.com, click on the icon for RainedOut.net, and follow the easy steps. About Michaels Mercer Raceway: Michaels Mercer Raceway is a 3/8-mile dirt track located minutes from both Interstates 79 and 80 just off Route 19 on Fairground Road in Mercer, Pa. Dirt track racing and quality family entertainment are presented weekly from late March through early October. For more information, check out www. mercerracewaypark.com.