Merchant motors to SUPR victory

By Steve Molnar

RUSK, TX (June 12, 1999) - Kenny Merchant has found the setup on his new J.D. Caver sponsored Ford Mustang Warrior and it doesn’t bode well for the competition. Merchant captured his second win in as many weeks as he topped the O’Reilly’s Southern United Professional Racing (SUPR) at Thunder Mountain Speedway in Rusk, Texas. Merchant started the race from the pole and pulled away to a big lead and the dominant win. "We sure have struggled the first part of the year but since we got this new car we’ve been pretty quick."

For Kenny, the start was the key to the race as he selected soft tires in an attempt to get the jump on GRT Top Qualifier Dave Siegert. "I felt like that’s what we had to do to outrun Dave. You know Dave’s been running good all year." Merchant did indeed grab the lead going into turn one with Siegert up on the highside. Siegert charged the turn too hard and drifted off the track and lost several positions in the process. "If it would have stuck we would have been there. I knew he was on soft tires and I tried to get the jump on him but it didn’t work."

Duke Whiseant started tenth and fought an early push before mounting a late race charge that saw him take second from Rob Litton on lap 36 but he ran out of laps before he could run down Merchant. "The tires took a long time to get going, to get some heat in them and I had a bad push coming off the corners and that didn’t help either."

Rob Litton may have topped Merchant in his heat race but he was unable to match Merchant’s early pace in the feature. Litton grabbed second at the start when Siegert went off the back of the track and he survived an early challenge from David Ashley but was unable to hold off a late charge by Whiseant. Litton was actually passed by Ashley following a caution on lap 10 but Ashley was penalized for jumping the start. "I’m kind of glad he got by me because he showed me a better line in 3 and 4."

The battle for fourth went right down to the line as Jay Blair nipped Ashley with Junior Taylor right behind them in 6th. Taylor’s run from 17th up to 6th earned him the Lloyd Wild Jr. Logging Hard Charger award. Heat winners were Ashley, Siegert and Litton.


Official Results:
1. Kenny Merchant
2. Duke Whiseant
3. Rob Litton
4. Jay Blair
5. David Ashley
6. Junior Taylor
7. Dave Siegert
8. Keith Craft
9. Marlon Wild
10. Donald Watson
11. Wade Cleveland
12. Ronny Adams
13. Jon Mitchell
14. Mark Andrews
15. Stacy Veuleman
16. Steve Latson
17. Eddie Taylor
18. Ronny Smith
19. Jon Wallace