Merchant streaks to 7th O'Reilly SUPR victory

Merchant streaks to 7th O'Reilly SUPR Late Model victory

Baton Rouge, Louisiana (October 19, 2002) - Kenny Merchant took the lead on lap 6 and then pulled away to a season-high 7th O'Reilly SUPR Late Model victory. Merchant grabbed the lead following contact between the lead cars of Keith Mancil and Curt Lipsey. Merchant, a winner on the opening night of last year's State Championship race, and a runner-up last night, had it all come together tonight as he claimed the title of 2002 Louisiana State Champion. Merchant worked his way through and pulled up to a half-track lead on the second place car of Odie Green. Merchant drove the J.D. Caver/Goddard Performance/Bayou Fabricators Keith Craft-powered Ford Mustang Warrior to the impressive victory and in the process; Merchant tied Howard Willis for fourth place on the All-Time SUPR victory list with 19 wins apiece.

Keith Mancil started on the outside pole with Curt Lipsey once again on the point. Mancil shot to the front but Lipsey, last night's winner, quickly closed in to battle for the lead. On lap 6, just as a spin by Davin Bates in turn 4 collected the cars of Tommy Surrett and David Lafleur, Mancil and Lipsey made hard contact on the front stretch and both cars were finished for the night. From Mancil’s perspective it was a case of two drivers trying to fit into the same spot. “I just run up in there and Curt got up under me (in turn 4) when I hooked the cushion. The car was reared up and I couldn’t see and when I did get to where I could see him coming up and we hit and it just put me into the wall.” From Lipsey’s perspective, he felt he had given Mancil plenty of room. “I drove in and run low, like I had been running every lap and got past him. I knew he was out there and I went straight, you know I didn’t run up there by the wall and tried to give him racing room and I thought I had him cleared. I guess he got into me.”

Merchant then took over the lead and led the last 44 laps mostly unchallenged. And while the Mancil-Lipsey wreck may have handed Merchant the lead, he would have been tough to hold back tonight. “I felt like we was getting better every lap.” Even lapped traffic was only a minor inconvenience for Merchant. “Lapped traffic is always a challenge but if you can race on a racetrack, I love racing lapped traffic, especially if you got a really good car.” And clearly tonight Merchant had a really good car.

Odie Green, who started 7th, eventually worked past Ryan Plaisance for second but was only able to close in on Merchant during restarts and during the latter stages of the race as Merchant worked his way through lapped traffic. The solid run for Green was gratifying as the hard work by Odie and his car owner Bernie Sharp paid off with a good setup for Baton Rouge Raceway, something that has eluded Green in the past. “We changed up a few things and I felt we got a lot better.” And while Odie admits he needed a little bit more out of his car, he felt he may have found a baseline to work with at Baton Rouge Raceway. “I think I come across something that will work here.”

Plaisance would remain in third with Sam Patrick and Marlon Wild rounding out the top five. Rodney Wing finished in sixth, one spot ahead of David Ashley, to extend his point lead over Ashley to 50 points with just one race remaining, the Jambalaya 100 at Pike County Speedway on November 8-9.

39 O’Reilly SUPR Late Models were on hand. Curt Lipsey, Keith Mancil, Rodney Wing, Kenny Merchant and Ryan Plaisance took the heat races wins with Robbie Starnes and Chris Wall taking the last chance wins.

For the second night in a row, David Ashley captured the Lloyd Wild Jr. Logging Hard Charger award as he passed 12 cars on his way to his seventh place finish.

Official Results:

1. Kenny Merchant

2. Odie Green

3. Ryan Plaisance

4. Sam Patrick

5. Marlon Wild

6. Rodney Wing

7. David Ashley

8. Ronny Adams

9. Robbie Starnes

10. Jon Mitchell

11. Chris Wall

12. James Ward

13. Jody Prince

14. David Lafleur

15. Jim Burford

16. Rob Litton

17. John Mark Mills

18. Donald Watson

19. Rusty Cooper

20. Tommy Surrett

21. Keith Mancil

22. Curt Lipsey

23. Davin Bates

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