Kenny Merchant takes Mardi Gras opener!

Magnolia, Mississippi (February 27, 2004) - It’s a new season and Kenny Merchant arrived at Pike County Speedway with a new trailer but it was his trusty old Warrior, the same car collected in a big melee at Jackson Motor Speedway at the end of the season that Merchant wheeled to victory in the opening night of the 5^th Annual Mardi Gras Nationals presented by Majestic Metals. Merchant sent the car to Goddard Performance for a front and rear clip during the off-season and returned to defend his O’Reilly SUPR Championship. Kenny Merchant set the tone early as he took advantage of a late race restart to take the opening night of the 5^th Annual Mardi Gras.

Merchant started on the pole after earning the B&K Underground Top Qualifier award but he was running 3^rd with less than 10-laps to go, trailing James Ward and Rodney Wing, when the circumstances change drastically. Ward led from the start but Wing was challenging him on the high side for position lap after lap only to see his night end abruptly as he spun in turn 2 and collected Jody Prince in the process. This allowed Merchant to move to 2^nd and he quickly got by Ward on the restart coming off of turn 4 to take the lead and the victory. Ken Schrader ran in the top 5 all night and finished in 3^rd ahead of Rob Litton and Creel Brothers Hard Charger Chris Wall. Doug Ingalls, Dennis Duncan, Jimmy Noland, Tommy Surrett and Jay Blair rounded out the top 10.

Merchant acknowledged that he didn’t have the best car as he had to run up on the cushion and this was a hit and miss proposition with the track proving bumpy around the top. Meanwhile Ward was smooth in the middle of the track, one of the few capable of running this line but as the race wore on Ward’s brakes wore out and this allowed Merchant the opening he needed.

It was clear that in the closing stages that Rodney Wing had the fastest car but like Merchant, he was fastest up top and he just could get a clear run on Ward. Wing raced hard into turn 1 trying to get under Ward but the rear broke loose and Wing hammered it trying to swing his Boland Performance/B&K/Jay Dickens/Xtreme Graphics mount back around. Merchant barely cleared him but Jody Prince, who was running 4^th made hard contact with Wing’s front end and nearly launched his Lincoln Asphalt & Paving/J&J Motorsports racer but came down with race ending damage for both drivers.

39 O’Reilly SUPR Late Models were on hand. James Ward, Rodney Wing, Kenny Merchant, Doug Ingalls and Ken Schrader topped the heat races with Chris Wall and Jay Blair taking the last chance races.

The action continues Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. with another full O’Reilly SUPR Late Model program capped by a 50-lap feature.

Official Results:

1. Kenny Merchant

2. James Ward

3. Ken Schrader

4. Rob Litton

5. Chris Wall

6. Doug Ingalls

7. Dennis Duncan

8. Jimmy Noland

9. Tommy Surrett

10. Jay Blair

11. Marlon Wild

12. Tony Lawson

13. Curt Lipsey

14. Keith Mancil

15. Rodney Sheridan

16. Mike Boland

17. Rodney Wing

18. Jody Prince

19. Ray Grow III

20. David Ashley

21. Ryan Plaisance

22. Jon Mitchell

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