Tommy Meier - Markle wins; Tommy comes from 17th to 5th!

Markle wins; Tommy comes from 17th to 5th!

08/10/09

Jeremy Markle raced to victory in the modified feature on Saturday night at Orange County Fair Speedway, earning a starting spot for next month's King of the Catskills championship at Accord Speedway.

Markle breezed to a 2.4-second win over Gary Edwards Jr. Chris Whitehead, Mike Kolka and Tommy Meier rounded out the top five. Markle — whose best previous finish was fifth on May 23 — started third, passed Kirk Horton for second on the fourth lap and overtook Edwards for the top spot on the 12th lap.

Division leader Chuck McKee placed ninth, losing eight points of his advantage to Meier, which now stands at 34. Mitch Gibbs is 46 points out in third and Jerry Higbie, who placed eighth, is 50 points back in fourth. Barring any race-night disasters, Meier is going to have to beat McKee by an average of four or five spots over the final three weeks to catch him.

Anthony Perrego beat Rich Coons to the finish stripe by 1.4 seconds to claim his first sportsman victory of the season and fifth top-five effort. John Ferrier, Matt Janiak and Matt Hitchcock placed third through fifth. Division leader Mike Ruggiero was sixth, and leads Hitchcock by eight points.

Troy Arnold beat division leader Bill Pascual in the pro stock feature by more than 3 seconds. John Velde, Tom Vigh and Roger Oubina completed the top five. Pascual still leads Arnold by 48 points. It was Arnold's first win of '09.

Julius Pepin won the veteran pure stock feature for the fifth time. Emerson Cargain Sr. has an insurmountable 94-point lead — as long as he takes the green flag for the last three races, he will win the title.

Jim Maher earned his first season victory in amateur pure stocks. Matt Burke leads Dave Van Sise by two points and Stan Vishinski Jr. by 10 heading into the final three races.

Rob Rowe won the Northeastern Vintage Dirt Modifieds feature.