SCOTT GRABS BIG RIGS 2009 OPENING EVENT
May 26 2009
An excellent crowd and a beautiful evening for pull were all part of another super opening event for the USA-EAST Pulling Series at Mercer Raceway Park on Saturday, May 23rd. With temperatures hovering in the high 70s and abundant sunshine the grandstands were nearly full in anticipation of another awesome display of power for the Big Rigs Pulling Series Semis. And the fans were not disappointed as the 2008 champion, Richard Scott, picked up where he left off last year with a stirring victory over eight strong competitors.
Scott’s “Silver Bullet I” is a Mack Superliner powered by a Dale Francis built E-9 Mack with twin chargers. The 998 cubic inch behemoth has been specially tuned by Scott who also serves as the crew chief for the powerful Sanders’ Pulling Team of Ravenna, Ohio. Scott is the head mechanic in the Sanders’ Excavating shops and overseas the maintenance of a fleet of more than fourty semi trucks.
Three trucks made the pull-off. Scott’s team mate Fred Sanders with the newly revamped “Silver Bullet II”, powered by a QXK-19 Cummins also took it out the gate, but was forced to withdraw from the pull-off due to some valve issues and had to settle for third place.
The challenge came from “Killer” and Dick Bonner of Mantua, Ohio, the 2007 Big Rigs Series champion and the winner in ’08 of the prestigious PPL national crown. The two have met numerous times in a pull-off situation and have evenly split the encounters. However at Mercer the top spot went to the “Silver Bullet” and Richard Scott.
Fourth place went to the vastly improved “Some Assembly Required” with Dan Adams from Leetonia, Ohio behind the wheel. This is a single charger Mack V-8 machine that was precisely piloted by Adams directly down the groove in the speedway surface. Don Snyder, the winner in 2008 at Mercer Raceway, ended fifth with “Mr. Nasty”.
The Big Rigs Pulling Series returns to the track on Saturday, June 20th for the Keystone State Nationals at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in Brookville, Pennsylvania.