Fri, 15 Sep 2000, 10:38 AM Rain Delays Friday Kickoff

By Larry Sullivan

MOHNTON, Pa. - 10:15 AM -- the first pair of Stock Eliminator cars just went down the track, so we're running about an hour and a half behind schedule today.

A fierce-sounding band of thunderstorms moved through Maple Grove Raceway Thursday night, with more bark than bite. Though the rain was heavy at times, it didn't come close to washing out the 16th annual Keystone Nationals and the cool front that triggered the light-and-sound display last night should bring us excellent racing weather for the remainder of the event.

Maple Grove is noted for its air - nearly at sea level and surrounded by trees, this track has seen many record and near-record runs, so the prospect of watching the cars run here in mid-sixties temperatures has everyone looking for more of the same.

The only downside to the weather front is the amount of water dumped on the track and pits last night. The Safety Safari just finished drying the track, the shutdown area proving a little more stubborn than the rest of the racing surface. Some of the activities scheduled for this morning will be run at another time. There are 105 Stock and 113 Super Stock cars, plus approximately 120 each Super Comp and Super Gas cars here, so first round eliminations for those four categories alone will take about four hours to run. With the Pro categories scheduled to start around 2:45 PM, race officials hope to get all but the first round of Super Comp completed this morning before pulling the Federal-Mogul cars out of the lanes at 1:00 PM.

Stay tuned. As usual, we'll bring you the results as soon as possible.



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