Local racers are often judged by their latest main event finish. Jacob Mercer rolled into the Saturday, August 19^th date at Peterborough Speedway looking to improve on the 5^th place Late Model feature race result he’d recorded just 7 days earlier.

Wheeling a car through the pre-race practice session that the driver described as “fast” when debriefing with his father and the crew, Mercer and the No. 81 got ready for another night of action in the track’s headline division. The driver says the car felt great whether running on its own or in traffic and was excited about getting another of racing underway.

Taking the main event green flag from a starting spot outside the 3^rd row, the talented youngster took some time to find his groove before looking to make a charge toward the front of the field. In just his second season of stock car racing, what Jacob Mercer might lack in experience is replaced by a desire for success. The 16-year-old looks to get the most from his equipment and record some consistent runs.

“I had some heavy hitters and championship contenders ahead and behind me during the early stages of the race,” said Jacob Mercer. “When a few cars got collected in that crash on the backstretch, we were lucky to get around the wreck without being involved. That could have been changing point in the race and maybe our season.”

Mercer would restart 3^rd after the lap 8 caution flag and gained another position following a lap 10 yellow. From there, the driver managed to log some solid, consistent laps and load the car into the hauler for the trip home after a season best 2^nd place finish. In addition to his solid feature event effort, Jacob Mercer had 3^rd and 4^th place showings in his qualifying heats.

Sponsorship for the Mercer Motorsports team throughout the 2023 schedule is provided by Sine’s Flooring, Durmach Precision Tooling, Courtice Septic, Facility Services, Beyond Signs & Design, Mediavandals, Highland Designs by Tracy Pattison, Kawartha Metals, Richter Law, Press Any Key Solutions, Lynch Rutherford Tozer Accountants, Cressman Tree Maintenance, BJ Tackle, Wilson Niblett Performance, Ross Funeral Chapel, K9ine Security, Dairy Farmers of Ontario, Cliffshore Excavating, Young Co Septic Systems and Clarke Motorsports Communications.

The team may face some late hours in the shop as the home track Late Model division is part of the next pair of Peterborough Speedway regular season dates including Saturday, August 26^th and Saturday, September 2^nd for the Championship Clash.

Jacob Mercer and the No. 81 team can be followed at the track, through their Facebook and Twitter social media profiles or at 81mercermotorsports.com.