Crew members can put in some long hours in the shop and at the track on a race weekend. Drivers can work hard behind the steering wheel, running every practice session and giving feedback to the team as they search for the ideal set-up. Everything they do to get the best from their equipment when the green flag waves won’t make any difference…if it rains.

Heading into the Saturday, June 8th Double Toonie/Fan Appreciation Night at Peterborough Speedway saw Jacob Mercer’s No. 81 Late Model machine sitting 3rd in track points. Strong early season efforts have the 18-year-old 3rd generation runner just 13 markers out of the overall lead in the championship standings.

“We’ve worked hard to come up with a set-up that works and that effort is showing in our post-race rundown,” explained the talented young driver. “Our goal is to get the best out of the car at every show and to have our stuff in one piece when it comes time to roll it into the hauler at the end of the night.”

Heading through the pit gates at the start of the night, Jacob Mercer was looking forward to advancing to the feature event with good finishes in the qualifying heats and then meeting the fans during the half-time autograph session. After 3rd place efforts in each of the qualifying rounds, part of the puzzle was complete. Unfortunately, rain forced the meet and greet with the fans and the balance of the night’s program to be cancelled.

Jacob Mercer and the No. 81 Peterborough Speedway Late Model team is proudly supported by Sine’s Flooring, Durmach Precision Tooling, Facility Services, Courtice Septic, Beyond Signs & Design, Lindsay Dodge Chrysler, CARSTAR Lindsay, Lindsay Buick GMC, Highland Designs by Tracy Pattison, Cressman Tree Maintenance, Richter Law, BJ Tackle, Kawartha Metals, K9INE Protection, YoungCo Septic Design & Install, Cliffshore Excavating, Sarah Turck Sherwood Mortgage Group, Andrea Spohn Desjardins Insurance, Ganaraska Financial, Holdaway Motorsports and Clarke Motorsports Communications.

Fans can look forward to seeing Jacob Mercer defend the home track honour as part of the starting line-up during this weekend’s APC Late Model 100 – Saturday, June 15th – at Peterborough Speedway. Racing starts at 5:00.

Catch the team during the 2024 schedule at Peterborough Speedway. Find and follow 81 Mercer Motorsports on Facebook.