SERTOMA TRUCK PULLS DRAWS HUGE FIELD
photos by: Brian Seeley
A great crowd amid very threatening weather greeted a super field of trucks at the Crawford County Fairgrounds near Meadville, Pennsylvania on June 11th for the second annual SERTOMA TRUCK PULLS. This event benefitted the Meadville Sertoma Club and was produced by Full Pull Productions of Jamestown, Pennsylvania. The four classes were sanctioned through USA-EAST sled pulling and were conducted using the “Decision Maker” Maroon weight sled with Eric Chellman as the operator.
The opening class was the 2.6 Diesel 4x4 division that was co-sanctioned by the National Association of Diesel Motorsports (NADM). The class drew some 24 trucks to Crawford County with Chevrolet/Duramax 4x4s taking the top two sports. The hard charging 2005 Chevrolet of John Savage from Sebring, Ohio took the top spot as he just edged out the top lady driver in the class, Corrie Baker from Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania with her Chevy named “Girls Night Out”. Bryan Whinnery has still not found the winner’s circle with his 2005 Dodge as the Salem, Ohio native finished 3rd after two straight runner-up spots.
A stellar field of semis from the Pennsylvania Posse found the venerable Gerry Hairhoger from New Galillee, Pennsylvania back at the top with “Jerry-Atricks” a Cummins powered Kenworth. The truck that won a week ago in Greensburg ended up 2nd at Meadville as Jack Griggs could not get back-to-back wins with his “Homewrecker” Mack V-8 from Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania. Nate August with “Work In Progress” finished 3rd with the Freedom, PA based Kenworth.
One of the most interesting classes of the evening came with a two way pull-off in the Pro Street GAS 4x4 division. Last year’s champion, Mark Petros from Herminie, Pennsylvania eaked out a win with “Public Enemy” a 1973 Dodge powered by 440 cubic inch Mopar power. The beautiful 1939 Chevrolet of George Nicholsen from Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania was the runner-up in the pull-off. Third place went to the Ford machine of Jeff Mitchell from Salem, Ohio with “Tragic Magic”.
The fourth and final class of the evening was the opening pull of the season for the Pro Stock Diesel 4x4 trucks. These highly modified diesel machines provide a thrilling class for the fans as they belch hugh plumes of black 
diesel exhaust over 100 feet in the air and turn rpm levels that are unheard of with diesel truck pulling. The champion from last year, “Brothers Diesel” from Springville, New York took the victory at Meadville with Dominic Gambino on the controls. This truck from the Buffalo suburbs has been ultra-competitive over the past two season. The runner-up was the all-new and super impressive “Rollin’ Coal” Dodge of Jonathan Waskob from Warrior’s Mark, Pennsylvania. Waskob has ‘paid his dues’ over the past two seasons and now appears ready to challenge the leaders on any given night. Bill DeBenedictus from Mentor, Ohio was 3rd with “The Real Deal” Dodge and the GMC entry from Chardon, Ohio’s Tim Jackson named “Ridin Dirty” was fourth in the four-way pull-off.
Rain started falling at the Crawford County Fairgrounds shortly after the last truck had made its way down the track as mother nature smiled on the Sertoma Club and the USA-EAST pullers on this night in Meadville.
USA-EAST moves on to the Lawrence County Fairgrounds near New Castle, Pennsylvania on Friday night, June 17th and then to the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in Brookville, Pennsylvania on Saturday, June 18th. The Brookville event will feature the second leg of the Big Rigs Pulling Series for 2011.
