Aaron Merriman outslugged George Napolitano Jr. in Fridays “round” of the ongoing 2015 North American drivers dash winning title battle, posting six winners to Napolitano’s five to narrow Napolitano’s lead to six, with the current score Napolitano 829, Merriman 823.

Napolitano got in a serious punch during Friday afternoon’s racing at Harrah’s Philadelphia, scoring five victories in 13 sulky turns. Four of the victories came from the barn of Gil Garcia-Herrera, who now has mathematically eliminated Ron Burke from winning the Philly trainers crown, with a 15-victory lead with 14 races to go. (Team Burke was digging to the end, though, also scoring four times on Friday, all with horses guided by Yannick Gingras.)

But with the action switching from The Meadows to Northfield Park Friday night, Merriman uncorked a “1-2 combination,” following up on his earlier double at The Meadows with four victories at Northfield to “outpoint” his opponent for the day by one and thus making his deficit six.

Harrah’s Philadelphia, The Meadows, and Northfield Park are all dark on Saturday, which means the next report in this series will come Monday, after Merriman races the Sunday night card at Northfield, and Napolitano winds up his 2015 season by driving on the last card of the Harrah’s Philadelphia meet on Sunday afternoon. After that, Merriman has doubleheader action on Monday through Wednesday at The Meadows and Northfield, while Napolitano has said that he would end his 2015 campaigning after Philly on Sunday (and indeed has no drives listed anywhere after the Philly card) – and it’s not hard to see “the changing of the guard” during that period or slightly thereafter.

FINISHING LINES – Napolitano will be completing a “grand slam” of eastern Pennsylvania racing on Sunday, winning the dash and UDR titles at both Philly and Pocono. At Pocono, Napolitano’s notched 407 winners, breaking his own record, while posting a UDR of .407; at Philly, Napolitano will likely be adding to his seasonal local record of 396, which eclipsed Tim Tetrick’s 380 figure of 2011, and has a .398 UDR going into the final session. On the training side, Garcia-Herrera will be taking his first Philly dash title – Burke had worn the crown the last two years, and five of the last six – but the UTR title is still very much on the line, and that score entering the final card is Chris Oakes .440, Garcia-Herrera .439.