MAX BLAIR & BILL HOLMES CAPTURE 1ST HOVIS RUSH LATE MODEL WINS OF 2026; BLAZE
HARRISON & KADEN KINDER BECOME THE 7TH & 8TH DIFFERENT RUSH STOCK CARS WINNERS
THIS SEASON
By Marcie Barlow
July 3, 2026 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Pulaski, PA)..,Max
Blair pulled double duty at the "Firecracker 100" event at Lernerville Speedway
and tallied his fourth victory in the prestigious "Bill Emig Memorial" for the
Hovis Auto & Truck Supply RUSH Dirt Late Model Flynn's Tire/Gunter's Honey
Touring Series action. Brett Marlett,
Bill Homes III and Jeremy Wonderling were victorious in RUSH Late Model Colussy
Chevrolet Weekly Series action. Kole
Holden and Nick Arnold tallied wins in RUSH Sportsman Modified and RUSH Pro Mod
action. Alex Bush, Blaze Harrison and
Kaden Kinder all scored wins in RUSH Stock Car action.
The premier event of the RUSH Racing Series season, the "Bill Emig Memorial"
presented by Sunoco Race Fuels, took place at Lernerville Speedway last weekend
for the RUSH Late Model Flynn's Tire/Gunter's Honey Touring Series.
Mother Nature scored the win on Thursday
and threatened the show on Friday and Saturday, but the perseverance of the
speedway and Series’ staff paid off as approximately $85,000 in cash and
contingencies, a record, were distributed to the RUSH teams in attendance.
Veterans Dave Hess, Jr. and Mason Ziegler led the 25-car field to green, but it
was youngster Christian Schneider who benefitted from Hess, Jr. and Ziegler
getting together in turn four as the first lap was completed. Schneider led the
first nine circuits before a caution flew when Jeff Watson spun. The restart saw
Max Blair make the winning pass as he drove around Schneider to lead lap 10. The
event’s second and final caution flew on the same lapas Austin Hauser, Jake
Gunn, and Watson tangled in turns three and four.
The final 40 laps were caution-free as Blair was unchallenged and would
score a 3.165 second victory over Schneider. The
win was Blair’s fourth in in the past eight events.
Blair scored a $20,000 payday as well as
the $8,000 D&V Jewelers championship diamond ring presented by MotoRad Spec
Racing Development. Schneider came home a
season best second and earned a career high $7,000!
Hess claimed third as Dylan Cecce and Joe Martin completed the top five.
Steve LeBarron and Garret Heffner led the Colussy Chevrolet RUSH Late Model
Weekly Series event to green Saturday at Woodhull Raceway.
LeBarron and fourth place starter Brett
Marlatt put on a great show and the duo battled for the entire distance of the
20-lap event and swapped the lead several times. At the checkered it was Marlatt
getting his season's second victory by 0.266 seconds over LeBarron. Marshall
O’Brian, Heffner and Rickie Loucks completed the top five.
Bill Holmes III and Jake Wilber paced the field in RUSH Late Model Colussy
Chevrolet action at The Dirt Track at Genesee Saturday.
Wilber led the first three circuits
before a caution slowed the field. On the ensuing restart, Wilber chose the
inside which left the top side of the speedway open for Holmes. Holmes used the
outside groove to grab the lead and go on to the victory. Wilber was able to cut
Holmes’ lead to .299 seconds at the checkered to finish in the runner-up
position. Paul Grigsby, Doug Ricotta and Jimmy Johnson rounded out the top five.
Youngsters Ben Easler and Brendan Warner led the RUSH Late Model main event to
green at Eriez Speedway on Sunday, but it was veteran Jeremy Wonderling who
would come from his ninth place starting position to score the victory.
The win was Wonderling’s third at the
Eria, PA facility this season and his fifth overall in Colussy Chevrolet Weekly
Series action. Easler came home in second
with Warner following in third for his career best Late Model finish. Billy
Henry, Jr. and Austin Allen finished fourth and fifth respectively.
Kole Holden led the entire distance of the Hovis RUSH Sportsman Modified event
at Raceway 7 on Friday to score his second victory of the season at the Ohio
oval. The win was also the 33rd of
Holden’s career in divisional action. Doug Rutana, Jacob Rutana and Kyle Martell
finished second through fourth respectively.
Hovis RUSH Pro-Mod action at Stateline Speedway saw Dave Shagla, Jr. and Nick
Arnold lead the field to green. Shagla,
Jr. held the top spot for 14 and three-quarter laps and withstood the persistent
challenges of Arnold. Shagla, Jr. bobbled in the final corner and that was just
enough to give Arnold the opportunity he needed to sneak by and claim the win by
just 0.038 seconds. Al Brewer, Dean
Ingalls, and Tyler Oakes completed the top five.
Hovis RUSH Stock Car competitors competed in two feature events Saturday at
Stateline Speedway. In the first main
event Alex Bush out-dueled Darr Diegelman to pick up the victory. Cole
Strickland, David McAvoy and Raiddan Wilson completed the top five.
Blaze Harrison started on the pole of the
second main event and took command at the green. Harrison led the entire
distance of the 15-lap event to score his first win of 2026 over Wilson. William
Baker, Jr., Kaden Michael and Devan Jones rounded out the top five.
RUSH Stock Car action continued Sunday at Eriez Speedway with Kaden Kinder
picking up his first divisional win of 2026. The
Waterford, PA driver started on the pole and scored the victory to become the
eighth different winner of the season in divisional action!
Kaden Michael, William Baker, Jr., Blaze
Harrison and Cole Strickland completed the top five.
Colussy Chevrolet RUSH Late Model Weekly Series competitors had the week off at
Raceway 7, Dog Hollow Speedway, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Motor Speedway and
Stateline Speedway. Weather forced the
cancellation of Colussy Chevrolet RUSH Late Model Weekly Series action at
Delaware International Speedway and Winchester Speedway.
Rain claimed the lone Hovis RUSH Sprint Car event that was scheduled at Michaels
Mercer Raceway Park on Saturday.
As we celebrate America’s 250th birthday we encourage you to take it some of the
great RUSH Racing Series action scheduled. The
Hovis RUSH Late Model Flynn’s Tire/Gunter’s Honey Touring Series will be in
action at Stateline Speedway in Busti, NY on Saturday for the “America 250”
event paying $4,000 to win. This
weekend’s Colussy Chevrolet Weekly Series action is also scheduled at Dog Hollow
Speedway and The Dirt Track at Genesee on Friday followed by Muskingum County
Speedway, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Motor Speedway and Winchester Speedway on
Saturday and finally Eriez Speedway on Sunday.
You can catch both the RUSH Sprint Car
Rustler Sales & Service Weekly Series and the RUSH Sportsman Modified
Divisions in action on Friday at Raceway 7 as part of their "Buckeye Open Wheel
Night".
The RUSH Pro-Mod teams will be in action at Stateline Speedway on Saturday for
their annual "Manufacturers Night" presented by MSD Performance. The event will
pay $1,000 to win and 20 product packages will be distributed to the teams in
attendance.
RUSH Stock Car action will take place Saturday at Stateline Speedway and Sunday
at Eriez Speedway.
The weather is certainly heating up, and the RUSH racing action is doing the
same; be sure to catch some exciting RUSH racing action at a speedway near you
this weekend.
The RUSH Racing Series is brought to you by Hovis Auto & Truck Supply together
with Born2Run Lubricants along with the support of Hoosier Tire, Sunoco Race
Fuels, Bazell Race Fuels, Insinger Performance, Colussy Chevrolet Flynn's Tire,
Gunter's Honey, Rustler Sales & Service, MSD Performance, Holley Performance
Products, FK Rod Ends, Capital Contracting Service, Joseph J. Oliva Attorney at
Law, Schoenfeld Headers, Jones Racing Products, Landrum Performance Springs,
Russ King Racing, 3C Graphix, Velocita-USA, Wieland Metal Services, Real
Merchant Services DMV, IllusionCoats Powder Coating, Hoosier Tire Western
Pennsylvania/Big Daddy's Speed Center, Close Racing Supply, Keyser
Manufacturing/Integra Racing Shocks, Seal-Tite Paving & Excavating, MotoRad,
Schneider Trucks, Ontime Body & Graphic, Henry's Headers & Exhaust Systems,
D&V Jewelers, AERO Race Wheels, Racing Electronics, Design Creations, and
Competition Crate Parts.
E-mail can be sent
to the RUSH Racing Series at [email protected] and mail to 4368 Route
422, Pulaski, PA 16143. Office phone is 724-964-9300. The RUSH Late Model
website is www.rushlatemodels.com. Like our Facebook page at
www.facebook.com/rushlatemodels and follow us on X (formerly known as Twitter)
@RUSHLM.
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