SWEENEY RUSH LATE MODELS HEAD TO PITTSBURGH SATURDAY FOR THE 1ST TIME IN A BAZELL/SUNOCO SOUTHERN TOUR EVENT; TRI-CITY TO HOST 1ST RUSH MOD RACE SUN FOR BICKNELL TOUR

By Mike Leone

 

September 16, 2015               FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

(Pulaski, PA)...After a rainy Saturday and Sunday last weekend, the Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC RUSH Racing Series will hope for better weather this Saturday and Sunday (September 19-20).  Pittsburgh’s PA Motor Speedway will host their first and only Bazell/Sunoco Race Fuels Southern Late Model Touring Series event on Saturday night, while Tri-City Raceway Park will then conclude the weekend on Sunday afternoon with their first ever RUSH Sportsman Mod race in a Bicknell Tour event.

 

Saturday’s 25-lap Bazell/Sunoco Southern Tour feature will pay $1,200 to-win at the “Monster Half-Mile”.  The Sweeney RUSH Late Models will be featured on Saturday night along with the “410” Sprint Cars.  Last year, Pittsburgh held two Sweeney Tour events with champion Ryan Montgomery winning the first and Colton Flinner earning his first career Tour feature at this event last year. 

 

Max Blair enters Pittsburgh still in control of the $10,000 pot of gold for the sweep of the Bazell/Sunoco Southern Tour, the Insinger/Sunoco Northern Tour, and the Sweeney Combined Touring Series titles.  The Centerville, Pa. driver has yet to finish worse than sixth in any of the point events to date with eight victories including the last three!  Blair leads Eric Wilson, who is coming off a career best runner-up finish on September 6 at Wayne County Speedway, by 72 points in the Southern Tour and Jason Knowles by 144 in the Combined Tour points.   

 

Pittsburgh has held 17 Sweeney Weekly Series events in 2015.  Ironically, four racers have captured a trio of wins including track champion Josh Holtgraver, Daryl Charlier, Ben Policz, and Colton Flinner.  Tommy Schirnhofer, Jr. and Kyle Lukon have a pair of victories, while Michael Reft won his first career RUSH race on August 8.  Schirnhofer’s victories have comes on the $135 Bilstein sealed, spec shocks.  Schirnhofer is currently second in the “Bilstein Bandits” points, which would earn him $2,500 if he can maintain that position.

 

The Sweeney RUSH Sportsman Modifieds completed their first season as being a weekly division at Sharon and averaged 15 cars per night.  This weekend, the RUSH Mods will race in their first Bicknell Racing Products Touring Series event at Sharon for $800 to-win.  Earlier this season New York racers Greg Martin and Adam Hilton won the Tour events at Expo and Lernerville Speedways.  Martin captured the Sharon track championship over Nick Ritchey, who won the Sportsman’s Speedway track championship. 

 

On Sunday afternoon, the RUSH Sportsman Mods will try again to head to Tri-City Raceway Park for the first time ever after last Sunday’s rain out.  This will also be a Bicknell Tour event as $600 will go to the feature winner of the 20-lap event.  Sunday will be Tri-City's "Apple Fest".   There will also be a Bicknell Weekly Series event on Saturday at Lernerville Speedway.

 

Veteran Larry Kugel is the current Bicknell Tour point leader by just two over Kole Holden, who won his third feature of the season last Sunday at Sportsman's and continues to lead the Bicknell "Futures Cup" points.

 

“Hopefully the weather cooperates this weekend for us,” stated RUSH Director Vicki Emig.  “The Miley Family are strong supporters of our RUSH program and the Tour events at Pittsburgh are always exciting on the monster half-mile.  The local Pittsburgh racers have a distinct advantage over the outsiders, which makes the competition even stronger.  Our Sportsman Modified racers have really been anxious to get to race at Tri-City.  Some of the guys have taken in their practice sessions, and it will be a new challenge for most of our racers.  It was a shame last Sunday rained out, but we’re appreciative Tri-City rescheduled and the weather is looking conducive for Sunday.”

 

For both Tour events, the K&N “Cold Air Induction” Dash will be run for the first four drivers that finish outside of the feature redraw spots and will pay $100 K&N certificate to win, $50 K&N certificate for second with $25 cash going to the third and fourth place finishers.  

  

For both divisions, Precise Racing Products will award a $100 gift card for the "Pedal Down" Hard Charger that passes the most cars in the feature.  The TBM Brakes “Tough Brake of the Night” will award three bottles of Xtreme6 Racing Brake Fluid valued at approximately $45 along with a certificate for a discount off any TBM Brakes purchase in all events this weekend.

 

RUSH Officials will choose the "Maxima Performance" Award for a driver that exhibits a performance worthy of such for both divisions.  The winner will receive a free case of either Maxima Semi-Syn High Performance Racing Oil or Maxima Performance Racing Oil of your choice.  In addition, the winner will receive one can of SC-1 clear coat, one 16-oz bottle of Maxima Cool-Aide concentrate, one 32-oz quart of Maxima PSF power steering fluid, and a Maxima t-shirt.  The value of this prize package is $170!  

 

The driver that finishes last on the lead lap in both divisions will receive a $25 gift certificate from CrateInsider.com.  The first driver that fails to qualify for the Late Model feature on Saturday will receive the ARbodies “Nosed Out” nose kit valued at $260.

 

For the Sportsman Modified Series, RUSH Officials will determine the Sherwood Racing Wheels "Man of Steel" award winner as one that bounced back from an earlier mishap to finish the event strongly.  The selected driver will receive a certificate for a free Sherwood Racing Wheel.

 

Pittsburgh Feature Payoff: 1. $1,200  2. $700  3. $500  4. $370  5. $350  6. $315  7. $300  8. $270  9. $260  10. $255  11. $230  12. $215  13. $205  14. $200  15. $175  16. $170  17. $165  18-24. $160.

Pittsburgh Non-Qualifier: 1. $125  2. $100  3. $90  4. $85  5. $80  6. $75  7. $70  8. $65  9. $60  10-24. $55.  Tow $50.

 

Tri-City Sportsman Modified Tour Feature Payoff: 1. $600  2. $400  3. $300  4. $250  5. $225  6. $200  7. $170  8. $165  9. $160  10. $150  11. $140  12. $135  13. $130  14. $125  15. $120  16. $115  17. $110  18-24. $100.  Tow $50.

 

Bicknell Racing Products Sportsman Modified Touring Series Points (only Tour members receive points): 1. Larry Kugel 192  2. Kole Holden 190  3. Jerry Schaffer 181  4. Brandon Ritchey 176  5. Chelsie Kriegisch 174  6. Jessica Kriegisch 173  7. Justin Shea 165  8. Greg Martin 100  9. Nick Ritchey 98  10. Jim Bryce 89  11. Jeff Hughes 87  12. Kyle Martell & Josh Deems 86  14. Will Schaffer 84.

 

Bazell/Sunoco Southern Late Model Tour Points (Drivers must be Touring member to receive points): 1. Max Blair 924  2. Eric Wilson 852  3. Jason Knowles 845  4. Brian Knowles 833  5. Steve Lowery 698  6. John Waters 672  7. Kyle Lukon 491  8. Rob Marhefka 454  9. Michael Lake 410  10. Michael Duritsky, Jr. 352  11. W.L. Stile 317  12. Clay Ruffo 315  13. Rick Singleton 273  14. Ryan Montgomery 268  15. Ryan Markham 264  16. Troy Shields 230  17. Reese Masiello 228  18. Chad McClellan 174  19. Joe Martin 162  20. Doug Gavette 158  21. Russell Baird, Jr. 151  22. Randy Hall 89  23. Kyle Zimmerman 88  24. Andrew Wylie 81  25. Nolan Dalton 72  26. Will Thomas III & John Holtgraver 70.

 

Combined Northern/Southern Late Model Tour Points (Drivers must be Touring member to receive points): 1. Max Blair 1512 2. Jason Knowles 1368  3. Brian Knowles 1344  4. Eric Wilson 1334  5. John Waters 1196  6. Steve Lowery 698  7. Randy Hall 617  8. Kyle Lukon 587  9. Bryce Davis 561  10. Rob Marhefka 543  11. W.L. Stile 471  12. Clay Ruffo 455  13. Joe Martin 414  14. Michael Lake 410  15. Ward Schell 392  16. T.J. Downs 373  17. Michael Duritsky, Jr. 352  18. Kyle Zimmerman 341  19. Doug Gavette 316  20. Rick Singleton 273  21. Ryan Montgomery 268  22. Ryan Markham 264  23. Troy Shields 230  24. Reese Masiello & Andrew Wylie 228 26. Dennis Lunger, Jr. 190  27. Chad Wright 176  28. Chad McClellan 174  29. Jeff Dayman 163  30. Russell Baird, Jr. 151  31. Jon Rivers 142  32. Jamie Brown 140  33. Phil Potts 98  34. Adam Sixt 84  35. Matt Harvey 73  36. Nolan Dalton 72  37. Cody Dawson 71  38. Michael Mitchell, Josh Holtgraver & Will Thomas III 70.

 

You do not have to a member of RUSH to compete.  The red AMB transponders will be used at Tri-City.  Transponders are not used at Tri-City.  RACEceivers will be mandatory.  The entry fee for the Late Models at Pittsburgh is $50.  The entry fee for the Sportsman Modifieds is $25 at Tri-City. 

 

Warm-ups will begin at 6 p.m. on Saturday with a drivers meeting scheduled for 6:30 and racing at 7. Pittsburgh’s PA Motor Speedway is a ½-mile dirt track with a GPS address of 170 Kelso Rd, Imperial PA 15126, which is located just off the Noblestown exit on Routes 22/30.  For more information, check out their website at www.ppms.com or call 412-279-7223.  The track number on race day is 724-695-3363 or 724-695-0393.  As for their social media outlets, you can like their page on Facebook at  www.facebook.com/PittsburghsPennsylvaniaMotorSpeedway or follow them on Twitter @PAMotorSpeedway.

 

On Sunday at Tri-City, gates open at 2 p.m. with a drivers meeting at 3, warm-ups at 3:15 and racing at 4.  Tri-City Raceway Park is a ½-mile dirt track located at 3430 Route 417, Franklin, PA 16323.  For more information, check out their website at www.tricityracewaypark.com or call 814-676-2894 on race day.  Like their Facebook by searching Tri-City Raceway Park and follow them on Twitter @TriCityRaceway.

 

RUSH Late Model marketing partners include Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC, Pace Performance, Hoosier Tire, Bilstein Shocks, Sunoco Race Fuels, Bazell Race Fuels, Insinger Performance, MSD Performance, Maxima Racing Oil, Jones Racing Products, Alternative Power Sources, Precise Racing Products, ARbodies, TBM Brakes, K&N Filters, Lincoln Electric, Beyea Headers, FK Rod Ends, Bobby Lake Motorsports, Velocita-USA, High Gear Speed Shop, CrateInsider.com, B.R.A.K.E.S., RockAuto.com, and Valley Fashions.

 

RUSH Sportsman Modified marketing partners: Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC, Bicknell Racing Products, Pace Performance, Hoosier Tire, Bilstein Shocks, MSD Ignition, Maxima Racing Oil, Jones Racing Products, VP Racing Fuels, FK Rod Ends, Sherwood Racing Wheels, Velocita-USA, Precise Racing Products, Alternative Power Sources, K&N Filters, TBM Brakes, Lincoln Electric, CrateInsider.com, Rocket Racing, and B.R.A.K.E.S.

 

E-mail can be sent to the RUSH Racing Series at [email protected] and snail mail to 4368 Route 422, Pulaski, PA 16143. Office phone is 724-964-9300 and fax is 724-964-0604. The RUSH Racing Series website is www.rushracingseries.com. Like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/rushlatemodels and follow us on Twitter @RUSHLM.
 

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