HOVIS RUSH LATE MODELS SET FOR WEEKEND DOUBLEHEADER OF $3000 TO-WIN FLYNN'S TIRE TOUR EVENTS AT STATELINE SATURDAY FOR "BILL LAW MEMORIAL" & ERIEZ ON SUNDAY
By Mike Leone
May 10, 2022 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Pulaski, PA)...Nearly one month since completing the "Battle of the Bay" Speedweek presented by 3C Graphix, the Hovis Auto & Truck Supply RUSH Late Model Series presented by Born2Run Lubricants will return to action this weekend for a Flynn's Tire Touring Series doubleheader. Race #4 of the richest season in Series history will be at Stateline Speedway in Busti, NY on Saturday night (May 14) with warmups at 6:45 p.m. followed by race #5 50 miles west on Sunday night (May 15) at Eriez Speedway in Erie, Pa. with warmups at 6:15 p.m. Both races this year will pay $3,000 to-win!
This weekend will kick-off the new "FANtastic Fan Experience" presented by Sunoco Go Rewards, which will include ramped up interaction between fans and drivers, music, quality giveaways, youth driven promotions, andmore. In addition, DrumPreserve will present Marty Czekala's "In the Spotlight".
The "Bill Law Memorial" returns to Stateline for the fifth time on Saturday night. In 2011, Law was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer and passed away in July 2012. Law's involvement in racing began in the late 1970s as he loved having muscle cars and going to the drag strip in his high school days. Even though he never actually raced, he stood behind racing 100%. In the early 1980s, Law and Leon Szweda put an asphalt car together and raced at New York's Holland Speedway.
Law's taste for racing moved to the dirt tracks in the mid 1980s as he helped Tom Taber for several years. He met a lot of great people that he became very good friends with; one was Bob "The Bird" Baldwin. The Law Family traveled with him and his family racing from Pennsylvania to West Virginia to Maryland.
As Bill's son Jon was getting older, they got involved in Go-Kart racing as the family would travel all over New York and Pennsylvania. Bill was still involved in auto racing as they would race Go-Karts during the day and sell parts and fuel at night at the races. As Jon got older, Bill bought him an IMCA Modified. A few seasons later, Jon and Bill bought a Limited Late Model. That lasted a couple years until Jon was starting his own family and got away from the racing scene.
Law was the first person to have a Crate Late Model in the region when the class debuted in 2007 in the Northeast. Law had several drivers over the years behind the wheel of his #14 including Baldwin, Ward Schell, Rich Gardner, Jon Law, Curt VanPelt, David Scott, and Kyle Scott. Bill's grandson, Kyle Murray, had an abrupt end to his fifth year of RUSH Late Model competition last year with a nasty flip at Winchester Speedway. Murray, who owns five career wins in RUSH Weekly Series action, has been working to get a new car together, but unfortunately will not be ready to race on Saturday night.
With the Scott Family owning Stateline, it's fitting the "Bill Law Memorial" takes place at their track as Jean and Jim Scott's son David and grandson Kyle drove for Law. The 2017 event was the first ever Tour event at the Busti, NY oval in the 10-year history of Crate Late Models in the Northeast as a big crowd watched a thriller as Jeremy Wonderling held off standout and track dominator Max Blair for the victory. The 2018 event was just as good as Damian Bidwell made a late race pass of Scott Gurdak for his first Tour win in more than three years. In 2019, Wonderling again held off Blair after withstanding a mid-race rain delay. The COVID-19 pandemic cancelled the 2020 event. Last year, Wonderling was victorious for the third time in four tries topping a Stateline record 43-car field!
Meanwhile, there have been nine RUSH Tour events completed all-time at Eriez. Max Blair has six victories, while his father Rob has one in a substitution role for Max. Last year, Kyle Hardy swept both events winning over a 38-car field in May then topping a 46-car field at "Manufacturers Night" in August.
Saturday will be Stateline's 2022 opener after saturated grounds forced them to cancel on May 7; meanwhile, Eriez got their season underway on Sunday night with last year's RUSH "Track Pack" Champion, Jason Genco, victorious.
"This is a nice weekend for our northern RUSH Late Model teams to be able compete in two $3,000 to-win Tour events and also for our traveling teams as the two tracks are just 50 miles apart," stated RUSH Director Vicki Emig. "We have to thank the Scott Family for their continued support of RUSH and the Alexander Family for continuing Sunday night RUSH racing that the Rohrers had done so successfully over the years. We're thankful that the Law Family has allowed us the opportunity to continue be able to have the 'Bill Law Memorial' as a Tour event, and we look forward to honoring Bill on Saturday night."
Logan Roberson got off to a fast start in 2022 Flynn's Tire Tour competition winning the last two events at Potomac and Winchester Speedways after a runner-up on opening night at Delaware. Brady Wonderling is back on the RUSH Tour after a three-year hiatus and ended the "Battle of the Bay" strong with back-to-back third place finishes. After winning three straight championships, Brady's brother Jeremy will now look to get back on track after getting dethroned by Hardy in 2021. Joe Martin is coming off a runner-up point finish in 2021 and finished runner-up in the last show at Winchester as he has his sights set on the $15,000 Flynn's Tour Championship. Michael Duritsky, Jr. has three Hovis Weekly Series wins in 2022 and finished the "Battle of the Bay" with a sixth and a fifth, but is still in search of his first career Tour victory.
Each night will include $100 "Shock the Clock" Qualifying and $25 to-win heat races presented by FK Rod Ends. The Sunoco Dash will set the beginning rows of the 30-lap feature lineups and will award the winner a $100 Sunoco fuel gift card. The "Fill'er up with Sunoco Bucks" program will include an additional $400 of Sunoco fuel card giveaways each night; two $100 random draws for drivers in the top 15 of Tour points and another four $50 random draws for all other competitors.
Precise Racing Products will award a $50 gift card for the "Pedal Down" Hard Charger that passes the most cars in the feature each night. The TBM Brakes “Tough Brake of the Night” will award three bottles of Xtreme6 Racing Brake Fluid each night. The feature winner each night will receive a 5-Gallon Race Jug from Precise. Ontime Body & Graphic's "Spoiler Alert" will award a spoiler kit to the fourth place finisher on the first night and the fifth place finisher on the second night (note: if a driver has already won a spoiler this season, spoiler will be awarded to the next position). Performance Bodies will award a $100 gift card to the first non-qualifier each night part of the "Nosed Out" program.
Feature Payoff Each Night: 1. $3,000 2. $1,500 3. $800 4. $650 5. $600 6. $500 7. $475 8. $450 9. $425 10. $400 11. $325 12. $300 13. $275 14. $270 15. $265 16. $260 17. $255 18-24. $250.
Non-Qualifier Payoff Each Night: 1. $200 2. $190 3. $185 4. $180 5. $175 6. $170 7. $165 8. $160 9. $155 10-24. $150. Tow $125
For Saturday at Stateline, pit gates open at 4 p.m. (access prior). Drivers meeting will be at 6:15 p.m. with RUSH warm-ups at 6:45. Pit passes are $35. There is a $100 entry fee. Driver radio channel is different at Stateline as 469.500 is used.
For Sunday at Eriez, pit gates open at 3:30 p.m. (access prior). Drivers meeting will be at 5:45 p.m. with RUSH warm-ups at 6:15. There is a $100 entry fee. Driver radio channel is 454.000.
Both events will also count towards the RUSH National Weekly Series Championships and "Futures Cup" for those eligible racers. In addition, points will also be awarded for the "Track Pack" that features a $2,500 per track point fund for the top six racers in RUSH member points at year's end with $1,000 going to the champion.
The 2022 Touring Series is being presented by Flynn's Tire. Drivers are competing for the richest Chevrolet Performance Crate Engine Touring Series championship with more than $51,000 on the line. Points will be accumulated at each Marquee Event. Member drivers can use Platinum Event(s) to replace worst Marquee finishes and/or up to two for missed Marquee Events. Memberships forms are available at https://rushlatemodels.com/memberships.html.
Stateline Speedway is located nine miles southwest of Jamestown, NY, south of Busti, NY at 4150 Kortwright Rd., Jamestown, NY 14701. For more information, check out their website at www.newstatelinespeedway.com. Like their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/newstatelinespeedwaybustiny.
Eriez Speedway is a 3/8-mile track located outside of Erie, Pa. in Hammett at 9821 Sampson Rd., Erie, PA 16509. For more information, like their page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/eriezspeedway.
The RUSH Racing Series is brought to you by Hovis Auto & Truck Supply together with Born2Run Lubricants along with the support of Hoosier Tire, Bilstein Shocks, Sunoco Race Fuels, Bazell Race Fuels, Insinger Performance, MSD Performance, Holley Performance Products, FK Rod Ends, Schoenfeld Headers, Jones Racing Products, TBM Brakes, Performance Bodies & Parts, Racing Electronics, Wrisco Industries, Frankland Racing Supply, Landrum Performance Spring, Ontime Body & Graphic, Sherwood Wheels, Alternative Power Sources, Precise Racing Products, Lincoln Electric, Velocita-USA, Waterstone Mortgage Hermitage, Wedge Motorsports, 3C Graphix, D&V Jewelers, DrumPreserve, CrateInsider.com, Terry Bowser Excavating, and Stop-Fyre.
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. The RUSH Late Model website is www.rushlatemodels.com. Like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/rushlatemodels and follow us on Twitter @RUSHLM.
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