2 MORE WINS FOR JEREMY WONDERLING IN SWEENEY RUSH LM WEEKLY SERIES ACTION WITH SEVERAL OTHERS WINNING THEIR FIRSTS; HOLDEN WINS 1ST EVER AT SHARON OVER RECORD 25 RUSH SPORTSMAN MODS

By Jim Zufall & Mike Leone

 

June 1, 2016              FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

(Pulaski, PA)The days of dodging raindrops and studying weather radars continued throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic over the last couple of weekends, but through it all there has been some excellent racing in the Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC RUSH Racing Series powered by Pace Performance family of weekly tracks.

 

McKean County Raceway in East Smethport, Pa. kicked off a busy holiday weekend last Thursday.  Wyatt Scott and Garrett Mott were on the front row for the start of the RUSH Late Model event.  In the end it was Jeremy Wonderling taking the checkers.  Max Blair came from his seventh starting spot to finish in the runner up spot.  Wyatt Scott, Andy Michael and Randy Hall completed the top five.  Next up for McKean County is a full race program this Thursday (June 2) for the running of the Art Wheeler Memorial.

 

Back on May 20th at Freedom Motorsports Park, Adam Sixt picked up his first Sweeney RUSH Late Model win of the season.  Sixt was followed by Bill Holmes, Brad Mesler, Joe Chamberlain and JJ Mazur. On May 27, Sixt could only muster a third place behind winner Randy Hall and runner up Andy Michael. Holmes and Jimmy Johnson made up the top five.  This Friday June 3, Freedom will host the "Ron Baker Memorial" in a Sweeney RUSH Touring event.

 

Path Valley Speedway in Spring Run Pennsylvania, is one of the newest RUSH Late Model tracks and hosted its second event last Friday. Coming out on top of the third all-time Weekly Series event under the sanction was Brad McGinnis for the second straight race.  Transton Stoner crossed the line as the runner-up followed by Tim Snare, Steve Lowery and Logan Roberson. The RUSH Late Models return to Path Valley this Sunday in a record high $1,000 to-win payoff in conjunction with the Appalachian Mountain Speedweek for the Super Late Models.

 

Outlaw Speedway in Dundee New York, returned to action last Friday for the RUSH Late Models and it was Jason Knowles besting the field in the 20-lap feature event for his first win of 2016.  Following Knowles to the stripe were John Waters, Adam Depuy, Chris Fleming and Mike Wonderling. The Late Models will be off this Friday to allow its racers to compete in the Tour event at Freedom.

 

Saturday night in Imperial, Pennsylvania it was finally opening night for Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway.  Racing in the RUSH Late Models division may have been the best of the five-division show with Daryl Charlier taking the win in his first race of 2016.  A very strong Kyle Lukon pressured Charlier for the win, but settled for runner up. Steve Beatty, Justin Lamb and Michael Reft rounded out the top five.  A nice field of 19 cars were on hand.  Racing returns to PPMS this Saturday with the running of the hugely popular Ed Laboon Memorial for the Stock Cars, and the RUSH Late Models will also be on the card.

 

It was a huge night of racing on Saturday night at Wayne County Speedway in Orrville, Ohio as NASCAR and sprint car superstar Rico Abreu picked up a win in the All Star Circuit of Champion Sprints. The Sweeney RUSH Late Model Tour were also on the card with Cranberry Township, PA’s Mike Pegher Jr. winning his first of the year. Pegher picked up a heat race win, the dash and the feature win, but it was far from easy as he had to fend off the likes of Dave Lyon, Ryan Markham, and John Waters.  The RUSH Late Models return to weekly action this Saturday at Wayne County Speedway.

 

At New York’s Fulton Speedway on Saturday night, Kevan Cook took an early lead and was only slowed by a caution flag once on lap nine. Racing resumed and when the five to go signal was given by the flagman, Cook had once again built up a substantial lead in the 20-lap event.  Cook held on to win his first of 2016 with Billy Eisele, Jason Parkhurst, Brandon Ford and AJ Kingsley making up the top five. The RUSH Late Models return to the Fulton schedule this Saturday in a race program that includes 360 Sprint Cars.

 

Stateline Speedway squeezed in a full race program between a few sprinkles at the beginning of the night and a lightning show moving in near the end.  In the RUSH Late Model feature, cousins Ryan and Wyatt Scott were strong contenders in the race which was slowed by just a pair of cautions mid-race.  Young Wyatt Scott who had just won his first ever feature race the previous week, prevailed, holding off Andy Boozel, Ryan Scott, Scott Gurdak and Jamie Brown.  The win increased Wyatt's "Futures Cup" point lead.

 

The new RUSH Pro Mod class held their second ever event at Stateline last Saturday and Jason Covey of Clymer, New York joined Justin Carlson as feature winners.  Kelly Frederes was second for the second straight week and took over the early lead in the $3,500 to-win Sweeney Weekly Series points. 

 

Batavia, New York’s Genesee Speedway was one of the few tracks to get in a full show back on May 21. When the checkers flew over the RUSH Late Model field, it was long time racer Beamer Guzzardi in victory lane. Guzzardi held off points leader Doug Ricotta over the final nine lap stretch to win the 20-lap feature.   This past Saturday, it was Jeremy Wonderling beating out his brother Brady for the Sweeney Weekly Series win as only Doug Ricotta has repeated in four events at the new RUSH Weekly Series home.  The win was Jeremy Wonderling's third of the season in Sweeney Weekly Series action at three different speedways.

 

After setting records with 24 cars at the first two Sweeney RUSH Sportsman Modified events at Sharon Speedway this year, the Mods did one better last Saturday with 25 cars on hand.  That set a new region car count record for the third year division!  After defending champion Greg Martin won the "Apple Festival Nationals" make-up, Brandon Ritchey and now Kole Holden have become the newest winners at the speedway with their first career wins.  Holden's puts him atop the $3,000 to-win Bicknell Racing Products Weekly Series points.  After his win at the last event at Sharon on May 7, Ritchey came back for a solid second place finish as he looks much improved over last year's rookie season in the Modifieds for the Mini Stock graduate.  Look for several other drivers to find victory lane in the coming weeks in the ultra-competitive division. 

 

After a successful Sweeney Tour event on Sunday, May 22 won by John Waters for the third straight year, Humberstone returned to action on May 29.  The always tough Dennis Lunger, Jr. wasted little time moving his way to the front of the 20-lap feature event by the fifth circuit taking the top spot away from pole sitter Ken Winfield. Colton Ledingham moved into the runner up position bypassing Winfield as well.  A late race caution for a slowing Winfield’s flat tire bunched up the field.  With two to go Lunger pulled away from the field to capture his first win of the year.  Racing continues this Sunday at Humberstone with a full racing program that includes a visit by the Southern Ontario Sprints.

 

Sunday night the Sweeney RUSH Late Model Touring Series put on its first of two shows at Eriez Speedway near the Pennsylvania Shores of Lake Erie.  Twenty-seven RUSH Late Model teams from four states checked in to the pits. Rob Blair, in a “super-sub” role for his son Max powered his way to the feature win while dominating the entire event. Blair was clearly the one to beat as he set fast time, was a heat race and dash winner. 

 

The dash win put him on the pole for the 30-lap feature event.  The top spot is where he would stay throughout, taking home over $2000 for his efforts. In his normal role of Super Late Model driver, Blair also took the checkers adding to his winnings for the night. "This means a lot to me," said Blair of the RUSH victory.  "I've been down on myself since the beginning of the season.  I haven't raced much and haven't been very good but this is a step in the right direction.” Eriez Speedway returns to action on Sunday night.

 

Bradford Speedway will try again this Sunday to complete their first program of the year featuring the Sweeney RUSH Late Models.  The RUSH Late Models next events at Potomac and Winchester Speedways are June 10 and 11. 

 

Congrats goes out to Sweeney RUSH Pro Stock member, Joey Zambotti, who won his second of the year last Friday at Lernerville Speedway utilizing the $135 spec, sealed RUSH Bilstein Shocks.  Also, RUSH member Steve D'Apolito traveled to Pittsburgh last Saturday and finished second in his GM 604 crate engine.

 

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, FK Rod Ends, Velocita-USA, Classic Ink USA, Rocket Chassis, Bobby Lake Motorsports 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, Sunoco Race Fuels, MSD Ignition, Maxima Racing Oil, Jones Racing Products, FK Rod Ends, Sherwood Racing Wheels, Velocita-USA, Precise Racing Products, Alternative Power Sources, K&N Filters, TBM Brakes, Lincoln Electric, Classic Ink USA., CrateInsider.com, 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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