2ND ANNUAL "BATTLE
OF THE BAY" SPEEDWEEK PRESENTED BY WEHRS MACHINE A HUGE
SUCCESS FOR SWEENEY RUSH LATE MODEL TOUR;
AVG CAR COUNT OF 49 WITH DRIVERS FROM 8 STATES + CANADA; MAX BLAIR WINS 2 &
TAKES TITLE
By Mike Leone
April 26, 2019
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Pulaski, PA)...For
the second consecutive year, the "Battle of the Bay" Speedweek presented
by Wehrs Machine & Racing Parts kicked off the season for the Sweeney
Chevrolet Buick GMC RUSH Dirt Late Model Touring Series powered by Pace
Performance. And once again it was a
rousing success. Three of the four
events were completed with an average car count of 49 as a total of 62 different
drivers competed from eight different states (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia,
Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York, Ohio, and South Carolina) plus Ontario,
Canada. The "Battle of the Bay" is
expected to return in 2020.
A total of 35 drivers participated in all three events at Delaware
International, Georgetown, and Winchester Speedways, which was an increase of
seven from the 28 that participated in all 2018 events.
Unfortunately, rain won round three at Potomac, but seven of the eight
events have now been completed over the two years with no less than 40 cars at
any of the events!
For the second straight year, Max Blair won the opening round at Delaware, which
attracted a "Battle of the Bay" record 53 cars for the inaugural $4,000 to-win
"Raelyn Huffman Memorial" event.
Blair then picked up his first career Georgetown win on Thursday, worth $3,000,
and closed out Speedweek with a runner-up finish to Logan Roberson, who won the
Winchester finale ($3,000) for the second straight year.
Blair copped the $1,000 Speedweek title by 12 over Roberson.
Blair's Speedweek earnings was $9,925 for three nights of work!
Georgetown's car count of 50 was up 10 cars over the 40 in 2018, while
Winchester had 44 cars for the second straight year.
“You’re not going to find a better deal for crate racing than this Battle of the
Bay,” stated Blair of Centerville, Pa.
“Huge props to Mike (Leone) and Vicki (Emig) along with all of the race
tracks. This is a really, really
good deal for crate guys. It’s the
best stretch deal going in the country for us.
This is a really stout field of race cars.
To win both nights in Delaware is pretty awesome."
"We couldn't be more pleased with how the Battle of the Bay has went in its
first two years of existence," expressed RUSH Director Vicki Emig.
"The first year was a success and we were able to built upon that for
year two. First we have to thank the
Huffman Family and all of the contributors that allowed Raelyn's event to turn
into what it was for the inaugural event as over $6,000 was added to that purse.
Then the promoters of Georgetown, Potomac, and Winchester stepped up to
increase their events to the $3,000 to-win purses, which all told saw an
additional increase of $17,000 posted for the events.
The racers responded in big numbers.
The Battle of the Bay has become a great opportunity of fellowship for
racers from Canada down to the Mid-Atlantic."
Special recognition goes out to Charlie Sandercock and Sam Pennacchio, who made
the nine-hour tow from north of the border in Canada.
It was the second straight year Sandercock made the trip, while
Pennacchio, of Niagara Falls, made his first venture to the Mid-Atlantic.
Even though Pennacchio failed to qualify for any of the three features,
he finished third in the Non-Qualifier at Georgetown behind Sandercock, then
went out and dominated the $200 Non-Qualifier at Winchester to close out
Speedweek.
Another driver that made an approximate nine-hour tow was Dillon Brown.
The Gaffney, South Carolina southern Crate Late Model standout made his
first ever RUSH start at Delaware and finished fifth.
After setting top honors in $100 FK Rod Ends "Shock the Clock" Qualifying
at Georgetown, Brown would come home in fourth place.
After the rain out at Potomac, Brown decided to head on home to celebrate
Easter with his family. Brown reflected
on his first RUSH experience, "They welcomed me with open arms, we really
enjoyed their hospitality."
Jamie Wrightsman took most of 2018 off to recover from some medical issues.
Wrightsman made his first trip to the "Battle of the Bay" this year,
which included a more than seven-hour tow from his home in Cortland, Ohio to
Delaware International Speedway.
Wrightsman would suffer a heartbreaker as he blew his engine in warm-ups.
And even though that would end his night, it wouldn't end his Speedweek
as he and his father traveled three hours back to Hagerstown, Maryland where
they had a new Chevrolet Performance 604 engine delivered from Ohio.
Jamie and his father had the new engine in and made it to Georgetown just
in time to draw a pill as they would compete in the rest of the Speedweek
events.
Georgetown, Delaware racer, Joe Warren, debuted a new car, and though he just
missed qualifying for the feature both nights at Delaware International and
Georgetown Speedways, he was able to score the $200 Non-Qualifier win both
nights. Warren is one of the top
weekly racers at DIS.
Defending Sweeney Tour Champion, Jeremy Wonderling, again had a consistent
"Battle of the Bay". The Wellsville,
NY driver has now finished in the top 12 of all seven events over the two years
including podium finishes both years in the Winchester finale.
Wonderling will make another run at the title as will Jason Genco, who
returns for a second year on the Tour.
Genco came up six points shy of Wonderling in the 2018 Tour standings,
and ironically finished one spot behind Wonderling in fifth in the "Battle of
the Bay" standings.
Two drivers vying for the "Futures Cup" title that are planning on also running
the Sweeney Tour full-time that made the tow to the "Battle of the Bay" for the
first time were Kyle Murray and Logan Zarin.
Both drivers qualified for one of the feature events.
Zarin, who got upside down on Thursday at Georgetown and made repairs for
Saturday, is the 2018 "Western Pennsylvania Rookie-of-the-Year".
Logan's father Jim said, "All
us parked together and helped each other all week long.
It was the best fun I had racing in a long time.
Thanks Vicki
Emig- great series you
got there!"
In addition to the $3,000 Speedweek points fund, RUSH also awarded a $150 travel
package for the second straight year to any driver in the top 12 in 2018 Sweeney
Touring Series points that competed in at least two of the events including the
first. Earning those monies were
Wonderling, Genco, J.J. Mazur, Bill Kessler, Darrell Bossard, and Chad Sines.
Thanks to PJ1 Motorsports for presenting the "$500 Club" drawings at Delaware
and Georgetown, while ARC Racing and Round Hill Auto Service presented the
program at Winchester where five home track drivers won $100 in random drawings
each night. J&L Electric and Three
Mules Welding were set to present the "$500 Club" at Potomac, but was rained
out.
The Sweeney Tour will resume with two $2,000 to-win, $225 to-start events on May
18-19. Saturday will be the "Bill
Law Memorial" at Stateline Speedway, while Eriez Speedway will close out action
on Sunday night with new track owner Dave Alexander.
FINAL 2019 "Battle of the Bay" Speedweek
presented by Wehrs Machine & Racing Parts Points (drivers had to be a RUSH
member to receive points & be eligible for points fund): 1. MAX BLAIR 298
($1000) 2. Logan Roberson 286 ($500)
3. Ross Robinson 270 ($350)
4. Jeremy Wonderling 268 ($225) 5.
Jason Genco 261 ($200) 6. Kyle Lukon
260 ($180) 7. Matt Hill 257 ($150)
8. Dale Hollidge & Darrell Bossard 254 ($135 each)
10. Nick Davis 252 ($125) 11.
Michael Duritsky, Jr. 249 12. Amanda
Whaley 248 13. Trevor Feathers 243
14. Charlie Sandercock 237
15. Braeden Dillinger 235 16. Cody
Dawson & Bill Kessler 233 18. J.J.
Mazur 230 19. Jakob Piper 229
20. Derek Magee 228
21. Chuck Bowie & Scott Gunn 226
23. Jonathan Raley & Kyle Murray 218
25. Levi Crowl 217 26. Logan
Zarin 215 27. Sam Pennacchio, Jamie
Wrightsman, Chad Sines, Andy Michael, Timmy Booth, Jeremy Pilkerton, Ryan Frazee
210 34. Sparky White 147
35. Tyler Reed 145 36. Trevor
Collins 144 37. Darren Alvey 141
38. Brad Rigdon, Joe Warren & Jason Dean 140
41. Matt Latta 90 42. Devin
Brannon 75 43. Steve Lowery 72
44. Brandon Sturgis & Al Shawver, Jr. 70
46. Dillon Brown, Jennae Piper, Matt Glanden, Billy Thompson, Matt Quade,
Kerry King, Ben Scott, Mike Wharton, Zac Weller, Joe Pete, Charles Shawver,
Kevin Scott, Jr., Billy Beachler, Tyler Bare, Dana Walker, Scott Sweeney, Jr.,
and Bryan Benton 0.
RUSH
Racing Series is brought to you by Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC & Pace
Performance along with the support of Hoosier Tire, Bilstein Shocks, Sunoco Race
Fuels, Bazell Race Fuels, Insinger Performance, MSD Performance, Holley
Performance Products, Hovis Auto & Truck Supply, FK Rod Ends, Wehrs Machine &
Racing Products, Schoenfeld Headers, Jones Racing Products, TBM Brakes,
Performance Bodies & Parts, Racing Electronics, Dirt Defender, Wrisco
Industries, Frankland Racing Supply, Landrum Performance Spring, Ontime Body &
Graphic, Trailer-Alarms.com, Bonnell's Rod Shop, Sherwood Wheels, Alternative
Power Sources, Precise Racing Products, Lincoln Electric, Velocita-USA, Classic
Ink USA, CrateInsider.com, and Valley Fashions.
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 the Late Model Facebook page at www.facebook.com/rushlatemodels and follow
us on Twitter @RUSHLM.
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