(Imperial, PA)...The
Pace Performance RUSH Racing Series together with Sweeney Chevrolet
Buick GMC took part in a doubleheader of action on Saturday night at
Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway. The Flynn’s Tire/Born2Run
Lubricants RUSH Late Model Touring Series made their first of four
visits during the 2021 season in their ninth event of the season, which
saw Jeremy Wonderling win the "Herb Scott Memorial". Meanwhile, the RUSH
Sportsman Modifieds competed in their third Hovis Auto & Truck
Supply Weekly Series event of 2021 at PPMS with Justin Shea victorious.
Jeremy Wonderling grew up
racing on the bullrings in his home state of New York. In 2017,
Wonderling expanded his horizons hitting the road full-time with the
RUSH Late Model Touring Series competing on tracks he had never seen
before. That experience propelled him to his first championship in 2018,
which set off a run of three straight titles. Through it all, one track
Wonderling had never conquered was Pittsburgh. Wonderling has had
numerous top five finishes at the "Monster Half-Mile" and two years ago
was leading the "Herb Scott Memorial" before his engine expired. On
Saturday night, Wonderling inherited the lead on lap six after
mechanical woes ended Michael Norris' night and then kept Kyle Hardy at
bay for the $2,000 victory- his third of the season in the Flynn's
Tire/Born2Run Lubricants Touring Series.
"This means a ton," expressed
the 41-year-old Wellsville, New York winner. "This is one of the biggest
tracks that's been on my bucket list to win at besides
Lernerville. I've been so close here. One night I was leading by a
straightaway and the motor blows. I was trying to hit my marks, but some
of the lapped cars screwed me up a bit. You're racing against Hardy and
the track regulars are really, really good here so it's tough to come
down here a few times a year and beat them."
Following his Sunoco Dash
victory, Norris raced out to the early lead with Kyle Lukon in
tow. Wonderling started fourth and passed Garret Paugh on the opening
lap for third. Wonderling made a crucial pass of Lukon to take second on
lap three driving under the track standout in turn two. Wonderling now
faced a 1.3-second deficit behind leader Norris. Hardy meanwhile started
fifth and passed Daryl Charlier for fourth on lap four then took third
from Lukon one lap later.
Norris, who won last year's
"Jook George Steel City Classic" for more than $7,200, was looking for
another RUSH Tour victory at PPMS; however, his car lost power to bring
out the caution with five laps scored. Norris was chosen as the TBM
Brakes "Tough Brake of the Night" recipient. Wonderling inherited the
lead with Hardy second. Joe Martin started ninth and charged
forward. After cracking the top five on lap six, Martin continued to
move forward. It appeared Martin had the fastest car as he passed Hardy
for second in search of his first Tour win since his only one back on
August 30, 2014.
Four accidents slowed action
between laps 9-13 before the final 17 went green-to-checkered. Martin
lost second back to Hardy on lap 12 and eventually faded to fifth on lap
15. Martin was able to pass back Charlier and then Paugh on lap
27. Back up front, Hardy was unable to mount a serious challenge on
Wondering, who took the checkered flag first by a comfortable margin of
2.616 seconds in his Terry Prince Contracting/Close Racing
Supply/Performance Bodies/The Store/Winters Performance/Beyea
Headers/Swift Springs/Penske Shocks/Hoosier Tire-sponsored
#3J. Wonderling's 10th career Tour victory moved him into sole
possession of second place on the all-time win list.
Following his fifth Tour win
of the season on Friday night at Dog Hollow Speedway, Hardy earned
$1,000 for his runner-up finish as he remains in control of the $12,000
to-win Tour championship. "He's (Wonderling) been good all year wherever
he goes," acknowledged the Linden, Virginia racer. "He's tough. We're
glad to have guys like him and Joe (Martin) to race with. It wouldn't be
fun without guys like them. I had a trouble on the restarts as it was
missing or stumbling. We're going to have to figure that out, but that's
not why we lost. Jeremy and his guys prepared a good car. We'll just
move on to the next one. It was good to finish the weekend out with a
second."
Martin's third place finish
matched his season's best effort and has now finished in the top five
six of the last seven races after opening the season with a pair of 11th
place finishes. "Starting ninth I wasn't expecting much and said I'd be
happy with a top five. We buried ourselves down on the bottom as that's
where you needed to be when they watered the track and held it wide
open. We freed up enough that were able to do that, and a bunch of guys
made mistakes. Mikey (Norris) probably would have kicked all of our
butts but he broke so that moved us up. We'll take it, we're happy."
Zach Gunn turned in a terrific
performance coming home fourth after starting eighth. It was easily a
career best Tour run in five years of trying for the 21-year-old
McDonald, Pa. racer, whose prior best finish was 19th at Pittsburgh on
October 2, 2020. After challenging Hardy for second on lap 17, Paugh
faded to fifth at the finish in his first Tour start of the season.
Lukon and Charlier dropped to
sixth and seventh respectively. Ben Policz was eighth in his first Tour
start of 2021. Cole Petrelle went 13th to ninth and received a $150
spoiler kit from Ontime Body & Graphic. After a season best ninth
place in the $10,000 to-win "Bill Emig Memorial" at Lernerville Speedway
last Saturday night, Cory Sines rounded out the top 10 after starting
21st and earned the $100 Precise Racing Products "Pedal Down" Hard
Charger gift card.
For the second straight night,
a new track record was established in FK Rod Ends "Shock the Clock"
Qualifying. Daryl Charlier shattered the previous standard of 18.829
with a lap of 18.652 to earn $100. Picking up $25 FK Rod Ends Heat Race
victories were Charlier, Norris, and Paugh. Late Model rookie Zach
Morrow, who was competing in his third straight Tour race, won the last
chance B main. Norris won his first Sunoco Dash of the season to not
only earn the pole position for the feature, but also a $100 Sunoco gift
card.
In his first career Tour
start, Philip Bubeck missed out on transfering to the feature by one
spot and earned a $100 Performance Bodies gift card for the "Nosed Out"
contingency. Chris Lander was the lucky recipient of a $100 Sunoco gift
card for the "Fill'er up with Sunoco Bucks" presented by Sunoco and
Zarin Truck & Auto.
The Flynn’s Tire/Born2Run
Lubricants Touring Series will return to action on Saturday, July 17 at
Sharon Speedway for the inaugural "Bill Forney Memorial", which will pay
a minimum of $3,199 to-win. It'll also be the Canfield/Sharon Speedways
Driver Reunion (1949-1973). This will be the first Tour race at Sharon
since September 16, 2016 when Will Thomas III was victorious.
Justin Shea came out unscathed
following an opening lap 360-spin after contact from Preston Cope that
perpetuated a multi-car accident then passed Tony Tatgenhorst on lap 11
to win the Pace Performance RUSH Sportsman Modified feature. It was
Shea's second win in three starts this year at Pittsburgh in Hovis Auto
& Truck Supply Weekly Series action as he continues to lead the
$3,500 to-win championship.
"That was a bit of a wild ride
but we made the best of it and kept going," explained the 39-year-old
Sharpsville, Pa. driver. "I was facing the other way and hoping no one
was coming at me especially at this place when you carry so much speed-
it can hurt. That was unfortunate to see that happen and everyone
involved. I could walk up on Tony, but couldn't quite get by him and had
to wait on him to slip up. You have to have the momentum and have it
happen at the right time. We found it coming out of turn four and was
able to get next to him. We found something with this car that it really
seems to like and keep getting better and better with it. It's been a
good piece so far."
Tatgenhorst was in control of
the 15-lap event from the start, while Shea passed Ayden Cipriano for
second on lap two. Shea ran down Tatgenhorst and caught the lead on lap
nine. After several bids, Shea got underneath Tatgenhorst racing off
turn four on lap 10. It was a drag race down the frontstretch with Shea
getting to the bottom of turn one and making the pass stick on lap 11.
Shea then pulled away to win by 1.843 seconds in his Shea Trucking/JJA
Logistics-sponsored #14s. The victory was Shea's third of his career at
Pittsburgh and sixth overall.
Tatgenhorst's bid for his
first win of the year came up short with a runner-up finish. Cipriano's
third was his first top five of the season. Ben Easler crossed the
finish in fourth, but was disqualified in post-race tech for a rev box
infraction moving Dave Price up a career best RUSH Sportsman Mod finish
of fourth. Cope was fifth as J.C. Boyer, Chas Wolbert, Chelsie
Kriegisch, Jordan Ehrenberg, and Kole Holden completed the top
10. Kriegisch and Shea won the heat races.
The Pace Performance RUSH
Sportsman Modifieds will return to Pittsburgh once again this Saturday
night (July 10), but not before a Wedge Motorsports "Route 7 Rumble"
Series event on Friday night (July 9) at Raceway 7 in Conneaut,
Ohio. The Hovis Touring Series will be in action on Thursday, July 15 at
Expo Speedway in Cortland, Ohio for an $800 to-win event part of the
Trumbull County Fair.
Pace Performance RUSH Late Model Flynn’s Tire/Born2Run Lubricants Touring Series “Herb Scott Memorial” Race #9 (30
laps, $2,000 to-win): 1. JEREMY WONDERLING (3J) 2. Kyle Hardy (99) 3.
Joe Martin (Snyder 10s) 4. Zach Gunn (17G) 5. Garret Paugh (03) 6. Kyle
Lukon (184) 7. Daryl Charlier (Spochacz 114) 8. Ben Policz (14B) 9. Cole
Petrelle (84) 10. Cory Sines (25S) 11. John Waters (Bentz 60) 12.
Michael Duritsky, Jr. (90J) 13. Ryan Frazee (11F) 14. Noah Brunell
(31) 15. Joe Long (71) 16. Jacob Gunn (14G) 17. Zach Morrow (Flinner
48) 18. Michael Reft (9R) 19. Zach Kane (10) 20. Travis Justice (23) 21.
John Boring (58B) 22. Dave Goble (20G) 23. Joe Squatriglia (15X) 24.
Michael Norris (51) 25. J.J. Mazur (13). (Note: J.J. Mazur took a Tour provisional).
DNQ for the feature: Philip Bubeck (2), Zach Crawford (c4), Kassidy Kamicker (72B), Bud Watson (225), Chris Lander (18).
Car Count: 30
Feature Margin of Victory: 2.616 seconds
Feature Lap Leaders: Michael Norris (1-5), Jeremy Wonderling (6-30)
Ontime Body & Graphic “Spoiler Alert” Spoiler Kit: Cole Petrelle
Performance Bodies "Nosed Out": Philip Bubeck
Precise Racing Products “Pedal Down” Hard Charger: Cory Sines (+11)
Precise Racing Products 5-Gallon Race Jug: Jeremy Wonderling
Sunoco and Zarin Truck & Auto $100 Sunoco Fuel Cards: Chris Lander & Michael Norris
TBM Brakes “Tough Brake of the Night”: Michael Norris
FK Rod Ends “Shock the Clock” Qualifying ($100
for fast time) (Track record 18.829 by Joe Martin 6/5/21): 1. 114-Daryl
Charlier, 00:18.652[20] (NTR); 2. 51N-Michael Norris, 00:18.861[23]; 3.
03-Garret Paugh, 00:19.053[18]; 4. 14B-Ben Policz, 00:19.094[8]; 5.
184-Kyle Lukon, 00:19.172[7]; 6. 10S-Joe Martin, 00:19.194[19]; 7.
14G-Jake Gunn, 00:19.196[26]; 8. 20G-Dave Goble, 00:19.214[5]; 9.
48F-Zach Morrow, 00:19.216[2]; 10. 3J-Jeremy Wonderling, 00:19.246[11];
11. 31-Noah Brunell, 00:19.258[25]; 12. 99-Kyle Hardy, 00:19.306[24];
13. 84P-Cole Petrelle, 00:19.330[12]; 14. 17G-Zach Gunn, 00:19.404[22];
15. 90J-Michael Duritsky Jr, 00:19.438[14]; 16. 10-Zachary Kane,
00:19.497[10]; 17. 11F-Ryan Frazee, 00:19.511[15]; 18. 71-Joe Long,
00:19.567[4]; 19. 9R-Mike Reft, 00:19.588[17]; 20. 58B-John Boring,
00:19.642[6]; 21. 60-John Waters, 00:19.675[3]; 22. 15X-Joe Squatriglia,
00:19.694[13]; 23. 225-Bud Watson, 00:19.723[9]; 24. 72B-Kassidy
Kamicker, 00:19.856[1]; 25. 2P-Philip Bubeck, 00:19.877[29]; 26.
23J-Travis Justice, 00:19.961[16]; 27. 25S-Cory Sines, 00:20.201[30];
28. C4-Zach Crawford, 00:20.605[28]; 29. 13-JJ Mazur, 00:20.755[27]; 30.
18L-Chris Lander, 00:25.828[21].
FK Rod Ends Heat 1 (8
laps, $25 to-win, Top 6 transfer to the A): 1. 114-Daryl Charlier[1];
2. 3J-Jeremy Wonderling[4]; 3. 14G-Jake Gunn[3]; 4. 14B-Ben Policz[2];
5. 84P-Cole Petrelle[5]; 6. 9R-Mike Reft[7]; 7. 2P-Philip Bubeck[9]; 8.
10-Zachary Kane[6]; 9. 15X-Joe Squatriglia[8]; 10. C4-Zach Crawford[10].
FK Rod Ends Heat 2 (8
laps, $25 to-win, Top 6 transfer to the A): 1. 51N-Michael Norris[1];
2. 184-Kyle Lukon[2]; 3. 17G-Zach Gunn[5]; 4. 11F-Ryan Frazee[6]; 5.
31-Noah Brunell[4]; 6. 20G-Dave Goble[3]; 7. 58B-John Boring[7]; 8.
23J-Travis Justice[9]; 9. 13-JJ Mazur[10]; 10. (DNS) 225-Bud Watson.
FK Rod Ends Heat 3 (8 laps, $25 to-win, Top 6 transfer to the A): 1.
03-Garret Paugh[1]; 2. 99-Kyle Hardy[4]; 3. 10S-Joe Martin[2]; 4.
90J-Michael Duritsky Jr[5]; 5. 60-John Waters[7]; 6. 71-Joe Long[6]; 7.
48F-Zach Morrow[3]; 8. 25S-Cory Sines[9]; 9. 72B-Kassidy Kamicker[8];
10. 18L-Chris Lander[10].
Last Chance B Main (10
laps, Top 6 transfer to the A): 1. 48F-Zach Morrow[3]; 2. 10-Zachary
Kane[4]; 3. 25S-Cory Sines[6]; 4. 58B-John Boring[2]; 5. 23J-Travis
Justice[5]; 6. 15X-Joe Squatriglia[7]; 7. 2P-Philip Bubeck[1]; 8.
C4-Zach Crawford[10]; 9. 13-JJ Mazur[8]; 10. 72B-Kassidy Kamicker[9];
11. (DNS) 225-Bud Watson; 12. (DNS) 18L-Chris Lander.
Sunoco Dash (6
Laps, $100 Sunoco gift card): 1. 51N-Michael Norris[2]; 2. 184-Kyle
Lukon[4]; 3. 03-Garret Paugh[1]; 4. 3J-Jeremy Wonderling[6]; 5. 99-Kyle
Hardy[3]; 6. 114-Daryl Charlier[5].
Pace Performance RUSH Sportsman Modifieds Hovis Auto & Truck Supply Weekly Series Event #10 (15
laps): 1. JUSTIN SHEA (14s) 2. Tony Tatgenhorst (63T) 3. Ayden Cipriano
(5c) 4. Dave Price (111) 5. Preston Cope (24) 6. J.C. Boyer (12) 7.
Chas Wolbert (c3) 8. Chelsie Kriegisch (10) 9. Jordan Ehrenberg
(JD57) 10. Kole Holden (2) 11. Jacob Jordan (28J) 12. Ben Easler
(02)-DSQ (rev box infraction).
RUSH Racing Series is brought
to you by Pace Performance together with Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC
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, Born2Run
Lubricants, Flynn's Tire & Auto Service, FK Rod Ends, 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,
Zarin Truck & Automotive, Sherwood Wheels, Alternative Power
Sources, Precise Racing Products, Stop-Fyre, Lincoln Electric,
Velocita-USA, Waterstone Mortgage Hermitage, CrateInsider.com, and Wedge
Motorsports.
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