SWEENEY RUSH SERIES TO CLOSE OUT 2019 SEASON THIS WEEKEND AT LERNERVILLE IN
"STEEL CITY STAMPEDE" WITH LATE MODEL & HOVIS SPORTSMAN MOD TOURS PLUS SPRINT
CAR FINALE; TIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP BATTLE IN LM TOUR & MOD WEEKLY SERIES
By Mike Leone
October 16, 2019 FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
(Sarver, PA)...The
2019 racing season for the Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC RUSH Dirt Late Model and
the Sportsman Modified Touring Series powered by Pace Performance along with the
RUSH Sprint Cars will come to a close this weekend (October 17-19) at
Lernerville Speedway for the "Steel City Stampede". The RUSH Late Models
will compete in a Sweeney Marquee Tour event, while the RUSH Sportsman Modifieds
will battle in a Hovis Auto & Truck Supply Touring Series event, and the RUSH
Sprint Cars in a Bonnell's Rod Shop Weekly Series special. Though not in
competition, the RUSH Pro Stock "Manufacturers Night" presented by MSD
Performance will take place in the registration tent at 2 p.m. on Saturday with
$7,000 in product giveaways.
An open practice will be held Thursday night (October 17) with heat races for
all divisions on Friday night followed by the conclusion of the events on
Saturday. Group qualifying for the RUSH Late Models will be at 7 p.m. on
Friday with racing starting early at 4 on Saturday. The rain date is Sunday.
"This is always a great way to end our season," said RUSH Director Vicki Emig.
"Our Late Model racers are always excited to get the chance to compete at
Lernerville. The car counts have always been strong and the racing at
Lernerville is always some of the best of the season.
Our championship annually comes down to this event. The Sportsman
Modifieds have been given the opportunity to race numerous times over the past
six seasons at Lernerville. It's been a great way to continue to grow this
division, and we expect a large turnout this weekend. Lernerville was a very
important part of getting our RUSH Sprint division off the ground in 2018, and
their races this year at the track have been tremendous. We'll also reward the
Lernerville RUSH Pro Stock racers on Saturday with their Manufacturers Night."
The RUSH Late Models are coming off a very successful record-setting "Bill
Hendren Memorial" event presented by FK Rod Ends in conjunction with Pro
Fabrication as part of the "Pittsburgher 100" at Pittsburgh's PA Motor Speedway
two weeks ago where Kyle Lukon won $5,200. Saturday's event will pay
$2,000 to-win. There will also be a
$200 to-win, $150 to-start non-qualifier.
This year’s “Steel City Stampede” will be the 11th edition of this huge event
that includes most of the region’s racing divisions all showcased in this end of
the season blowout for the region. There has yet to be a repeat winner in
the Crate Late Models; past winners include Josh Holtgraver (2009), Bryan Force
(2010), Butch Lambert (2011), Max Blair (2012), Dennis Lunger, Jr. (2013), Chad
Ruhlman (2014), Jacob Hawkins (2015), John Mollick (2016), John Waters (2017),
and Colton Flinner (2018).
On the heels of three straight Sweeney Tour wins, Kyle Lukon has exploded into
the points lead for the first time in his career.
Lukon is up just three on defending champion, Jeremy Wonderling, who had
to overtake Jason Genco last year in the finale at Lernerville to win the
points. Wonderling has struggled of
late with finishes of 12th or worse in four of the last five races.
Michael Duritsky, Jr. has pretty much secured third in points, but would
love to capture his first career Tour win at a track he runs well at.
Braeden Dillinger, Ryan Frazee, and Logan Zarin are fourth through sixth
in points in their first year on the Tour.
Completing the top 12 points paying positions are Bill Kessler, Jason
Genco, Max Blair, Kyle Murray, Chad Sines, and John Waters.
Meanwhile, the RUSH Sportsman Modifieds will join the "Steel City Stampede" for
the sixth consecutive year. Greg Martin won the inaugural race in 2014,
while Nick Ritchey won his first ever at Lernerville in 2015. Rocky Kugel
topped what was at the time in 2016 was a record field of 29 cars. Steve Slater
won the 2017 event, while last year saw teen Blaze Myers score a popular first
Tour win after coming out of the B main to also win the "Futures Cup"
title. The Sportsman Mods will complete their fifth season of Bicknell Touring
Series competition and will be featured in an $800 to-win event.
By virtue of three wins, Garrett Krummert leads the Tour points by 26 over Jim
Rasey, who is in his first year of RUSH racing.
Krummert can clinch his second straight title by finishing 22nd or better
on Saturday night. The Hovis Weekly
Series Championship is a different story as Krummert, Chas Wolbert, and Rob
Kristyak are in a three-way tie for the lead.
A win by any of the three drivers will earn them the $3,000 title.
If none of the three wins and one finishes second, that driver will earn
the title. If none of the three
finish in the two top, then Krummert wins the tiebreaker.
David Kalb, Jr. has already clinched the "Futures Cup" title.
The RUSH Sportsman Modifieds have only raced once thus far this season at
Lernerville. Back on July 26, Kristyak topped a 28-car field for the Weekly
Series win, and will now look to perform the feat again and take the title.
The RUSH Sprints will wrap up their sophomore season this weekend racing for
$800 to-win, $160 to-start. Chad Ruhlman has already clinched up his second
$5,000 Bonnell's Rod Shop Championship.
Ruhlman has won 10 times in 2019 including one of the two Lernerville
races. Zach Morrow won the other on
August 31 for the "Manufacturers Night" presented by MSD Performance, which had
an all-time high 21 cars in action.
Morrow, who finished third in last year's points, sits second over Brian
Woodhall, who led the points for much of the season.
Jeremy Weaver and Brandon Blackshear are fourth and fifth in points in
their first season of Sprint Car racing.
The annual "Manufacturers Night" presented by MSD Performance for the RUSH Pro
Stocks will take place on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. in the registration
tent. The 14 drivers that competed at least six times in 2019 at Lernerville
will be eligible for the $7,000 in product giveaways.
There will be one prize per driver.
Each driver will also receive a buy one get one free Landrum Spring for
an additional total value of more than $1,000. Due to the Stampede being an
"open" rules event, drivers do not need to be present or compete to be eligible
to win the prizes.
FK Rod Ends "Shock the Clock Qualifying and Beat the Heat" will be utilized on
Friday night for the Late Models meaning the fastest qualifier will receive $100
and all heat race winners will earn $25.
The pole position dash will also be run on Friday night this year.
The Zarin Truck & Auto "$500 Club" drawings will take place on Saturday at the
drivers meeting. The top 15 drivers
in Pittsburgh's PA Motor Speedway and Dog Hollow Speedway track points that
compete will be eligible for the five $100 drawings.
For both the Late Models and Modifieds, 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 for both classes.
RUSH Sportsman Modified Series 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 each night. The selected driver will
receive a certificate for a free Sherwood Racing Wheel.
The Ontime Body & Graphic "Spoiler Alert" will award a
$150 spoiler to the 15th place finisher of the Late Model feature.
The Dirt Defender "Defensive Drive" will go to the driver that best
defended his position throughout the night in both the Late Models and
Modifieds. This award chosen by RUSH Officials will award a $40 Dirt
Defender product package. A Sunoco
5-Gallon Race Jug will go to the winner of each Tour race.
RUSH Late Model Feature Payoff: 1.
$2,000 2. $1,000 3. $650 4. $550 5. $470 6. $435
7. $410 8. $370 9. $340 10. $310 11. $280 12. $270
13. $260 14. $250 15. $240 16. $235 17. $230 18-24.
$225.
RUSH Late Model Non-Qualifier Payoff: 1.
$200 2. $190 3. $185 4. $180 5. $175 6. $170
7. $165 8. $160 9. $155 10-24. $150. Tow $125.
RUSH Sportsman Modified Feature Payoff: 1. $800 2. $500 3. $350 4. $300 5. $250
6. $220 7. $180 8. $175 9. $170 10. $165 11. $160
12. $155 13. $150 14. $145 15. $140 16. $135 17.
$130 18-24. $125. Tow $75.
RUSH Sprint Car Feature Payoff: 1. $800 2. $400 3. $300 4. $250 5. $225 6. $220 7. $210 8.
$200 9. $190 10. $185 11. $180 12. $175 13. $170 14-18. $165 19-24.
$160. Tow $75.
2019 Sweeney RUSH Late Model
Touring Series points (only Tour members receive
points): 1. Kyle Lukon 1146 2. Jeremy Wonderling 1143
3. Michael Duritsky, Jr. 1114 4. Braeden Dillinger 1086 5.
Ryan Frazee 1051 6. Logan Zarin 1010 7. Bill Kessler 972 8.
Jason Genco 787 9. Max Blair 766 10. Kyle Murray 685 11. Chad Sines 632
12. John Waters 595 13. Brian Knowles 579
14. Sam Pennacchio 537 15.
Jared Kane & Jamie Wrightsman 506 17. Darrell Bossard 498
18. J.J. Mazur 472 19. Ross
Robinson 464 20. Scott Gunn 404 21. Logan Roberson 384 22. Matt Latta
342 23. Dale Hollidge 254 24. Jason Knowles 244 25. Trever
Feathers 243 26. Cody Dawson 233 27. John Mollick 226
28. Paul Norman 217 29. Cory Sines 215 30. Dale McDonald, Jr.
210 31. Garret Paugh 192 32. Jon Rivers 171
33. Al Shawver, Jr. 140 34.
Beamer Guzzardi 80.
2019 Sweeney RUSH Sportsman Modified Hovis Touring Series Points (only Tour
members receive points): 1. Garrett Krummert 494
2. Jim Rasey 468 3. Chas
Wolbert 464 4. Rob Kristyak 458
5. Kole Holden 449 6. Kyle
Martell 418 7. Greg Porter & Jacob Jordan 402
9. Tony Tatgenhorst 353 10.
David Kalb, Jr. 239 11. Cameron
Nastasi 239 12. Blaze Myers 179
13. Jacob Wolfe 159 14.
Nathen McDowell 142 15. Will Thomas
III 94 16. Jordan Ehrenberg &
Brandon Ritchey 87 18. Tom Urey 76.
2019 Sweeney RUSH Sprint Car Bonnell's Rod Shop Weekly Series Points (based on best
12 finishes): 1. Chad Ruhlman 1321
2. Zach Morrow 1304 3. Brian
Woodhall 1297 4. Jeremy Weaver 1278
5. Brandon Blackshear 1243 6.
Kevin Ruhlman 1240 7. Andy Feil 1217
8. Shawn Smith 1210 9. Arnie
Kent 1208 10. Brad Blackshear 1207
11. Steve Pedley 1187 12.
Dave Hawkins 1184 13. Matt Sherlock
III 1174 14. Brian Hartzell 1169
15. Tyler Powell 1050 16.
Brian Ruhlman 849 17. John Mollick
763 18. Nolan Groves 756
19. Brandon Hawkins 676 20.
Brad Church 672 21. Scott Hawkins
577 22. Ryan Fraley 484
23. Greg Beach 474 24. Frank
Wilson, Jr. 374 25. Phil Thornton
284 26. Jim Kurpakus 90.
The AMB/MyLaps transponders are required at Lernerville. Driver radios are
always mandatory at the 454.000 channel. The entry fee is $100 for Late
Models and $35 for Sportsman Modifieds. There will be an open practice
from 7-9 p.m. on Thursday night. Registration and tech opens at 2 p.m. on
Friday. Drivers meeting at 6:20 p.m. with group qualifying for the RUSH Late
Models at 7:00 followed by heat races at 7:30. Racing begins early on
Saturday at 4 p.m. Check out the following link for additional "Steel City
Stampede" event details https://nebula.wsimg.com/ea019ef4e043565caba57861b8f4d24b?AccessKeyId=8E2905451B0FC458A421&disposition=0&alloworigin=1.
Lernerville is a 4/10-mile high-banked clay oval located 11 miles southeast of
Butler, Pa. on Route 356 at 313 North Pike Road, Sarver, PA 16055. Lernerville
is just 30 miles northeast of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. For more
information, check out their website at www.lernerville.com or
call 724-353-1511 (office) or 724-353-1350 (track).
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, Zarin
Truck & Automotive, 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 our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/rushlatemodels and
follow us on Twitter @RUSHLM.
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