Sweeney RUSH LM & Mod Tour Sharon & Tri-City Sept 11-13 preview

SWEENEY RUSH SERIES DOUBLEHEADER AT SHARON FRI & SAT WITH "GARY KNOLLINGER" MEMORIAL FOR LM TOUR PLUS BICKNELL RUSH MOD TOUR; TRI-CITY TO HOST 1ST RUSH MOD RACE SUN FOR BICKNELL TOUR
By Mike Leone

September 9, 2015 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Pulaski, PA)...The Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC RUSH Racing Series is primed for a huge weekend of racing. On Friday and Saturday (September 11-12), Sharon Speedway will hold a RUSH doubleheader with the "Gary Knollinger Memorial" for the Bazell/Sunoco Race Fuels Southern Late Model Tour along with the Sportsman Mods in a Bicknell Tour event. Tri-City Raceway Park will then conclude the weekend on Sunday afternoon (September 13) with their first ever RUSH Sportsman Mod race also in a Bicknell Tour event.

Sharon will host the prestigious fifth annual “Gary Knollinger Memorial” with $2,000 on the line as part of the “Apple Festival Nationals”. The winner will also get the coveted "Gary Knollinger Memorial" statue trophy. Friday will include $100 Bobby Lake Motorsports "Shock the Clock Qualifying" along with $25 to-win Bobby Lake Motorsports heat races and the K&N Dash. Saturday will be the last chance B mains, 30-lap feature, and non-qualifier event, if necessary.

“It’s an honor to again be able to hold a memorial for Gary,” expressed RUSH Co-Director Vicki Emig. “Gary was a standout Crate Late Model racer from Triadelphia, West Virginia. We, and many of the racers, became very close to Gary and his family when he was a fierce competitor before his tragic passing on Christmas 2010. One of those racers was Joel Prosser, who will again me making the trip up from West Virginia to compete. Sharon was Gary’s favorite track as he had a lot of success there, and has been the site of the memorial the last four years with Max Blair, Joe Martin, and Ryan Montgomery, and Russell King capturing the meaningful events.”

Max Blair enters Sharon still in control of the $10,000 pot of gold for the sweep of the Bazell/Sunoco Southern Tour, the Insinger/Sunoco Northern Tour, and the Sweeney Combined Touring Series titles. The Centerville, Pa. driver has yet to finish worse than sixth in any of the point events to date with eight victories including the last three! Blair leads Eric Wilson, who is coming off a career best runner-up finish Sunday at Wayne County Speedway, by 72 points in the Southern Tour and Jason Knowles by 144 in the Combined Tour points.

Sharon has hosted just two Sweeney Weekly Series events this year as three events were rained out. Former track champions, Dennis Lunger, Jr. and Will Thomas III were victorious. Thomas noteworthy won three E-Mod races at Sharon in 2015 as well in route to the track championship in his first season in an open wheel car.

The Sweeney RUSH Sportsman Modifieds completed their first season as being a weekly division at Sharon and averaged 15 cars per night. This weekend, the RUSH Mods will race in their first Bicknell Racing Products Touring Series event at Sharon for $800 to-win. Earlier this season New York racers Greg Martin and Adam Hilton won the Tour events at Expo and Lernerville Speedways. Martin captured the Sharon track championship over Nick Ritchey, who won the Sportsman’s Speedway track championship.

On Sunday afternoon, the RUSH Sportsman Mods head northeast to Tri-City Raceway Park for the first time ever. This will also be a Bicknell Tour event as $600 will go to the feature winner of the 20-lap event. Sunday will be Tri-City's "Apple Fest". The rain date for Sunday is the following Sunday, September 20.

Veteran Larry Kugel is the current Bicknell Tour point leader by just two over Kole Holden, who won his third feature of the season last Sunday at Sportsman's and continues to lead the Bicknell "Futures Cup" points.

For the Modifieds, the K&N “Cold Air Induction” Dash will be run for the first four drivers that finish outside of the feature redraw spots both nights and will pay $100 K&N certificate to win, $50 K&N certificate for second with $25 cash going to the third and fourth place finishers. Meanwhile for the Late Models, the K&N Dash will be for the first four drivers after the inversion is draw after the heat races and will set the first two rows of the feature.

For both divisions, 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 in all events this weekend.

RUSH Officials will choose the "Maxima Performance" Award for a driver that exhibits a performance worthy of such for both divisions. The winner will receive a free case of either Maxima Semi-Syn High Performance Racing Oil or Maxima Performance Racing Oil of your choice. In addition, the winner will receive one can of SC-1 clear coat, one 16-oz bottle of Maxima Cool-Aide concentrate, one 32-oz quart of Maxima PSF power steering fluid, and a Maxima t-shirt. The value of this prize package is $170!

The driver that finishes last on the lead lap in both divisions will receive a $25 gift certificate from CrateInsider.com. The first driver that fails to qualify for the Late Model feature will receive the ARbodies “Nosed Out” nose kit valued at $260.

For the Sportsman Modified Series, RUSH 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. The selected driver will receive a certificate for a free Sherwood Racing Wheel.

Sharon 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. $230 17. $220 18-24. $210.

Sharon Late Model Non-Qualifier payoff: 1. $175 2. $150 3. $140 4. $135 5. $130 6. $125 7. $120 8. $115 9. $110 10-24. $105. Tow $100.

Sharon 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 $60.

Tri-City Sportsman Modified Tour Feature Payoff: 1. $600 2. $400 3. $300 4. $250 5. $225 6. $200 7. $170 8. $165 9. $160 10. $150 11. $140 12. $135 13. $130 14. $125 15. $120 16. $115 17. $110 18-24. $100. Tow $50.

Bicknell Racing Products Sportsman Modified Touring Series Points (only Tour members receive points): 1. Larry Kugel 192 2. Kole Holden 190 3. Jerry Schaffer 181 4. Brandon Ritchey 176 5. Chelsie Kriegisch 174 6. Jessica Kriegisch 173 7. Justin Shea 165 8. Greg Martin 100 9. Nick Ritchey 98 10. Jim Bryce 89 11. Jeff Hughes 87 12. Kyle Martell & Josh Deems 86 14. Will Schaffer 84.

Bazell/Sunoco Southern Late Model Tour Points (Drivers must be Touring member to receive points): 1. Max Blair 854 2. Eric Wilson 782 3. Jason Knowles 775 4. Brian Knowles 763 5. John Waters 672 6. Steve Lowery 628 7. Kyle Lukon 491 8. Michael Lake 410 9. Rob Marhefka 384 10. W.L. Stile 317 11. Michael Duritsky, Jr. 282 12. Rick Singleton 273 13. Ryan Montgomery 268 14. Ryan Markham 264 15. Clay Ruffo 245 16. Troy Shields 230 17. Reese Masiello 228 18. Chad McClellan 174 19. Joe Martin 162 20. Doug Gavette 158 21. Russell Baird, Jr. 151 22. Randy Hall 89 23. Kyle Zimmerman 88 24. Andrew Wylie 81 25. Nolan Dalton 72.

Combined Northern/Southern Late Model Tour Points (Drivers must be Touring member to receive points): 1. Max Blair 1442 2. Jason Knowles 1298 3. Brian Knowles 1274 4. Eric Wilson 1264 5. John Waters 1196 6. Steve Lowery 628 7. Randy Hall 617 8. Kyle Lukon 587 9. Bryce Davis 561 10. Rob Marhefka 473 11. W.L. Stile 471 12. Joe Martin 414 13. Michael Lake 410 14. Ward Schell 392 15. Clay Ruffo 385 16. T.J. Downs 373 17. Kyle Zimmerman 341 18. Doug Gavette 316 19. Michael Duritsky, Jr. 282 20. Rick Singleton 273 21. Ryan Montgomery 268 22. Ryan Markham 264 23. Troy Shields 230 24. Reese Masiello & Andrew Wylie 228 26. Dennis Lunger, Jr. 190 27. Chad Wright 176 28. Chad McClellan 174 29. Jeff Dayman 163 30. Russell Baird, Jr. 151 31. Jon Rivers 142 32. Jamie Brown 140 33. Phil Potts 98 34. Adam Sixt 84 35. Matt Harvey 73 36. Nolan Dalton 72 37. Cody Dawson 71 38. Michael Mitchell & Josh Holtgraver 70.

You do not have to a member of RUSH to compete. The red AMB transponders will be used at Sharon. Transponders are not used at Tri-City. RACEceivers will be mandatory. The entry fee for the Late Models at Sharon is $100. The entry fee for the Sportsman Modifieds is $35 at Sharon and $25 at Tri-City.

On Friday at Sharon, pits open at 4 p.m. with grandstands at 5. The drivers meeting will take place at 6:15 p.m. with warm-ups at 6:30 followed by Late Model group qualifying and racing. On Saturday, pits open at 3 p.m. with grandstands at 4 and racing at 6.

On Sunday at Tri-City, gates open at 2 p.m. with a drivers meeting at 3, warm-ups at 3:15 and racing at 4.