SWEENEY RUSH LATE MODELS TAKE ON MCKEAN COUNTY THURSDAY AS PART OF THEIR FAIR RACE FOR THE INSINGER/SUNOCO NORTHERN TOUR
By Mike Leone

August 19, 2015 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(East Smethport, PA)...After a short break following Sunday’s Insinger Performance/Sunoco Race Fuels Northern Tour event that attracted 36 cars for the “Bill Emig Memorial” at Tri-City Raceway Park, the cars and stars of the Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC RUSH Dirt Late Model Series will head further north on Thursday night for their first of two appearances this season at McKean County Raceway. The event is part of the 110th annual McKean County Fair. Racing begins at 7:30 p.m.

McKean has been closed all year, but will roar back to life on Thursday for their first of two events followed by the “Fall Classic” on October 10. The Sweeney Tour events in years past have typically drawn car counts in the upper 30s to upper 40s. Last year’s counts were 38 for the Fair race, 43 for “Manufacturers Night” and 45 for the “Fall Classic”.

This will be the fifth straight year being part of the annual McKean County Fair race. Past winners include Josh Holtgraver (2011), Max Blair (2012), Mike Pegher, Jr. (2013), and Bryce Davis (2014). Will there be a fifth different winner on Thursday night!?

“It’s a privilege to again be able to compete at the McKean County Fair event,” stated RUSH Co-Director Vicki Emig. “There’s always a great crowd and atmosphere for this event, and it’s just a two-division show with the Street Stocks. We always enjoy our trips to McKean and this will serve as a tune-up for the popular “Fall Classic in a couple months.”

The Sweeney RUSH Series has completed 14 Tour events to date so far with six in the North and eight in the South. Max Blair of Centerville, Pa. leads the way with seven victories as he’s atop the Northern and Bazell/Sunoco Southern Tour points as well as the combined points. He'll look to keep the lead in all three standings in his bid for the $10,000 sweep! While Blair has a more comfortable lead in the Southern and Combined points, his Insinger/Sunoco Northern Tour lead is just by 27 points over Bryce Davis, who has been consistent with six top 10s in as many races including a win at Freedom and three straight top five finishes! The other Northern Tour winner this year is John Waters, who won $2,000 at Humberstone back on July 19.

The K&N “Cold Air Induction” Dash will set the two rows after the redraw cars and will award a $100 K&N certificate for first place, $50 K&N certificate for second place, and $25 cash for the third and fourth place finishers. Blair is the current Dash point lead.

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.

RUSH Officials will choose the "Maxima Performance" Award for a driver that exhibits a performance worthy of such. 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 will receive a $25 gift certificate from CrateInsider.com. ARbodies will award a nose kit valued at $260 to the first driver that fails to qualify for the feature.

McKean Feature Payoff: 1. $1,200 2. $700 3. $500 4. $370 5. $350 6. $315 7. $300 8. $270 9. $260 10. $255 11. $230 12. $215 13. $205 14. $200 15. $175 16. $170 17. $165 18-24. $160.

McKean Non-Qualifier: 1. $125 2. $100 3. $90 4. $85 5. $80 6. $75 7. $70 8. $65 9. $60 10-24. $55. Tow $50.

Insinger/Sunoco Northern Late Model Tour Points (Drivers must be Touring member to receive points): 1. Max Blair 588 2. Bryce Davis 561 3. Randy Hall 528 4. John Waters 524 5. Jason Knowles 523 6. Brian Knowles 511 7. Eric Wilson 482 8. Ward Schell 392 9. T.J. Downs 373 10. Kyle Zimmerman 253 11. Joe Martin 252 12. Dennis Lunger, Jr. 190 13. Chad Wright 176 14. Jeff Dayman 163 15. Doug Gavette 158 16. W.L. Stile 154 17. Andrew Wylie 147 18. Jon Rivers 142 19. Jamie Brown & Clay Ruffo 140 21. Phil Potts 98 22. Kyle Lukon 96 23. Rob Marhefka 86 24. Adam Sixt 84 25. Matt Harvey 73 26. Michael Mitchell 70.

Combined Northern/Southern Late Model Tour Points (Drivers must be Touring member to receive points): 1. Max Blair 1342 2. Jason Knowles 1209 3. John Waters 1196 4. Brian Knowles 1188 5. Eric Wilson 1166 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. Troy Shields 230 23. Reese Masiello & Andrew Wylie 228 25. Dennis Lunger, Jr. 190 26. Ryan Markham 180 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. RACEceivers will be mandatory. There will be a $50 entry fee. Fair admission is $8 with pit passes an additional $15. Pits open early. Drivers meeting will be at 6:45 p.m. with warm-ups at approximately 7:10 and racing at 7:30.

McKean County Raceway is a 1/3-mile dirt track located at the McKean County Fairgrounds in East Smethport, Pa. at the intersections of Route 6 and 46. For more information on McKean County Raceway, check out their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/McKeanCountyFair or their website at www.mckeancountyfair.net.. The fair number is 814-887-5361.

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, Beyea Headers, FK Rod Ends, Bobby Lake Motorsports, Velocita-USA, High Gear Speed Shop, CrateInsider.com, B.R.A.K.E.S., RockAuto.com, and Valley Fashions.

E-mail can be sent to the RUSH Racing Series at info@rushracingseries.com 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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