Story By: MIKE LEONE / RUSH RACING SERIES – PULASKI, PA – The Hovis Auto & Truck Supply RUSH Racing Series presented by Born2Run Lubricants is set for a busy weekend.
The Flynn’s Tire Touring Series for the RUSH Late Models will be at Lernerville Speedway on Friday night (July 21) for the “RUSH Summer Showcase, which will also include the RUSH Sprint Cars and RUSH Sportsman Modifieds.
The Flynn’s Tire Touring Series for the Late Models then heads to Tyler County Speedway in Middlebourne, WV on Saturday night (July 22). Meanwhile, the RUSH Sportsman Modifieds will be at Pittsburgh’s PA Motor Speedway on Saturday night. Warmups begin at 6:30 p.m. on Friday night and 6:45 p.m. on Saturday night at Tyler County. The Lernerville event will be streamed live on Dirt.TV.
Friday night will be the fourth annual “RUSH Summer Showcase” at Lernerville, and for the second straight year includes a Flynn’s Tire Touring Series event for the RUSH Late Models! It will be the second of three appearances at the Sarver, Pa. oval for the Late Models with $3,000 going to the winner. The RUSH Late Models last ran at Lernerville on June 24 when Max Blair topped a 56-car field for the $20,000 “Bill Emig Memorial” presented by Sunoco Race Fuels victory plus a $7,000 championship diamond ring from D&V Jewelers.
The Flynn’s Tire Tour has made 21 appearances at the Sarver, Pa. oval with 16 different winners! Blair leads the way with five victories and the only other repeat winner is Mark Whitener, who won the 2021 and 2022 “Bill Emig Memorial” events; however, neither of those racers will be in competition on Friday night. Drivers with single victories include Josh Double, Dennis Lunger, Jr., Chad McClellan, Chad Ruhlman, Ryan Montgomery, Jacob Hawkins, Bryce Davis, John Mollick, Russell King, John Waters, Colton Flinner, Daryl Charlier, and Logan Roberson.
The RUSH Sportsman Modifieds and RUSH Sprint Cars will also make their second appearances of the season at “The Action Track” racing for $600 to-win each. The Modifieds will be a Weekly Series special presented by Flynn’s Tire, while the Sprint Cars will compete in a Sunbelt Rentals Weekly Series event. Both classes appeared on June 30 with Chad Ruhlman (Sprints) and Kole Holden (Modifieds) victorious. Ironically, both Ruhlman and Holden have six wins a piece this season to lead their respective points.
Tyler County Speedway is in its second year under the RUSH banner for its Late Model class. Saturday will mark the first of two appearances by the Flynn’s Tire Tour to the Middlebourne, WV oval. While $3,000 will be on the line on Saturday night, the ante will be upped to $4,000 to-win on Sunday, September 3 as part of the “Hillbilly 100” with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series!
The July event last year was to be the first ever RUSH Late Model Tour event in the state of West Virginia, but was rained out. The Tour made its Tyler County debut on Thursday, September 29 after the original date for the “Hillbilly 100” was also rained out and it was Jeremy Wonderling winning live on FloRacing.
Brandon Weigle has been on a tear at Tyler County this season winning five of the last six events to lead the City Chevrolet Track Pack points. Michael Duritsky, Jr. won the first two events of the season at Tyler County, while Kyle Thomas is the only other winner this season.
“This will be a great weekend for RUSH racers,” stated RUSH Director Vicki Emig. “Lernerville and Tyler County are popular venues for racers and to be able to do them on back-to-back nights is tremendous. The weather is looking great for both nights. We have to thank Lernerville for their continued support of the RUSH program and the ‘RUSH Summer Showcase’ is always popular with the racers and fans. We also have to thank Raceway 7 for giving the RUSH Late Models and Sportsman Modifieds the night off on Friday night to allow their racers to compete at Lernerville. Our racers always look forward to competing at Tyler County, and it’ll be nice for once to have good weather for our event.”
The 2023 Flynn’s Tire Touring Series Championship will again pay a point fund of more than $51,000 with $15,000 to the champion. Last Saturday night at Pittsburgh’s PA Motor Speedway, the Tour suffered its first rainout of the season after the first 12 scheduled events were completed.
Three-time Series Champion Jeremy Wonderling enters the weekend with three wins in the last four western Pa. events and will look to add to that number on Friday. Wonderling’s five wins this season has propelled him to a 49-point lead over his brother Mike Wonderling, who is touring for the first time and is in search of his first career Series win.
Joe Martin, who has finished second in points each of the last three years, is third in points with one victory. Thirteen-year-old Brock Pinkerous, who finished a career best second at Bradford followed up by a third at Marion Center, is fourth in points just five points ahead of Cody Dawson, who has two podium finishes in the last six events.
Sixth through 10th in points are Ashton Briggs, Jim Rasey, Brandt Graham, Craig Graham, and Marc Berzowski. After missing the “Battle of the Bay”, Austin Hauser joined the Tour full-time and has worked his way up to 11th in points.
Precise Racing Products will award a $50 gift card for the “Pedal Down” Hard Charger that passes the most cars in the feature each night. The TBM Brakes “Tough Brake of the Night” will award three bottles of Xtreme6 Racing Brake Fluid each night. Ontime Body & Graphic’s “Spoiler Alert” will award a spoiler kit to the 13th place finisher on the first night and the 14th place finisher on the second night (note: if a driver has already won a spoiler this season, spoiler will be awarded to the next position). Performance Bodies will award a $100 gift card to the first non-qualifier each night part of the “Nosed Out” program.
Late Model Touring Series Feature Payoff Each Night: 1. $3,000 2. $1,500 3. $800 4. $650 5. $600 6. $500 7. $475 8. $450 9. $425 10. $400 11. $325 12. $300 13. $275 14. $270 15. $265 16. $260 17. $255 18-24. $250.
D&V Jewelers Non-Qualifier Payoff Each Night: 1. $200 2. $190 3. $185 4. $180 5. $175 6. $170 7. $165 8. $160 9. $155 10-24. $150. Tow $125
You do not have to be a member of RUSH to compete only to receive Weekly and/or Tour points. The Late Model entry fee for each night is $100; there is no entry fee for the Sportsman Modifieds or Sprint Cars. AMB/MyLaps transponders will be used; Westhold transponders will NOT work. Units are available to rent for $25 and no cost to Tyler County regulars on Saturday night. Driver radio channel will be 454.000 both nights.
On Friday at Lernerville, pits open at 4 p.m. RUSH registration will open by 4 p.m. with the drivers meeting at 6:00. Motor heat for the RUSH Sprints will be at 6:15 p.m. Warm-ups are slated for 6:30 p.m. followed by qualifying and racing. Pit passes are $35.
On Saturday at Tyler County, pits open at 4 p.m. RUSH registration will open by 4 p.m. with the drivers meeting at 6:15. Warm-ups are slated for 6:45 p.m. followed by qualifying and racing. Pit passes are $35.