Rush Late Models Heading To Stateline & Merrittville Speedways

Story By: MIKE LEONE / RUSH RACING SERIES – PULASKI, PA – After a rain out on April 22 at Winchester Speedway, the Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC RUSH Dirt Late Model Touring Series powered by Pace Performance will kick-off the 2017 season this Saturday (May 20) at New York’s Stateline Speedway followed by an event at Ontario’s Merrittville Speedway two days later on Monday (May 22) for their Victoria Day celebration. Warm-ups are slated for 6:45 p.m. on Saturday night and 6:20 on Monday night. Saturday is a Marquee Event, while Monday’s show is a Platinum Event with both paying $2,000 to-win.

For the first time in the 10-plus year history of Crate Late Model racing in the Northeast, a Sweeney Touring Series event will take place at Stateline Speedway. And it’s fitting the event be designated as the “Bill Law Memorial”. Law was the first to have a Crate Late Model in the region before the division debut
ed in 2007. Law was a big proponent of the division fielding cars for many years until his untimely passing in 2012 with the last being Kyle Scott. This season also marks the debut of Law’s grandson Kyle Murrary, who will be competing on Saturday night and is chasing after the 2017 “Futures Cup” Championship. Murray will pace the field during the four-wide salute in memory of Law.

Stateline is beginning its second full season as being RUSH weekly-sanctioned under the Scott and Horner Families. Stateline has completed two Sweeney Weekly Series events to date this season with Max Blair winning both. Blair was the 2015 Sweeney Touring Series Champion, and is the favorite to win his fourth Sweeney Weekly Series title in five years. Stateline has a lot of tough weekly racers that will challenge the Tour stars like Jason Genco, Dennis Lunger, Jr., Kyle Zimmerman, Darrell Bossard, Scott Gurdak, Andy Boozel, Wyatt and Kyle Scott, and others.

For the third straight year, Merrittville will host a Sweeney Tour event as part of their Victoria Day celebration. In 2015, Blair won the inaugural event, which was the first ever Crate Late Model race held at the speedway. Last year, John Waters was victorious; and in fact, Waters has now won four of the last five Sweeney Tour events held in Canada! Many of the weekly Humberstone RUSH racers will make the short trip to Merrittville to compete, and last year also drew competitors from South Buxton and Brighton Speedways in Ontario.

Twenty-four drivers have already joined the Touring Series. John Waters will return to defend his 2016 championship, the first of his career in RUSH. The Whitesville, NY driver battled for most of the season with fellow New Yorker, Bryce Davis, and overtook him in the points in the season finale after a DNF by Davis. Davis, the 2015 Pace Performance “Summer Chase” Champion, will set out on Saturday in hopes of his first Touring Series crown.

Northwestern Pennsylvania standout Chad Wright has made a commitment to follow the Tour for the first time in many years. While many of last year’s Touring regulars will return, new Touring Series members thus far for 2017 include Jeremy Wonderling, John Mollick, J.J, Mazur, Greg Beach, Dillan Stake, Bobby Cossell IV, Bill Kessler, Hunter Hulley, Mike Franklin, Matt Bassaro, Jon Rivers, Kyle Murray, Carl Shetler, and D.J. Krug.

“We’re sure excited to get our season underway,” acknowledged RUSH Series Director Vicki Emig. “Everyone has been fighting the weather throughout the region so we’re hoping Mother Nature cooperates for everyone’s sake. A lot of people have asked in years past about a Tour show at Stateline so we’re really glad it worked out this year thanks to the Scott and Horner Families. It also couldn’t be more fitting with the Bill Law Memorial. We always enjoy having events in Canada. Merrittville is such a well-known and quality facility that always has a racey surface that provides excellent racing. New owner Don Spiece continued to allow us to participate in this event that the Bicknell Family put us on two years ago,”

FK Rod Ends “Shock the Clock Qualifying and Beat the Heat” will be utilized each night meaning the fastest qualifier will receive $100 and all heat race winners will earn $25. The K&N “Cold Air Induction” Dash will be run paying a $100 K&N certificate to win, $50 K&N certificate for second with $25 cash for third and fourth place. The K&N Dash will also set the beginning of the 30-lap feature lineup for the top two finishers in the heat races if there are less than five heats or for the heat winners if there are five or more heats.

Precise Racing Products will award a $100 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 valued at approximately $45 along with a certificate for a discount off any TBM Brakes purchase.

Each night, 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! Also, CrateInsider.com will award a $25 gift certificate to the driver that finishes last on the lead lap at the finish each night.

Feature payoff each night: 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.

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

You do not have to a member of RUSH to compete. The yellow Westhold or AMB/MyLaps transponders can be used on Stateline, while the AMB/MyLaps transponders will be used at Merrittville. RACEceivers are always mandatory; however, the channel for Stateline needs to be programmed to 469.500 due to interferences on the default 454.000 channel. There will be a limited number of tires available for sale by Bicknell Racing Products on Monday and no fuel.

There will be a $100 US entry fee for each event or $140 Canadian. Pit passes are $30 at Stateline and $30 for RUSH members at Merrittville or $35 for non-members. Pit gates open at 4 p.m. each night. Drivers meeting is scheduled for 6:15 p.m. with warm-ups at 6:45 followed by qualifying and racing on Saturday, while on Monday the drivers meeting is scheduled for 5:45 p.m. with warm-ups at 6:20, qualifying at 6:45 and racing at 7:05.