RPW Column: Wonderling Defends RUSH LM At Genesee Crown; Tuttle Takes DIRTcar Sportsman

Column By: MARTY CZEKALA / RPW – BATAVIA, NY – There is no question that Jeremy Wonderling can drive at Genesee Speedway.

He proved it even more in the RUSH Late Model Series event at “The Place To Race” but faced challenges from Joe Martin and John Waters to prove he is one of the best.

The 30 lap feature saw Wonderling start on the pole next to Martin. Wonderling would take the lead at the beginning of the race, but a four-car accident in the opening corner led to a re-do. On the second attempt, both Wonderling and Martin would get to the track’s high groove, and Wonderling held serve. Lap three, though, gave us the first lead chance as Martin made a pass downstairs on Wonderling in turns three and four. Wonderling would try to counter-attack with the same move in turn one and two while approaching lapped traffic, but it wouldn’t work. The second yellow would then fly on lap ten, bringing the top five together after being strung four seconds apart.

The restart got a little crazy on lap ten as Joe Martin whipped it in deep to keep the lead. At the same time, Jeremy Wonderling faded all the way back to 5th but caught a big break as a three-car accident developed in turn one.

The second restart on this was crazy but clean. John Waters took it three-wide to the bottom into turn one as Waters and Wonderling sandwiched Martin, forcing Martin to let off the throttle to avoid mayhem. The move helped Wonderling get the run on the exit of two. Martin and Waters continued to duke for the runner-up spot for four laps until Waters put a slide job on Martin to grab the second spot. Wonderling pulled away from Waters, increasing his lead to two seconds as the leader approached lapped traffic. However, Waters got through lapped traffic better than Wonderling and closed the gap to eight tenths with ten to go, until a stopped car brought the caution to make this a short-run battle to the end.

Wonderling had a great restart, but Waters tried the bottom all around the track with eight to go and didn’t work to his favor. Waters would get one last chance on a restart with five to go. Still, Wonderling with the better jump would give him his second tour win of the season and defending his race win from 2019, as 2020 was canceled due to COVID-19.

“There was no just take it easy because you had a good lead. Everybody was on me the whole time. That’s what you get when you race with guys like Waters, Hardy, and Martin, all them guys,” Wonderling told RPW. “Restarts were tricky just because I want to choose the outside, but then you got to make sure you get ahead of him and got him cleared coming out of the corners.”

Last year, Wonderling took to Genesee during free time on Saturday nights and was able to take two wins despite racing part-time in Batavia to his advantage.

“Being around the place, you know any race track you go to, you have a little advantage racing more times. Waters has raced here some; Hardy has never been here. You got the advantage on Hardy and Martin, but them guys are pretty quick,” Wonderling explained to RPW.

The win for Wonderling ties him for second on the RUSH Late Model Series all-time wins list with nine. He joins Bryce Davis, John Waters, and Mike Pegher Jr on the list, per the RUSH wins list from 2020 added on with the wins from this season.

The DIRTCar Sportsman feature provided a good show, too, as defending series track champ Cam Tuttle started from the runner-up position and took the lead from the start. Tuttle faced a challenge from Dave Conant for the race lead, but once the race featured long runs, Tuttle was able to pull away. Yellows would hurt the momentum that Tuttle was increasing, even having a 3.5-second lead at one time. Tuttle, though breezed like a champion on restarts while Conant would have to try and hold off Phil Vigneri for the second spot. Tuttle would come home to score his first win at Genesee since winning the track title last year.

“It was a long time coming. We have a new setup, and we’re learning every week. I think tonight we finally hit it right on point. It was wicked fast. I didn’t know how the track was gonna play out for the feature; it was hit or miss,” Tuttle commented.

Other winners tonight included Shawn Hazlett in Street Stocks, who had a great battle over Brandon Sherwood for his first career win at Genesee; Brad Whiteside in Mini Stocks, Jake Bansmer in Novice Sportsman, and Seth Johnson in the Bandits.

28 Late Models checked in for the event tonight. 105 cars checked in for the entire card.

Tomorrow, The RUSH Late Model Tour continues their trip down a state below to Bradford Speedway to conclude this 2 in 2 weekend. They will be back at Genesee Speedway September 24-25 for the Topless Nationals. As for Genesee, next week, they host a full card plus the NY6A MicroSprint Tour at 6 pm ET.

For more post-race content with Wonderling and Tuttle, including interviews with JJ Mazur, Kyle Hardy, and Noah Walker, head to the RSN Trackside Facebook page.

Rush Late Model Series (25 Laps)
3J Jeremy Wonderling, 2. 11L John Waters (1.080s), 3. 99 Kyle Hardy (2.241s), 4. 90J Michael Duritsky Jr. (4.237s), 5. 39J Jimmy Johnson (4.962s), 6. 65D Steve Dixon (5.082s), 7. 13 JJ Mazur (6.718s) 8. 14W Dusty Waters (7.309s), 9. 012 Dave DuBois (7.922s), 10. 11F Ryan Frazee (8.671s), 11. 225 Bud Watson (9.272s), 12. 51 Austin Hauser (9.694s), 13. 10S Joe Martin (10.296s), 14. 33k Jared Keeney (10.307s), 15. 32 Austin Allen (-1L), 16. 4 Jason Knowles (-5L), 17. 01R Doug Ricotta (-5L), 18. 8H Bill Holmes III (-5L), 19. 85F Austyn Fugle (-5L), 20. 129 Brian Kotarski (-5L), 21. 64C Alan Chapman (-7L), 22. 184 Kyle Lukon (-11L), 23. 1 TJ Downs (-18L), 24. 21BD Billy DuBois (-21L), 25. 85 Jon Rivers (DNS)
Heat Winners: 10S Martin, 11L Waters, 9 Holmes
Fastest Lap: 10S Martin 17.435

DIRTCar Sportsman (25 Laps)
35t Cam Tuttle, 2. 44 Dave Conant (0.935s), 3. 12v Phil Vigneri (1.477s), 4. 81 Austin Susice (2.102s), 5. 22 Noah Walker (2.287s), 6. 18w Jim Harbison (3.174s), 7. 1r Adam Hilton (3.996s), 8. 27z Ray Bliss (4.672s), 9. 4 Emmett Waldron (4.721s), 10. 34 Byron DeWitt (5.486s), 11. 22m Michael McCurdy (5.788s), 12. 63 Jessica Kriegisch (7.104s), 13. Reese Hackett 14. 26 Kyle Richner (7.810s), 15. Larry Vick, 16. 21 Ryan Barrett (-4L), 17. 132 Brandon Machaud (-11L), 18. 55 Guy Steffen (-17L), 19. 44k Dan Kolb (-22L), 20. Cliff Gregg (DNS)
Heat Winners: 12 Vigneri, 4 Waldron, 81 Susice
Fastest Lap: 35t Tuttle 17.943

Street Stocks (20 Laps)
13b Shawn Hazlett, 2. 87 Brandon Sherwood (0.517s), 3. 0 John Zimmerman (0.601s), 4. 1 Bill Taylor (1.077s), 5. 53 Pat Powers (1.461s), 6. 00 Damian Long (1.860s), 7. 28 Tom Kemp (2.296s), 8. 99 Brett Marlatt (2.827s), 9. 58 Carl Shetler (3.629s), 10. 09 Eric Stone (4.332s), 11. 72 Phil Schepis (4.618s), 12. 2z Dale Rissinger (5.025s), 13. 44m Daniel Brumsted (5.025s), 14. 2q Jesse Quetermous (-1L), 15. 84m Mike Kelly (-2L), 16. 18d Mike Childrose (-8L), 17. 20 Aaron Miller (-10L), 18. 89k Robbie Knapp (-11L), 19. 21m Chuck Mogavero (-13L), 20. 58x Joe Chamberlin (-16L), 21. 61 Jacob Vick (-19L), 22. Kenny Bengouche (DNS), 23. Dave Bansmer (DNS)
Heat Winners: 1 Taylor, 00 Long, 0 Zimmerman
Fastest Lap: 13b Hazlett 18.905

Mini Stocks (15 Laps)
46 Brad Whiteside, 2. 62 Chris Leone (0.728s), 3. 27 Andy Schumaker (1.040s), 4. 98 Cole Susice (2.225s), 5. 85 Brian Johnson (2.601s), 6. 24r Curtis Rung (3.787s), 7. 004 Olivia Coniber (5.126s), 8. 11 Eric Brumstead (5.484s), 9. 10a Andy Gayton (6.171s), 10. 23 Jessica Schleede (6.556s), 11. 16k Robert Knapp II (8.221s), 12. 23h Gary Hopkins (8.493s), 13. 52 Donald Hermanson (12.562s), 14. 6 Ashley Harbison (18.448s), 15. 10 James Gayton (-10L), 16. Chuck Hughes (DNS), 17. Rich Conte (DNS), 18. Tom Knapp (DNS)
Heat Winners: 46 Whiteside, 10a Gayton
Fastest Lap: 46 Whiteside 20.568

Novice Sportsman (14 Laps)
Jake Bansmer, 2. Allison DeWitt, 3. Andrew Joy, 4. Bailey Logsdon, 5. John Livingston Jr., 6. Casey Jonathan, 7. Brandon Close, 8. Tyler Guzzardi, 9. Nate Rhiner
Heat Winner: 71 Bansmer
Fastest Lap: 71 Bansmer 18.033

Bandits (12 Laps)
Seth Johnson, 2. Alexis Traxler, 3. Kayley Bacon, 4. Morgan Coniber, 5. Ian Paul, 6. Grayson Harding, 7. Jonathan Logsdon