Lou Blaney Memorial Highlights Ryan Smith’s Weekend Agenda

Story By: TYLER ALTMEYER / RYAN SMITH RACING – KUNKLETOWN, PA – After recording the fifth top-five finish of his 2017 Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions campaign, the “Kunkletown Kid” Ryan Smith will now move forward and prepare for his second and final Sharon Speedway appearance of the season, this time attempting to score $5,000 during the Ninth Annual Lou Blaney Memorial on Saturday evening, July 8.

Smith, the 2015 Lou Blaney Memorial runner-up, as well as the current Arctic Cat All Star championship runner-up, will enter Sharon Speedway’s gates with not only confidence, but also momentum, scoring a recent fourth place finish during Arctic Cat All Star competition at Wayne County Speedway in Orrville, Ohio, on Saturday, July 1; a climb that started from 11th on the feature grid over the course 30 green flag laps.

As an added note, Smith’s most recent Sharon Speedway visit during Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket resulted in a sixth place performance; he started fifth.

“Sharon Speedway has been pretty good to us during recent starts. We’re excited to get back there and try to win the Lou Blaney Memorial after finishing second in 2015,” Ryan Smith stated. “We have a great team. We were able to harness some speed at Sharon during Ohio Sprint Speedweek, so hopefully we can go back to our notebook and repeat.”

Despite a full slate of Arctic Cat All Star competition, Ryan Smith has also been active during select Pennsylvania Sprint Speedweek dates aboard the Coldren Motorsports/No. 07. Unfortunately, the substitute for the injured Doug Esh has hit an unlucky stretch, highlighting his last three Pennsylvania Sprint Speedweek starts with an 18th place finish last evening at Grandview Speedway. Despite what results read, Smith’s Grandview appearance nearly resulted in a victory, actually taking command from Kyle Larson with less than ten circuits remaining in the main event. Unfortunately, contact with the outside retaining wall ultimately cut his evening short.

Ryan Smith will return to Pennsylvania Sprint Speedweek competition for Coldren Motorsports on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday, July 5, 6, 7, & 9, with visits to Hagerstown (MD) Speedway, Port Royal Speedway, Williams Grove Speedway, and Selinsgrove Speedway, respectively.