The biggest late model race of the season for Western Pennsylvania is in the books but it was with no help from Mother Nature.
(Photo: The Reno Rocket Les Myers won the vintage modified race at Stateline (N.Y.) Speedway. Photo by Rick Rarer)
The 11th annual Firecracker 100 was completed over the weekend but not quite as scheduled. The three-day event was condensed into two programs and both run on Saturday after rain washed out action on Thursday and Friday.
Brandon Overton of Appleton, Ga., was the big winner dominating the 100-lap feature Saturday night to take home the $30,000 winner’s check. Brandon Sheppard of New Berlin, Ill., was the winner of the preliminary feature held on Saturday afternoon while GR Smith took the top honors in the Uncle Sam 30.
Another traveling group will take center stage this Friday at Lernerville when the BOSS wingless sprint series makes its only visit of the season to the Sarver oval. The always competitive traditional sprint series brings a large group of cars and are known for putting on a great show.
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The Buckeye Outlaw Sprint Series will invade Lernerville and Pittsburgh Motor Speedway this weekend. Photo by Rick Rarer.[/caption]
The series will stay in the area and compete at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway on Saturday evening. The traveling regulars will take on any locals that dare to take the top off on the Monster Mile. It will also be Autograph Night for fans and Dollar Dog Night.
Hummingbird Speedway also battled Mother Nature this past Friday where the track was able to complete three of the five scheduled features.
Billy Dickson, Josh Fields, and Jon Lee scored wins before the rains came. Saturday at Hummingbird it will be mid-season championship night with racing at 7 p.m. and double points for all divisions.
Both Mercer Raceway Park and Sharon Speedway were forced to cancel their Saturday racing programs due to heavy rains on Friday that left grounds saturated. Several area racers headed north to Stateline Speedway just across the border in Busti, N.Y., for the track’s Open Wheel Mania show.
The Patriot Sprint Tour made their first of two visits which saw point leader Jared Zimbardi score another win. The always tough Erick Rudolph added another Mod Tour win to his resume while fan-favorite Les Myers won the vintage modified feature. Stateline will have a 43-lap special for the super late models along with fireworks this Saturday.
The Patriot Sprint Tour will be back in the area this week for their Western Speedweek presented by Bonnell’s Collision. The series will visit McKean County Speedway this Thursday. Friday they will make their second visit of the season to Raceway 7 in Conneaut, Ohio. Saturday it will be Mercer Raceway Park for their one and only visit of 2017. All four of these shows will pay $4,000 to the winner.
Mercer will also have the 410 and 305 sprint cars on the card Saturday making for plenty of sprint car racing for fans. Mini stocks will round out the card Saturday along with fireworks.
Tri-City Raceway had to wait a week but they were able to complete the Father's Day Spectacular this past Sunday. A good field of sprint cars filled the pits and Cory Good won a thriller after a late race battle with Carl Bowser and Jack Sodeman. The win was Good’s first ever at Tri-City and second of the season after winning at Mercer earlier this season.
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Cory Good joined track promoter Chad Wagner after scoring is first career Tri-City win Sunday. Photo by Rick Rarer. [/caption]
Jeremy Wonderling of New York took home $2,000 for his RUSH late model win while Kyle Martell won the RUSH modified feature both part of the Bill Emig Memorial. Dakota Schweikart won the Allegheny Sprint Tour feature to close out the night.
Tri-City’s next racing program will undoubtedly be the biggest of the season when Tony Stewart’s All-Star Circuit of Champions return to the Venango County oval on Sunday, July 23. It will be the third leg of the second annual I-79 shootout in conjunction with Eriez Speedway Friday and Pittsburgh Motor Speedway on Saturday.
Thunder Mountain Speedway in Brookville will return to action this Friday with the ULMS late model series. There should be a strong field of super late models on hand for the $3,000 to win show. 305 sprint cars, semi lates, street stocks, and 4WDs will also be on the card with racing scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
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About Rick
Rick Rarer, a Franklin resident, is the owner of
Racestud.com and
SprintCarNews.com. He has been covering racing for 18 years, taking racing photos for 13 years, and has covered races at over 100 tracks in 15 states. Most recently, Rick won the Bill Steinbach Media Award at the Lernerville Speedway Annual Awards Banquet.
