Rick’s Racing Roundup: Brockway’s Kot Victorious at Hummingbird


So far this season when race fans think of the weekend they think of rain, and this past weekend was no different.

(Photo: 14-year old Blaze Myers of Franklin scored his first career feature win Saturday at Sharon Speedway. Photo by Rick Rarer)

Friday saw rain sweep through Western Pennsylvania washing out action at Thunder Mountain Speedway. But by some force of nature, despite rain surrounding the track most of the night Lernerville Speedway was able to complete their sprint car triple header with just some light sprinkles hitting the track. All-Star Circuit of Champions point leader Aaron Reutzel of Texas continued his hot streak dominating the sprint car feature for his second All-Star victory of 2018.

The new RUSH wingless sprint cars took the track for their second Lernerville appearance and third overall for the series. After finishing second in the first two races Gale Ruth Jr. of Pleasantville put it all together, leading all 15 laps for his first RUSH victory. Roger Irvine closed out the evening by dominating the 305 sprint car feature. Fab 4 racing will return to Lernerville this Friday along with fireworks presented by #1 Cochran.

Gale Ruth Jr. and crew celebrate his first RUSH sprint car victory. Photo by Rick Rarer

Gale Ruth Jr. and crew celebrate his first RUSH sprint car victory. Photo by Rick Rarer

Sunny skies finally prevailed on Saturday as race cars filled the pits at Sharon Speedway, along with the biggest crowd of the season. A strong field of 410 sprint cars headlined the show that included all of the area’s top regulars and several All-Star Invaders. Feature time saw defending All-Star champion Chad Kemenah of Findlay, Ohio, lead the way to take home the $3,000 winner’s check as the All-Star regulars swept the top four spots in the feature.

The RUSH sprint cars were back in action for their first two race weekend and it was Chad Ruhlman who became the first repeat winner backing up his win at Bradford Speedway earlier. The RUSH sprints would be followed by the RUSH modifieds who found a new winner in victory lane. Fourteen-year-old Blaze Myers of Franklin had the best night of his young career by winning his heat and then winning the feature over a record-high 31-car field. Jacob Eucker was victorious in the emod nightcap.

At Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway the Penn Ohio Stock Car Series headlined the Seventh Annual Ed Laboon Memorial for one of their biggest events of the year. Fifty-two stock cars filled the pits Saturday and saw Chris Schneider dominate the feature to take home the victory and over $2000 for his efforts. Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway will be back in action this Saturday as the 410 sprint cars will headline the card.

The biggest stock car race of the year is quickly approaching. In less than two weeks, the first-ever Steel Valley Pro Stock Nationals will take place at Sharon Speedway. On June 15 there will be a practice for the cars and then on Saturday, June 16 the stock cars will go 75 laps for $10,000 to win! No stock car fan is going to miss this one.

Racing action resumed at Hummingbird Speedway this past Saturday where fans got their monies worth taking in eight feature events with eight different winners. Paul Kot of Brockway won the regular late model feature while Chris Farrell of Clearfield was victorious in the makeup late model feature. Other winners on the night included Josh Fields; pure stocks, Zach Myers; semi lates, Bruce Hartzfeld; street stocks, and Josh Frantz; four cylinders. Brandon Conner won the makeup street stock feature and Eric Luzier won the make up four-cylinder feature. Hummingbird will be back in action this Saturday with another five division program.

For late model fans, the ULMS late model series will return to Thunder Mountain Speedway this Friday after putting on a great race their first visit to the Brookville oval. The series will head west to Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio on Saturday for another $3,000 to win event.

The All-Star Circuit of Champions will spend this weekend in Empire State. Their Saturday show will be close to the area though as they make their maiden voyage to the New Stateline Speedway in Busti, just north on the New York/Pennsylvania border. Look for several Western Pa teams to make the trek north to race with the traveling series Saturday.

It was announced racing will return to the now-closed Mercer Raceway Park at least for one weekend on July 13 and 14. Watch for more info on the Mercer Summer Nationals in the upcoming weeks.

Rick’s Racing Roundup is brought to you by:

Red Bandana Winery
Allegheny Grille
Bauer Truck Repair
Dagny Design Group
Redbank Chevrolet
Zacherl Motors

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.


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