September 6, 2014
Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway dodged the rain showers that plagued the surrounding areas Saturday night and was able to hold its final night of regular season points racing. Saxonburg’s Alex Ferree won his second track championship in a row in the Diehl of Robinson Super Late Model division, and Corey McPherson, a rookie driver in the Precise Racing Products Rush Late Models class, won his first championship at PPMS. Seventeen year old Christian Schneider handily claimed the championship in the Sunoco Race Fuels Sportsman class, and Steve Pyeritz and Devin Black were both crowned champions in the Miley BP Car Wash Hobby Stock and Imperial Heights Garage Young Guns divisions. All final points results are pending final review and confirmation by PPMS officials.
Starting on the pole position, veteran driver Lynn Geisler was able to maintain the top spot and hold off a last minute charge by Brandon Burgoon in the Diehl of Robinson Super Late Model 25 lap feature, earning his 76th career win at the track and adding to his Dirt Track Hall of Fame total career feature wins, which stands at more than 250. Alex Ferree started 7th in the feature and finished just one spot ahead of that, but it was enough to capture his second track championship in a row in the division and hold off second place points contender, John Mollick, who finished third in the feature last night. At the checkers, the top five were Geisler, Burgoon, Mollick, Ben Miley and Keith Barbara.
At the start of the night, Precise Racing Products Rush Late Model drivers Nico DaBecco and Corey McPherson both had a chance to claim the championship in the class. During hot laps, it looked as though McPherson’s chance might slip away as he wrecked coming out of turn two and had to replace a drive shaft, leaving the door open for Nico DaBecco. However, DaBecco’s night and championship chase ended before he completed one lap in his heat race and had to retire to the pits with a serious car failure. As the green flag dropped, Daryl Charlier rocketed to the front and pulled away from the rest of the field to take the win. Behind him Tommy Schirnhofer and Albion’s Dennis Lunger battled it out for position, with Schirnhofer edging slightly ahead of Lunger at the finish. McPherson finished fourth and Jason Rider of Clinton finished fifth. This was Corey McPherson’s rookie season in the crate division and his first track championship at PPMS.
Seventeen year old Christian Schneider of Robinson Township already had the championship position locked up at the start of the night in the Sunoco Race Fuels Sportsman and capped off this accomplishment by claiming the win in the final regular season race in the division. Meanwhile, some great racing was taking place for position behind him, with Bill Robertson, Nick Kocuba and Jake Simmons battling it out. At the end, it was Robinson, Kocuba and Simmons in spots two through four, and Pat Hanley in fifth. This was Schneider’s second championship at the track in his third season of racing.
In the Miley BP Hobby Stock class, Joe Podolinsky earned his fifth win of the 2014 season. Hannah Ramsey was running second but seemed to have some car troubles and was eventually passed by Steve Pyeritz and Dave Sheriff. Pyeritz finished second, Sheriff third and Ramsey fourth. Jacob Wiser rounded out the top five. Steve Pyeritz won his first championship in the division.
Starting last, Karlee Kovacs shot to the second spot on the first lap, running behind O.B. Huff until she was able to make the pass after lap three. The 16 year old from Carnegie drove on to claim her 6th win of the season in the Imperial Heights Garage Young Guns division. However, it was not enough to claim the top spot in the division for the year. Oakdale’s Devin Black was crowned champion in the class, his first at PPMS.
Kelvin Kohan held of the challenge from his brother Carl and earned another feature win the ¾ scale Late Model feature, with Jim Thompson finishing third. Chris Kohan and Jim Bryce both experienced car troubles and had to leave the feature.
The Figure 8 Demo Derby feature was won by Andrew Loria. Sam McGervey, Kurt Halbedl and Josh Langer finished second, third and fourth respectively.
The 26th Pittsburgher 100 is next weekend; Dirt’s Monster Half Mile will host an open practice session on Friday, September 12. The two day racing extravaganza will start on Saturday, September 13 and will showcase a 50 lap $5,000 to win Diehl of Robinson Super Late Model event. A Rush Tour Event will follow that night, along with racing in the Sportsman, Hobby Stock, Young Guns and ¾ Late Model features. Sunday, September 13 will be the $5,000 to win Herb Scott Memorial, and features in the Rush Pro Late Model, Sportsman, Hobby Stock, Young Guns and ¾ Late Model divisions. All tickets are available online at www.showclix.com/event/pittsburgher Camping permits must be printed and registered; details are available on www.ppms.com
And just added to the schedule on Saturday, September 27 is the inaugural Steel City Sprint Monster $5,000 to win Renegade Sprints car event! So far, 29 cars have registered for the event, including Tim Shaffer and Danny Holtgraver. Gates will open at 4 p.m. and qualifying will start at 5 p.m. More information is available on www.ppms.com