KYLE LUKON BEATS OUT RYAN MONTGOMERY AT PITTSBURGH TO BECOME 7TH DIFFERENT SWEENEY RUSH L.M. TOUR WINNER IN 9 RACES; SEASON HIGH 40 CARS; JORDEN PETERS SWEEPS “FUTURES CUP” & NQ EVENTS
(Imperial, PA)…The Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC RUSH Dirt Late Model Touring Series headed south to Pittsburgh’s PA Motor Speedway on Saturday night for round three of the “Cross the Borders” Speedweek. Race #9 of the 26 event Touring slate drew a season high 40 cars from Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, New York, and Ontario, Canada.
Kyle Lukon came out on top of a wild 25-lap main event by a mere 0.206 of a second over Ryan Montgomery to become the season’s seventh different Sweeney Tour winner in nine events. Though the 23-year-old Burgettstown, Pa. standout led every lap in his first Tour start of the season, Lukon had the region’s best right behind him including the hard charge by ninth starting Montgomery to hold on for the $1,200 victory.
The race got off to a fast pace as the first 18 laps were completed caution-free. The brother-sister tandem of Kyle and Laura Lukon led the field to green with Kyle taking the advantage. Montgomery was on the move as he passed the fading Laura Lukon for fifth on lap three. Montgomery put a slider on Mark Moats in turn four for fourth on lap five. Montgomery then closed up on sixth starting Josh Holtgraver as the battle for third heated up.
By the time Lukon caught the back of the pack on lap 11, he had about quarter of a straightaway advantage on Thursday’s McKean County Raceway Sweeney Tour winner, Max Blair. Lukon though made a pair of three-wide moves in lapped traffic to extend his lead at the halfway point, while Montgomery continued his march forward driving under and past Holtgraver for third in turn two and got by Blair as he crossed the start-finish line of lap 13.
By the time Montgomerymade his way to second, Lukon had extended his lead to a half-straightaway. Mike Pegher, Jr. was on the move getting by Mark Moats, Jr. for fifth on lap nine then took over fourth from Holtgraver on lap 16 running the outside. A spin by Nico Dabecco bunched up the field with 18 laps scored.
In the next two laps, Montgomery raced side-by-side with Lukon for the lead, while Blair had his hands full with Pegher. Pegher grabbed the third spot on lap 19 as Moats followed in fourth on lap 20 before Colton Flinner brought out the second caution with five laps from the finish. The caution once again put Montgomery alongside Lukon. An ugly, slow restart stacked up the field causing a 10-car pileup including the likes of Holtgraver, Dan Angelicchio, Andrew Satterlee and forced Blair pit side with a flat tire.
When racing resumed, Montgomery threw everything but the kitchen sink at Lukon, but just couldn’t get by. The two raced side-by-side on several occasions, but Lukon had the momentum off the outside to hold off Montgomery’s last lap charge to the finish. The win was Lukon’s fifth of the season at Pittsburgh, but first since May 25 in the Phil Lukon’s Reb-Fab/Isminger’s Pennzoil/Ingram Engines/Schaeffer’s Oil-sponsored #1 Rocket.
Moats made a last lap pass of Pegher to nail down the third position in a near dead heat by less than 0.001 in his first Tour start of the season. Pegher’s fourth coupled with Rick Singleton’s 14th put Pegher back in the Sweeney Tour point lead. Nineteenth starting Justin Tatlow passed Joe Martin on the final restart to earn a season best fifth in Tour competition.
Martin, who started 18th, was sixth. Justin Lamb took a P.P.M.S. provisional and raced from the 26th starting spot to seventh to earn the $100 Precise Racing Products “Pedal Down” Hard Charger gift card. Tommy Schirnhofer, Jr., Paul Jablonski, and Jason Rider completed the first 10.
While 2011 “Futures Cup” Champion Ryan Montgomery nearly pulled off the feature event victory, current “Futures Cup” second place point man Jorden Peters had quite a night. After missing out on the feature by one spot in the second last chance race, the 17-year-old Fort Erie, Ontario, Canadian dominated both the “Futures Cup” Trifecta Race #1 and the Non-Qualifier event for the clean sweep!
Peters started third in the Trifecta Race #1 as Clay Ruffo took off in the lead. Eric Wilson passed Ruffo for the lead on lap two with Peters following in second on lap three. Peters quickly put the pressure on Wilson, a Sharon Speedway Sweeney Weekly Series winner this year. Peters made the winning move driving under Wilson in turn two on lap six.
Once in front, Peters pulled away and went uncontested for the 12-lap victory worth $200 in the Peters Excavating/Cosco Hauling/Economy Paving/DAG Trucking/Wolf-Pack-sponsored #11P. Twelve-year-oldMichaelLake, a Roaring Knob Motorsports Complex feature winner this year, got past Wilson on lap seven and the current “Futures Cup” point leader crossed the line a distant second. Wilson dropped to third over Brad Blackshear as Maryland’s Cody Dawson, Ruffo, and another Maryland racer in Matt Glanden rounded out the field.
After the UEMS E-Mod feature, Peters was back on the speedway and took what he learned from all his laps on the “Monster Half-Mile” during the night to totally dominate the 10-lap non-qualifier. Peters started on the pole and left his competition. Peters took the checkered flag by a huge 10.212 margin to become the seventh different “Wheelman” Bonus Event Challenge Series winner in as many events! Peters’ victory earned him an additional $125, and in fact turned a faster lap (20.914) than Lukon’s best feature lap, which translates to 107.583 mph!
Chuck Medved and Jeremy Adamik battled for nearly the entire race for second. The two swapped the position back and forth with Medved getting the spot for good on lap eight. Adamik was third as Lake and Brian Goebel completed the top five.
Heat winners were Ruhlman, Schirnhofer, Kyle Lukon, and Wylie, while Andrew Satterlee and Michael Reft copped the last chance B mains. Colton Flinner became the ninth different K&N “Cold Air Induction” Dash winner in as many events and earned the $100 K&N certificate. Jason Rider was second and received the $50 K&N certificate, while Rocky Kugel and Dabecco picked up $25 cash.
It was a tough night for Sweeney Tour regular, Butch Lambert, who missed out on his first feature of the season as point leader Singleton took the Series provisional. Lambert was awarded The Brake Man’s “Tough Brake of the Night”.
Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC RUSH Dirt Late Model Touring Series Race #9 (25 laps, $1,200 to-win): 1. KYLE LUKON (1) 2. Ryan Montgomery (12) 3. Mark Moats, Jr. (15M) 4. Mike Pegher, Jr. (Geisler 1c) 5. Justin Tatlow (Kratts 81) 6. Joe Martin (55) 7. Justin Lamb (93x) 8. Tommy Schirnhofer, Jr. (8s) 9. Paul Jablonski (3J) 10. Jason Ride (Wade 76) 11. Laura Lukon (84) 12. Colton Flinner (75) 13. Max Blair (111) 14. Rick Singleton (Enyeart 99*) 15. Ben Policz (14B) 16. Dusty Curry (8) 17. Matt Latta (21) 18. Nico Dabecco (Karalagas 15D) 19. Josh Holtgraver (00) 20. Andrew Satterlee (2) 21. Rocky Kugel (21KRT) 22. Dan Angelicchio (14) 23. Dennis Niederriter (09) 24. Michael Reft (9R) 25. Andrew Wylie (84) 26. Chad Ruhlman (Suppa 4s). (Note: Rick Singleton took a Series provisional and Justin Lamb took a Track provisional).
Non-Qualifier (10 laps, $125 to-win): 1. Jorden Peters (11P) 2. Chuck Medved (2M) 3. Jeremy Adamik (7J) 4. MichaelLake (27) 5. Brian Goebel (12G) 6. Tony White (27) 7. Cody Dawson (36) 8. Matt Glanden (01) 9. Chris Lander (18) 10. Butch Lambert (27)-DNS 11. Scott Schempp (75)-DNS 12. Eric Wilson (27W)-DNS 13. Brad Blackshear (19)-DNS 14. Clay Ruffo (14R)-DNS.
“Futures Cup” Trifecta Race #1 (12 laps, $200 to-win):1. Jorden Peters (11P) 2. MichaelLake (27) 3. Eric Wilson (27W) 4. Brad Blackshear (19) 5. Cody Dawson (36) 6. Clay Ruffo (14R) 7. Matt Glanden (01).
Feature lap Leaders: (1-25)
Margin of Victory: 0.206
Precise Racing Products “Pedal Down Hard Charger”: Justin Lamb (+19)
The Brake Man “Tough Brake of the Night: Butch Lambert
Heat 1 (8 laps/Top 5 transfer)1. Ruhlman 2. Angelicchio 3. L. Lukon 4. Rider 5. Latta 6. Lamb 7. Jablonski 8. Singleton 9. Lander 10. Lake.
Heat 2 (8 laps/Top 5 Transfer): 1. Schirnhofer 2. Holtgraver 3. Montgomery 4. Kugel 5. Martin 6. Satterlee 7. Schempp 8. Lambert 9. Wilson 10. Glanden.
Heat 3 (8 laps/Top 5 Transfer): 1. Lukon 2. Pegher 3. Moats 4. Schempp 5. Tatlow 6. Reft 7. Policz 8. Peters 9. White 10. Dawson.
Heat 4 (8 laps/Top 5 transfer): 1. Wylie 2. Blair 3. Niederriter 4. Dabecco 5. Curry 6. Adamik 7. Goebel 8. Ruffo 9. Medved 10. Blackshear.
K&N “Cold Air Induction” Dash (4 laps/$100 K&N certificate to-win): 1. Colton Flinner 2. Jason Rider 3. Rocky Kugel 4. Nico Dabecco.
Last Chance B Main 1 (8 laps/Top 2 transfer): 1. Satterlee 2. Jablonski 3. Lamb 4. Lambert 5. Singleton 6. Lake 7. Glanden 8. Schempp 9. Wilson 10. Lander.
Last Chance B Main 2 (8 laps/Top 2 transfer): 1.Reft 2. Policz 3. Peters 4. Adamik 5. Medved 6. Goebel 7. White 8. Dawson 9. Blackshear 10. Ruffo.
Following Sunday’s event at Expo Speedway, the next event for the Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC Touring Series will be Saturday (July 20) at for the $2,000 to-win Sharon Speedway Sweeney Tour event that includes the Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC/Pace Performance GM 604 engine giveaway replacing the originally scheduled America’s MotorsportsParkevent. It’ll also be the final night of the “Cross the Borders” Speedweek.
Also note: the April 20 rained out $2,000 to-win Roaring Knob Motorsports Complex Sweeney Tour event that was originally rescheduled to Sunday, July 28 has been moved to Friday, July 26 due to a change in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series schedule.
2013 RUSHmarketing partners include Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC, Pace Performance, RainEater Wiper Blades, Hoosier Tire, Sunoco Race Fuels, Bazell Race Fuels, Precise Racing Products, ARbodies, The Brake Man, K&N Filters, Lincoln Electric, TurboStart, K1 RaceGear, Beyea Headers, FK Rod Ends, Bobby Lake Motorsports, Wrisco Industries, High Gear Speed Shop, Utsinger’s Towing, RockAuto.com, and Valley Fashions.
E-mail can be sent to the RUSH Racing Series at info@rushracingseries.com and snail mail to 4368 Route 422, Pulaski, PA 16143. Office phone is 724-964-9300 and fax is 724-964-0604. The RUSHRacing Series website is www.rushracingseries.com. Like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/rushlatemodels and follow us on Twitter @RUSHLM.