Ferree in Late Models, Dustin Smith is Boss at PPMS
Imperial, PA (July 2, 2016) Alex Ferree from Saxonburg raced to his second victory of the season at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway on Saturday night. The Diehl Super Late Model of the three-time defending champion was adorned in special trim to honor Bucky Johnson, a longtime supporter of area racing that recently passed away, including Johnson’s number 47. The traditional sprint cars were on hand for a visit, as Dustin Smith earned the victory in the Rick’s Trucks & Equipment Buckeye Outlaw Sprint Series non-winged event. John Mollick from Toronto, OH picked up his second victory of the season in the Precise Racing Products RUSH Pro Late Models. Todd Weldon from Monongahela earned his third victory of the season in the Sunoco Race Fuels Sportsman. In the Miley BP Car Wash Hobby Stocks, Dave Sheriff of Imperial won his first feature of the season. And in his first ever race, Vincent Zymloz won the main event for the Imperial Heights Garage Young Guns.
The 25-lap Diehl Automotive Super Late Model main event had Tony Musolino and Scott Gunn on the front row, with heat race winner Musolino taking the lead at the start. Musolino had a challenge from John Mollick in the early laps, with Alex Ferree moving up from sixth starting spot to third in the early going. The first caution period of the event came on lap 8, and Ferree moved to second on the restart. Musolino felt a challenge from Ferree, but was able to hold the top spot until disaster struck on lap 13. Exiting turn two, Musolino’s car, that had been flawless all evening, got out of shape and hit the backstretch wall, as he slid to a stop at the entrance of turn three to end his run. Inheriting the lead at that point, Ferree led the remaining distance for his 21st feature win in the division at the track. Mollick was second, 1.881 seconds behind at the finish, with Brandon Burgoon, Josh Holtgraver, and Christian Schneider filling the top five.
Zack Morrow and Beau Stewart led the 20-lap BOSS Sprint feature to the green flag, and they raced side by side until Morrow nosed ahead to lead lap 1 over Shawn Westerfield, Dustin Smith, and Rick Holley. Working the first lap, Holley caught the wall in turn one and flipped to bring out the red flag. Morrow took off in the lead once racing resumed. Westerfield passed Stewart for second on lap 3, before disaster hit the next lap for leader Morrow, when he entered turn one too hard and hit the outside wall before flipping very hard. Morrow immediately jumped out of the damaged car. Westerfield inherited the lead at this point over Smith, Stewart, Carmen Perigo, and Justin Owen. This would be the final restart of the event, as Westerfield and Smith locked into a battle for the top spot. The pair exchanged the lead on lap 8, but fifth starting Smith made the pass exiting turn four to take over the lead on lap 9. Once in front, Smith raced away to earn the victory by 3.594 seconds over Westerfield. Smith became the 47th different winner in the sprint division at the track, in the 98th all-time sprint car race. Cody Gardner was third, advancing from 13th starting spot. Owen, the BOSS Series winner the night before at Lernerville Speedway, was fourth, with Stewart fifth. Stewart, Smith, and Mike Miller were the heat winners over the 26 car field.
The 20-lap Precise Racing Products RUSH Pro Late Model feature had Chris Lander and Greg Beach atop the starting grid, but Lander would be involved in an incident forcing a complete restart. Beach would suffer a similar fate a lap later. The lap 1 incident was the final one of the event, with fourth starting Justin Lamb taking the lead at the start. Lamb was feeling pressure from seventh starting John Mollick. With an inside pass in turn one, Mollick took over the race lead on lap 8. Once in front, Mollick pulled away from the field as Daryl Charlier moved up to challenge Lamb for second. Charlier passed Lamb with 17 laps complete, on his way to runner-up honors, 4.682 seconds behind Mollick at the finish. Lamb settled for third, ahead of Kyle Lukon and Ben Policz. Brandon Burgoon and Mollick took the heats.
The 15-lap feature race for the Sunoco Race Fuels Sportsman division had a rough time getting started, as a first turn incident occurred three different times before a lap could be completed. But once the race did start, just a single incident slowed the pace. Rob Shook and Bob Betz, III led the field to green, with Shook taking the early lead. Jeff Broniszewski passed Shook for the race lead on lap 4. On lap 8, eleventh starting Todd Weldon, who had been involved in one of the early incidents, passed Bill Robertson to take over third place. Broniszewski had nearly a four-second lead wiped out when the caution flag waved with 9 laps complete, and would have his hands full with Weldon when racing resumed. Weldon made an inside pass of Broniszewski on the backstretch and would be the new leader on lap 11, as he went on to win his third feature of the season and the sixth of his career at the track. Broniszewski was a close second, 1.012 seconds behind at the finish. Steve Dapolito fell back early, but recovered to finish third. Shook was fourth, with Dave McManus fifth. Weldon won one of the heat races, with A.J. Poljak winning the other one. It was a bittersweet win for Poljak after the strong heat race effort, as an issue with his car kept him from starting the feature race.
Dave Sheriff cleaned house in the Miley BP Car Wash Hobby Stocks, winning the heat race and the 12-lap feature event. Starting second, Sheriff took command at the drop of the green and held the lead the entire distance in the non-stop event. Dale Tuche took runner-up honors, moving to second on lap 3. Jacob Wiser passed Casey Grumling on lap 8 to earn the final podium position.
Getting a chance to race for the very first time, Vincent Zymloz made the most of his opportunity by driving the O.B. Huff car to victory in the 6-lap feature for the Imperial Heights Garage Young Guns. Zymloz passed early leader Ben Anton off of turn four to take the lead on lap 3, winning over Anton, Michael Jackson, and Tyler Tennant.
Racing continues at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway on Saturday night, July 9, with the thrilling conclusion of the Fifth Annual Ed Laboon Memorial race for the Sunoco Race Fuels Sportsman. The event sanctioned by the Homak Penn Ohio Pro Stock Series, presented by Brougher’s Machine Shop was delayed by rain on June 4. A car count of 52 was assembled when heat races were completed before the rains came, and new entries will be allowed to compete in the B-Main events that will complete the starting grid for the area’s richest stock car race. The RUSH Modifieds will be on hand for their first of four visits this season, joining the Super Late Models, Pro Late Models, Hobby Stocks, and Young Guns. The Twin State Auto Racing Club will be guests of the speedway. Gates open at 5:00, with warm-ups at 6:00 and racing at 7:00. The track is located just south of the Noblestown exit of U.S. Route 22, or 170 Kelso Road in Imperial, PA, for GPS purposes. The track phone is 724-695-3363 on race days, or call 412-279-RACE. For complete information please visit the track website at www.ppms.com .
Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway results for Saturday, July 2, 2016.
Diehl Super Late Models
Feature – 1, 10, Alex Ferree. 2, 4J, John Mollick. 3, 02, Brandon Burgoon. 4, 00, Josh Holtgraver. 5, M5, Christian Schneider. 6, 14, Butch Neubert. 7, 4T8, John Flinner. 8, 36, Tony Musolino. 9, 7, Scott Gunn. 10, 13, Bill Yohe, Jr. DNS, 55, Chris Schneider
Heat 1 – 1, Tony Musolino. 2, John Flinner. 3, Brandon Burgoon. 4, Alex Ferree. 5, John Mollick. 6, Christian Schneider. 7, Josh Holtgraver. 8, Scott Gunn. 9, Bill Yohe, Jr. 10, Butch Neubert. DNS, Chris Schneider.
Rick’s Trucks & Equipment BOSS Sprints
Feature – 1, 77, Dustin Smith. 2, 89, Shawn Westerfield. 3, 9G, Cody Gardner. 4, 4J, Justin Owen. 5, 27B, Beau Stewart. 6, 14W, Chad Wilson. 7, 82, Mike Miller. 8, 5X, Gale Ruth, Jr. 9, 4, Michael Fischesser. 10, 21, Carmen Perigo. 11, B1, Joey Biasi. 12, 18, Arnie Kent. 13, 71, Stratton Briggs. 14, 53, Steve Little. 15, 5M, Riley Van Hise. 16, 76, Davey Jones. 17, 5, Bob McMillen. 18, 08, Andy Feil. 19, 18D, Bobby Distel. 20, 91X, Aaron Middaugh. 21, 3, Joe Butera. 22, 1R, Gale Ruth, Sr. 23, 27M, Zack Morrow. 24, 86, Rick Holley. 25, 14C, Cooper Clouse. DNS, 91A, Adam Stacy.
Heat 1 – 1, Beau Stewart. 2, Justin Owen. 3, Chad Wilson. 4, Carmen Perigo. 5, Cody Gardner. 6, Arnie Kent. 7, Cooper Clouse. 8, Andy Feil. 9, Gale Ruth, Sr.
Heat 2 – 1, Dustin Smith. 2, Zack Morrow. 3, Shawn Westerfield. 4, Michael Fischesser. 5, Davey Jones. 6, Gale Ruth, Jr. 7, Bob McMillen. 8, Joe Butera. 9, Bobby Distel.
Heat 3 – 1, Mike Miller. 2, Joey Biasi. 3, Rick Holley. 4, Stratton Briggs. 5, Steve Little. 6, Riley Van Hise. 7, Aaron Middaugh. 8, Adam Stacy.
Precise Racing Products RUSH Pro Late Models
Feature – 1, 60M, John Mollick. 2, 12C, Daryl Charlier. 3, 93X, Justin Lamb. 4, 184, Kyle Lukon. 5, 14B, Ben Policz. 6, 5X, Ken Chernik. 7, 2M, Chuck Medved. 8, 7J, Jared Kane. 9, 14G, Jake Gunn. 10, 18, Chris Lander. 11, 33X, Greg Beach. 12, 111, Pete Wearing. 13, B4, Steve Beatty. 14, 60B, Brandon Burgoon. DNS, 114G, Zach Gunn.
Heat 1 – 1, Brandon Burgoon. 2, Jake Gunn. 3, Kyle Lukon. 4, Steve Beatty. 5, Justin Lamb. 6, Greg Beach. 7, Jared Kane. 8, Zach Gunn.
Heat 2 – 1, John Mollick. 2, Daryl Charlier. 3, Ben Policz. 4, Ken Chernik. 5, Chris Lander. 6, Chuck Medved. 7, Pete Wearing.
Sunoco Race Fuels Sportsman
Feature – 1, 45JR, Todd Weldon. 2, 08, Jeff Broniszewski. 3, 84, Steve Dapolito. 4, 64, Rob Shook. 5, 114, Dave McManus. 6, 68X, Jake Simmons. 7, 1B, Bill Robertson. 8, M5, Joel Johns. 9, 10, Nick Kocuba. 10, 4S, Ricky Steigerwald. 11, 7, Eric Piotrowski. 12, 81, Robert Betz, III. 13, 74, Paul Petrovich. 14, 18, Mike Harris. 15, 54, Wayne Carbo. 16, 25, Mark Lee. 17, 36J, Steve Pyeritz. DNS, 36, A.J. Poljak. DNS, W1, Jarrod Westover.
Heat 1 – 1, A.J. Poljak. 2, Ricky Steigerwald. 3, Rob Shook. 4, Dave McManus. 5, Nick Kocuba. 6, Robert Betz, III. 7, Eric Piotrowski. 8, Jarrod Westover.
Heat 2 – 1, Todd Weldon. 2, Jake Simmons. 3, Wayne Carbo. 4, Steve Dapolito. 5, Bill Robertson. 6, Jeff Broniszewski. 7, Mike Harris. 8, Joel Johns. 9, Mark Lee. 10, Paul Petrovich. 11, Steve Pyeritz.
Miley BP Car Wash Hobby Stocks
Feature – 1, 8, Dave Sheriff. 2, 310, Dale Tuche. 3, OU2, Jacob Wiser. 4, 77X, Casey Grumling.
Heat 1 – 1, Dave Sheriff. 2, Dale Tuche. 3, Jacob Wiser. 4, Casey Grumling.
Imperial Heights Garage Young Guns
Feature – 1, 83, Vincent Zymloz. 2, 13, Ben Anton. 3, 89, Michael Jackson. 4, 24, Tyler Tennant.
Upcoming Events:
Saturday, July 9 – The Fifth Annual Ed Laboon Memorial race for the Sunoco Race Fuels Sportsman, sanctioned by the Homak Penn Ohio Pro Stock Series, presented by Brougher’s Machine Shop. RUSH Modifieds, plus Diehl Automotive Super Late Models, Precise Racing Products RUSH Pro Late Models, Miley BP Car Wash Hobby Stocks, and Imperial Heights Garage Young Guns. Twin State Auto Racing Club Night.
Saturday, July 16 – “Modasaures X” featuring the BRP Modified Tour for Big Block Modifieds. RUSH Modifieds, plus the Precise Racing Products RUSH Pro Late Models, Sunoco Race Fuels Sportsman, Miley BP Car Wash Hobby Stocks, Imperial Heights Garage Young Guns.
Saturday, July 23 – The Alternative Power Sources LHSS Race Saver winged Sprints, with a Summer Sizzler for the Precise Racing Products RUSH Pro Late Models. Plus Diehl Automotive Super Late Models, Sunoco Race Fuels Sportsman, Miley BP Car Wash Hobby Stocks, and Imperial Heights Garage Young Guns.
Saturday, July 30 – Tony Stewart’s Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions winged 410 sprint cars in the Third Annual Falconi’s Moon Township Automotive “Sprint Monster,” plus the Precise Racing Products RUSH Pro Late Models Sizzler event.
Sources: Miley’s Motor Sports, Inc.