9/24/2021
RUSH Late Model Series
JOHN WATERS ENDS 3+ YEAR WINLESS DROUGHT ON FLYNN’S TIRE/BORN2RUN LUBRICANTS TOUR WITH PACE RUSH LATE MODEL WIN ON NIGHT 1 OF “TOPLESS NATIONALS” AT
JOHN WATERS ENDS 3+ YEAR WINLESS DROUGHT ON FLYNN’S TIRE/BORN2RUN LUBRICANTS TOUR WITH PACE RUSH LATE MODEL WIN ON NIGHT 1 OF “TOPLESS NATIONALS” AT GENESEE; CHAD RUHLMAN OVERTAKES GALE RUTH JR WITH A LAST LAP PASS TO WIN RUSH SPRINTS
By Mike Leone
September 24, 2021 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Batavia, NY)...The Pace Performance RUSH Racing Series together with Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC participated in night one of the fourth annual “Topless Nationals” at Genesee Speedway on a chilly Friday evening. The event marked the second of three appearances by the Flynn’s Tire/Born2Run Lubricants Late Model Touring Series to the 1/3-mile Genesee County Fairgrounds oval in 2021. This was the first time that the “Topless Nationals” was a Tour event; and the 28 cars in action matched the all-time record high Genesee car count for each the last four Tour races. The RUSH Sprint Cars competed in an Equipment Rental Options Weekly Series event at Genesee for the third straight “Topless Nationals”.
After coming up just shy to Jeremy Wonderling at the last Genesee Flynn’s Tire/Born2Run Lubricants Tour show on May 29, John Waters emerged victorious on night one of the “Topless Nationals”. Waters passed Joe Martin with 10 laps to go and held him and Wonderling off to end a more than three-year winless drought on the Tour. The exciting 30 lapper featured three different leaders and five lead changes as Waters earned $2,000 for his first Tour win since a nationally televised MAVTV race on July 3, 2018 at Weedsport Speedway. Waters became the seventh different Tour winner of the season in 14 races after current point leader Kyle Hardy started the year off winning four of the first five races.
“It’s been a tough year,” acknowledged the 40-year-old Whitesville, NY racer. “We were really down this week. This is my 17th year racing and every year I’ve gotten a win. I thought this was going to be the first year we went winless so I’m glad to be here tonight. I couldn’t do it without Dale (LeBarron) and the crew sticking with me. Dale has been begging me to get rid of the Rocket and change to this Black Diamond by Chub. Man this thing is good. It just fits my driving style. It was awesome racing with Joe (Martin) and I know Jeremy was behind me. Dale is the heart and soul behind this and just keeps plugging away. Bobby Bentz from Stan’s Transmission has been going through some rough patches so I’m glad we could get this win to hopefully pick up his spirits. This was a heck of a race track. You could race top, bottom. We went with 25s (Hoosier Tires); I saw Joe went with 55s and once he pulled even on that long green I thought ‘oh no’ then we got that caution.”
Martin won the Sunoco Dash to earn the feature pole, but it was Michael Duritsky, Jr. using the outside to power into the early lead over Martin, Waters, Ryan Frazee, and Wonderling. Martin took the lead on lap two from Duritsky, who cut a tire then as he was slowing spun after contact from Waters to bring out the caution. When racing resumed on lap three, Waters took the lead from Martin, while sixth starting Wonderling was halfway to the front by passing Frazee. Frazee was in position for his best run of the season, but slowed to bring out the caution running fourth with nine laps scored, which moved Hardy into the position on the restart.
After a six-car pileup on the frontstretch on lap 10, action settled down with the next 10 laps going caution-free. Duritsky had charged back through the field after his flat tire and was already up to fifth on lap 11. Duritsky and eighth starting Jimmy Johnson both passed Hardy for fourth and fifth respectively on lap 12. Back up front, Martin began to pressure Waters on lap 16 as it was now a four-car race for the lead with Wonderling and Duritsky in tow. Martin was able to retake the lead with an inside move in turn four on lap 19, but a caution one lap later for Jon Rivers wasn’t what Martin wanted to see.
Martin chose the inside on the double file restart giving Waters the outside. Waters made the top work in turns one and two and was able to power ahead of Martin on lap 21 for what would be the winning pass. Waters was able to keep Martin at bay over the final 10 caution-free laps as he took the checkered flag first by a margin of 0.481 seconds. Waters’ 10th career Tour win moved him into sole possession of second place on the all-time win list, and came in just the second night in a newly purchased #32J car by Dale LeBarron with sponsorship from Troups Creek Heating, Accu-Force, Close Racing Supply, Little Power Shop, Fox Shocks, Troups Creek Auto Parts, Atkins Appraisal, and Stan's Transmission.
Martin earned $1,000 for second as he’s now finished in the top two in the last three Tour events and has eight straight top six finishes! “We’re getting used to this,” expressed the 36-year-old Punxsutawney racer after coming up shy by getting passed for the lead late in four Tour and Weekly Series races over the last few weeks. “We had a different tire on than John (Waters) and I still think it was the right tire, but the race didn’t play out how we needed it to. For John to jump in that car and win in it the second night- that’s a big accomplishment. The car was good all night long on long green flag runs. I was trying to hook that brown spot on the inside on the restart, and I thought if I could have got out in front I’d have been okay in clean air until my tires fired. We’ll take second.”
Wonderling and Duritsky traded third back and forth with Wonderling getting the spot on the final lap. Duritsky settled for fourth after an excellent run through the field for his fourth Tour top five finish of the season. Johnson was fifth for the second straight Genesee Tour race. After failing to finish in the top 10 in the first 11 Tour races of the season, Bud Watson continues his late season surge. Watson raced from 15th to a season best sixth for his third straight top 10! Watson was also the lucky recipient of the $100 Sunoco gift card part of the “Fill’er up with Sunoco Bucks” program presented by Sunoco and Zarin Truck & Auto.
Brad Mesler made his first Tour start in two years and went 19th to seventh to earn the $100 Precise Racing Products “Pedal Down” Hard Charger gift card. It was Mesler’s best finish since a fifth on July 2, 2017 at Bradford. After getting up to as high as fourth, Hardy faded to eighth with a folded nose. Despite just his second finish outside the podium, Hardy is still a perfect 14-for-14 with top 10s. Fulton Speedway Champion Chad Homan was ninth over Jason Knowles.
Beamer Guzzardi finished 14th to earn a $150 spoiler kit from Ontime Body& Graphic. Ninth starting Jason Genco, the Eriez Speedway champion, suffered a cut tire early and was chosen as the TBM Brakes “Tough Brake of the Night” recipient. Alan Chapman was the first non-qualifier and received a $100 Performance Bodies gift card as part of the “Nosed Out” contingency.
Hardy set fast time for the third time this season to earn $100 from FK Rod Ends thanks to a lap of 16.603 during “Shock the Clock” qualifying. Earning $25 for their FK Rod Ends heat race wins were Hardy, Duritsky, and Martin. Mesler won the last chance B main. Martin’s second Sunoco Dash win earned him a $100 Sunoco gift card.
Chad Ruhlman kept his perfect streak alive at Genesee in the Pace Performance RUSH Sprint Cars. Ruhlman hounded Gale Ruth, Jr. throughout the duration of the caution-free 20-lap feature before making a last lap winning pass. The New York native and two-time RUSH Sprint Champion is now four-for-four at Genesee in his Sprint Car career following his $1,000 Equipment Rental Options Weekly Series special win! The feature was timed in 6:18.221.
“I wish the interview was right after the race because I had a lot more energy then,” joked the 44-year-old driver who now calls Erie, Pa. home. “I tried to rip that cushion as hard as I could every lap, but he (Ruth) was there. It was a fun race with him racing our hearts out, and I’m sure it will look the same tomorrow night. With 10 to go I started to see his brakes getting hot and they started to stink a little bit. The stream was really coming off his right rear. I wanted to dive underneath him to get him to come down the race track more so I could have clean air for my nose so I could really sail it into turn one. When he went down to block I knew my only chance was to slide him on the last lap. If I did it one lap earlier, he’d have done the same thing to me.”
After his heat race win, Ruth drew the #1 pill to start on the pole of the feature and jumped into the lead; Ruhlman meanwhile had to make a last lap pass of Brian Hartzell in his heat race just to make the redraw after an early spin that forced him to come from the tail. Ruhlman redrew the #3 pill and passed Steve Pedley on the opening lap for second, while Ryan Fraley followed in third.
By lap three, the top three of Ruth, Ruhlman, and Fraley began to distance themselves from the field. Sixth starting Blaze Myers challenged Pedley for the fourth spot as the two Venango County, Pennsylvania racers battled side-by-side on laps 6-9 before Myers finally made the pass on lap nine. Back up front, Ruhlman began to put the pressure on Ruth on lap 13 as the duo raced side-by-side for the lead. Ruhlman also pulled even on lap 15 before making a mistake on the cushion in turn two on lap 16 that gave Ruth some breathing room.
Ruhlman though kept Ruth in his sights and caught back up to the leader two laps later. Ruhlman made his winning pass shooting under Ruth off turn two on the last lap and won the race to the finish by 0.223 seconds. Ruhlman’s all-time leading 33rd career RUSH Sprint Car win came in the Tim Engles-owned, Dirt Roads Logistics/Pennywell Sandblasting/Dotera Oils-sponsored #68.
Ruth, who leads the $5,000 to-win Equipment Rental Options Weekly Series Championship points, was second to earn $500. Fraley’s third place finish matched his career best in a RUSH Sprint Car as he was also third on August 20 at Dog Hollow. Myers, fresh off his first career Sprint Car win last Saturday at Pittsburgh’s PA Motor Speedway, was fourth. Pedley, who earlier in the season competed in his own #21, came home fifth subbing for Rod George in the Hull Racing #41. Ohio racer Tyler Newhart was sixth in his first Genesee start over the team cars of Brian Hartzell and A.J. MacQuarrie. Chris Shuttleworth was ninth in his second start in the J. Mahoney Racing #9J.
The Flynn’s Tire/Born2Run Lubricants Late Model Touring Series and Equipment Rental Options RUSH Sprint Cars will be right back in action on Saturday night (September 25) at Genesee for night two of the “Topless Nationals” with $2,000 and $1,000 to-win respectively. It’s also the Traveling “Manufacturers Night” presented by MSD Performance for the Late Models as drivers in the top 15 in track points at Genesee, Fulton Speedway, and Woodhull Raceway will be eligible for the more than $13,000 in posted product giveaways. Each eligible competing racer will take home a prize packaged valued at least $400!
Pace Performance RUSH Late Model Flynn’s Tire/Born2Run Lubricants Touring Series Race #14 (30 laps, $2,000 to-win): 1. JOHN WATERS (LeBarron 11L) 2. Joe Martin (Snyder 10s) 3. Jeremy Wonderling (3J) 4. Michael Duritsky, Jr. (90J) 5. Jimmy Johnson (39J) 6. Bud Watson (225) 7. Brad Mesler (87s) 8. Kyle Hardy (99) 9. Chad Homan (91) 10. Jason Knowles (Davis 94) 11. Ryan Frazee (11F) 12. J.J. Mazur (13) 13. Brian Kotarski (129) 14. Beamer Guzzardi (12) 15. Billy DuBois (21B) 16. Austin Allen (94X) 17. Brian Knowles (7) 18. Jon Rivers (85) 19. T.J. Downs (1) 20. Dave DuBois (012) 21. Andy Michael (17x) 22. Jim Johnson (93J) 23. Jason Genco (Badgley/Craig 29J) 24. Carl Eldridge (7E).
DNQ for the feature: Alan Chapman (64c), David Stolzenberg (1s), Mark Sundt (94), Todd Chapman (T54).
Car Count: 28
Feature Margin of Victory: 0.481 seconds
Feature Lap Leaders: Michael Duritsky, Jr. (1), John Waters (3-18, 21-30), Joe Martin (2, 19-20)
Ontime Body & Graphic “Spoiler Alert” Spoiler Kit: Beamer Guzzardi
Performance Bodies “Nosed Out”: Alan Chapman
Precise Racing Products “Pedal Down” Hard Charger: Brad Mesler (+12)
Precise Racing Products 5-Gallon Race Jug: John Waters
Sunoco and Zarin Truck & Auto $100 Sunoco Fuel Cards: Bud Watson & Joe Martin
TBM Brakes “Tough Brake of the Night”: Jason Genco
RUSH Late Model FK Rod Ends “Shock the Clock” Qualifying ($100 for fast time) (Track record 16.430 by Jeremy John Waters on 5/29/21): 1. 99-Kyle Hardy, 00:16.603[2]; 2. 90J-Michael Duritsky Jr, 00:16.715[17]; 3. 10S-Joe Martin, 00:16.822[16]; 4. 11F-Ryan Frazee, 00:16.859[3]; 5. 11L-John Waters, 00:16.914[19]; 6. 3J-Jeremy Wonderling, 00:16.963[22]; 7. 94-Jason Knowles, 00:16.995[9]; 8. 39J-Jimmy Johnson, 00:17.044[4]; 9. 29J-Jason Genco, 00:17.145[13]; 10. 85-Jon Rivers, 00:17.151[12]; 11. 13-JJ Mazur, 00:17.197[8]; 12. 91-Chad Homan, 00:17.231[23]; 13. 93J-Jim Johnson, 00:17.231[24]; 14. 7-Brian Knowles, 00:17.232[14]; 15. 225-Bud Watson, 00:17.350[6]; 16. 87S-Brad Mesler, 00:17.351[7]; 17. 12-Beamer Guzzardi, 00:17.413[18]; 18. 94X-Austin Allen, 00:17.439[1]; 19. 129-Brian Kotarski, 00:17.534[27]; 20. 012-Dave DuBois, 00:17.754[20]; 21. 1-TJ Downs, 00:17.809[25]; 22. 21BD-Billy DuBois, 00:17.970[28]; 23. 17X-Andy Michael, 00:18.020[21]; 24. T54-Todd Chapman, 00:18.073[26]; 25. 64C-Alan Chapman, 00:18.095[15]; 26. 94B-Mark Sundt, 00:18.391[10]; 27. 7E-Carl Eldridge, 00:18.510[11]; 28. 1S-David Stolzenberg, 00:23.348[5].
RUSH Late Model FK Rod Ends Heat 1 (8 laps, Top 6 transfer to A, $25 to-win): 1. 99-Kyle Hardy[1]; 2. 11F-Ryan Frazee[2]; 3. 94-Jason Knowles[3]; 4. 85-Jon Rivers[4]; 5. 93J-Jim Johnson[5]; 6. 129-Brian Kotarski[7]; 7. 87S-Brad Mesler[6]; 8. 21BD-Billy DuBois[8]; 9. 64C-Alan Chapman[9]; 10. 1S-David Stolzenberg[10].
RUSH Late Model FK Rod Ends Heat 2 (8 laps, Top 6 transfer to A, $25 to-win): 1. 90J-Michael Duritsky Jr[1]; 2. 11L-John Waters[2]; 3. 39J-Jimmy Johnson[3]; 4. 13-JJ Mazur[4]; 5. 012-Dave DuBois[7]; 6. 7-Brian Knowles[5]; 7. 17X-Andy Michael[8]; 8. 12-Beamer Guzzardi[6]; 9. 94B-Mark Sundt[9].
RUSH Late Model FK Rod Ends Heat 3 (8 laps, Top 6 transfer to A, $25 to-win): 1. 10S-Joe Martin[1]; 2. 3J-Jeremy Wonderling[2]; 3. 29J-Jason Genco[3]; 4. 91-Chad Homan[4]; 5. 225-Bud Watson[5]; 6. 94X-Austin Allen[6]; 7. 1-TJ Downs[7]; 8. 7E-Carl Eldridge[9]; 9. T54-Todd Chapman[8]
RUSH Late Model Last Chance B Main (10 laps, Top 6 transfer to A): 1. 87S-Brad Mesler[1]; 2. 12-Beamer Guzzardi[5]; 3. 17X-Andy Michael[2]; 4. 21BD-Billy DuBois[4]; 5. 1-TJ Downs[3]; 6. 7E-Carl Eldridge[6]; 7. 64C-Alan Chapman[7]; 8. 1S-David Stolzenberg[10]; 9. 94B-Mark Sundt[8]; 10. T54-Todd Chapman[9].
RUSH Late Model Sunoco Dash (6 laps, $100 Sunoco fuel card to-win): 1. 10S-Joe Martin[1]; 2. 90J-Michael Duritsky Jr[3]; 3. 11L-John Waters[5]; 4. 11F-Ryan Frazee[4]; 5. 99-Kyle Hardy[6]; 6. 3J-Jeremy Wonderling[2]
Pace Performance RUSH Sprint Car Equipment Rental Options Weekly Series race #25 (20 laps, $1,000 to-win): 1. CHAD RUHLMAN (Engles 68) 2. Gale Ruth, Jr. (McConnell 24) 3. Ryan Fraley (12) 4. Blaze Myers (43JR) 5. Steve Pedley (Hull 41) 6. Tyler Newhart (57N) 7. Brian Hartzell (69) 8. A.J. MacQuarrie (69x) 9. Chris Shuttleworth (Mahoney/Eckart 9J).
RUSH Sprint Car Heat (8 laps):
RUSH Racing Series is brought to you by Pace Performance together with Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC along with the support of Hoosier Tire, Bilstein Shocks, Sunoco Race Fuels, Bazell Race Fuels, Insinger Performance, MSD Performance, Holley Performance Products, Hovis Auto & Truck Supply, Born2Run Lubricants, Flynn's Tire & Auto Service, FK Rod Ends, Schoenfeld Headers, Jones Racing Products, TBM Brakes, Performance Bodies & Parts, Racing Electronics, Dirt Defender, Wrisco Industries, Frankland Racing Supply, Landrum Performance Spring, Ontime Body & Graphic, Zarin Truck & Automotive, Sherwood Wheels, Alternative Power Sources, Precise Racing Products, Stop-Fyre, Lincoln Electric, Velocita-USA, Waterstone Mortgage Hermitage, CrateInsider.com, and Wedge Motorsports.
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. The RUSH Late Model website is www.rushlatemodels.com. Like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/rushlatemodels and follow us on Twitter @RUSHLM.
Article Credit: Mike Leone
