6.1.19 RUSH Late Models Results
(Batavia, NY)…The Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC RUSH Dirt Late Model Touring Series presented by Pace Performance made its only appearance of the year to Genesee Speedway on Saturday night. Race #6 of the 2019 season saw 28 cars from all over New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Ontario, Canada make the trip to the Batavia, NY fairground track despite rain all around the region for much of the day that rained out most every other speedway. The four-division show started early and was pushed along fast as the RUSH Late Model feature was in the staging area when rain struck around 8 p.m. A big thank you goes out to third year promoter, Jim Johnson, who was determined to get the show in. After a solid hour of steady rain, Johnson and crew went to work and after 90 minutes of track prep, racing resumed on a fast track.
When you’re hot, you’re hot. In the last three races, defending champion Jeremy Wonderling has withstood a mid-race rain delay and torrid challenges by Jason Genco and Max Blair in lapped traffic to win at Stateline, out-dueled 2017 champion John Waters and held off a big charge by Kyle Lukon to win at Outlaw, and on Saturday night waited out a two and half hour rain delay and flew to victory on a fast Genesee track for his unprecedented third straight Sweeney Tour win. All three 30-lap $2,000 victories have come in Wonderling’s home state of New York. Wonderling has also received the Sunoco 5-Gallon Race Jug each night.
“If you got too close to the wall on the outside it’d do strange things with the race car,” acknowledged the 39-year-old Wellsville, NY standout. “It was what it was with the rain, but the track turned out pretty good there during the feature. It started to widen out and had some slick spots. It got interesting with lapped traffic, but everything worked out. I have to thank all of my sponsors, my family, friends, and everyone that helps out.”
When you’re fast and winning races you usually have some breaks and luck on your side too. Outside pole-sitter, Braeden Dillinger, jumped the initial start and that moved Wonderling to the outside front row. The outside is a place you can usually find “Mr. Excitement” running no matter what track he’s competing at. Jason Genco would lead the opening lap, but a caution slowed action forcing another double file restart and this time Wonderling powered around the top into the lead on lap two.
By lap five, Wonderling began to stretch out his lead, while Dillinger put the pressure on Genco for runner-up. Wonderling had a straightaway lead when he caught lapped traffic on lap 10 then was in heavy traffic when the caution was displayed for Jon Rivers, who tried a slide job in turn four and caught the cushion wrong spinning around with 14 laps completed.
Wonderling took back off in the lead when green replaced yellow on lap 15, while Genco and Dillinger resumed their battle for second. Wonderling had two late race major scares in lapped traffic. The first came on lap 23 when he was carrying a lot of speed racing off turn four and caught the lapped car of Billy DuBois, who was off the pace, at the wrong time. Wonderling pitched his car sideways and made contact with DuBois, but was able to sneak underneath him to maintain his lead.
The second scare came on the last lap when Logan Zarin spun right in front of Wonderling on the bottom side of turns one and two. Wonderling and the rest of the field was able to miss him. Wonderling was able to survive one more double file restart as he raced to his seventh career Sweeney Tour victory in his Close Racing Supply/Terry Prince Contracting/Pine Grove Collision/The Store in Scio/Ultra Force Machine/Wonderling Pit Stop-sponsored #3J. Wonderling entered the season with four career Tour victories and has now nearly doubled that total in the first six races of the season as he’s moved into a tie for fifth place on the all-time Tour win list.
After dueling in the dash for the win, Genco and Dillinger battled the final 29 laps of the feature for the runner-up position with Genco coming out on top and that easily earned him the Dirt Defender “Defensive Drive of the Night”. In 2018, Genco won five of eight races he entered at Genesee including both Tour races and the two-day $4,500 sweep of the “Topless Nationals”, but on Saturday night had to settle for the $1,000 runner-up prize.
In his first year of Touring and first ever visit to Genesee, Dillinger had a great run to take third for his best career Tour finish as he sits fourth in points. After finishing runner-up in the Street Stock feature, Stebbins went out and finished fourth in the RUSH feature bettering his eighth place run on Friday night at Outlaw Speedway. For the second straight night, Kyle Lukon started 12th and recorded another top five finish.
Paul Grigsby made his Tour season debut and had a good run going 11th to sixth to receive the “Spoiler Alert” contingency worth $150 for a spoiler from Ontime Body & Graphic. After a poor qualifying effort and a last place heat race finish, Dave DuBois raced from eighth to fourth in the last chance B main to earn the 22nd starting spot in the feature. “The Outlaw” then charged the whole way up to seventh in the feature and received the $100 “Pedal Down” Hard Charger gift card from Precise Racing Products. Tour rookies Ryan Frazee and Michael Duritsky, Jr. were eighth and ninth respectively in their first ever Genesee starts, while J.J. Mazur was 10th after starting 17th.
David Pangrazio set fast time in $100 FK Rod Ends “Shock the Clock” Qualifying with a lap of 17.601. Pangrazio also won the first $25 FK Rod Ends heat race and started third in the feature, but didn’t finish the feature and was awarded the TBM Brakes “Tough Brake of the Night” award. Wonderling and Genco also added $25 FK Rod Ends heat race victories, while Jon Rivers won the last chance B main. Genco captured the dash victory to earn the pole for the feature.
The Zarin Truck and Automotive “$500 Club” drawings took place for drivers in the top 15 of Genesee track points. Thirteen of the 15 drivers competed and were eligible. Johnson Automotive and East Coast Speed co-sponsored the five $100 drawings that went to Bill Holmes, Doug Ricotta, Dave DuBois, Jim Johnson, and John Rivers.
The Sweeney Tour will round out the three-race weekend on Sunday evening at Eriez Speedway in Erie, Pa. with another $2,000 to-win Marquee event. Racing is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. This show was rained out on May 19 after qualifying was completed as Tour members received show-up points, but it will be a complete new show with a new draw starting at 3:30 p.m.
Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC RUSH Late Model Touring Series Race #6 (30 laps, $2,000 to-win): 1. JEREMY WONDERLING (3J) 2. Jason Genco (Craig/Badgley 29J) 3. Braeden Dillinger (14) 4. Kurt Stebbins (26) 5. Kyle Lukon (184) 6. Paul Grigsby (24) 7. Dave DuBois (012) 8. Ryan Frazee (11F) 9. Michael Duritsky, Jr. (90J) 10. J.J. Mazur (13) 11. Logan Zarin (1z) 12. Kyle Murray (21) 13. Sam Pennacchio (311) 14. Doug Ricotta (01) 15. Billy DuBois (21B) 16. Beamer Guzzardi (12) 17. Jon Rivers (85) 18. Bill Kessler (09) 19. Brian Knowles (7) 20. David Pangrazio (136) 21. Cory Sines (25s) 22. Andy Michael (17x) 23. Bill Holmes (65) 24. Chad Sines (15).
DNQ for the feature: T.J. Downs (1), Austyn Fugle (36), Mark Sundt (94B), Jim Johnson (39J).
Car Count: 28
Feature Lap Leaders: Jason Genco (1), Jeremy Wonderling (2-30)
Zarin Truck & Automotive “$500 Club” co-sponsored by Johnson Automotive & East Coast Speed: Bill Holmes, Doug Ricotta, Dave DuBois, Jimmy Johnson & Jon Rivers
Precise Racing Products “Pedal Down Hard Charger”: Dave DuBois (+15)
Dirt Defender “Defensive Drive of the Night”: Jason Genco
TBM Brakes “Tough Brake of the Night”: David Pangrazio
Sunoco 5-Gallon Race Jugs: Jeremy Wonderling
Ontime Body & Graphic “Spoiler Alert”: Paul Grigsby
FK Rod Ends “Shock the Clock” Qualifying ($100 for fast time) (Track record 17.160 by Jeremy Wonderling 6/2/18): 1. David Pangrazio 17.601 2. Jeremy Wonderling 17.604 3. Jason Genco 17.663 4. Brian Knowles 17.716 5. Ryan Frazee 17.732 6. Braeden Dillinger 17.740 7. Sam Pennacchio 17.750 8. Doug Ricotta 17.782 9. Bill Holmes 17.783 10. Jim Johnson 17.841 11. Beamer Guzzardi 17.857 12. Kyle Lukon 17.886 13. Jon Rivers 17.888 14. Paul Grigsby 17.891 15. Michael Duritsky, Jr. 17.911 16. Kurt Stebbins 17.983 17. J.J. Mazur 17.973 18. Kyle Murray 18.036 19. Logan Zarin 18.038 20. Dave DuBois 18.157 21. T.J. Downs 18.256 22. Andy Michael 18.316 23. Billy DuBois 18.332 24. Bill Kessler 18.382 25. Cory Sines 18.435 26. Mark Sundt 18.885 27. Austyn Fugle 19.113 28. Chad Sines 22.181.
FK Rod Ends Heat 1 (8 laps, Top 6 transfer to A, $25 to-win) 1. Pangrazio 2. Stebbins 3. Pennacchio 4. Michael 5. Zarin 6. Knowles 7. Co. Sines 8. Rivers 9. Ch. Sines 10. Johnson.
FK Rod Ends Heat 2 (8 laps, Top 6 transfer to A, $25 to-win) 1. Wonderling 2. Frazee 3. Ricotta 4. Grigsby 5. Guzzardi 6. Mazur 7. B. DuBois 8. Sundt 9. D. DuBois.
FK Rod Ends Heat 3 (8 laps, Top 6 transfer to A, $25 to-win) 1. Genco 2. Dillinger 3. Holmes 4. Lukon 5. Duritsky 6. Murray 7. Kessler 8. Downs 9. Fugle.
Last Chance B Main (10 laps, Top 6 transfer to A): 1. Rivers 2. Co. Sines 3. B DuBois 4. D. DuBois 5. Kessler 6. Ch. Sines 7. Downs 8. Fugle 9. Sundt 10. Johnson.
Dash (6 laps): 1. Genco 2. Dillinger 3. Pangrazio 4. Wonderling 5. Stebbins 6. Frazee.
RUSH Racing Series is brought to you by Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC & Pace Performance 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, FK Rod Ends, Wehrs Machine & Racing Products, 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, Trailer-Alarms.com, Bonnell’s Rod Shop, Sherwood Wheels, Alternative Power Sources, Precise Racing Products, Lincoln Electric, Velocita-USA, Classic Ink USA, CrateInsider.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 RUSH Racing Series website is www.rushracingseries.com. Like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/rushlatemodels and follow us on Twitter @RUSHLM