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MCKEAN’S 4TH & FINAL NORTHEAST TOURING SERIES EVENT FRIDAY IS PART OF 2-DAY “FALL CLASSIC” FOR FASTRAK; 2 COMPLETE SHOWS WITH WEEKLY SERIES EVENT SATURDAY By Mike Leone September 21, 2011 (East Smethport, PA)…After coming off of a successful “Apple Festival Nationals” at Sharon Speedway last weekend in which 43 different cars participated between the two days that featured a Weekly Series event on Friday and Touring Saturday, the Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC FASTRAK Northeast Late Model Touring Series will have a similar situation this weekend at McKean County Raceway. The East Smethport, Pa. facility will host their fourth Touring Series event on Friday for race #18 of the 2011 slate and then on Saturday hold a Weekly Series event as part of the sixth annual “Fall Classic”. “This is always a great weekend,” stated fifth year Northeast Co-Director Vicki Emig. “It’s a great opportunity for the racers to get two events at the same track, which is pretty rare. Last weekend went tremendous at Sharon and we expect more of the same this weekend. At last year’s Fall Classic, over 40 cars participated each night! Another great field of cars is expected.” Friday’s Touring Series event will be a 25-lap feature paying $1,200 to-win, while Saturday will be a regular McKean County FASTRAK Weekly Series event; however, “Friends of MCR” have added an additional $500 to the winner’s share making it $1,250 to-win on Saturday! If Friday’s race rains out, Saturday’s show will become the Touring Series event. Earlier this season, Mike Pegher, Jr. won both the June 18 and June 30 Bully Dog Speedweek events, while Josh Holtgraver captured his first career McKean County victory during the McKean County Fair on August 18. McKean has been the site of 11 Northeast Touring Series events over the past five seasons with an amazing nine different winners. Pegher and John Lacki have been the only racers to repeat to date, while Todd Andrews, Max Blair, Kyle Drum, Butch Lambert, Robbie Blair, Steve Dixon, and Holtgraver have recorded single victories. Blair leads the troops into McKean with an 18-point lead. That lead has drastically shrunk since early July as Pegher has finished ahead of Blair for seven straight races and eight of the last nine; however, Pegher had a great opportunity to gain a lot of points last Saturday at Sharon when Blair suffered his first DNF of the season, but a lapped car took Pegher out of the lead as he could only rebound to an 11th place finish. Last season, Blair defeated Pegher in both the National Weekly Series and Northeast Touring Series points. Blair has already wrapped up his third $10,000 National Weekly title, while Pegher again sits second in that as well. Blair will now look to secure his third Northeast Touring Series crown in four seasons! After winning two of the first four Tour races, Blair has been able to reach victory lane only once since and that was clear back on June 25. While Blair and Pegher are the only two drivers with a shot at the 2011 crown, the race for third through seventh in points has tightened up. Two-time 2011 winner Dan Angelicchio leads Holtgraver, another two-time 2011 winner, by just two points for the race for the third. Steve Dixon, who won his first career Raceway 7 feature on July 1, is 19 back of Holtgraver in fifth. Joe Martin is having his career best season 29 points behind Dixon in sixth. Martin took some time off during a rough Speedweek and missed two events, but has come back strong with five straight top 10 Touring finishes including a near win at the $3,000 to-win Tyler County race! Rounding out the top 10 in points are Butch Lambert, John Volpe, Damian Bidwell, and Lauren Longbrake. Currently 11th through 15th in points that will also take a piece of the point fund include George Kowatic, Kyle Zimmerman, Josh Double, Chad Wright, and Jamie Brown. Last Saturday at Sharon, 14-year-old Ryan Montgomery came from 13th to pass fellow “Futures Cup” racer Damian Bidwell in turn four on the final lap to become the ninth different Touring Series winner of the season for his first career Tour win. Montgomery is expected to participate for the first time at McKean this weekend as he continues to lead the “Futures Cup” points over Bidwell and Wright. This year’s Northeast Touring events have averaged 34 cars per event. One hundred seventy-four different racers have participated in at least one of the 17 Northeast Touring events this season! On Friday, the Utsinger’s Towing “Hoosier Tire Giveaway” program will resume awarding a new FASTRAK Hoosier tire to the driver running last on the lead lap at the finish, and the Original Pizza Logs Contingency Connection will again award two $1,000 contingency packages to lucky drivers that have yet to receive them in 2011. “McKean has been an important part of FASTRAK since it debuted in the Northeast,” explained FASTRAK Northeast Director Mike Leone. “They were one of our four original tracks and have stuck with us every season. This year they stepped up with four events and to be part of our inaugural Speedweek and allowed us to be part of their fair race for the first time ever! The northern racers are always tough to beat on their home turf so it should be an exciting weekend!” There have been 71 Northeast Touring Series races contested with 29 different winners all-time. Mike Pegher, Jr. leads the way with 13 victories to Max Blair’s 12 followed by Dick Barton, Bobby Powell, John Lacki, and David Scott with four, Steve Dixon and Josh Holtgraver at three, Alan Dellinger, Dan Angelicchio, and Joe Martin with two, and Todd Andrews, Kyle Drum, Frank Guidace, Butch Lambert, Carl McKinney, Dennis Lunger, Jr., Tom Snyder, Jr., Chris Meadows, Jim Frank, Mike Blose, Robbie Blair, Jonathan Davenport, Gary Knollinger, Dusty Hamrick, Bud Watson, Russell King, George Kowatic, and Ryan Montgomery with one victory. Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC FASTRAK Northeast Touring Series Points (only Northeast Touring Series members receive points): 1. Max Blair 541 2. Mike Pegher, Jr. 523 3. Dan Angelicchio 445 4. Josh Holtgraver 443 5. Steve Dixon 424 6. Joe Martin 395 7. Butch Lambert 388 8. Damian Bidwell 322 9. John Volpe 266 10. Lauren Longbrake 227 11. George Kowatic 223 12. Kyle Zimmerman & Josh Double 206 14. Chad Wright 185 15. Jamie Brown 175 16. Andrew Wylie 168 17. Wayne Robertson 165 18. Brian Lessley 148 19. Shane Hitt 139 20. Ryan Montgomery 127 21. Robbie Marhefka 118 22. Kyle Lukon 104 23. Clay Ruffo 99 24. Junior Peters & Adam Sixt 97 26. Mike Blose 87 27. Robbie Blair 77 28. T.J. Downs 72 29. Mike Laughard 66 30. Troy Shields 62 31. Bill Cunningham 62 32. Darren Peters 55 33. Rick Strickler 48 34. Bobby Rohrer, Jr. 42 35. Bobby Cossell IV 40 36. Billy Cunningham 38 37. Tyler Barris 32 38. Patrick Willar 30 39. Billy Stile II 25 40. Jim Long 23 41. Andrew Satterlee 20 42. Laura Lukon 19 43. Bud Watson 17 44. Joe Long, Matt Bassaro, Michael Hughes, Rich Logan, Jr., Russell Baird, Jr., Scott Beitzel 10. Friday’s Northeast Touring Series Payoff: 1. $1,200 2. $650 3. $450 4. $350 5. $325 6. $300 7. $275 8. $260 9. $255 10. $250 11. $225 12. $210 13. $200 14. $175 15. $165 16. $160 17. $155 18-24. $150. Bonus Event for non-qualifiers to be held if 30 or more cars paying $125 to-win, $55 to-start. Tow/Non-qualifiers $50. Transponders and RACEceivers are mandatory. Westhold transponders (yellow) will be required all weekend and there is a $20 rental for the weekend. There is a $50 entry fee for Friday. Any tech questions or information on the RACEceivers, call Brad Hibbard at 330-540-RACE. On Friday, gates open at 4 p.m. with racing at 7. Pit passes are $30 on Friday, $35 on Saturday or $80 for the weekend, which includes Thursday’s open practice. McKean County Raceway is a 1/3-mile dirt track located at the McKean County Fairgrounds in East Smethport, Pa. at the intersections of Route 6 and 46. For more information on McKean County Raceway, check out their website at www.mckeancountyraceway.com or call 814-362-6909. The track number on race day is 814-887-2600. FASTRAK Northeast’s 2011 marketing partners include Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC, The Original Pizza Logs, Bully Dog, Contingency Connection, Utsinger’s Towing, and Hoosier Tire. You can reach co-directors Vicki Emig and Mike Leone at the FASTRAK Northeast office at 724-964-9300. E-mail to info@fastraknortheast.com and snail mail to 4368 Route 422, Pulaski, PA 16143. The office is open daily late mornings and after 1:30 p.m. For more information, check out the FASTRAK Northeast website at www.fastraknortheast.com. Become our fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ |
