10/8/2019
KYLE LUKON'S 3RD STRAIGHT SWEENEY RUSH LATE MODEL TOUR WIN AT PITTSBURGH IS WORTH $5200 IN "BILL HENDREN MEMORIAL PRESENTED BY FK ROD ENDS/PRO FAB WHI
(Imperial, PA)...The Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC RUSH Dirt Late Model Touring Series presented by Pace Performance took part in the 31st annual "Pittsburgher 100" weekend at Pittsburgh's PA Motor Speedway on Friday and Saturday night as they joined up with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series for the fourth straight year in the running of the "Bill Hendren Memorial" presented by FK Rod Ends in conjunction with Pro Fabrication. Capturing wins were Kyle Lukon-Feature, Logan Zarin-"One to Remember" Non-Winners presented by Pace Performance, and Robbie Scott-Non-Qualifier. Special thanks to the Hendren Family, FK Rod Ends, Pro Fabrication, Pace Performance, CrateInsider.com, the numerous other sponsors, and of course Miley Motor Sports that made this the richest "Bill Hendren Memorial" in the seven-year history of the event being run in the Northeast!
As hard as it's to believe, entering the July 20 race at Pittsburgh, Kyle Lukon hadn't won a Sweeney Tour event in more than six years. Fast forward less than three months and Lukon has now won three straight Tour races at his old stomping grounds. Those three victories at the "Monster Half-Mile" coming in the "Herb Scott Memorial", the "Jook George Steel City Classic", and now the "Bill Hendren Memorial" have earned Lukon $18,800 and propelled him past defending champion Jeremy Wonderling in the championship points race! During the latest victory, Lukon wasn't even close to being the fastest car during the "Bill Hendren Memorial" weekend; in fact, he was just the 10th fastest in qualifying, finished second in his heat, fourth in the dash, and didn't even battle for the lead until the closing laps of the feature. Lukon took second on lap 32 and two laps later made the winning pass of John Mollick for the 40-lap, $5,200 win, while his teammate Alex Ferree came home second.
"This has been amazing," expressed the soon-to-be 30-year-old Burgettstown, Pa. racer after his 37th career PPMS win, but first ever Bill Hendren Memorial victory. "For Alex (Ferree) and I to finish one-two is just a dream come true. It would mean everything to win the title at Lernerville- that would be a good birthday present. We both run well there and there will be a good field of cars so we'll see what happens. John (Mollick) and Garret (Paugh) were both really good. I wasn't as good as them on the top and once they caught the lapped cars they started moving down a bit. I started catching Garret in traffic and he was right on John. It was real tricky down in turns three and four and I hit it right two laps in a row like Jimmy Owens and Stormy Scott were doing (Lucas Oil Late Models) to catch up to them. If you hit it just right you could launch off there. It was all on the line and I didn't even know how many laps were left. That was why I took an extra lap at the end."
Mollick earned the pole for the feature via his dash win for the second straight race and this time raced to the lead over Garret Paugh, track champion Ben Policz, and Lukon. Policz moved to second past Paugh on lap two, while Lukon began to challenge Paugh. The two battled side-by-side for third on laps five and six before a caution for a spin by Zach Gunn with six laps scored slowed action.
When racing resumed, Ferree, who started ninth, cracked the top five. Lukon then went back to work on Paugh and took the third spot on lap nine, but two laps later saw Paugh grab it back. The event's second and final caution was displayed when Gunn made heavy contact with the frontstretch wall after six more laps were completed.
When racing resumed for the final 28 non-stop laps, things really got shuffled up from positions two through six as Paugh and eighth starting Eddie Carrier, Jr. moved past Policz for second and third. Now it was three orange Rocket cars out front with Mollick leading over West Virginia racers Paugh and Carrier. After dropping back to fifth, Lukon regained fourth on lap 14 from Paugh. Lukon found moisture on the bottom of turn four like some of the Lucas Oil Super Late Models were doing as he passed Carrier for third on lap 17.
Meanwhile up front, Paugh began to close in on Mollick on lap 18. Mollick continued to set the pace out front as he caught lapped traffic for the first time on lap 21. Heavy traffic came into play on lap 27 as his lead began to shrink and then Lukon closed in on lap 28 making it a three-car race for the lead. It was side-by-side for the top spot between Mollick and Paugh, but Mollick's momentum around the top allowed him to hold the top spot. On lap 32, Lukon snuck under Paugh in lapped traffic in turn four and was right on Mollick. Lukon's winning pass came on the inside of turn four to get by Mollick on lap 34, and took off.
One lap later, Mollick got into the backstretch wall trying to fend off Paugh for second. Mollick suffered damage, but was able to duck into the pits allowing racing to continue as he was chosen as the TBM Brakes "Tough Brake of the Night". Lukon went unchallenged over the remaining laps to win his fourth career Sweeney RUSH Tour race by a comfortable 1.654-second margin in the Phil Lukon-owned, Race 1/Tru Form/Frankland Racing Supply/Lukon's Reb-Fab/Poske's Performance Parts-sponsored #184 Rocket Chassis. Lukon also received a Sunoco 5-Gallon Race Jug.
Ferree was able to pass Paugh on lap 37 to earn $2,500 for his best career RUSH finish for the longtime Super Late Model standout, who brought the Lukon team's total winnings to $7,700 for the night. "Lapped traffic definitely made it interesting," explained the 39-year-old Saxonburg, Pa. racer. "Me and Eddie Carrier had a heck of a battle door-to-door for I don't know how many laps. We got in traffic and he got by me then it worked to my favor and I got by him. We all got bottlenecked and luckily I made the right lane choice in traffic and got up to second. The traction around the bottom made things interesting. You had to fight for it."
"It might not be as exhilarating as a Super Late Model around the wall here but they're still fun to drive," Ferree added. "They are actually harder to race with because everyone is so competitive and close. It makes every mistake exponentially worse where Supers you can recover from. Thanks to the Lukons for allowing me to race this car- I've had a lot of fun. Hopefully I can keep doing this and getting better. I have to also thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, my crew for working coming to work on this car just as hard as my own car, and Vicki (Emig) from RUSH- this is a nice deal."
Paugh fended off Carrier for third place by just 0.213 of a second to earn $1,250 and the Dirt Defender "Defensive Drive of the Night" award. Carrier brought Junior Nolan's #13 home in fourth ($1,000) for the second straight race after finishing ninth in the "Bill Emig Memorial" at Lernerville. Tour rookie and "Futures Cup" racer, Ryan Frazee, earned his second top five finish of the season in fifth.
Policz dropped to sixth. Third place points man, Michael Duritsky, Jr., advanced from 12th to seventh. Tommy Schirnhofer, Jr. was eighth after starting 15th. Jake Gunn improved from the 13th starting spot to ninth. After a season best sixth at the last Tour race, Logan Zarin had a good run going 17th to 10th for his third straight top 11 finish- all his season's best.
Wonderling, who lost the points lead, salvaged another tough weekend going 21st to 12th and earned the $100 Precise Racing Products "Pedal Down" Hard Charger award and received a $250 Crash's Custom Graphics certificate. After seemingly having the points in control with five straight top five finishes including three consecutive wins earlier in the season, Wonderling has really struggled of late. Saturday was Wonderling's third straight finish outside the top 11 and fourth time in the last five races. Wonderling will now try and take the points lead back for the second straight year in the Lernerville finale.
Robbie Scott closed out the "Bill Hendren Memorial" weekend in a winning debut driving for the Zarin Family. The 43-year-old Shinnston, WV driver earned $500 after a dominating performance in the Non-Qualifier taking the checkered flag first by 4.529 seconds in the #5. Scott raced under the fellow black #5 of Levi Crowl in turn two on lap two for the winning move to become the 39th different "Wheelman" Non-Qualifier winner in 46 races run all-time! 2017 "Wheelman" Champion, Jamie Wrightsman, started fourth and passed Crowl on lap nine for second to take over sole possession of the "Wheelman" points lead. Crowl dropped to third over Bill Kessler and Chuck Bowie. In addition to their prize money, all of the non-qualifiers also received a contingency worth at least $100 from RUSH.
On Friday night, Western Pennsylvania Rookie-of-the-Year, Logan Zarin, came out on top of the second annual "One to Remember" Non-Winners race presented by Pace Performance. Logan, who debuted a Jim Zarin throwback look on the #1z- a surprise to his father, passed Josh Stoica on lap five following a restart and drove off over the final 11 non-stop laps winning by a huge margin of 6.003 seconds for the $800 victory. In addition to his cash and hardware, Zarin also received a Go Pro Hero 7 white kit valued at $400 from CrateInsider.com and a $250 Crash's Custom Graphics gift certificate.
"This is definitely special to win at my home track- I can't even talk right now," expressed the recently-turned 17-year-old Moon Twp., Pa. driver of the Jim Zarin-owned, Zarin's Truck & Automotive/Tomei's Towing/Lovell Enterprise/RL Bolea Oil/Wheels, Wings & Wishes Foundation-sponsored ride. "I remember my dad winning so that's why I decided to do the car this way and thought maybe we'd get lucky, and I guess it worked!"
Stoica, who battled for the win in the 2018 event before finishing third, was able to do one spot better this year in second for $300. Sixth starting Zach Gunn passed Bob Schwartzmiller on lap 10 to finish third. Schwartzmiller, who was making his 2019 debut, was fourth after finishing second last year. Tour regular, Bill Kessler, who failed to qualify for the feature, was able to record a top five in both the Non-Winners and Non-Qualifier races.
Also on Friday night, Jake Gunn earned his first FK Rod Ends "Shock the Clock" honors in qualifying with a lap of 19.471 to earn $100. Picking up $25 FK Rod Ends heat races were Mollick, Policz, Paugh, and Carrier. Mollick also won the dash on Friday. Winning Saturday's last chance B mains were Wonderling and Schwartzmiller.
The Zarin Truck & Automotive "$500 Club" was co-sponsored by Bazell Race Fuels with the following top 15 drivers in PPMS points being randomly drawn for $100: Justin Lamb, Stoica, Schirnhofer, Zarin, and Duritsky. Winning the second Go Pro Hero 7 white kit ($400 value) from CrateInsider.com, this one in a random draw of all competitors, was Colton Flinner. The $150 spoiler kit from Ontime Body & Graphic was for position 14 in the feature and that went to Wayne Robertson.
The Sweeney Tour will complete the 2019 seasons at Lernerville Speedway on October 17-19 with the annual "Steel City Stampede". Thursday will include practice followed by FK Rod Ends "Shock the Clock" Qualifying and FK Rod Ends heat races on Friday night. Saturday will be last chance B main(s), the $2,000 to-win feature, and $200 to-win non-qualifier. Sunday is the rain date.
Article Credit: Mike Leone
