Author: Chris Murphy

RANSOMVILLE, NY – Third generation driver Erick Rudolph from Ransomville, NY was the winner of the Krown Undercoating Modified feature on JetPort Lounge and Niagara’s Lazy Lakes Camping Resort Night at the Ransomville Speedway on a sultry Friday evening. Chris Burek from Wilson, NY won his first Investors Service Sportsman feature of the season. Robbie Johnston from Lockport, NY won his second feature of the season for the Stevenson’s Hardware Novice Sportsman. The Gippsters Collision 4 Bangers feature was called due to rain after five laps were completed.

Kenny Wills and Allan Wills brought the Krown Undercoating 358 Modifieds to the green flag for their 30 lap feature with Kenny Wills getting the lead over his cousin Allan. Off a lap one restart, “The Ransomville Renegade” Ryan Susice would take the lead over Wills with Tommy Flannigan, Scott George and Erick Rudolph racing inside the top five. Flannigan and Rudolph would both get around George to move into third and fourth respectively and would battle with each other for the third position and at the same time reeling in Kenny Wills for second. As Wills, Flannigan, and Rudolph all battled for second, this allowed race leader Ryan Susice to increase his lead. Rudolph would pass both Flannigan and Wills to move into second place on lap 16 and would begin his chase of race leader Susice. Meanwhile, “Mr. Small Block” Pete Bicknell passed Scott George to take over fifth place and George spun, in turn, one with nine laps to go to bring out the races first caution on lap 21. On the restart, Rudolph went to the outside of Susice and the two Ransomville racers went at it for the lead with the duo battling hard for the lead and the win. Kenny Wills slowed on the main straightaway to bring out the caution on lap 24. The six lap shootout would see Rudolph take off in the lead in his BlueCross BlueShield of WNY, BBL Racing number 25, and would pull away from Susice and Bicknell to score his second win of the season.

RACE RESULTS – JETPORT LOUNGE AND LAZY LAKES CAMPING RESORT NIGHT
Krown Undercoating Modifieds: ERICK RUDOLPH, Ryan Susice, Pete Bicknell, Tommy Flannigan, Jesse Cotriss, Steve Schumacher, Jeff McGinnis, Scott Kerwin, Kenny Wills, Scott George, Allan Wills, Chad Brachmann, John Smith, Jim Zimmerman, Russ Zimmerman, Steve Lewis Jr, Rick Richner
Qualifying Winners: Rick Richner, Kenny Wills

http://www.dirttrackdigest.com/New17/?p=7912

By MIKE MALLETT

RANSOMVILLE, NY – Much like he has in the past, Erick Rudolph has an ambitious schedule planned for the 2017 racing season that includes two nights of weekly racing. He’ll also hit to road to compete with the Super DIRTcar Series, the 358-Modified DIRTcar Series while also defending his title on The Mod Tour in Western Pennsylvania and Ohio.

“I’m really excited to get going,” stated Rudolph. “I don’t think we’ve had this good of equipment all lined up to go into one year. We’ll definitely be busy this year. We’ll start off with weekly racing in April and May before hitting the road a lot during the summer. We’ll have our hands full but we’ve got good teams with good equipment.”

Rudolph will drive for BBL Racing for his weekly schedule. He’ll call his hometown track Ransomville Speedway home on Fridays before committing to action on Saturday nights at Canandaigua Motorsports Park. He’s hoping running the big-block weekly at Canandaigua will improve his overall program.

“Basically it comes down to that fact that I felt like I would learn more and get better as a driver running there,” commented Rudolph about his plans to run at Canandaigua. “I felt like I’d learn the big-block more if I ran there. I think it will make me better in the small-block as well. The big-block is a little more challenging. As a team we are ready to learn and hopefully it makes our whole operation better. I believe the extra night a week in the big-block is going to help.”

BBL Racing will also provide Rudolph the opportunity run several 358-Modified Series events, special events at Cornwall Motor Speedway and races yet to be determined where a DIRTcar legal small-block is the preferred combination.

Rudolph’ partnership with Randy Chrysler is set to continue as the potent duo return to defend their title on The Mod Tour. Last year Rudolph captured the championship by 40 points over Rex King Jr. The title was capped off with a win in the Russ King Memorial at Sharon Speedway.

The Chrysler team also will provide support for Rudolph to run events on Brett Deyo’s Short Track Super Series along with other non-sanctioned events. The team started their season together already at the DIRTcar Nationals in Florida.

Rudolph’s family owned No. 25 has a schedule of 15 to 20 races with the Super DIRTcar Series tour.

For 2017 season, Rudolph’s BBL Racing team is supported by BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York, Crown Benefits, National Maintenance Contracting Corp., Niagara Lawn & Garden, Lewis & Lewis, and Tim Hortons.

Rudolph’s other teams receive sponsorship from Snyder Industries, Brigham Concrete, Fox Shocks, Mohawk Northeast, VP Race Fuels, Champion Lubricants, LAX PRESS Lacrosse Equipment.

http://www.dirttrackdigest.com/New17/?p=2482