SARVER, PA – For the first time in recent memory, Mother Nature came through with a completely dry Friday which paved the way for a fantastic night of racing at The Action Track. The BRP Mod Tour paid its second visit of the season on Friday, bringing a stout 33 car field and action packed racing with it as Ransomville, NY invader Erick Rudolph was left standing in Terry Bowser Excavating Victory Lane at the end of the 35 lap main event. Meanwhile, the invader parade in victory lane continued with Carlisle, PA driver Jason Shultz who bested the field in Peoples Natural Gas Sprint Car action. Cody Koteles and Jacob Dietz both collected wins in Friday’s Millerstown Pic-A-Part Pro Stock features with Dietz’s win coming in the held over feature from June 27 which kicked off the night of racing. And, the Crusher Kid aka Michael Norris closed out the night by picking up the win with the Hovis Auto & Truck Supply RUSH Late Models who made their second City Chevrolet Weekly Series appearance of the season with the Glassmere Fuel Service Late Models taking the night off.
Rudolph Charges to BRP Mod Tour Win
Erick Rudolph made the four plus hour tow worth it on Friday night. Sporting a relatively new GSR (Glenn Styres Racing) chassis that looks to be very competitive out of the box, the Super DIRTCar Series driver had always been a threat to win at The Action Track every time he paid a visit. And on Friday night, he once again delivered a stout performance en route to a $2,500 payday in BRP Modified Tour action. However, young Canadian standout Dalton Slack made the long haul as well and drew the pole position for the 35 lap main event, starting alongside Kyle Fink.
Slack broke away for the early lead immediately after the green flag dropped with Fink and Brian Swartzlander gaining a small amount of early separation on the field in the early going. Swartzlander moved underneath Fink for the second spot with two laps in the books, and behind the action up front, defending track champion Garrett Krummert and three time track champion Rex King Jr. both had their work cut out for them given their sixth and 12th starting spots respectively, and both made immediate progress towards the front of the field in the early going. Out front, Slack had managed a near straightaway lead over Swartzlander in the first five laps and looked to be the class of the field early on. Fink started to fade a bit with four laps down as Krummert, and Canadian Tyler Willard both made their way around for positions three and four.
Meanwhile, eighth starting Rudolph showed a bit of patience in the first five laps, letting the race sort out in front of him before making a charge to the front as he made his way around Willard for the fourth spot with six laps down. At the lap 10 mark, Slack encountered a good deal of lapped traffic and was able to utilize all three grooves to stretch out a three second advantage over second running Swartzlander. Rudolph then began to run down Krummert for third; using a very tight line around the bottom that he used to slingshot around turn four with a huge burst of momentum while running a mid to higher line in turns one and two. Rudolph made the pass for third with 14 laps down and then made his way past Swartzlander with 16 down as he found himself with a sizable gap behind Slack in front.
However, Slack’s hold on the field was halted by a caution from Cameron Miller with 21 laps down just as King made his way past Swartzlander for the third spot, setting up an intriguing restart. Slack elected to start on the bottom but was eclipsed by Rudolph who used the top side of the speedway coming out of turn two, wrestling the lead away with 16 laps to go. All eyes then turned to the battle behind the leaders as Krummert and Swartzlander both wound up charges in an attempt to take the third spot from King. Swartlander got around Krummert for fourth just before Tom Holden then brought out the caution flag with seven laps to go as Rudolph elected to start on the bottom side and drove away from Slack as Krummert vaulted to third spot with King falling back to sixth. Rick Regalski then brought out the caution with five laps to go, setting up a single file restart and a quick shootout for the win. Rudolph never looked back in collecting the victory with a reasonably comfortable margin while King went for broke, passing Swartzlander on the top side of the speedway around turn four to claim the third spot at the flag stand.
Diehl Modifieds
A Feature 1 (35 Laps): 1. 25-Erick Rudolph[8]; 2. 3RS-Dalton Slack[1]; 3. 165-Rex King Jr[12]; 4. 6S-Brian Swartzlander[4]; 5. 29-Garrett Krummert[6]; 6. 14S-Justin Shea[18]; 7. 777-Tyler Willard[5]; 8. 5C-Ayden Cipriano[9]; 9. 61-Dave Murdick[13]; 10. 37MD-Jeremiah Shingledecker[11]; 11. 17M-Kyle Fink[2]; 12. 45-Steve Feder[14]; 13. 18-Colton Walters[3]; 14. 20P-Mike Kinney[20]; 15. 5A-Austin Eyler[16]; 16. 64-Rodney Beltz[19]; 17. B4-Brayden Beatty[15]; 18. 60-Tom Holden[17]; 19. 9-Cameron Miller[22]; 20. 13-Rick Regalski Jr[21]; 21. 3K-Shawn Kozar[23]; 22. (DNF) 87-Rocky Kugel[7]; 23. (DNF) X-Jeremy Paup[24]; 24. (DNF) 11R-Brad Rapp[10]
B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 13-Rick Regalski Jr[1]; 2. 9-Cameron Miller[4]; 3. 3K-Shawn Kozar[12]; 4. 25B-Steve Barr[2]; 5. 72-Jim Kurpakus[6]; 6. 8M-Macey Adamik[9]; 7. 7-Noah Wirginis[8]; 8. 27R-Dave Reges[7]; 9. X-Jeremy Paup[5]; 10. 18W-Jeff Walters[3]; 11. (DNS) 55-Brenten Kay; 12. (DNS) 26-Karley Miller; 13. (DNS) 35-Steve Slater
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 165-Rex King Jr[8]; 2. 25-Erick Rudolph[2]; 3. 777-Tyler Willard[4]; 4. 61-Dave Murdick[7]; 5. 60-Tom Holden[6]; 6. 13-Rick Regalski Jr[5]; 7. X-Jeremy Paup[3]; 8. 8M-Macey Adamik[1]; 9. (DNS) 26-Karley Miller
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 3RS-Dalton Slack[1]; 2. 18-Colton Walters[3]; 3. 17M-Kyle Fink[6]; 4. 45-Steve Feder[5]; 5. 14S-Justin Shea[7]; 6. 25B-Steve Barr[8]; 7. (DNF) 72-Jim Kurpakus[4]; 8. (DNF) 35-Steve Slater[2]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 5C-Ayden Cipriano[4]; 2. 37MD-Jeremiah Shingledecker[7]; 3. 87-Rocky Kugel[1]; 4. B4-Brayden Beatty[8]; 5. 64-Rodney Beltz[5]; 6. 18W-Jeff Walters[6]; 7. 27R-Dave Reges[3]; 8. (DNS) 55-Brenten Kay
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 29-Garrett Krummert[2]; 2. 6S-Brian Swartzlander[3]; 3. 11R-Brad Rapp[5]; 4. 5A-Austin Eyler[1]; 5. 20P-Mike Kinney[8]; 6. 9-Cameron Miller[6]; 7. 7-Noah Wirginis[4]; 8. (DNF) 3K-Shawn Kozar[7]