Pittsburgh's Pa. Motor Speedway
Montgomery wins RUSH's Pittsburgher opener
Ryan Montgomery earned his fourth RUSH touring victory. (Todd Battin)
IMPERIAL, Pa. (Oct. 11) — Ryan Montgomery of Fairmont, W.Va., took the lead from Josh Holtgraver of Pittsburgh, Pa., on lap four of Friday’s RUSH Dirt Late Model Series feature at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway and dominated the remainder of the 25-lap event.
Montgomery raced to the tour’s most dominating victory of the season with a half-lap lead at the finish. He earned $1,500 for the his fourth series victory of the season, which moves him into a tie with standouts Mike Pegher, Jr. and Max Blair for the most victories on the first-year Crate Late Model series.
"We waited til the last minute, looked at the race track to see how it was, and it ended up being good," said Montgomery, whose victory came on the first night of the 25th annual Pittsburgher 100 weekend at PPMS. "It started to get tight toward the middle of the race, but I adjusted my brakes and it was fine. I really wasn't that comfortable at all times. I split a couple cars and didn't feel comfortable doing that, but I figured they were beating down on my back door.”
Holtgraver settled for second at the half-mile oval with Chad Ruhlman of Bemus Point, N.Y., third while Dennis Lunger Jr. of Albion, Pa., and Blair of Wexford, Pa., rounded out the top five.
Friday’s event that ran in support of Jason Feger’s $10,000 victory in National Dirt Racing League action. The Pittsburgher 100 continues Saturday with a $25,000-to-win event for NDRL Super Late Models and a $3,000-to-win race for the RUSH Series.
RUSH @ PPMS: (1) Ryan Montgomery, (2) Josh Holtgraver, (3) Chad Ruhlman, (4) Dennis Lunger Jr., (5) Max Blair, (6) Mark Moats Jr., (7) John Waters, (8) Michael Lake, (9) Steve Beatty, (10) Mike Pegher Jr., (11) Zack Dohm, (12) Jason Rider, (13) Dan Angelicchio, (14) Rocky Kugel, (15) Michael Reft, (16) Dennis Niederriter, Jr., (17) Ron Hall, (18) Cody Dawson, (19) Tim Shaffer, (20) Butch Lambert, (21) Andrew Satterlee, (22) Andrew Wylie, (23) Daryl Charlier, (24) Tommy Schirnhofer Jr., (25) Paul Jablonski. Fast qualifier (among 35 cars): Rider, 20.466 seconds. Heat race winners: Rider, Schirnhofer, Moats, Holtgraver, Dash winner: Schirnhofer. Consolation winner: Dawson, Dohm. Provisional: Lambert.
