Pittsburgh's Pa. Motor Speedway
Montgomery completes RUSH sweep at PPMS
IMPERIAL, Pa. (Oct. 12) — Ryan Montgomery of Fairmont, W.Va., completed a sweep of the Sweeney Chevrolet-Buick-GMC RUSH Dirt Late Model Series weekend at Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway on Saturday, winning by nearly a half-track margin.
the 16-year-old Montgomery added Saturday’s $3,000 payday to his $1,500 victory on Friday and moved into points lead on the first-year tour for Crate Late Model racers.
"I can't explain this; it's probably just pure luck,” Montgomery said after the 22nd of 24 series events. "God is watching over me and I have a lot of people helping me out. This will probably be the only weekend this will ever happen in my life, but at least it's now I guess.
“I ran go-kart for a long time and was a national champion. This place you have to drive straight and it's pretty close to go-karts. It's an awesome place to race and I love racing here. Hopefully nothing breaks or the next two races both rain out!”
Montgomery led all 30 laps of Saturday’s main event for his tour-leading fifth victory of the season as he wrested the series points lead from Mike Pegher Jr. of Wexford, Pa., who posted 10th- and 17th-place weekend finishes. Pegher entered the weekend leading by 18 points, but now trails Montgomery by 17.
Hometown driver Josh Holtgraver took the second spot from Andrew Satterlee of Rochester Mills, Pa., on the 17th lap, but he finished more than seven seconds behind Montgomery in a race slowed by a single caution for Andrew Wylie’s lap-three spin.
Satterlee was third while Chad Ruhlman of Bemus Point, N.Y., was fourth and Michael Lake of Uniontown, Pa., rounded out the top five.
Next up on the series is a $3,000-to-win event Oct. 18-19 at Roaring Knob Motorsports Complex in Markleysburg, Pa.
Pittsburgher: (1) Ryan Montgomery, (2) Josh Holtgraver, (3) Andrew Satterlee, (4) Chad Ruhlman, (5) Michael Lake, (6) Joe Martin, (7) Dan Angelicchio, (8) Nico Dabecco, (9) Dennis Lunger Jr., (10) Zack Dohm, (11) Max Blair, (12) Michael Reft, (13) Tommy Schirnofer Jr., (14) Justin Lamb, (15) Rocky Kugel, (16) Andrew Wylie, (17) Mike Pegher Jr., (18) Mark Moats Jr., (19) John Waters, (20) Cody Dawson, (21) Dennis Niederriter Jr., (22) Bryant Hank, (23) Butch Lambert, (24) Ron Hall, (25) Jason Rider. Fast qualifier (among 37 cars): Schirnofer, 20.560 seconds. Heat race winners: Satterlee, Blair, Montgomery, Holtgraver. Dash winner: Montgomery. Consolation winners: Moats, Wylie. Provisional starter: Lambert.
