MERCER, PA (August 13, 2026):  “Money Mat” Williamson made the four-hour tow from St. Catharines, Ontario pay off to the tune of $4,018, as he captured his second win in the Rick and Bob Ryder Memorial. Williamson made the extra effort to get to the event despite rainouts in the two Ohio Super DIRTcar Series races that would have preceded this event.

Williamson expressed appreciation to the friends and family of the Ryders for the hard work that they put into developing and promoting the fourth annual race, and he fondly recalled the time that he spent with the Ryders earlier in his career. This race, held at Michaels Mercer Raceway, has become one of the highest paying and most cherished specials on the Western Pennsylvania Big Block Modified circuit.

Williamson advanced quickly to the front from his twelfth starting position, which was determined by a revenge draw for the top three finishers from the four heat races. “I got really lucky. Garrett (Krummert) got tight and the middle opened up for me.”

He added that he got another break when the early leader, Eric Gabany, got a flat right front tire. Just the day before the race, Gabany was tapped to drive a second car for Rick Regalski, and Gabany wrung the most out of it.  “I don’t know if Eric was getting a flat earlier. I saw it on a yellow (on lap six).” Nonetheless, Gabany valiantly held off Williamson for several laps and he closely followed him in second for five more before the deflating tire forced him to get a replacement.

Erick Rudolph, who finished second, was more patient in getting to the front. He did not reach the top five until lap seventeen, when Gabany pitted. “It seemed like I found something with five (laps) to go, but then it went away. To get second in a BRP Modified Tour race was a real accomplishment.”

The third place finisher, Rex King, Jr., was a little frustrated with the outcome. “I feel I got into second three times. I thought I crossed the line once,” he said. But, cautions popped up at unfortunate times for him, and two of his power moves were negated. He added that “we were tired” at the end of the forty lapper. “We didn’t have enough motor, but that’s on us for bringing the wrong car.”

Jeremy Paup had the pole, with Austin Eyler on his flank. Gabany  and Colton Walters made up the second row, followed by Kyle Fink and Brad Rapp. Tyler Willard and Brayden Beatty were next. King, Krummert, Rudolph, and Williamson were relegated to rows five and six by their fellow competitors.

Paup led the first three rounds, but Gabany rode the rim in turns one and two to surge ahead after a restart that followed Beatty’s spin at the entry to turn three. Fink, Walters, and Eyler made up the top five in the early going. Willard, Rapp, Williamson, Rudolph, and King were next in the running order.

Cautions on laps five and six, for Jeremiah Shingledecker and Eyler, respectively, interfered with the flow of the race. But despite that, Williamson found himself in third for the restart on lap six. He worked by Walters two laps later. He closed quickly on Gabany, but the veteran used his considerable experience at Mercer to keep Williamson at bay.

However, Williamson made an unusual move to gain the lead on lap twelve, He went to the outside of turn four to pass Gabany. Turn four at Mercer has a decreasing radius, and racers often bite the outer wall coming off the corner. But Williamson negotiated the tricky corner safely and he was never headed thereafter.

Gabany maintained second, ahead of Walters, King, and Rapp, even though that right front tire was getting softer with each lap. There were a pair of cautions on lap seventeen, the first for Shawn Kozar and the second for Gabany. The latter incident nullified a pass by King for second in turn two.

When the race got going again, Williamson led Walters. Behind them, a good three-car battle was raging among Rudolph, King, and Rapp for positions in the top five.

A caution for Macey Adamik on lap twenty-one gave King another opportunity to power off turn two to take second on the restart. But Walters and Rudolph battled back. It all went for naught, though, when Krummert spun off the top of turn three. King repeated the move and regained second. This time, he was able to hold it through lap thirty-five.

During this extended green flag run, Williamson led King. Rudolph clawed his way into third. Meanwhile, Walters and Fink were fighting for fourth. Rudolph passed King for second moments before the final caution, for Gabany, with four laps remaining.

Williamson had the point for the single file restart, followed by Rudolph, King, Walters, Fink, Willard, Rob Kristyak, Rapp, Steve Feder, and Dave Murdick.

The racers completed the last four circuits without further interruptions. Williamson had an advantage of over a second and a half at the checkers. The first three were unchanged, but Fink got the edge on Walters for fourth in the closing laps.

Positions six through ten went to Willard, Rob Kristyak, Rapp, Feder, and Murdick.

Eyler, Rapp, Beatty, and Gabany shared the heat wins. Adamik took the B Main. A cash dash was held for the fourth and fifth place cars from each heat. Murdick took the victory in that contest. Thirty-four cars registered for the event.

Support was provided by the DIRTcar Sportsmen and Modified Lites.

In the Sportsmen twenty lapper, teenager Logen Lockhart went wire to wire for his second tally at the track. He held off Gabany for sixteen laps! Ryan Riffe, Bill Adams, and Kyle Martell rounded out the top five. Anthony Antus, Todd English, Patrick Lane, Caden Petry, and Brian Schaffer were sixth through tenth. Gabany and Adams took the heat wins. There was no B Main needed to set the field.

Drew Duncan won the tune-up for the Mark Marcucci Tribute coming up on August 21. Duncan’s trip to victory lane was punctuated by Timothy Volzer’s flip between turns three and four. He was not hurt. Carson Hubbard made a last lap challenge for the lead but he came up short by 0.013 seconds. Lucca Ledford, Logan Lewis, and Teddy Williams, II made up the balance of the top five. Drew Hannay, Derek Chismar, Jacob Isenhart, Jacob Eakin, and Ken Downey were the other five finishers. Duncan and Hubbard took the heat wins. There was no B Main.

IMPERIAL, PA (August 8, 2026):  In his second year of competition in the RUSH (Crate) Late Model division at Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Motor Speedway, Matt Benard of nearby Oakdale, PA scored his second win of the season and second of his brief career. His first one came a few short weeks ago.

Benard was nearly 1.8 seconds behind the leader, Kyle Lukon, when Lukon’s engine blew up coming off turn two on lap sixteen. The race stayed green and Benard inherited the lead. However, a caution with two laps remaining gave the early leader, Tom Klein, a shot at stealing the win from Benard.

The critical restart was chaotic, to say the least. Instead of challenging Benard for the lead, Klein got shuffled back in the running order.

The third place runner, Clinton Hersh, snuck along the inside line to advance into second. In the mad scramble in turn one, three other racers also passed Klein. Two of them, Jake Gunn and Brandon Burgoon, swapped third and fourth positions in the final two laps, with Jake Gunn getting the advantage at the finish. Tommy Shirnhofer, the other driver to benefit from Klein’s misfortune, took fifth at the checkers.

Klein held on for sixth, followed by Anthony Monteparte, Daryl Charlier, Philip Bubeck, and Zach Gunn.

“It feels amazing to come out and do this, this is unbelievable,” Benard said. “I didn’t think I could do this.”

Jackson Billyk, Lukon, and Hersh won the heat races. No B Main was required to set the twenty car starting line-up.

Jacob Billyk, Jr., was uninjured when his car spun wildly on the backstretch before striking a uke tire located at the pit entrance. The impact inflicted major damage to the left side of Billyk’s car, and repairs could not be accomplished to enable him to start the feature event.

Dale Tuche led wire to wire in the fifteen lapper for the Penn Ohio Pro Stocks. Logan Koteles stayed close through the first half of the race, but Tuche pulled away in the second half. Nick Kocuba was third. Jordan Perkins and A.J. Poljak were scored in fourth and fifth based upon laps completed. Koteles won the heat race.

Garrett O’Patchen won by nearly four seconds in the Hobby Stocks. Leroy Brown was second, Stephen Shelpman was third after starting fourteenth in the fifteen lap event, which also went non-stop. Tom Anton and Devan Jones rounded out the top five. Kayla McManus, Joe Brown, Jr., Adam Kostelnik, Robert Betz, and Austin Siemon were sixth through tenth. Leroy Brown and Marc Corio split the heat race victories. There was no B Main.

Gavin Kokolis led eleven of the twelve laps in the Open Four Cylinder feature. Second place finisher, Noah Bubeck, led one trip around the Monster Half Mile. Third went to Hunter Vohn. Kaitlin McDonald was the only other racer still in action at the conclusion of the race. Haylie Snouffer was fifth based upon laps completed. Other competitors were John Gill, Tyler Hollister, Jacob Chipps, and Bill Tennant. Bubeck won the preliminary.

In the Young Gun event, Ryleigh Heasley prevailed over Kane Zupanic. Hunter Bennett was uninjured in a violent flip on the frontstretch after his mount lost its right rear wheel. Connor Greynolds did not start the race. Heasley was the heat winner as well.

HARTFORD, OH (August 1, 2026):  The Eighteenth Annual Lou Blaney Memorial at the Sharon Speedway was one of the most anticipated races in the region. The 410 Sprint Cars and BRP Modifieds shared the top billing, as Lou Blaney excelled in both divisions over his long and successful career. Indeed, he is one of the few drivers to be inducted into Halls of Fame for both classes.

The winners in the event were Dale Blaney in the Sprints and Erick Rudolph in the Big Block Mods. Thirty-five cars participated in each class.

Blaney Boys Do It Again for Dad

Dale Blaney rode Dave’s trick pony to the $12,000 victory. It was Dale’s second win in the storied event and the first one that he shared with his brother. Interestingly, Corey Conley, another family member and past winner of the race, was present to add to the celebratory mood.

A hushed crowd anxiously awaited to hear from the sixty-two-year-old driver in victory lane. Many of the fans expected that Dale might announce his retirement from  sport, just as Dave did following his last triumph in the commemorative classic. But, Dale surprised them all. “I am not doing what Dave done. We have a few more races here and we want to do good.” No doubt, he was referring to the Fall visit from the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, and he would like nothing more than to repeat his success against the traveling band.

Although Blaney led sixteen of the thirty-five laps, he needed to rally in the final five circuits to overtake Bryce Lucius for the win. “He’s a great kid and a great race car driver.” Blaney observed. “I got to the 22 (Nash Ely) and I got bogged down. The 32 (Lucius) got around me. I got the wing back and it came to me.”

“It’s pretty dang cool to win the race for a second time,” he concluded.

The luck of the draw aligned the first eight starters, which consisted of the four heat race winners and the fastest qualifiers from each heat.

Zeth Sabo drew the pole position, with Lucius manning the outside of row one. A.J.Flick and Ricky Peterson, Jr. were set in row two, followed by Blaney and Carl Bowser in row three. The final two preferred spots went to Cale Thomas and Brandon Spithaler. The rest of the field filled in based on heat race and B Main finishes. So, Chris Verda and Dan Kuriger occupied row five, and John Jerich and Brandon Matus.

Lucius rolled around the outside of turns one and two to establish the early lead over Sabo, Flick, Peterson, Blaney, Bowser, Thomas, Verda, and Greg Wilson.

Blaney got shuffled back a spot on lap two. After that, he was patient moving forward in the thirty-five lapper. He took over fourth on lap seven. He was third two laps later. When he moved into second on lap thirteen, he was nearly two seconds behind Lucius. However, it only took him four laps to cut the margin to under four tenths of a second.

Blaney ducked under Lucius entering turn three to lead lap seventeen. He set a brisk pace for the next dozen laps, but Lucius remained close enough to be a threat.

Lucius made an aggressive move around the rim of turn two to regain the lead on lap twenty-nine. He opened up a lead of several car lengths over the next couple of laps.

But Blaney picked up speed after getting the wing adjusted. He came charging back on the low side. A slider in turn one restored him to the lead on lap thirty-two.

Lucius went to the whip again to try to reclaim the lead. He brushed the outside wall a couple of times before dropping to the bottom and cutting into the infield on lap thirty-three.

Meanwhile, Flick and Peterson were battling for third. Flick controlled the inside while Peterson was racing in the middle groove. Their vigorous contest continued as they closed in on Lucius. Flick inherited the second spot when Lucius faltered.

Peterson chased Flick to the finish line. Sabo and Bowser rounded out the top five in the non-stop affair. Thomas, Jerich, Spithaler, Wilson, and Verda held positions six through ten.

After a hard crash at Lernerville Speedway on Friday night, Flick was dejected. “I didn’t even want to come today, but we worked on it. We were down in the garage until two a.m., and back in at seven. I’ll tell you, this is the best second place we’ve ever had. This is a big confidence boost.” He explained that he got help from several sources and some inspiration for Scott Priester. “We won’t get the trophy or the big check, but this feels like we won the Blaney Memorial,” he added.

Peterson said that he had fun racing with Flick. “The track was really tacky for the first fifteen laps. It cleared off and we could race all over.”

Lucius, Thomas, Peterson, and Flick won the heat races. Leyton Wagner took the checkers in the B Main. Blaney set the fastest time overall. His lap of 14.001 seconds was  best of Group A. Spithaler led Group B with a time of 14.292 seconds.

Rudolph Gets Even

Erick Rudolph’s fourth victory in the BRP Modified Tour portion of the Lou Blaney Memorial banked $2,500 for the driver from Ransomville, NY. Interestingly, all of his wins occurred in even numbered years, beginning in 2020.

Rudolph led the final ten laps of the race. He commented, “I was just kinda biding my time for a while. I know the track can be abrasive. About halfway through, the track came to me.”

Jeremiah Shingledecker, who led twice for a total of fourteen laps, concurred in Rudolph’s assessment. “I was trying to save my tires and then Will Thomas came cruising by me, and I decided it was time to go.”

Third place went to Tyler Willard. The Ontario pilot moved up and down the running order and frequently switched lanes during the race. “Man, there was a lot going on. We went forward, and then came back. There were a couple of grooves and they kept moving around.”

Per Modified Tour procedures, the top three finishers from each heat participated in a draw for the first twelve spots on the feature line-up.

Shawn Kozar was the lucky driver. He was joined on the front row by Shingledecker. Kole Holden and Eric Beggs snagged row two, followed by Rudolph and Willard. Row four belonged to Jackson Kristyak and Rex King, Jr. Then came Jeremy Paup and J.C. Boyer, in row five; and Garrett Krummert and Will Thomas, in row six.

Kozar blasted off the bottom of turn four at the start and he won the race to turn one. Shingledecker took the outside line. Beggs, Willard, Kole Holden, and King Jr. followed closely.

A caution for Chas Wolbert in turn two slowed the pace on the second lap.

Shingledecker timed the restart perfectly, and he was dead even with Kozar through turns one and two. He carried more momentum into turn three than Kozar, and he powered off turn four with the lead. He repeated the effort following a lap three restart, which was brought about by a four-car scuffle in turn two.

Willard had a good restart on lap three as well. He moved into second and he briefly challenged Shingledecker for the top spot. Rudolph raced along in third.

Thomas got cranked up nine laps into the race. He took over third and he worked his way into the lead by lap thirteen. For the next eight laps, it seemed as though the co-owner of the speedway would get to celebrate in victory lane, but he had a bad lap and fell back to third on lap twenty-one. That put Shingledecker out front again.

Meanwhile, Rudolph was getting shuffled around. He clawed his way back into third on lap sixteen. He was second on lap twenty-one. He passed Shingledecker in turn one four circuits later in traffic.

Rudolph led Shingledecker to the finish. Willard, King Jr. and Thomas battled to the end. Krummert kept them in sight throughout the closing laps, but he could not join in the fun.

Dalton Slack, who started in twenty-first, was an impressive seventh. Karston King completed his first Big Block Modified race at Sharon Speedway in the eighth position. Ayden Cipriano and Wolbert rounded out the top ten.

Rudolph, Krummert, Shingledecker, and Thomas took the heat race wins. Slack was the B Main victor.