Kreutter Sprints To Patriot Victory At Eriez

Hammett, PA (August 11, 2019) — The Patriot Sprint Series made a visit to Eriez Speedway Sunday along with the RUSH Wingless Sprints. Also racing were the Waterford Hotel E-Mods and the Johnson’s Car Care and Collision Economods. At the end of the night the four occupants of Victory Lane were Scott Kreutter in the Patriot Sprint Series, Chad Ruhlman in the RUSH sprints, Joel Watson in the Waterford Hotel E-Mods, and Kyle Layton in the Johnson’s Car Care and Collision Economods, the first ever win for the rookie contender. Patriot Sprint Tour competitors arrived from as far away as California, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York State, and Ontario, Canada, as well as Pennsylvania.

The Johnson’s Car Care Economods were first on the track with Gary Olson and rookie contender Kyle Layton leading the way side by side until they got to turn three where Layton edged ahead to lead lap one over Olson, Matt Alexander, Jason Brightman, and Garrett Calvert. Yellow was shown at lap two when Olson spun in turn four. Nate Young then advanced to fifth for the restart but Mike Boyd spun in turn one, negating the start. At lap three Young was fourth with Gary Miller fifth and points leader Kyle Miller up to sixth from thirteenth at the start. At lap four Kyle Miller was fourth. A caution at lap nine was shown for Olson, spun in turn four. On the restart Olson headed to the infield and caution was again shown. As it was his third of the event, he was sent pitside. With five laps left Kyle Miller was third. Through all this Layton was maintaining his lead. The rookie went on to the win over two-time winner Alexander, five-time winner Kyle Miller, Jason Brightman, and Young.

The RUSH Sprints feature started with Jeremy Weaver and Brad Blackshear on the front row. A “chain-reaction” near the front of the field in turn one after Matt Sherlock III and Arnie Kent get together left Sherlock stopped and the caution flag flying. Kent suffered a flat right front tire in the incident and pitted, out of the event. When the race restarted it was Zach Morrow leading the way over defending series points champion Chad Ruhlman, Jeremy Weaver, John Mollick, and Brian Woodhall. At lap six Ruhlman was challenging for the lead. A lap later Sherlock was against the wall in turn four but was able to continue. Heading into turn three at lap eight Ruhlman took over the lead and cruised on to the win over Morrow, Woodhall, Weaver, and Brad Church, a former Street Stock winner at Eriez.

The Patriot Sprint Series pulled into Eriez for the first time since 2016 for their seventeenth visit. Scott Bonnell, now the race sponsor, won the first event in 2003. The most recent winner at Eriez was Mark Smith, no longer with the tour. Scott Kreutter, a previous winner at Eriez, took the early lead over Joe Trenca, Davie Franek, five-time champion Jared Zimbardi, and Randy Hannagan. Zimbardi fell victim to mechanical ails in turn four at three complete. After hasty repairs in the authorized work area he was able to continue, eventually finishing twelfth. After green Justin Barger, the winner Saturday night at Mercer, came into fourth at five complete. Ricky Peterson was the next caution, at lap five in turn one. By lap eight Kreutter had a half-straight lead. Kreutter caught the back-markers at lap fourteen and drove into heavy traffic allowing Franek to close the gap. Franek never got close enough in the heavy traffic to mount a challenge and Kreutter went on to the the win, his fourth this season and eighth overall on the tour. Franek was second with Trenca third, Hannagan fourth, and Jordan Thomas fifth.

The final event of the night was the feature for the Waterford Hotel E-Mods with Steve Simon and former champion Joel Watson leading the way to Mark Matthews’ green flag. Watson shot into the lead with Mike McGee, Casey Bowers, Simon, and last week’s winner Mike Kinney following. Kinney was fourth at two complete. McGee was challenging for the lead at lap five and was the leader at six complete. When yellow flew for a spin by Dan Sasso in turn four McGee was leading Watson, Bowers, Kinney, and now Gary Eicher. Randy Hall got to fifth at lap eight with Eicher up to third at eleven. The order at halfway was McGee, Watson, Bowers, Eicher, and Hall. With only five laps left McGee dropped the driveshaft, and was out of the race. Eicher got around Bowers in the waning laps with Simon coming to fifth. The final order at the checkers was Watson, Eicher, Bowers, Hall, and Simon.

Patriot Sprint Series presented by Bonnell’s Collision:
Heat 1: Tim Allison, Randy Hannagan, Scott Kreutter, Jared Zimbardi, Ricky Peterson, Jake Brown, Jared Hortsman, Roger Levesque
Heat 2: Shawn Dancer, Jordan Thomas, David Franek, John Trenca, Steve Glover, Devin Dobie, C J Jones, Luke Daugherty
Heat 3: Joe Trenca, Mike Koehler, Justin Barger, Matt Farnham, Luke Hall, Mitch Brown, Hud Horton, Pete Richardson
Dash for Cash: Justin Barger, Matt Farnham, Ricky Peterson, Randy Hannagan, Luke Hall, John Trenca
Feature: Scott Kreutter, David Frank, Joe Trenca, Randy Hannagan, Jordan Thomas, Justin Barger, Ricky Peterson, Jared Hortsman, Luke Hall, Shawn Dancer, Mitch Brown, Jared Zimbardi, Tim Allison, C J Jones, Hud Horton, Mike Kohler, Jake Brown, Matt Farnham, Steve Glover, John Trenca, Devon Dobie, Luke Daugherty, Pete Richardson, Roger Levesque

Bonnell’s Rod Shop RUSH Sprints:
Heat 1: Brian Woodhall, Chad Ruhlman, Jeremy Weaver, Tyler Powell, Shawn Smith, Steve Pedley, Matt Sherlock III, Brandon Blackshear, Ryan Fraley (DNS)
Heat 2: Zach Morrow, Brad Blackshear, Brad Church, John Mollick, Andy Feil, Brian Hartzell, Arnie Kent, Kevin Ruhlman, Nolan Groves
Feature: Chad Ruhlman, Zach Morrow, Brian Woodhall, Jeremy Weaver, Brad Church, Shawn Smith, Steve Pedley, John Mollick, Kevin Ruhlman, Brandon Blackshear, Bria Hartzell, Tyler Powell. Matt Sherlock III, Ryan Fraley, Nolan Groves, Brad Blackshear, Andy Feil, Arnie Kent

The Waterford Hotel Outlaw Modifieds:
Heat 1: Gary Eicher, Mike McGee, Casey Bowers, Joel Watson, Steve Rex, Randy Hall. John Boyd, Dan Sasso
Heat 2: Mike Kinney, Steve Simon, Mark Titus, Eric Reinwald, Mike Eschrich, Calvin Thompson, Jarrod Silvis, Gerry Kielar, Chris Paar
Feature: Joel Watson, Gary Eicher, Casey Bowers, Randy Hall, John Boyd, Steve Rex, Mike Kinney, Steve Simon, Dan Sasso, Eric Reinwald, Mark Titus, Mike Eschrich, Chris Paar, Jarrod Silvis, Mike McGee, Calvin Thompson

Johnson’s Car Care and Collision Economods:
Heat 1: Jason Brightman, Kyle Layton, Gary Olson, Tyler Davis, Gary Miller, Justin Clark, Kyle Miller
Heat 2: Garrett Calvert, Nate Young, Matt Alexander, Mike Boyd, Jarrit Young, Mike Eschrich
Feature: Kyle Layton, Matt Alexander, Kyle Miller, Jason Brightman, Nate Young, Jarrit Young, Garrett Calvert, Mike Boyd, Gary Miller, Tyler Davis, Justin Clark, Gary Olson