Kyle Hardy Outduels Daryl Charlier For 1st Pittsburgh Win

(Imperial, PA)…The Pace Performance RUSH Dirt Late Model Series together with Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC competed in night one of the 11th annual “Bill Hendren Memorial” presented by FK Rod Ends in conjunction with Pro Fabrication on Friday night at Pittsburgh’s PA Motor Speedway as part of the 33rd annual “Pittsburgher 100” weekend. The third appearance of the season to “Dirt’s Monster Half-Mile” by the Flynn’s Tire/Born2Run Lubricants Touring Series attracted 35 race teams from seven different states. The following helped make the “Bill Hendren Memorial” to the two-day purse structure that it is: FK Rod Ends, Pro Fabrication, Hendren Racing Engines, CrateInsider.com, Miley Motor Sports, the RUSH Racing Series, and Branden Lockwich.

After runner-up finishes in the “Herb Scott Memorial” and “Jook George Steel City Classic” earlier this season, National Weekly Series Champion and Touring Series point leader Kyle Hardy was able to slay the Monster for his first career Pittsburgh win. While the box score will show Hardy leading laps 1-30, the $3,000 victory was far from easy as he to fend off PPMS track champion and 71-time feature winner, Daryl Charlier, in a side-by-side duel for several laps. Hardy’s first career “Bill Hendren Memorial” victory was his leading seventh of the season in RUSH Tour competition, but first since August 15. Hardy also became the third different winner in as many 2021 Tour events at Pittsburgh, and more impressively the 12th different winner in 18 RUSH Late Models races contested at the track in 2021!

“If you had a camera or mirror on me you’d have seen how freaked out I was just trying to get where I needed to be to win this thing,” revealed the 28-year-old Linden, Virginia winner. “What a race- it was super fun out there. I can’t thank my crew to get this car so good to where I could steer across the middle of the race track. What a car we’ve had all year. I think that was win #30 (overall in Super, Limited & Crate Late Models). It’s been an unreal year and if I don’t win on New Year’s Day next year I’m already behind. This goes to all of the people behind me that keep me in line to make sure I can go out here and race. Listening at the drivers meeting about the Hendrens and for them to come here from North Carolina and do this- it’s an honor to be able to win the first night of the Bill Hendren. Vicki (Emig) puts on a great deal for us.”

September 18 Pittsburgh winner, Garret Paugh, earned the pole by winning the Sunoco Dash, but it was Hardy powering into the lead at the start with Zach Morrow getting by Paugh for second. Following a caution for Levi Crowl’s spin, Morrow lost the handle on the restart in turn one and collected Justin Kann, Bill Kessler, and Tim Shaffer as all four racers were done for the event. Morrow, who was fast all night long in the Bob Bentz #60, was selected as the TBM Brakes “Tough Brake of the Night”.

Back under green on lap two, Joe Martin roared past Paugh for second with Eddie Carrier, Jr. and Jeremy Wonderling filling out the top five. By lap six, Hardy and Martin began to distance themselves from the field, while Paugh was trying to fend off Carrier in the race for third. Following a caution for debris with 10 laps scored, Carrier and Paugh were able to move past Martin for second and third respectively; however, two laps later, Martin was able to get back by Paugh for third and also brought eighth starting Charlier with him.

A caution for a spin by Logan Zarin slowed action with 13 laps scored. When green replaced yellow, Charlier continued his charge to the front passing both Martin and Carrier for second. Martin was able to work his way back to third on lap 16 when he disposed of Carrier. Colton Flinner had charged from 17th into the top five by lap 14, but lost power in the Ken Chernik #5x to bring out the caution with 20 laps completed.

Back under green, Charlier seemed to have the advantage as he raced side-by-side for the lead with Hardy, but the transponders showed Hardy maintaining his slight lead on laps 21 and 22. Hardy then was able to keep Charlier at bay over the final eight laps and extended his advantage late to take the checkered flag by 2.614 seconds. Hardy’s 17th overall win of 2021 in RUSH-sanctioned competition came in the American Paint Co./AGX/Anthony’s Pizza/Ingram Engines/Cline Construction/Sommey Lacey Paint-sponsored #99!

Charlier earned $1,500 for his best Tour finish of the season. “If I’m going to finish second I guess I’ll finish second to Kyle Hardy- he’s the top dog in the crates and especially the RUSH Series. We never touched and I’m just glad we have the car in one piece after everything that happened tonight. Hopefully we get this motor cooled down so we can run another 30 laps tomorrow and have a shot at it. The entire Laboon Family works hard on this all week for me, and I’m sure they’ll be back tomorrow at it so hopefully we can put together a good piece. Also, Brad from Centerline Collision and George from Bud’s are a huge help for the team.”

Martin’s third was his fourth straight Tour podium finish, his ninth straight top six, and 12th top six in the last 13 events as he maintains runner-up in the standings. Carrier made his first RUSH start since the 2019 “Bill Hendren Memorial” in the second Phil Lukon #184 entry and ironically matched a fourth place finish from that night. Wonderling, who won his first career Pittsburgh race on July 3, was fifth.

Jacob Gunn went 10th to sixth. After failing to finish in the top 10 in the first 11 Tour races of the season, Bud Watson continues his late season surge. Watson raced from 18th to seventh for his fourth straight top 10! Paugh faded to eighth at the finish. Logan Zarin came back through the pack from his spin on lap 13 to finish ninth, and last year’s night two “Bill Hendren Memorial” winner, Levi Crowl, completed the top 10. After getting the final feature transfer spot in the second last chance B main, Zach Kane worked his way from 24th to 12th to earn the $100 Precise Racing Products “Pedal Down” Hard Charger gift card. Tony Musolino was aboard Matt Dobnak’s #42 and finished 16th to receive a $150 spoiler kit from Ontime Body & Graphic.

In his first full season of RUSH Late Model competition, 19-year-old Philip Bubeck passed 2021 “Futures Cup” Champion, Kassidy Kamicker, on lap two and was never challenged for the victory in the fourth annual “One to Remember” Non-Winners Race presented by Hendren Racing Engines and CrateInsider.com. The 15-lap victory came in a 20-year-old car for the Four-Cylinder graduate, and was worth $1,200 thanks to a $200 bonus by Bettie Hendren, the wife of the late Bill Hendren.

“This is awesome,” expressed the Collier, West Virginia racer. “I’m very thankful they put on this race. It gives new and upcoming drivers an opportunity to be in victory lane. I couldn’t have done any of this without Bill and April (Tennant), Phil and Kyle Lukon have helped us out so much. It’s been difficult trying to figure out this division. They took us under their wing and really helped us out this year. Everything is just completely different from the Four-Cylinder division from the way they’re built to the way you drive them.”

Kamicker led her first career lap, but Bubeck was able to power around the 18-year-old off the topside of turn four on lap two. Bubeck began to stretch out his lead on lap five as Kamicker had her hands fill with Zach Kane. Kamicker and Kane continued to go at it as they raced side-by-side on lap 11, but unfortunately Kamicker lost the handle racing off the bottom of turn four two laps later to bring out the event’s first caution.

Kane was unable to challenge Bubeck in the final two laps as Bubeck took the Bill Tennant-owned, B&J Performance/Bob’s Trucking/Jim’s Towing/Lukon Racing-sponsored #2 to the victory by a margin of 0.715 seconds. Kane has now competed in all four “One to Remember” events and his runner-up finish was his best to date as he earned $300. Tom Klein made his first ever Tour start and was able to finish third in the event after starting eighth. Zach Gunn and Rob Coffaro were fourth and fifth.

Dan Lepro was the first non-qualifier and picked up a $100 Performance Bodies gift card for the “Nosed Out” contingency. Dave Goble was the lucky recipient of a $100 Sunoco gift card by random draw and Paugh also received a $100 Sunoco gift card by winning the Dash as part of the “Fill’er up with Sunoco Bucks” program presented by Sunoco and Zarin Truck and Auto.

Martin earned his fourth $100 FK Rod Ends “Shock the Clock” qualifying award of the season with a fast lap of 19.284 over the 35-car field. Picking up $25 FK Rod Ends heat race wins were Martin, Paugh, Zarin, and Morrow. Michael Reft and Ray Love, Jr. won the twin last chance B mains.

The Flynn’s Tire/Born2Run Lubricants Late Model Touring Series will return to Pittsburgh joining the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series for the final appearance of the season on Saturday night (October 2) for night two of the “Bill Hendren Memorial” paying $3,000 to-win plus a $500 to-win Non-Qualifier. Warmups begin at 6 p.m.

Pace Performance RUSH Late Model Flynn’s Tire/Born2Run Lubricants Touring Series Race #15 “Bill Hendren Memorial” presented by FK Rod Ends & Pro Fab (30 laps, $3000 to-win): 1. KYLE HARDY (99) 2. Daryl Charlier (Centerline 114) 3. Joe Martin (Snyder 10s) 4. Eddie Carrier, Jr. (Lukon 184X) 5. Jeremy Wonderling (3J) 6. Jacob Gunn (14G) 7. Bud Watson (225) 8. Garret Paugh (03) 9. Logan Zarin (1z) 10. Levi Crowl (5) 11. Ray Love, Jr. (08) 12. Zach Kane (10) 13. Michael Reft (9R) 14. Colton Flinner (Chernik 5x) 15. Michael Duritsky, Jr. (90J) 16. Tony Musolino (Dobnak 42) 17. Zach Gunn (17G) 18. Kyle Lukon (184) 19. Ryan Frazee (11F) 20. Zach Morrow (Bentz 60) 21. Bill Kessler (09) 22. Justin Kann (66) 23. Philip Bubeck (Tennant 2) 24. Tim Shaffer (45).

DNQ for the feature: Dan Lepro (2L), Tom Duratz (55D), Grant Garrison (1), Kassidy Kamicker (72B), Tom Klein (77), Rob Coffaro (24), Dave Goble (20G), Nick Love (38), Noah Brunell (31), Zach Crawford (c4), Ben Policz (14B).

4th Annual “One to Remember” Non-Winners Race presented by Hendren Racing Engines & CrateInsider.com (15 laps, $1200 to-win): 1. PHILIP BUBECK (Tennant 2) 2. Zach Kane (10) 3. Tom Klein (77) 4. Zach Gunn (14G) 5. Rob Coffaro (24) 6. Kassidy Kamicker (72B) 7. Nick Love (38) 8. Dave Goble (20G). DNS: Noah Brunell (31), Zach Crawford (c4).

Car Count: 35

Feature Margin of Victory: 2.614 seconds
Feature Lap Leaders: Kyle Hardy (1-30)

Ontime Body & Graphic “Spoiler Alert” Spoiler Kit: Tony Musolino

Performance Bodies “Nosed Out”: Dan Lepro

Precise Racing Products “Pedal Down” Hard Charger: Zach Kane (+12)

Precise Racing Products 5-Gallon Race Jug: Kyle Hardy

Sunoco and Zarin Truck & Auto $100 Sunoco Fuel Cards: Dave Goble & Garret Paugh

TBM Brakes “Tough Brake of the Night”: Zach Morrow

FK Rod Ends “Shock the Clock” Qualifying ($100 for fast time) (Track record 18.652 by Daryl Charlier on 7/3/21): 1. 10S-Joe Martin, 00:19.284[1]; 2. 03-Garret Paugh, 00:19.559[2]; 3. 1Z-Logan Zarin, 00:19.711[21]; 4. 60-Zach Morrow, 00:19.786[19]; 5. 114-Daryl Charlier, 00:19.793[28]; 6. 90J-Michael Duritsky Jr, 00:19.805[5]; 7. 99-Kyle Hardy, 00:19.857[3]; 8. 3J-Jeremy Wonderling, 00:19.868[16]; 9. 11F-Ryan Frazee, 00:19.966[32]; 10. 14G-Jake Gunn, 00:19.969[6]; 11. 2P-Philip Bubeck, 00:20.037[29]; 12. 42D-Tony Musolino, 00:20.106[20]; 13. 17G-Zach Gunn, 00:20.108[13]; 14. 225-Bud Watson, 00:20.150[17]; 15. 184-Kyle Lukon, 00:20.184[9]; 16. 09-Bill Kessler, 00:20.232[33]; 17. 31-Noah Brunell, 00:20.266[10]; 18. 184X-Eddie Carrier Jr, 00:20.277[7]; 19. 72B-Kassidy Kamicker, 00:20.381[11]; 20. 08-Ray Love Jr, 00:20.419[24]; 21. 66-Justin Kann, 00:20.442[8]; 22. 9R-Mike Reft, 00:20.461[15]; 23. 10-Zachary Kane, 00:20.463[23]; 24. 45-Tim Shaffer, 00:20.613[27]; 25. 2L-Dan Lepro, 00:20.655[25]; 26. C4-Zach Crawford, 00:20.657[12]; 27. 5C-Levi Crowl, 00:20.738[34]; 28. 55D-Tom Duratz, 00:20.753[30]; 29. 5X-Colton Flinner, 00:20.763[26]; 30. 20G-Dave Goble, 00:20.821[35]; 31. 38-Nick Love, 00:21.261[22]; 32. 24C-Rob Coffaro, 00:21.264[14]; 33. 77-Tom Klein, 00:21.306[31]; 34. 1G-Grant Garrison, 00:21.515[4]; 35. 14B-Ben Policz, NT.

FK Rod Ends Heat 1 (8 laps, Top 5 transfer to A, $25 to-win): 1. 10S-Joe Martin[1]; 2. 114-Daryl Charlier[2]; 3. 17G-Zach Gunn[4]; 4. 66-Justin Kann[6]; 5. 5X-Colton Flinner[8]; 6. 11F-Ryan Frazee[3]; 7. 31-Noah Brunell[5]; 8. 2L-Dan Lepro[7]; 9. 77-Tom Klein[9].

FK Rod Ends Heat 2 (8 laps, Top 5 transfer to A, $25 to-win): 1. 03-Garret Paugh[1]; 2. 184X-Eddie Carrier Jr[5]; 3. 14G-Jake Gunn[3]; 4. 90J-Michael Duritsky Jr[2]; 5. 225-Bud Watson[4]; 6. 9R-Mike Reft[6]; 7. 1G-Grant Garrison[9]; 8. 20G-Dave Goble[8]; 9. (DNS) C4-Zach Crawford.

FK Rod Ends Heat 3 (8 laps, Top 5 transfer to A, $25 to-win): 1. 1Z-Logan Zarin[1]; 2. 99-Kyle Hardy[2]; 3. 184-Kyle Lukon[4]; 4. 5C-Levi Crowl[7]; 5. 2P-Philip Bubeck[3]; 6. 10-Zachary Kane[6]; 7. 72B-Kassidy Kamicker[5]; 8. 38-Nick Love[8]; 9. (DNS) 14B-Ben Policz

FK Rod Ends Heat 4 (8 laps, Top 5 transfer to A, $25 to-win): 1. 60-Zach Morrow[1]; 2. 3J-Jeremy Wonderling[2]; 3. 09-Bill Kessler[4]; 4. 42D-Tony Musolino[3]; 5. 45-Tim Shaffer[6]; 6. 08-Ray Love Jr[5]; 7. 55D-Tom Duratz[7]; 8. 24C-Rob Coffaro[8].

Last Chance B Main 1 (8 laps, Top 2 transfer to A): 1. 9R-Mike Reft[2]; 2. 11F-Ryan Frazee[1]; 3. 2L-Dan Lepro[5]; 4. 1G-Grant Garrison[4]; 5. 77-Tom Klein[7]; 6. 20G-Dave Goble[6]; 7. (DNS) 31-Noah Brunell; 8. (DNS) C4-Zach Crawford.

Last Chance B Main 2 (8 laps, Top 2 transfer to A): 1. 08-Ray Love Jr[2]; 2. 10-Zachary Kane[1]; 3. 55D-Tom Duratz[4]; 4. 72B-Kassidy Kamicker[3]; 5. 24C-Rob Coffaro[6]; 6. 38-Nick Love[5]; 7. (DNS) 14B-Ben Policz.

Sunoco Dash (6 laps, $100 Sunoco fuel card to-win): 1. 03-Garret Paugh[1]; 2. 99-Kyle Hardy[2]; 3. 60-Zach Morrow[8]; 4. 10S-Joe Martin[3]; 5. 184X-Eddie Carrier Jr[5]; 6. 3J-Jeremy Wonderling[6]; 7. 1Z-Logan Zarin[4]; 8. 114-Daryl Charlier[7].

RUSH Racing Series is brought to you by Pace Performance together with Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC along with the support of Hoosier Tire, Bilstein Shocks, Sunoco Race Fuels, Bazell Race Fuels, Insinger Performance, MSD Performance, Holley Performance Products, Hovis Auto & Truck Supply, Born2Run Lubricants, Flynn’s Tire & Auto Service, FK Rod Ends, Schoenfeld Headers, Jones Racing Products, TBM Brakes, Performance Bodies & Parts, Racing Electronics, Dirt Defender, Wrisco Industries, Frankland Racing Supply, Landrum Performance Spring, Ontime Body & Graphic, Zarin Truck & Automotive, Sherwood Wheels, Alternative Power Sources, Precise Racing Products, Stop-Fyre, Lincoln Electric, Velocita-USA, Waterstone Mortgage Hermitage, CrateInsider.com, and Wedge Motorsports.

E-mail can be sent to the RUSH Racing Series at info@rushracingseries.com and snail mail to 4368 Route 422, Pulaski, PA 16143. Office phone is 724-964-9300. The RUSH Late Model website is www.rushlatemodels.com. Like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/rushlatemodels and follow us on Twitter @RUSHLM.

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