From Eriez Speedway
Hammett, PA, May 26, 2013: Cool, but sunny skies greeted fans for the Patriot Sprint Tour’s first appearance at Eriez Speedway this season. Twenty-two of the winged speedsters made the trip from upstate NY for the 200th points-paying event for the tour with Scott Kreutter getting the win over Bryan Howland. The two finished first and second in the 2012 points championship with Kreutter winning the previous Patriot visit here last September. In regular weekly action Rob Blair dominated the Super Late Models for the win, Scott Gurdak, a former E-Mod champion, collected his first Eriez FASTRAK Late Model feature win, and John Boyd, the 2009 champion, won his first E-Mod feature of the season. Dustin Eckman got his first Limited Late Model feature win of the season while Stephen Enlow won his first-ever feature in the Challenger division.
Justin Barger took off with the early lead in the Patriot Sprint Tour with Scott Kreutter second and four-time tour champion Bryan Howland third. At green Jared Zimbardi came by Howland but Howland drove back by a lap later. At halfway the leaders were in lapped traffic when at lap thirteen Dave Just spun in turn four and was collected by Adam Anderson, who then tipped onto his side. At this point in the event, the top four drivers were all past tour champions. When green flag racing got back underway Barger, the 2012 Canadian Tour champion resumed his lead but spun coming out of turn four to complete lap 17, continuing, but falling to fifth and leaving Kruetter, the 2012 US Tour champion, in the lead. Kreutter and Howland battled for the lead over the remainder of the event with Kreutter, the winner here at Eriez last September getting his third consecutive feature win of the year. With one lap remaining, Barger again spun in four and again kept moving, allowing the race to continue under green. Following Kreutter to the line were Howland, Dave Ely, Jared Zimbardi, and Mitch Brown.
Patriot Sprint Tour:
Heat 1: Jared Zimbardi, Bryan Howland, Clint Ide, Steve Hutchinson, Geoff Quackenbush, Scott Just, Brad Knab, Brandan Warner
Heat 2: Justin Barger, Mitch Brown, Scott Kruetter, Kyle Drum, Dave Wickham, Jay Groves, Tommy Wickham
Heat 3: Dave Ely, Bruce Dewick, George Suprick, Derek Jonathan, Brad Knab, Dave Just, Adam Anderson
Dash: Kyle Drum, Clint Ide, Steve Hutchinson, Scott Just, Dave Wickham, Derek, Jonathan (DNS)
Feature: Scott Kreutter, Bryan Howland, Dave Ely, Jared Zimbardi, Mitch Brown, Tommy Wickham, Kyle Deum, George Suprick, Justin Barger, Bruce Dewick, Steve Hutchinson, Geoff Quackenbush, Clint Ide, Brandan Warner, Dennis Wagner, Dave Wickham, Brad Knab, Tyler Graves, Dave Just, Derek Jonathan, Adam Anderson, Scott Just