From Rich Vleck
ROCHESTER, NY — (August 9, 2011) — Mother Nature has been unkind to the Patriot Sprint Tour this year, particularly on Upstate New York events. Because of this, the most prestigious of the mini series championships comes down to this Friday.
This Friday, August 12, the Black
Rock Speedway will host their final sprint car event of the year with the $4,000-to-win A-Verdi Storage Containers Sprint Championship. That additional money, which not only makes winning lucrative, but also effectively boosts the pay out for each position up one place, has made this event one of the biggest all season long.
Every weekend that NASCAR has been at Watkins Glen since 2001, sprint cars have blasted around the Yates County Oval, with each of the events since 2008 paying at least $4,000 to the winner. In addition to the monetary aspects though, the swell of fans and racing celebrities in the Finger Lakes has always made this show extra-special to win.
For the second year in a row, the A-Verdi Sprint Championship will also crown the A-Verdi King of Upstate New York. Because of four rainouts in this series thus far in 2011, there is a 12-way tie heading into this final event, meaning that if any one of those dozen drivers went to Victory Lane, they would wear the crown at the end of the night.
Among those that have a chance to claim the crown on the night includes Jared Zimbardi, Tim Kelly, Scott Kreutter and Don Adamczyk, the top four in Patriot Sprint Tour Points who are all going after their first A-Verdi King of Upstate New York Title. Each of the drivers in this quartet has been strong at BRS over the years, including Kreutter, who put on a show last month.
Leading Rookie Steve Collins, who had a career-best finish at BRS last month, locals Jeff Frasier and Lance Yonge, plus invaders Michael Parent, Steve Poirier and Jeff Cook all have an opportunity to claim the crown on Friday.
While a mini series championship may be out of reach, Chuck Hebing, Alain Bergeron and Justin Barger should all be a factor at a track where they are consistently up front. Hebing was the winner at BRS in July and Barger won last year’s Fall Nationals. At points in each race, Bergeron was a winner on the preliminary night. Bobby Breen, the other preliminary winner that night is expected to make his first start since last year’s Fall Nationals.
Some other top names anticipated include Dave Wickham, Shayne Ely, Kevin Ward Jr., Bruce DeWick and Paul Habeck. Plus, with the Empire Super Sprints in support of this show, a host of additional competitors could invade Dundee on Friday Night.
Friday’s format at Black Rock will see on the sprints running heat races. With each of the weekly divisions running only a feature, the night should move by at a swifter rate than in pass years. As part of the festivities, the annual NASCAR Match Race should make for a memorable night.
For more information, visit www.PatriotSprintTour.com.
Patriot Sprint Tour History at Black Rock
Races: 30
9/6/2003- Scott Bonnell
4/24/2004- Rich Swarthout
5/22/2004- Lance Yonge
6/5/2004- George Suprick
6/12/2004- George Suprick
6/19/2004- George Suprick
6/26/2004- Bobby Breen
7/2/2004- Rick Wilson
7/10/2004- Chuck Hebing
7/17/2004- George Suprick
8/7/2004- Blake Breen
8/14/2004- Blake Breen
9/4/2004- Chuck Hebing
9/11/2004- Trevor Lewis
8/13/2005- George Suprick
9/10/2005- Trevor Lewis
8/12/2006- Chuck Hebing
9/9/2006- Curt Michael
5/18/2007- Chuck Hebing
5/19/2007- Travis Rilat
8/11/2007- Jared Zimbardi
8/8/2008- Justin Barger
5/15/2009- Bobby Breen
8/7/2009- Trevor Lewis
4/30/2010- Chuck Hebing
8/6/2010- Bryan Howland
9/10/2010- Bobby Breen and Alain Bergeron (Preliminary Events)
9/11/2010- Justin Barger
5/7/2011- J.J. Grasso
7/8/2011- Chuck Hebing
A-Verdi King of Upstate New York Standings
|
1 |
7c |
Dylan Swiernik |
150 |
|
2 |
35 |
Jared Zimbardi |
150 |
|
3 |
67 |
Steve Collins |
150 |
|
4 |
12 |
Tim Kelly |
150 |
|
5 |
51 |
Bryan Howland |
150 |
|
6 |
21 |
Don Adamczyk |
150 |
|
7 |
99 |
Jeff Frasier |
150 |
|
8 |
17J |
Lance Yonge |
150 |
|
9 |
52 |
Scott Kreutter |
150 |
|
10 |
25 |
Michael Parent |
150 |
|
11 |
28fm |
Steve Poirier |
150 |
|
12 |
10 |
Jeff Cook |
150 |
|
13 |
80 |
Dave Wickham |
100 |
|
14 |
13 |
Kevin Ward Jr |
100 |
|
15 |
V8 |
Shayne Ely |
100 |
|
16 |
45 |
Chuck Hebing |
100 |
|
17 |
5 |
Vern Wasson |
50 |
|
18 |
75 |
Tommy Wickham |
50 |
|
19 |
7 |
Kyle Moffit |
50 |
|
20 |
32 |
Justin Barger |
50 |
|
21 |
87* |
Jason Barney |
50 |
|
22 |
8B |
Alain Bergeron |
50 |