Patriot Sprint Tour Battles United Racing Company for $4,000 A-Verdi Sprint Nationals at Black Rock This Friday

By Rich Vleck

ROCHESTER, NY, (June 23, 2013)- Black Rock Speedway, easily the most-visited venue in Patriot Sprint Tour Series history, will add a new branch this Friday Night to the tree of history that has built up over the years.

This Friday Night, for a record 36^th time, the Black Rock Speedway in Dundee, NY will play host to a Patriot Sprint Tour Sanctioned event. This is no ordinary event though, as the United Racing Company joins the PST on the 4/10-mile Yates County oval for the $4,000-to-win A-Verdi Sprint Nationals.

This traditional August date has become one of the “Majors” on the Patriot Sprint Tour, due in large part to the extra attention in the Finger Lakes on this weekend, along with a hefty boost in the winner’s payout.

This list of winners of the August sprint show include PST Champions Chuck Hebing, Bryan Howland, Jared Zimbardi, George Suprick and Justin Barger, along with Tony Stewart, who dominated the event last year.

Justin Barger put on quite a performance back in May to win on the series’ 10-year anniversary but has been shut out since then. Along with Barger, Bryan Howland and Jared Zimbardi also have wins on tour this season, as well as career wins at Black Rock. Defending PST America Champion Scott Kreutter also has a win this year, but has yet to grace Black Rock Victory Lane.

Of course, there are a slew of names of drivers still in search of their first win of 2013. Tommy Wickham is the highest driver in PST America points yet to garner a win this year, with Geoff Quackenbush, Brad Knab, Clint Ide, Steve Collins and the rest of the drivers in the top 10 that have not won this season.

The local drivers will have plenty of competition coming from the Mid-Atlantic States. J.J. Grasso leads the URC standings 11 races in to their season. Grasso was victories at Black Rock back in 2011, and will need another great performance to hold back Josh Weller, Davie Franek and Brian Carber who are chasing him for the points lead. Randy West was an impressive second last year and is fifth in the standings, just ahead of Chad Trout, who scored his first series win at Lincoln this past weekend.

Unfortunately, one popular name that will be sorely missed this weekend will be that of Kramer Williamson. The legendary driver passed away Sunday after succumbing to injuries caused in an accident on Saturday. It will certainly cast a somber tone across Friday’s race action.

Racing action will kick off early at 6:45 P.M. on Friday. For more information, visit www.PatriotSprintTour.com.

Patriot Sprint Tour History at Black Rock

Races: 35

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