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APPLE FESTIVAL NATIONALS TO CONCLUDE 2011 SEASON; COMPLETE SHOWS BOTH FRIDAY & SATURDAY ; Payoffs posted

By Mike Leone

September 14, 2011 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Hartford, OH)…Sharon Speedway will end the 2011 racing season in grand style this weekend as the annual “Apple Festival Nationals� will feature six different divisions of racing action over Friday and Saturday night. Each night will offer complete shows for the five competing divisions each night. Racing begins at 7 p.m. Discounted two-day passes are available. Free camping is being offered all weekend.

The “Apple Festival Nationals� has become an ever growing, popular event to end the season at Sharon Speedway, which runs in conjunction with the traditional festival that takes place right down the road at the intersection of Routes 7 and 305 in Hartford.

Friday’s card will include the FASTRAK Late Models, E-Mods, open Stock Cars, Econo Mods, and Mini Stocks along with a Powder Puff for the E-Mods. Then on Saturday, the BRP Modified Tour, FASTRAK Northeast Late Model Touring Series, open Stock Cars, Econo Mods, and double Mini Stock features will round out the season.

“This is always a fun weekend with great racing,� stated second year GM Dave Willoughby. “We keep tweaking the line-up and are pretty excited about this season’s Apple Festival Nationals with lots of great racing and strong car counts expected. It’s hard to believe the season is just about over, but this is a great way to end a successful season!�

The Barris Supply FASTRAK Late Models will be one of the divisions participating both days. The FT400 right rear tire will not be mandated all weekend. Friday night will be a Weekly Series event paying $700 to-win; however, the program will include time trials and a paying dash for the six fastest cars that will determine the starting line-up. The dash is currently sponsored by Race 1, Robinson Automotive, and Wedge Motorsports.

On Saturday, the Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC Northeast Touring Series returns for their fourth and final appearance with $1,200 on the line. There will also be an Australian Pursuit for the top 10 “Futures Cup� drivers on hand! This season’s Touring events have been won by Josh Holtgraver, Max Blair, and George Kowatic, and have averaged over 41 cars per event!

Blair has saw his Touring Series lead shrink to 24 points over the fast-closing Pegher, who has three victories in 2011 at Sharon to Blair’s one. The remainder of the top five in Tour points includes Dan Angelicchio, Steve Dixon, and Holtgraver.

Saturday’s show will be headlined by the 26th annual Russ King Memorial with the BRP Modified Tour for the ground-pounding Governor Insurance Agency big blocks! A minimum of $1,500 to-win was slated to be paid; however, the Kings have raised additional monies with the hope of this becoming a 40-lap $2,000 to-win race!

Thirteen different drivers have won this prestigious event led by Lou Blaney at five. Jim Rasey is the top active winning racer with three victories in this event. Other active drivers with wins include Jim Weller, Jr. (two), Kevin Bolland (two), Rex King (two), Tommy Kristyak (one), Tom Winkle (one), and Lonny Riggs (one).

King, who ironically beat Bolland to win the Sharon title for the second straight year also leads Bolland in the BRP Tour standings by just seven points. Fourteen BRP Tour events have been run at Sharon with the following winners and wins in parentheses Rasey (4), Bolland (3), King (3), Ron Smoker (3), and Riggs (1).

The popular open Stock Car rules and format always draws a lot of competitors to Sharon Speedway from outside of the area. Like FASTRAK, the Gibson Insurance Agency Stockers, will be battling both nights for increased monies. On Friday night, $500 will be on the line for the 20-lap feature, but the ante will be upped to $1,000 on Saturday night for the 25-lap main! Tim Burns won the season opening open Stock Car event for his biggest career win. There’s no entry fee for the entire weekend for the Stocks! Rules are posted on under the Driver Info link at www.sharonspeedway.com.

The Ainsley 500 Heating & Cooling E-Mods have brought in strong car counts and competition all season long. On only one occasion has the car count dipped below 22 cars as 83 different drivers have competed with 10 different winners! The E-Mods will run on Friday only, but will be racing for $1,000 to-win and no entry fee!

The second year Econo Mod class, which has upped its participation to 23 cars this season, will be in action both nights for their biggest weekend ever! The Summit Racing Equipment division will run a regular event on Friday night then battle for $350 to-win on Saturday night.

The Mini Stocks will also have two big days of action. The Presidential Lawn Care guys will run a complete show on Friday night for $200 to-win then on Saturday night the Minis will be able to run twin 15-lap features paying $200 to-win each! Saturday’s program will see drivers drawing for their starting positions in the first feature and the second feature will invert all finishing lead lap cars with the remainder of the line-up straight-up from the finish of the first main. The rules have been opened up for this show to allow the six cylinders to compete as well.

For both days, pits open at 4 p.m. with the grandstands at 5. Time trials will begin at 6:30 (FASTRAK Friday & BRP Mods Saturday) with racing at 7. Regular grandstand general admission prices will be in effect for both days, which includes $13 for adults, $5 for students 9-13, and $32 for families. Discounted two-day passes will be available for $20 for adults and $50 for families. Pit passes are $30 each day with a two-day pass for just $50. FREE camping is available all weekend!

Complete payoffs are as follows:

BRP Modified Tour: TBA

FASTRAK Late Models (Friday): 1. $700 2. $400 3. $300 4. $245 5. $220 6. $205 7. $190 8. $185 9. $180 10. $175 11. $150 12. $125 13. $100 14. $90 15-24. $80. Tow/Non-qualifiers $50

FASTRAK Late Models (Saturday): 1. $1,200 2. $650 3. $450 4. $350 5. $325 6. $300 7.
$275 8. $260 9. $255 10. $250 11. $225 12. $210 13. $200 14. $175 15. $165 16.
$160 17. $155 18-24. $150. Bonus Event for non-qualifiers to be held if 30 or
more cars paying $125 to-win, $55 to-start. Tow/Non-qualifiers $50.

Open Stock Cars (Friday): 1. $500 2. $350 3. $225 4. $160 5. $150 6. $130 7. $125 8. $120 9. $115 10. $110 11. $105 12. $100 13. $95 14. $75 15. $65 16-24. $50. Tow/Non-qualifiers $40.

Open Stock Cars (Saturday): 1. $1,000 2. $600 3. $450 4. $300 5. $250 6. $225 7. $200 8. $175 9. $165 10. $150 11. $140 12. $130 13. $125 14. $110 15-24. $100. Two/Non-qualifiers $40.

E-Mods (Friday): 1. $1,000 2. $600 3. $450 4. $300 5. $250 6. $225 7. $200 8. $175 9. $165 10. $150 11. $140 12. $130 13. $125 14. $110 15-24. $100. Two/Non-qualifiers $50.

Econo Mods (Friday): 1. $200 2. $140 3. $120 4. $110 5. $105 6. $100 7. $95 8. $90 9. $80 10. $70 11. $60 12. $50 13-24. $40. Tow $30.

Econo Mods (Saturday): 1. $350 2. $200 3. $140 4. $120 5. $115 6. $110 7. $105 8. $100 9. $90 10. $80 11. $70 12. $60 13. $50 14-24. $45. Tow $30.

Mini Stocks (Friday & twin features for Saturday): 1. $200 2. $100 3. $75 4. $50 5. $40 6 & on back $30.

Sharon Speedway is owned by the Blaney, Weller, and Kirila Families and is a 3/8-mile dirt track located on Custer-Orangeville Road in Hartford, Ohio near the intersection of Routes 7 & 305. For more information, check out the website at www.sharonspeedway.com or call 330-772-5481. Become a fan of Sharon Speedway on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sharonspeedway and follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/sharonspdwy.

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