Mike Norris won the Red Miley Rumble at
Pittsburgh's PA Motor Speedway on August 26, 2017.

Mike Norris Best In Red Miley Rumble At PPMS

Imperial, PA (August 26)...Mike Norris from Sarver bested a field of 20 Diehl Automotive Super Late Models in winning the 11th Annual Red Miley Rumble on Saturday night at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway. The defending champion of the event led early before losing the lead to Alex Ferree near halfway, then gained it back en route to the victory worth $3553.

Other Red Miley Rumble winners included Eric Wilson of Cortland, OH, who captured his first victory at the track in the Precise Racing Products RUSH Late Models. Dave McManus of Elizabeth set a new track record in defeating the field of Sunoco Sportsman entries for the second time this season. Karlee Kovacs from Carnegie earned her first victory of the season in the Miley Truck Rental Hobby Stocks. Ben Anton from Jefferson Hills collected his fourth win of the year in the Imperial Heights Garage Young Guns. Bill Tennant of Colliers, WV was a second time winner in the CruiseAmerica Open Fours.

Mike Norris was fast all night in the Red Miley Rumble for the Diehl Automotive Super Late Models. He turned the fastest lap in qualifying of 17.180 seconds, just a tick off of his track record lap of 17.106 set during qualifying for last year’s Pittsburgher 100. Norris, Alex Ferree, and Mason Ziegler were the heat race winners, with the top two finishers from each going to the dash. Norris won the dash with a fastest lap 17.169. And in the feature, his fastest lap would be 17.134 around the “Monster Half Mile.”

By his dash victory, Norris and Ferree would lead the field to green for the 35 lap Red Miley Rumble. The two would race side by side for two laps before Norris nosed ahead at lap 3 with Ziegler settling into third, with Colton Flinner and Florida driver Mark Whitener exchanging fourth. The first caution period came on lap 5 when Tony Musolino slowed in turn three. As Musolino turned down the track to enter the pits under caution, he and Flinner made contact as both cars would be unable to continue. Back to green, Norris continued to lead over Ferree, Ziegler, and Whitener, as Mike Pegher, Jr. and Jared Miley exchanged fifth. The battle for the lead heated up as the leaders encountered race traffic with 13 laps complete. Working lap 15, Ferree made an inside pass off of turn four to take the lead on lap 16 with Whitener, Miley, and Ziegler trailing.

At halfway on lap 18, the next caution appeared for a spin by Doug Dodd on the backstretch. Back to green, Ferree nosed ahead before Norris would squeeze by him off of turn four to take the lead on lap 19. Fast again, this time he would pull away from Ferree, Miley, Whitener, and Jake Gunn. The final caution period came with 26 laps in for Miley slowing on the frontstretch. The final restart would again see Norris pull away from the field, as he would go on to take the win by 3.903 seconds over Ferree. Whitener would take third in his first visit to the track from the Sunshine State. Gunn would have a solid run for fourth. Fifth would go to Daryl Charlier, starting 18th after taking over the Matt Dobnak 42. Point leader Jon Hodgkiss, Derek Stefanick, John Wayne Weaver, Kelvin Kohan, and Ziegler rounded out the top ten.

The Precise Racing Products RUSH Late Models main started with John Mollick and Ben Policz on the front row via the redraw. The first two laps saw the top three racing three wide for the top spot as they were joined by sixth starting Eric Wilson. Officially Mollick led the first lap, with Policz nosing ahead on lap 2. Mollick had a hard hit into the turn one wall on lap 3, bringing out what would be the final caution period. Back to racing, it was Wilson who had the fastest car as he took over the race lead and pulled away from the competition. At halfway, his lead was 3.110 seconds over Policz, Justin Lamb, and Mike Reft and Chuck Medved who were racing for fourth. The second half of the race would not be much different from the first half, as Wilson won by 3.900 seconds over Policz. Third went to point leader Lamb, who started eleventh in the 12 car field after having issues in his heat race. Medved took fourth after halfway and held it to the finish, with Reft fifth after getting lapped by Wilson on the last lap. Mollick and Bryan Hoffman were the heat race winners.

Several drivers flirted with the Sunoco Sportsman track record in the heat races that were won by Bob Schwartzmiller and Daryl Charlier. The record of Rusty Martz set in 2014 at 21.043 was in jeopardy as the feature started, with A.J. Poljak and Charlier atop the grid. Schwartzmiller started fifth, but slipped by Poljak to lead lap 1. The first caution came with two laps in for Danny Rich who got into the turn three wall. Back racing, they were three wide off of turn four for the lead with Schwatzmiller leading point leader Dave McManus from seventh, and Poljak. McManus made an outside pass of Schwartmiller to take the lead on lap 4, and promptly took off from the field. On lap 7, McManus would set a new record lap of 20.786, as he raced away from the field. In the closing laps, his lead was nearing four seconds with Schwartzmiller, eighth starting Todd Weldon, Poljak, and Charlier trailing. With the white flag waving, Poljak suffered a broken axle off of turn four, which would bring out the yellow flag. Track rules would extend the race from 15 to 16 laps, needing a two lap run to the finish. That extra lap that gave the competition a shot at McManus would not matter to the leader, as he would be the winner at the end of that extra mile by 1.707 seconds. Weldon passed Schwartzmiller and the white flag, but Schwartzmiller got him back at the checkered flag. Charlier was fourth. Fifth was also exchanged in the last two laps, with Eric Piotrowski nosing Bill Robertson.

The 12 lap Miley Truck Rental Hobby Stock main had Karlee Kovacs and heat winner Stephen Shelpman leading the field to green, with Shelpman ahead by inches on lap 1. They were still side by side when the first of two caution periods came on lap 2 for John Dotten’s spin in turn four. Back racing, they were side by side at lap 3 with Shelpman nosing ahead at lap 4, as Tyler Fox and Justin Shipley made it a four car battle for the lead. Fox passed Kovacs for the second at lap 5, and that was a miracle in itself as Fox ended his heat race on his side after rolling his car in turn two. An amazing job by him and his crew got his car prepared for the feature, where he was in contention for the win, as cars do not like the effects of not having gravity. However, Kovacs would not be happy with being dropped to third, as she regained second the next time by. The final caution came with 7 laps in, for fourth running Shipley. Back to green, it was Shelpman showing the way as Kovacs challenged for the top spot. Working lap 9, Kovacs made an inside pass off of turn four, and would be the new leader at lap 10. She would lead the final two laps to take her first win of the season, extended her division point lead. Shelpman settled for a close second ahead of Fox, Adam Ferree, and Casey Grumling.

Kayla McManus led the first lap of six in the Imperial Heights Garage Young Gun main. Ben Anton started third with three entries, and passed to take the lead on lap 2, holding it the remaining distance to win over McManus and Kyle Janas.

The CruiseAmerica Open Four main started with John Gill and Tom Anton leading 14 cars to the green flag for 10 laps. Gill led the first round of the non-stop event before seventh starting Bill Tennant passed on lap 2. Tennant went on to win, distancing himself from the battle for second. Point leader Matthew Rubright and Andy Garlinger raced for second for most of the race, with Garlinger taking the spot on lap 8. Garlinger would finish second, for the fourth straight time. Rubright would be third over Paul Koffler, III and first time visitor Caitlin Eddy. Tennant and Garlinger took the heats.

Racing continues at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway on Saturday, September 2, with the return of the fastest cars on dirt, the 410 Outlaw Winged Sprints, competing in the “Fall Wing Fling.” Also in competition will be point racing for the Precise Racing Products RUSH Late Models, Sunoco Sportsman, Super6 Late Models, Miley Truck Rental Hobby Stocks, Imperial Heights Garage Young Guns, and CruiseAmerica Open Fours.

For complete information, please visit the track website at www.ppms.com .

For all PPMS racing programs, the gates open at 5:00 PM, with warm-ups at 6:00 PM and racing at 7:00 PM. Follow us on Facebook at @PAMotorSpeedway or on Twitter at @PAMotorSpeedway for timely information updates. The Twitter account is used extensively on race nights for live updates. Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway is located west of the city of Pittsburgh, just south of the Noblestown exit of U.S. Route 22, or 170 Kelso Road in Imperial, PA, for GPS purposes. The track phone is 724-695-3363 on race days, or call 412-279-RACE.