Pittsburgher Weekend Up Next For UEMS Emods
The fledgling United Emod Series (UEMS) will venture the farthest southern trip of the year this coming weekend when the UEMS stars tackle the monster half mile oval at Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Motor Speedway as part of the annual Pittsburgher weekend.
PPMS will have open practice on Thursday night, September 18 for all classes. Gates open at 4:30PM with racing practice starting at 6PM. On Friday, September 19, the UEMS teams will race their qualifying heat events for the Pizza Hut Commonwealth Pittsburgher Emod Championship event on Saturday. Gates open Friday at 4PM with racing at 7PM. Saturday will see the UEMS teams running their consolation events and the $1000 to win 25 Pizza Hut Commonwealth Pittsburgher Emod Championship. Gates open at 1PM on Saturday with racing at 7PM.
McKean County Raceway 2008 point champion, Randy Hall currently is the UEMS point leader. Hall won the inaugural UEMS event at Mercer Raceway Park in the spring. A pair of second place finishes during the Tri City Speedway events over Labor Day weekend has sprung him to the top of the point chart. Chatham NY driver, George Catanzano travels to each UEMS event from the Albany, NY area. Catanzano currently sits second in points to Hall by nine marks. The Hudson Valley region IMCA New York driver has adapted very well to the open motor Emod division and is looking for his first UEMS win. Dave Hess Jr. sits third in points, but the regional dirt late model and Emod standout is expected to be racing in West Virginia a dirt late model event. 2007 Calvacade Emod champion, Rich Michael Jr. will also be on hand. Michael sits just five points behind Hess. Michael just unveiled a new machine a few weeks ago and has been consistently in the top five over the past few events. Shawn Shingledecker of Franklin PA is fifth in points just two marks behind Michael. Shingledecker was in contention for the point lead going into the final night of Tri City weekend till the opening lap crash that severely damaged his machine. Other teams expected are Russ Dunn, Tim Peterson, Vic Vena, Bruce Powell, Carl McKinney, Bryan Douglas and Darren Tarabori is also a possibility in his v6 powered machine.
A bad night by Hall and Catanzano along with a good night for Michael, Shingledecker, Dunn, Vena and others could really make the point championship a battle for the season ending event at Mercer Raceway Park on October 4. But before then, they must compete against the monster half mile of Pittsburgh PA Motor Speedway and the PPMS stars of Wayne Tessean, Daryl Charlier, Tom Martineck, Kevin Miller, JE Stalder and the rest of the PPMS weekly racers who will no doubt be looking to defend their home turf against the northern UEMS invaders and southern invading Emod teams from West Virginia and Ohio.
Also on the card will be the annual Pittsburgher 100 for the UFO super late models, crate / semi late models, cadets, sportsman and young guns will all be in action.
For more information about this weekend’s Pittsburgher Weekend, check out the PPMS website out at www.PPMS.com or go to the UEMS website at www.unitedlatemodelseries.com.