The DIRT Network: PA Speedweek

Monday, July 7, 2014

Pittman in Hot Pursuit; Wolfe, Bell and Satterlee Snag Honorable Mentions

Daryn Pittman finds himself as the recipient of the prestigious TDN "Driver of the Week" award for the second time this season after his outstanding weekend with the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series. Pittman's first time atop the standings came after winning four straight with the series during their northeastern swing. This past weekend Pittman doubled up, going 2 for 2, to earn a total of $20,000 in addition to cutting into Donny Schatz's point lead. The KKR #9 team currently leads the World of Outlaws with 9 wins on the year as they work for back-to-back trophies following last year's championship.

Honorable Mentions:

Lucas Wolfe:
The "Kid from Mechanicsburg" got the job done during the grueling Pennsylvania Speedweek as the pilot of the Zemaitis owned #1 machine. Lucas only competed in 7 of the 8 shows and was still able to pull off the Speedweeks title over a handful of guys that entered all eight events. The only race that he was absent from was at Lincoln Speedway when he was off enjoying the birth of his baby girl.

Christopher Bell:

Sometimes known as the "Norman Ninja", this kid has won this season in both winged and nonwinged 410 and 360 sprint, as well as dominating the midget ranks. Bell receives an honorable mention this week for his sweep of both POWRi events at Angell Park Speedway. Bell led a charge of Keith Kunz owned midgets as he and his teammates swept the three podium positions during both nights of racing action. Chris Bell was a previous winner of the TDN "Driver of the Week" award following his first career WoO win.

Gregg Satterlee:

Satterlee has startled to climb off of the struggle bus after having a rough month of racing. After many misfortunes over the course of his runs with the Hell Tour and Firecracker weekend, The Truth climbed out of the whole by winning the $4,000 to win Independence 50 at Dog Hollow Speedway. He followed that up with a dominating win at Winchester (VA) Speedway worth $3,000 over Greg Roberson and Jason Covert. The feats, worth $7,000 total, are enough to earn Satterlee one of our Honorable Mentions of the week.

Races to Keep an Eye on This Weekend:

WoO Sprints @ Limaland and Eldora
WoO Late Models "Wild West" Tour
Lucas Late Models @ Tri City (IL) and Lucas Oil Raceway
Super DIRTcar @ Albany-Saratoga and Glen Ridge
Hell Tour @ Florence, Terre Haute, Farmer City, 34 Raceway, Vermilion Co., Brushcreek
Indiana Sprint Week

Previous TDN "Driver of the Week" Winners:

Week 15: Dale Blaney
Week 14: Roger Crockett

Week 13: Dale McDowell

Week 12: Stewart Friesen

Week 11: Daryn Pittman

Week 10: Christopher Bell

Week 9: Shane Stewart

Week 8: Shannon Babb

Week 7: Bobby Pierce

Week 6: Jonathan Davenport

Week 5: Dale Blaney

Week 4: David Gravel

Week 3: Kyle Strickler

Week 2: Rico Abreu

Week 1: Chris Madden

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

The Low Rider Speeds to Speedweek Triumphs; Lanigan and Schatz Manage to Double Up; Moody Scores First 410 Win

Dale Blaney piloting the Tony Kennedy's no. 14K

"The King of the All Stars" Dale Blaney becomes the first driver to win multiple TDN 'Driver of the Week' awards. During one of the most grueling race weeks of the year, the All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car Series had a stretch of 9 races in as many days scheduled for their 2014 edition of Ohio Speedweeks. Inclement weather took 3 wins over the nine-day stretch, and left the remainder of the races for the "Low Rider" to dominate. Blaney seemingly went on a tear, which at this point is no surprise to any of us. He found victory lane in four of the six Speedweek shows that took place and finished in the runner up spot the other two events. This is Blaney's first full season behind the wheel of the 14K machine and he's making the best of it. He will carry a 314-point lead in the series standings into the next series race at Atomic Speedway on July 3rd.

Honorable Mentions:

Darrell Lanigan:

Clearly the class of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series this season, Lanigan topped the best of the best on two occasions this past weekend at the Lernerville Speedway. His first triumph came on Thursday as a kick-start to the Firecracker weekend. The win, worth $6,000, came after a tough battle with Jonathan Davenport and Scott Bloomquist. Darrell continued on to collect the $30,000 Firecracker 100 (rain-shortened to 90 laps) after ensuing the lead on lap 67 due to a mechanical failure under the Davenport machine. After the successful weekend, Lanigan holds 7 series wins and a 186-point lead over fellow competitor Rick Eckert.

Donny Schatz:

Let me start off by asking this. Can we please come up with a catchy nickname for Donny Schatz? As the best sprint car driver on the planet for sometime now, I think it's time that we find one for him. Now that that's over with, how about Donny Schatz? Even when he struggles, he manages to click off Top 5 finishes like it's nothing. As we're accustomed to seeing, the summer months have rolled around and Donny has kicked it up a notch once again. After trailing the in the series standings for the majority of the season, Schatz has taken command of the series lead behind his 8 wins on the year.

Kyle Moody:

His 1st career 410 sprint car win came in style as he topped the field of tough competitors at Lincoln (PA) Speedway in Abbottstown, PA during the second night of Pennsylvania Speedweek. En route to earning the $7,000 top prize, Moody had to out run the likes of Brian Montieth, Lance Dewease and USAC regular Brady Bacon. During the 30-lap affair, Moody trailed race leader Adam Wilt until the 18th circuit when he assumed the lead role. He continued on to lead the final 12 circuits ahead of a hard-charging Brady Bacon. Kyle Moody timed in 11th earlier in the evening and went on to capture the victory in Heat Race 3.

Races to Watch This Coming Week:

WoO Sprints at Huset's (Tues.), Dodge City (Fri./Sat.)
LOLMDS at Roaring Knob (Wed.), Muskingum (Thurs.), Portsmouth (Fri.), & 201 Speedway (Sat.)
ASCoC Sprints at Atomic (Thurs.) and Wayne County (Sat.)
PA Speedweek
Super DIRTcar Big Blocks at Rolling Wheels (Thurs.)
USAC at Lincoln Park (Fri.)

Previous TDN 'Driver of the Week' Winners: