HERSH WINS PRELIM TO STERBUTZEL MEMORIAL

By DJ Johnson

**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***

Latrobe, PA (May 27, 2023) Clinton Hersh proved by dominating the 20-lap K2 Engineering Crate Late Model feature that he was ready to take on all comers at the Jesse Sterbutzel Memorial Race on Saturday, June 3.

Other winners were; Jim Morris (Bowers Farms 305 Sprint Cars), Anthony Monteparte (Joe’s Auto Body & Towing Pure Stocks), Dayton Hazlett (Special T Metals LLC Modified 4 Cylinders), and Justin Connors (Marilungo Disposal LLC Strictly Stock 4 Cylinders).

Hersch (16) and Rob King (K1) made up the front row for the 20-lap K2 Engineering Crate Late Model feature. After a restart on lap one, Braeden Dillinger (14) and Michael Duritsky (90J) were battling for the second spot until a caution flag was waved on lap eight as King and Marino Angleicchio (55) got together coming off of Turn 3, and King ended up on his roof. King was uninjured; however, he deemed himself out of next week’s Sterbutzel Memorial due to the significant damage to the K1.

Hersh, Dillinger, Duritsky, Ryan Frazee (17), and Dan Angelicihio in the Mike Cuthbert (47) rounded out the top five on the restart.

The race stayed the same as the battle for the second position continued until lap-18 when Michael Duritsky surprisingly spun in Turn 4, resulting in a caution coming out with two laps to go.

With Duritsky going to the tail, Joe Zulisky (58) moved into the fifth spot. Hersh got a good jump on the field and went on to collect his second win at Latrobe Speedway. Following Hersh were Dillinger, Frazee (celebrating a birthday), and Dan Angelicchio.

“We made some changes for the feature,” Hersch said. “We were good in Turns one and two but struggled in three and four. So I got on the bottom and hoped for the best and here we are,” Hersh said in victory lane.

Relay for Life Fayette County Racing for Cure Night also added $200 to the purse for first place in the Crate Late Model feature and an additional $100 for second and third place.

Duritsky and Angelicchio won heat races.

With the win on Saturday, Hersh will have a Provisional starting spot as the points leader in the Crate Late Model division for the Jesse Sterbutzel Memorial Race.

In the Bowers Farms RaceSaver 305 15-lap feature, Jim Morris (16) of Fowler, Ohio, would pick up an impressive win over Tommy Jasen (12G) and Jacob Gamola (4J).

The 17S of Shane Heath sat on the pole alongside Tommy Jasen. At the drop of the green, Jasen got around Heath and set sail.

Around lap-11, Morris was all over the trail tank of the leader Jasen. On lap-12, Morris made the pass for the lead, and it stuck. Morris finished with Jasen, Gamola, John Jerich (3), and 20M of Vivian Jones, rounding out the top five.

Jeremy Hill, a former 410 Sprint Car competitor and owner of Hills Tire Shop in Mount Pleasant, donated a Sprint Car Top-Wing valued at $800.

A drawing was held among the 13 Bower Farms RaceSaver 305 Sprint Cars finishers, and the 12th place finisher, Jazlyn Boyles, was the winner.

Allegheny Sprint Tour Director Jacob Gamola also gave away a new Impact Gun to the 4th place finished, John Jerich.

Heat races were won by Morris and Jasen.

In The Joe’s Auto Body & Towing Pure Stocks, the battle for wins will always be entertaining amongst the Big Three of Anthony Monteparte (66), E.J. Rozak (77), and Corey Farris (22F).

You could have covered the Big Three many times at the start/finish line with a blanket during the 12-lap feature.

Just as the field was taking the green flag to start the race, the 06 of John Cain attempted to avoid the 22F of Ferris and caught Jim Zufall in the 3Z turning him around and causing the left tire to catch, and the 06 began to barrel roll ending up against the front stretch wall just short of the start/finish line.

After the restart, the Big Three battled tooth and nail, with Monteparte prevailing for his first win of the season at Latrobe. Ferris, Rozak, Matt Weltz (717), and Jim Zufall (3Z) finished in the top five.

Monteparte won the heat race.

The Special T Metals Modified 4 Cylinders competitive field of 20 cars entertained the fans. Dayton Hazlett (711) and the 51 of the “Cobalt Cowboy” Colton McNaney put on a great battle with Hazlett. McNaney was reaching speeds of 70 miles an hour on the backstretch.

The race didn’t start well for Hazlett as he was involved in a crash in Turn 1 on the initial start and was sent to the tail. Coming from the back of the pack, Hazlett made it back to the front, passing McNaney for the win, followed by Joe Jacobs (27), Chris Myers (830), and Shawn Ghrist (89).

In the Marilungo Disposal LLC Strictly Stock 4 Cylinders, Justin Connors (21) picked up the first win of his career from the pole position. Mark Shaffer (74) was alongside Connors from the start and finished in second. The 39 of Brian Noel started in seventh and brought home a third-place finish. Fourth was Seth Nedrow (26), with CJ Parrill (87) coming home fifth.

In remembrance of Bill Findlay, his family donated $250 to the Kids Club.

Join us on Saturday, June 3, for the Jesse Sterbutzel Memorial, a 40-lap, $ 10,000-to-win feature for the Crate Late Models. Also on the card will be the Super Late Models for $2,500 to win and the Joe’s Body Shop & Towing Pure Stocks.

For more information, go to www.laterobemotorsports.com and visit our Facebook page.

**********************************************************************

K2 Engineering Crate Late Models (18) (Feature 20-Laps) – 1. 16-CLINTON HERSH[1]; 2. 14-Braeden Dillinger[3]; 3. 17-Ryan Frazee[8]; 4. 47-Dan Angelicchio[5]; 5. 58-Joe Zulisky[6]; 6. 8s-Tommy Schirnhofer Jr.[9]; 7. 90j- Michael Duritsky[7]; 8. 11L-Jeff Ferguson[17]; 9. 31-Noah Brunell[9]; 10. 15-Zach Herring[12]; 11. (DNF) 55-Marino Angelicchio[11]; 12. (DNF) K1-Rob King[2]; 13. (DNF) 11s-Troy Shields[13]; 14. (DNF) 711-Jay McCracken[16]; 15. (DNF) 33K-Andrew Koenig[15]; 16. (DNS) 6-Chuck Recker; 17. (DNS) 85-Andy Spooner; 18. (DNS) K2- John Over

BOWER FARMS RaceSaver 305 Sprint Cars (13) (Feature 15-Laps) – 1. 16-JIM MORRIS[3]; 2. 12G-Tommy Jasen[2]; 3. 4J-Jacob Gamola[7]; 4. 3-John Jerich[5]; 5. 20M-Vivian Jones[4]; 6. 25-Jarrett Rosencrance[8]; 7. 3J-Jacob Begenwald[5]; 8. 82M-Roman Jones[10]; 9. R6-Reed Thompson[9]; 10. 17S-Shane Heath[1]; 11. 10J-Jay Fry[11]; 12. 30-Jazlyn Boyles[12]; 13. (DNS) 4B-Walt Tutck

Joe’s Auto Body & Towing Pure Stocks (9) (Feature 12-Laps) -1. 66-ANTHONY MONTEPARTE[5]; 2. 22F-Corey Farris[3]; 3. 77-E.J. Rozak[7]; 4. 717-Matt White[2]; 5. 3Z Jim Zufal[6]; 6. 18-John Hollis[1]; 7. 15-Jon Greenawalt[8]; 8. (DNF) 21-David Heining; 9. (DNF) 44L-Adam Large; 10. (DNF) 06-John Cain

Special T Metals LLC. Modified 4 Cylinders (20) (Feature 8-Laps) 1. 711-DAYTON HAZLETT[3]; 2. 51-Colton McNaney[7]; 3. 27-Joe Jacobs[6]; 4. 830-Chris Myers[1]; 5. 89-Shawn Ghrist[9]; 6. 66-Dale Grubbs[14]; 7. 51H- George Hoffman[11]; 8. (DNF) 307-Brandon Meyers; 9. (DNF) 48-Paul Koffler III; 10. (DNF) 2J-Josh Zverara; 11. (DNF) 64-Josh Grubbs; 12. (DNF) 47-Mike Pavlak; 13. (DNF) 62-Jeremy Grubbs; 14. (DNF) 24-Tifani McElhouse; 15. (DNF) 513-Andrew Jones; 16. (DNF) 79-Andrew Spangler; 17. (DNS) 10-Brad Dickey; 18. (DNS) 30-Jeremy Deglau: 19. (DNS) 418-Tylar Laughard; 20. (DNS) 19H-Tylar Huffman;

Marilungo Disposal LLC. Strictly Stock 4 Cylinders (12) (Feature 8-laps) 1. 21-JUSTIN CONNORS[1]; 2. 14-Mark Shaffer[2]; 3. 39-Brian Noel[7]; 4. 26-Seth Nedrow[5]; 5. 87-CJ Parrill[10]; 6. 9-Dan Shortman[3]; 7. 701-Sadie Lancashire[9]; 8. 21M-Emily Moyer[1]; 9. 16-Dylan Nedrow[8]; 10. (DNF) 707-Kait

lyn Spangler; 11. (DNS) 722-Cody Williams; 12. (DNS) 33V-

Ron Vasos.