Jason Brown Photo
Sarver, PA (July 12, 2025) For the first time in recent memory, Mother Nature came through with a completely dry Friday which paved the way for a fantastic night of racing at The Action Track. The BRP Mod Tour paid its second visit of the season on Friday, bringing a stout 33 car field and action packed racing with it as Ransomville, NY invader Erick Rudolph was left standing in Terry Bowser Excavating Victory Lane at the end of the 35 lap main event. Meanwhile, the invader parade in victory lane continued with Carlisle, PA driver Jason Shultz who bested the field in Peoples Natural Gas Sprint Car action. Cody Koteles and Jacob Dietz both collected wins in Friday’s Millerstown Pic-A-Part Pro Stock features with Dietz’s win coming in the held over feature from June 27 which kicked off the night of racing. And, the Crusher Kid aka Michael Norris closed out the night by picking up the win with the Hovis Auto & Truck Supply RUSH Late Models who made their second City Chevrolet Weekly Series appearance of the season with the Glassmere Fuel Service Late Models taking the night off.
Rudolph Charges to BRP Mod Tour Win
Erick Rudolph made the four plus hour tow worth it on Friday night. Sporting a relatively new GSR (Glenn Styres Racing) chassis that looks to be very competitive out of the box, the Super DIRTCar Series driver had always been a threat to win at The Action Track every time he paid a visit. And on Friday night, he once again delivered a stout performance en route to a $2,500 payday in BRP Modified Tour action. However, young Canadian standout Dalton Slack made the long haul as well and drew the pole position for the 35 lap main event, starting alongside Kyle Fink.
Slack broke away for the early lead immediately after the green flag dropped with Fink and Brian Swartzlander gaining a small amount of early separation on the field in the early going. Swartzlander moved underneath Fink for the second spot with two laps in the books, and behind the action up front, defending track champion Garrett Krummert and three time track champion Rex King Jr. both had their work cut out for them given their sixth and 12th starting spots respectively, and both made immediate progress towards the front of the field in the early going. Out front, Slack had managed a near straightaway lead over Swartzlander in the first five laps and looked to be the class of the field early on. Fink started to fade a bit with four laps down as Krummert, and Canadian Tyler Willard both made their way around for positions three and four.
Meanwhile, eighth starting Rudolph showed a bit of patience in the first five laps, letting the race sort out in front of him before making a charge to the front as he made his way around Willard for the fourth spot with six laps down. At the lap 10 mark, Slack encountered a good deal of lapped traffic and was able to utilize all three grooves to stretch out a three second advantage over second running Swartzlander. Rudolph then began to run down Krummert for third; using a very tight line around the bottom that he used to slingshot around turn four with a huge burst of momentum while running a mid to higher line in turns one and two. Rudolph made the pass for third with 14 laps down and then made his way past Swartzlander with 16 down as he found himself with a sizable gap behind Slack in front.
However, Slack’s hold on the field was halted by a caution from Cameron Miller with 21 laps down just as King made his way past Swartzlander for the third spot, setting up an intriguing restart. Slack elected to start on the bottom but was eclipsed by Rudolph who used the top side of the speedway coming out of turn two, wrestling the lead away with 16 laps to go. All eyes then turned to the battle behind the leaders as Krummert and Swartzlander both wound up charges in an attempt to take the third spot from King. Swartlander got around Krummert for fourth just before Tom Holden then brought out the caution flag with seven laps to go as Rudolph elected to start on the bottom side and drove away from Slack as Krummert vaulted to third spot with King falling back to sixth. Rick Regalski then brought out the caution with five laps to go, setting up a single file restart and a quick shootout for the win. Rudolph never looked back in collecting the victory with a reasonably comfortable margin while King went for broke, passing Swartzlander on the top side of the speedway around turn four to claim the third spot at the flag stand.
Diehl Automotive Feature: (Finish-Name-[Start]) 1. 25-Erick Rudolph[8]; 2. 3RS-Dalton Slack[1]; 3. 165-Rex King Jr[12]; 4. 6S-Brian Swartzlander[4]; 5. 29-Garrett Krummert[6]; 6. 14S-Justin Shea[18]; 7. 777-Tyler Willard[5]; 8. 5C-Ayden Cipriano[9]; 9. 61-Dave Murdick[13]; 10. 37MD-Jeremiah Shingledecker[11]; 11. 17M-Kyle Fink[2]; 12. 45-Steve Feder[14]; 13. 18-Colton Walters[3]; 14. 20P-Mike Kinney[20]; 15. 5A-Austin Eyler[16]; 16. 64-Rodney Beltz[19]; 17. B4-Brayden Beatty[15]; 18. 60-Tom Holden[17]; 19. 9-Cameron Miller[22]; 20. 13-Rick Regalski Jr[21]; 21. 3K-Shawn Kozar[23]; 22. (DNF) 87-Rocky Kugel[7]; 23. (DNF) X-Jeremy Paup[24]; 24. (DNF) 11R-Brad Rapp[10]
Shultz Drops by for Peoples Sprints and Gets Rewarded
Central Pennsylvania’s Jason Shultz doesn’t make it to The Action Track very often, but when he does, tends to make the trip count. Such was the case on Friday night in the 25-lap Peoples Natural Gas Sprint Car main event. Jacob Begenwald drew the number one starting spot alongside Dan Shetler who grabbed the early lead coming out of turn two on lap one as defending champion AJ Flick easily took up the second spot, setting up a battle for the lead with less than two laps down. Flick immediately started swapping the lead with Shetler and made his way around on lap five while behind him, Shultz had moved to third and Vivian Jones found herself running in fourth.
Shultz managed to get around Shetler for second and then started to challenge Flick for the top spot with eight laps down when he dove to the bottom of turn three, coming up with the lead one lap later. Shultz made quick work of the lapped traffic ahead of him at the halfway point and began stacking car lengths behind him, accumulating a four second gap between himself and Flick. Current points leader Carl Bowser then made his way to the fourth spot as out front, Schultz lapped up to the seventh position in the waning laps as he cruised to a seven second win, his second career Lernerville win with his first coming in 2021 as Flick and Shetler rounded out the podium.
Peoples Natural Gas Sprint Car Feature: (Finish-Name-Start) 1. 35-Jason Shultz[5]; 2. 2-AJ Flick[3]; 3. 7K-Dan Shetler[2]; 4. 11-Carl Bowser[6]; 5. 82M-Roman Jones[10]; 6. 20M-Vivian Jones[8]; 7. 08-Danny Kuriger[4]; 8. 44-Pete Landram[7]; 9. 3J-Jacob Begenwald[1]; 10. 81-Rayce Jacobs[12]; 11. M4-Louie Mattes[11]; 12. 4K-Kip Edwards[14]; 13. (DNF) 76-Davey Jones[9]; 14. (DNS) 79W-Will Fleming
Koteles Dominates Millerstown Pic-A-Part Pro Stocks
For Cody Koteles, it was mission completed on Friday night as he managed to take his first win of the season and retained the points lead with a dominating performance. Former track champion and seasoned veteran Mike Miller started on the pole of the 20 lap main event alongside Mike Bordt. The two cars were battling neck and neck for the lead in the early going as Koteles quickly moved up from his fourth starting spot, passing Miller for the second spot and making his way around Bordt for the lead with less than five laps down. Tyler Dietz, who had won the held over Pro Stock main event earlier in the evening, then made his up from his seventh starting spot to claim third from Miller while passing Bordt for second in the first five laps, setting up a battle between the two top drivers in the standings on the track. Koteles was fast out front, and had clean air to work with at the halfway point, amassing a nearly full straightaway lead over Dietz, Logan Koteles and Bordt. Koteles found some lapped traffic to deal with in the final five laps but was able to maintain his advantage over the field as he crossed first under the checkers with Dietz and Logan Koteles rounding out the podium.
Millerstown Pic-A-Part Feature: (Finish-Name-[Start]) 1. 1K-Cody Koteles[4]; 2. 27-Jacob Dietz[7]; 3. 64-Logan Koteles[6]; 4. 4-Brett Hutira[3]; 5. 26-Mike Bordt[2]; 6. 0-Larry Kugel[11]; 7. 81-Mike Miller[1]; 8. 25-Brett McDonald[8]; 9. 28-Dalton Gabriel[10]; 10. 71-Joey Anderson[13]; 11. 7A-Tom Robertson[12]; 12. (DNF) 948-Joey Zambotti III[5]; 13. (DNS) 155-Tyler Schneider; 14. (DNS) 152-Bill Swaney
Norris Tops RUSH Late Models
The Glassmere Fuel Service Late Models may have had the night off, but that didn’t stop Michael Norris from collecting yet another feature victory on Friday night. Norris started on the pole of the 20-lap main event and shot out to the early lead with Bud Watson behind him early on. Previous RUSH Late Model feature winner Daryl Charlier wasted no time moving up from his fourth starting spot to take second away from Watson on lap two and set his sights on the race leader. Behind them, Clinton Hersh and Tommy Schirnhofer rounded out the top five in the early going while 2024 Pro Stock Champion Christian Schneider began to charge forward from his seventh starting spot.
Around the halfway mark, Charlier began to stalk Norris out front, drawing the gap to a mere two car lengths and lapped traffic in front of the race leader. Norris cleaned up the lappers and found himself in clean air in the second half of the race as Charlier found himself losing momentum in the final laps as Norris hit his marks and stretched out the lead once again while Schneider managed to complete his run to the front by coming home in third.
RUSH Late Model Feature (Finish-Name-[Start]) 1. 1-Michael Norris[1]; 2. 42-Daryl Charlier[4]; 3. 56-Christian Schneider[7]; 4. 16-Clinton Hersh[3]; 5. 8S-Tommy Schirnhofer Jr[6]; 6. 225-Bud Watson[2]; 7. 58-Logen Lockhart[8]; 8. 14-Brandt Graham[5]; 9. 60H-Brian Huchko[10]; 10. 98-Craig Graham[9]; 11. 36-Colby Beighey[12]; 12. 24C-Rob Coffaro[13]; 13. 112-Jacob Peterson[14]; 14. 6R-Chuck Recker[11]; 15. 45L-Leo Iarrapino[15]; 16. (DNS) 21J-James Wrightsman; 17. (DNS) 58Z-Joe Zulisky
Dietz Wires Pro Stocks in Make Up Feature
Jacob Dietz had high expectations heading into the 2024 season but was plagued by several strings of misfortune and disappointment. However, his 2025 campaign has seen him climb up the standings and potentially to title contention in the early going and his performance reflected that on Friday night as the Millerstown Pic-A-Part Pro Stocks settled their unfinished business from their rained out feature on June 27. With a tackier than normal track to work with, car setup and handling set up a new set of circumstances as drivers were forced to make adjustments, putting an element of unknown into the 20-lap main event. Dietz started on the pole alongside points leader Cody Koteles. Dietz bolted out to the early lead with Koteles on his bumper from the drop of the green flag. However, Dietz and his car were seemingly made for the conditions on this night as he began stretching out a substantial lead over Koteles in the early going while Brett Hutira and Tyler Schneider battled side by side for the third spot as the halfway mark approached. Meanwhile, out front Dietz had a three second lead at the halfway mark as the battle between Hutira and Schneider remained stout with Hutira running the bottom of the speedway and Schneider up top.
Joey Anderson brought out the caution flag with 14 laps in the books as Hutira surrendered the third spot by taking his car pit side. On the ensuing restart Dietz rocketed back to the lead until Tyler Schneider brought out another yellow flag, going over the edge in turns three and four. Dietz switched up and elected to start on the outside on the restart with five laps to go and made the most of it, holding on to the lead as Joey Zambotti made his way around Koteles for the second spot. Zambotti would make it interesting on the final lap throwing a last gasp effort to steal the win in the final set of turns but Dietz one the race to the stripe to collect his second career Lernerville victory.
Millerstown Pic-A-Part Feature: (Finish-Name-[Start]) 1. 27-Jacob Dietz[3]; 2. 948-Joey Zambotti III[2]; 3. 1K-Cody Koteles[4]; 4. 26-Mike Bordt[9]; 5. 25-Brett McDonald[10]; 6. 71-Joey Anderson[11]; 7. (DNF) 4-Brett Hutira[6]; 8. (DNF) 0-Larry Kugel[7]; 9. (DNF) 155-Tyler Schneider[5]; 10. (DNS) 55S-Chris Schneider; 11. (DNS) 68-Andrew Hammond
Fab4 Racing continues next Friday night, July 18 with the return of the Glassmere Fuel Service Late Models followed by the $25,000-to-win Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup featuring the Kubota High Limit Racing Sprint Car Series on Tuesday, July 22. Tickets to all events at Lernerville can be purchased online on our website at Lernerville.com. Reserved and General admission Silver Cup Tickets purchased in advance (before July 22) receive a free fan pit pass upgrade.
- Gary Heeman on Jul 12, 2025
- Article Date: 7/12/2025