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Home Team Ready To Battle at 11th Annual Firecracker 100

Patrick Miller Photo

(Sarver, PA) The upcoming 11th Annual Firecracker 100 promises to deliver the goods when it comes the cream of the crop among Dirt Late Model's finest drivers as it does every year. The star studded driver's list is once again choc full of big names who have found victory lane in the sport's biggest Crown Jewels. Many of those have done so on multiple occasions, including recent Dream 100 Winner Scott Bloomquist, the only three-time winner of the Firecracker 100, and two-time winner Jimmy Mars.

And as always, they'll be among the favorites to take home the lion's share of the $42,000 of top prize money as well, including the $30,00 winner's share on Saturday, June 24.  Throw in the current stars of the Craftsman World of Outlaw Late Models which include previous winners Shane Clanton and Rick Eckert, and series points leader Brandon Sheppard who has two Dirt Track World Championship trophies under his belt, and a big name, money sweep looks all but certain coming into the festivities. .

 

But the home team might have some other ideas, and the notion that they could make some serious noise on any or all of the nights of racing is not farfetched at all. Three prominent drivers indigenous to the hills and speedway's of Western Pennsylvania that currently call or formerly called Lernerville Speedway their home track will be in action.   Points leader Michael Norris and former track champions Alex Ferree and Jared Miley will be looking to make history in front of their home track fans June 22-24.  Norris perhaps comes in with the hottest hand, having ended the 2016 campaign on a high note which included his first career start in the World 100 at Eldora Speedway where he opened the eyes of many that had not seen him before.  He backed that performance up with a 10th place finish at the Pittsburgher 100 at Pittsburgh Pennsylvanias Motor Speedway in October and has won three of the first four feature events at Lernerville this season.

 

œWe put a new a new car together halfway through 2016 and everything started clicking as a team and myself as a driver just started picking up momentum and we started to get confident,? Norris said recently. He also spoke about his time trialing performance and its improvement of late. The Sarver, PA based wheelman managed to set quick time at the World 100 and Pittsburgher 100 in 2016.  œI definitely wasnt naturally good at it. I struggled with it a lot in my earlier years and my dad was giving me a hard time about it. He told me to go out there and let it eat and thats kind of the mindset Ive had going into them lately, just count every lap as your last. You work on the car all week to run it as hard as you can so thats what you have to do, go out there and try to hit your marks and go as fast as you can.?

 

But beyond the time trial performances, Norris recent experiences in races of a longer duration have helped him gain confidence in how to manage and pace his car for the 100 lap events. œRunning those 100 lappers has definitely helped. Its tough. The 25 lappers at Lernerville are pretty much a sprint, you can run it as hard as you need to, to get where you need to go. But in 100 laps you have to be easy on your stuff.  And, at the same time these cars are so bolted down, and make so much traction that you can search around too. At the Pittsburgher last year we led for a while and I felt like I didnt search around enough and I felt like I tried to conserve too much and I got passed. Im not the most experienced at the 100 lappers, but to finish first you must finish and thats our goal coming into it, to make the race and have a good show. You want to make a good showing for the local racers in this area because I think we do have a really good bunch. To be able to get a preliminary or final night podium spot would be a dream come true, you wouldnt be able to get the smile off my face.?

Patrick Miller Photo

Jared Miley can also expect to come into the weekend with a sense of confidence, and for good reason. The 2012 track champion has had the greatest amount of success at the Firecracker among local drivers, scoring two podium finishes in 2015. One of those came to pass on a preliminary night, and then in the held over 100 lap final, Miley almost pulled one of the biggest upsets in modern Dirt Late Model racing as he bolted out to an early lead and kept it for over 60 laps until eventual winner Shane Clanton managed to make his way around him in lapped traffic. Miley has big race experience and has not shied away from stiff challenges, competing with the World of Outlaws on several occasions as well as with the Lucas Oil Late Model Series in Florida earlier this season while adding a ULMS Series championship to his resume in 2015 as well.

"I remember sitting in the stands at Lernerville just watching races when I was little and I never even imagined that I'd be a race car driver let alone be in contention to win that type of race,? Miley said referring to his 2015 run.  œIt would be crazy to win it, I think the place would really erupt just because we're from around there and race there quite a bit .  We just have to work hard and try to keep up with everybody and see if we can't pull one off this year.

Patrick Miller Photo

Alex Ferree stands ready to battle with the stars of the sport as well. The six-time Late Model Champion has had a good start to the 2017 season that has seen him finish on the podium twice in four tries, including two second place finishes behind Norris. Ferrees driving style lends itself to the type of surface that normally happens at many 100 lap events, slick and smooth.  And Ferree may be primed for a podium finish in 2017. The veteran pilot knows the terrain as well as anybody and could very well be a force to be reckoned with on any of the three nights. He took time recently to size up the sum of the home team in 2017, a stout weekly field full of young talent which also includes former 2010 World of Outlaw Rookie of the Year Award winner Russ King.

 

œLernerville is seven miles from my house,? Ferree said.  œTo have a track of that caliber, seven miles from home is hard to pass up. The competition on a normal night with everyone there including Russ King, Jared Miley, Mike Pegher Jr., Mike Norris and Matt Lux is very difficult. With the way Mike Norris started out in Florida, I know he had a bunch of motor issues but he was setting quick times and running up front when he did get the chance to race, against the outlaws is very impressive. Then you have Mike Pegher who won a couple crate races in Florida, we all know how much confidence plays in this game.  And both of those drivers are starting out with truck loads of it. Jared Miley is doing nothing but getting better by going other places and he was already very good before that.?

The home team will be ready to strike in 2017, and could very well come away with some podium finishes and even perhaps a win when all is said and done at this years Firecracker 100.

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