BUFFALO TOWNSHIP -- New Brighton's Kevin Bolland is riding a hot streak heading into one of the most important Modified races this season at Lernerville Speedway. The Bicknell Racing Products Modified Tour will award $1,200 to the winner of the 30-lap feature at the local clay track tonight. Bolland won two features last weekend, including a BRP race at Mercer Raceway Park, giving him three wins this year. He also won May 28 at Lernerville. "At the beginning of the year, we were under-powered," Bolland said. "We were waiting for new pistons to be manufactured. This weekend was the first week back with the new pistons." Bolland will be one of the drivers to beat. He is second all-time in BRP Tour wins with seven. Ron Smoker, of North Boston, N.Y., has nine victories and has captured the past two BRP Tour point championships along with their monetary prizes. "The BRP Tour is very important," Bolland said. "Around western Pennsylvania, there is probably one of the lowest pay scales. If you go up to New York, most guys won't even race unless the money is at least $1,500 to $2,000 a night. The Modifieds in New York are like the Sprint cars here." The tour was started in 1998 to provide higher purses and a point fund for Modified drivers. Tonight, a part of the purse will go to each of the top 24 finishers. The second-place driver takes $800 and third-place $600. Since 1998, the tour has expanded from five to 10 speedways. This season, the tour will run its first race in Canada, stopping July 1 at Merrittville Speedway in Thorold, Ontario. "We want to give the drivers as much opportunity as possible to prosper," BRP Tour board member Ed Sanner II said. "But we also want to keep it affordable," he added. "We want to allow the average racer to compete. This is not your standard week-to-week racing, but we don't want to grow too large." Other drivers to watch include Frenchville's Del Rougeux Jr., who won his first BRP Tour race this season; Brian Swartzlander, who won the BRP point titles in 1998 and '99; and Liberty, Ohio's Jim Weller Jr., who is running third in BRP Tour points. Additional Information:
BRP Modified Tour
Top 20 point standings Car/driver/points 62RRon Smoker89 83Brian Swartzlander86 31Jim Weller Jr.82 65Rex King82 26ZTommy Kristyak72 61Dave Murdick72 777Kevin Bolland71 9JJosh Skarzenski70 41/21NAndy Priest69 25Joe Crawford68 20DDel Rougeux Jr.67 19Bob Dorman64 11TSteve Young62 64Rodney Beltz61 7SChris Schiffer60 00KRobby Kristyak59 37MDJeremiah Shingledecker59 8Chanda Reitz58 8JDean Pearson58 3GGary Risch Jr.56 All-time winners NameWins Ron Smoker9 Kevin Bolland7 Jeff Hoffman6 Lou Blaney4 Brian Swartzlander3 Rodney Beltz2 Rex King2 Alan Dellinger1 Brian Fink1 Rick Hall1 Tommy Kristyak1 Jim Rasey1 Lonny Riggs1 Del Rougeux Jr.1 Jeff Schaffer1 Jim Weller Jr.1 Jim Weller III1 -- Source: dirttour.homestead.com
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