IMPERIAL, Pa. – Garret Paugh emerged victorious from Saturday’s Pace Performance RUSH Racing Series late model event at Pittsburgh’s PA Motor Speedway.
After falling back to seventh early in the event, Paugh charged back forward, made a bold move following a restart on lap 15 by driving around track standout John Mollick in turn two, and never looked back.
After the final 10 laps went green-to-checkered, Paugh stretched his margin of victory over the talent-laden field to an impressive 4.014 seconds to earn the $2,000 Herb Scott Memorial victory plus a $110 bonus from Jook George Steel City Classic event coordinator, Branden Lockwich.
Though never competing in more than a handful of events per year, Paugh’s win was his first RUSH Tour victory in eight years of trying.
“This is awesome and a true honor to win one of these Touring Series races,” said Paugh. “It’s been a long time coming. I’ve been so close. I run a lot of different series throughout the year, but I love racing the RUSH Series- it’s by far the best series in my opinion. We changed some things on the car to try and make it better and man did it make a big difference. I fell back early and thought I was in trouble, but I snookered them on the restarts getting a good run on the bottom with momentum to get by them. When Mollick is out front he’s hard to get by. I was getting alright runs on him, but he’d get a big run off turn two. I knew my only chance was probably on a restart. I have to thank my parents because without them I couldn’t do this. This win is dedicated to my buddy Wes, who used to help us but lost his battle with cancer in April.”
In other action, Chas Wolbert captured his third straight at Pittsburgh in Hovis Auto & Truck Supply RUSH Sportsman Modified Weekly Series competition.
The finish:
1. Garrett Paugh (03) 2. John Mollick (Bentz 60M) 3. Joe Martin (Snyder 10S) 4. Jeremy Wonderling (3J) 5. Michael Duritsky, Jr. (90J) 6. Tim Shaffer (45) 7. Steve Dixon (65) 8. Josh Ferry (33) 9. John Waters (LeBarron 11) 10. Ben Policz (14B) 11. Christian Schneider (Maniecki 1ST) 12. David Pangrazio (136) 13. Bill Kessler (09) 14. Chad Sines (15) 15. Jake Gunn (14G) 16. John Watson (14) 17. Cory Sines (25S) 18. Ryan Frazee (11F) 19. Zach Kane (10) 20. Zach Gunn (17G) 21. Michael Reft (9R) 22. Daryl Charlier (12) 23. Logan Zarin (1z) 24. Colton Flinner (48) 25. Colby Beighey (36B)