story by Rich Berry and Chris Zuver.

At the end of 30 hard fought laps, Alex Ferree from Valencia earned the victory in the Fifth Annual Herb Scott Memorial race at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway on Saturday night. Ferree fought his way to the lead after being in fourth place with ten laps remaining, earning $3000 to kick off the ULMS Series I-79 Tour for the Zimmer’s Service Center United Late Model Series.

With 21 entries on hand, Mike Norris and Jared Miley were the heat race winners, after Miley had earlier set the Integra Shoks fastest qualifying time with a lap of 17.494 seconds. The redraw for the top six starting positions gave front row berths to Mike Pegher, Jr. and Russ King, with Pegher leading from the start. At the striped to complete lap one, Pegher was ahead of a 3 wide battle for second between Miley, King and Ferree. Third starting Miley moved to second at conclusion of lap , followed by fourth starting Alex Ferree. The battle was for second before the first caution period came on lap 4 for a slowing Colton Flinner. Back to green, Pegher continued to lead with Ferree getting second, before Miley regained it on lap 6. Keith Barbara was now moving into the top five. The leaders raced through traffic on lap 10, but the running order remained the same as Mike Norris joined the battle for the lead. Working lap 18, Miley made an outside pass of Pegher to take the lead, but when the yellow flag waved for a slowing John Wayne Weaver, the pass would be negated as the next lap was not scored. The running order was Pegher Miley, Norris, Ferree, Barbara, King, Dave Hess, Tommy Schiernofer and John Flinner.

The Delaware restart was an interesting one. Pegher, in the front row by himself, brought the field up to speed, but he would be split as Miley passed to his inside and Ferree passed to his outside. Miley emerged with the lead, with Pegher able to regain second as Norris passed Ferree for third. Ferree passed Norris for third on lap 23, as the next yellow waved on lap 25 for a tangle between Tommy Schirnhofer and Michael Davis who were battling for ninth.in turn one. A red flag slowed the pace for a four car tangle on the front stretch as the race resumed, as Norris pitted with a soft tire.

The ace restarted with five laps to go. As Miley led the field back to green, Pegher made an inside pass in turn two to take the lead. Ferree made a charge to Pegher, and as Miley tried to get the lead back on the high side of turn three, he touched the outside wall which resulted in his right rear tire going flat, bringing out a lap 26 caution. Ferree was leading when lap 26 was scored, and would be the leader when racing resumed.

Ferree would control the race back to green, as Keith Barbara had quietly advanced from fifth to second. Third was being hotly contested between Colton Flinner, back from the tail on lap 4, Pegher, and King. Another spin by Weaver working the final lap would set up a one lap dash to the finish, as Pegher exited to the pits under caution. Ferree controlled the one lap dash to win by .547 seconds in his Blue Mountain Energy, Franklin Racing Supply, Butler Pre-Owned, Penn Star Ventures, American Die Cast, Domhoff built Ford powered Rocket Chassis was his third career ULMS win. Barbara settled for a close second, as Norris recovered from his pit stop on lap 25 to earn third place money. King was fourth, with Flinner fifth. Miley recoved from his pit stop to finish sixth, as Jake Gunn, Dave Hess, Jr., Bobby Rohrer, and Jon Hodgkiss rounded out the top ten.

Results for Saturday, June 17, 2017
Zimmers Service Center ULMS Late Model Series

1, 10, Alex Ferree, Valencia
2, 17, Keith Barbara, South Park
3, 72, Mike Norris, Sarver
4, 56, Russ King, Bristolville, OH
5, 75, Colton Flinner, Allison Park
6, H1, Jared Miley, Pittsburgh
7, , 7, Jake Gunn, McDonald
8, 44S, Dave Hess, Jr., Waterford
9, 11R, Bobby Rohrer, Waterford
10, 69, Jon Hodgkiss, Kennedy
11,4T8, John Flinner, Jr., Zelienople
12, 42, Matt Dobnak, West Mifflin
13, 38, Steve Pyeritz, Brentwood
14, 1C, Mike Pegher, Jr., Cranberry Township
15, 9, Breyton Santee, North Kingsville, OH
16, 55, Tom Duratz, Carnegie
17, 8S, Tommy Schirnhofer, Dormont
18, 7M, Michael Davis, Rayland, OH
19, 4J, John Mollick, Toronto, OH
20, 18, Chris Lander, Burgettstown
21, W3, John Wayne Weaver, Commodore

Integra Shocks Fastest qualifier – Jared Miley, 17.494 seconds
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Heat 1 – Mike Norris, Dave Hess, Jr., Russ King, Keith Barbara, Colton Flinner, Tommy Schirnhofer, Jake Gunn, Jon Hodgkiss, Matt Dobnak, John Mollick, did not start John Flinner, Jr.

Heat 2 – Jared Miley, Alex Ferree, Mike Pegher, Jr., Michael Davis, Bobby Rohrer, John Wayne Weaver, Breyton Santee, Steve Pyeritz, Tom Duratz, Chris Lander