(HARRISBURG, ILLINOIS) Both Riggs Motorsports drivers – Brian Shirley and Jason Riggs – set out to start the 2014 UMP DIRTcar Summer Nationals tour last week with events in Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Jason has hopes of completing all of the 30+ races on the grueling tour, while Brian is taking a wait and see approach to whether or not he will compete for the title. Following a rain-out last Wednesday night, June 11 at Brownstown Speedway in Brownstown, Indiana, the series officially got underway with shows at Kankakee County Speedway in Kankakee, Illinois, Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wisconsin, and Wilmot Raceway in Wilmot, Wisconsin from June 12-15.
Brian was able to notch a pair of top five finishes in the three events that have escaped the wrath of Mother Nature. In the opener last Thursday at Kankakee, Brian ran third in his heat race and later moved past five competitors during the $5,000 to win feature event to finish third behind only winner Billy Moyer and runner-up Ryan Unzicker. His other strong run over the weekend came on Sunday at Wilmot, as Brian finished second in his heat race and fourth in the $5,000 to win A-Main behind only victor Rick Eckert, Shannon Babb, and Ryan Unzicker.
Jason has not gotten off to the kind of start that he had hoped on his Summer Nationals journey, but there is plenty of time to turn that around. On Thursday at Kankakee, he flipped his primary car during qualifying, took a provisional to gain access into the 40-lap main event, and was able to move past seven competitors to salvage a thirteenth place performance. After unfortunately missing the feature on Friday at Cedar Lake, Jason was involved in an early wreck in the A-Main at Wilmot on Sunday, but soldiered on to a twelfth place showing. You can read a complete race-by-race recap from Kankakee, Cedar Lake, and Wilmot by pointing your web browser to www.riggsmotorsports.com.
This week will mark the first full week of the UMP Summer Nationals grind and will take competitors through the states of Iowa, Illinois, and Michigan from June 17-23. The action will get back underway tonight with a $10,000 to win showdown at Farley Speedway in Farley, Iowa. The upcoming schedule for the Riggs Motorsports teams are shown below:
June 17 | Farley Speedway (Farley, IA), Summer Nationals | $10,000 to win
June 18 | Spoon River Speedway (Banner, IL), Summer Nationals | $5,000 to win
June 19 | Quincy Raceway (Quincy, IL), Summer Nationals | $5,000 to win
June 20 | Tri-City Speedway (Granite City, IL), Summer Nationals | $10,000 to win
June 21 | Fairbury Speedway (Fairbury, IL), Summer Nationals | $10,000 to win
June 22 | I-96 Speedway (Lake Odessa, MI), Summer Nationals | $5,000 to win
June 23 | Peoria Speedway (Peoria, IL), Summer Nationals | $5,000 to win
The Riggs Motorsports team would like to thank the following group of sponsors for their continued support: Clearwave Communications, Kid’s Castle Learning Center, Skateland South, Jayco Construction, Rocket Chassis, ShowHope.org, AFCO Racing Products, Aggressive Graphics, Allstar Performance, Awesome Racewear, Bass Livestock, Bell Helmets, COMP Cams, CPD Racing Tools, Crow Enterprizes, Dargie Racing Engines, Delph Communications, Dyer’s Top Rods, Frankland Racing Supply, GW Performance, Hoosier Racing Tires, Indocil Art, Integra Shocks, Joe Gibbs Driven Racing Oil, KBC Graphix, Keyser Manufacturing, MD3 Noses, Micro-Armor Lubricants, Midwest Sheet Metal, Motorstate Distributing, Performance Bodies, Performance Rod & Custom (PRC), Peterson Fluid Systems, Pro Power Racing Engines, Quarter Master, QuickCar Racing Products, R2C Performance, Rod End Supply, Schaeffer’s Racing Oil, Speedwerx, Stealth Carburetors, Sweet Mfg., Ted Brown’s Quality Paint & Body Shop, The Joie of Seating, TurboStart Batteries, VP Racing Fuels, Waterman Racing Components, Wehrs Machine & Racing Products, Weld Wheels, Wick Racing Fuels, Wiles Driveshafts, and Wilwood Engineering.
Keep up with Riggs Motorsports all year long by pointing your web browser to www.RiggsMotorsports.com!
Media Contact: Ryan Delph – Delph Communications
www.DelphCommunications.com