By Rich Vleck (Rochester, NY) | A slow start to the 2014 Patriot Sprint Tour Season is ready to quickly get to top speed.

The Patriot Sprint Tour America Series has three races set for this weekend with stops at two tracks not seen on the tour in years and a third that has been a staple for eight consecutive seasons. If all three are completed, it will mark only the third time in series history that three PST events will have been contested at three different venues in consecutive nights.

The series starts off the weekend with a trip to the Freedom Speedway, the birthplace of the Patriots. The ¼-mile facility south of Buffalo has gone through a series of changes since running weekly sprints more than a decade ago, but with Troy Shuknecht now in charge, he has made many improvements and is ready to use the PST event as a springboard to a big return for the speedway. Hometown hot shoe Brad Knab has been looking forward to this event for years, since the Patriots last race there in 2009. The series has run three official races at Freedom, with Kyle Drum the only past winner that could be in competition this weekend.

On Saturday Night, the tour travels down the road to the McKean County Raceway in East Smethport, PA. MCR has hosted two PST events in the past, with the last taking place in 2012 when Scott Kreutter dominating the event en route to his series championship. Kreutter is looking for a bounce-back weekend after electrical issues plagued his run at Woodhull.

Defending PST Champion Jared Zimbardi has been salivating at the thought of a return to McKean County. The Bradford, PA resident survived early-race issues at Woodhull to salvage a top 10 finish and is looking for a big run at the 1/3-mile to move back up the point standings.

The tripleheader concludes Sunday with a traditional holiday weekend stop at Eriez Speedway just south of Erie, PA. Since 2008, each Memorial Day and Labor Day Sunday has been celebrated with a trip for the Patriots to Bobby Rohrer’s facility. Up until 2012, no driver had ever won multiple PST shows at Eriez but in the last three trips, no one has been able to dethrone Scott Kreutter.

The last driver to win at Eriez besides Kreutter is George Suprick, who won there in 2011 and is primed for a championship run after a podium finish at Woodhull.

A host of great names expect to be part of the weekend festivities, including 4-time series Champion Bryan Howland, Steve Collins, Tracy Potter, Todd Hoddick, Derek Jonathan, Clint Ide, Tyler Graves, Stan Zanchin, Scott and Dave Just, Dave Wickham, Geoff Quackenbush, Dane Lorenc, Adam Anderson, Jamie Bodo, Don Adamczyk, Mitch Brown, Dennis Wagner and a few other surprises.

Pit gates swing open at 5:00 P.M. Friday at Freedom with racing kicking off at 7:00 at the Delevan, NY Facility. Freedom is located at 11099 Marble Springs Road. McKean County Raceway is located at 7076 Rt. 46 near the corner of Rt 6. Eriez Speedway opens their gates at 4:00 with racing at 5:30 P.M. and is located at 9821 Sampson Rd, Erie, PA, 16509. For more information, visit www.PatriotSprintTour.com.