Monday, June 30, 2008
Some Big Diamond notes....
The Spts race seen a fromer winner in the division make it back to VL at BDR, Ryan Moyer ha his blue #5 HOOKED UP and took home his first win of the year....Last week "The Duke of Earl" Earl Paules flipped his #4, this past week he was back, and was on his way to the front, took 2nd on the last lap over Mike Mamanna....And it was a GREAT RUN for Mamanna hinself bring home the #71 3rd last Friday night....Tough luck two weeks in a row for Brad "Pap Pap" Brightbill, this past Friday, Brightbill made it 3 wide in back to back laps going into turn 3 looking for the lead, and just when he put the #19 up front, going into turn 4, the balck and green machine broke ending Brightbill's bid for the win, TOUGH LUCK is following this guy around right now at the place, he's SUPER FAST but not having any results to show for it.
The RoadRunners put on another GREAT SHOW this week, with first time winner Neal Bressler taking the 909 to VL, it was a POPULAR win to say the least....On a side note, it was GREAT to see Bud Vidal and his #17 back on the track, after a recent fire at the residence destroyed just about everything, it really was a SUPER feeling seeing the whole #17 back at BDR, and Vidal went out and won his heat, GREAT JOB.
Don't forget, this week is the 29th annual Georgie Stevenson Memorial, and event that helps raise $$$ for sick children....If you can only make one show at BDR this year, try and make it this show, as it's run for a GREAT CAUSE....The sbm's will run a 35 lap feature paying $3000 to win....The spts will be running a 25 lap feature paying $1000 to win....And the RR's will be running a 20 lap feature paying $300 to win....So come on out to the NEW BDR this Friday night, you'll have a GREAT TIME.
Jamie's Sunday night Quick Notes
Pat Ward swept Utica Rome's twin features and Frank Hoard won his first race of the year at Devils Bowl.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Saturday Night's Winners
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Jamie's Friday night Quick Notes
Kevin Hartnett picked up his first win this season at Redline Raceway, Brett Hearn added another crowned jewel to his accomplishments by winning another CVRA vs. The World 100 at Albany-Saratoga Speedway, Duane Howard stretched his points lead at Big Diamond Raceway with a win, Alan Rudalavage picked up his 2nd win at Penn Can Speedway, Nick Lapp stunned the field with his first career win at Accord Speedway, and Alan Johnson picked up the win at Brewerton Speedway.
Friday, June 27, 2008
CVRA vs. The World
I'd love to make the trip but I'll be stuck at work, so my official pick to win is Kenny Tremont. The guys knows how to win these extra distance shows at Albany, and is one of the best there is on the CVRA tour. My sleeper pick is Brian Weaver, the 2006 RoC winner at the track has always ran good and outran Brett Hearn in a great battle for the win.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Jimmy Horton's new ride...
Also, Club Wago favorite Zach Aubertine will be changing his number back to the popular zero3. He and teammate Lance Willix both recieved sponsorship from SUNY Catering.
Jamie's Sunday Night Quick Notes
Jimmy Phelps picked up another win at Cayuga County Fair Speedway, Carey Terrance doubled up with a win at Cornwall Speedway, and Willy Decker picked up his 2nd win at Utica Rome Speedway. Devil's Bowl and Tri-City rained out.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
First trip to Fonda Speedway 6/21
As for the action on the track, it was VERY GOOD....I've been to NY tracks in the past, and as for the surface, I kind of knew what to expect....Black, dry, slick is USUALLY the norm, as it was yesterday, but I'll tell you what, the racing was GREAT, as there was plenty of passing all night long, in all of the divisions, that's just what us race fans want to see....Fonda took a brief intermission to re-do the top of the track,water and run it it, and it worked GREAT....Pat Ward was on a rail, it was a 40 lap race and it went NON STOP, that's right, NON STOP, it was AWESOME....Bobby Varin (in the #00 they bought off of Spraker), Ronnie Johnson, Dave Camara, and Matty Delorenzo were all putting on a show.....Brett Hearn was in the Smith bros #74, he finished 6th and was the last one on the lead lap....One thing that brought back some memories for me, was the way Fonda's turn's 3 and 4 are set up, it reminded me of Flemington Speedway, just the way the guys throw it into turn 3, power off the bottom and just run under whoever is infront of you right through all the way out off turn 4, it was AWESOME, just the way I seen Billy Pauch Sr do it at Flemington on many Saturday nights, a track I LOVED.
A BIG THANK YOU goes out to the Fonda Speedway, they moved the show along quickly, and we were in the car, on our 4 and half our ride ride home by 8:45pm, THAT WAS GREAT....Overall, I'd give the trip to Fonda Speedway a HUGE 2 THUMBS UP....I wish it was about 2 hours closer, I'd be there every week.....If you have never been there, I'd HIGHLY recommend making the trip to this place, we weren't disappointed.....I hope to make a return visit "down the road", hopefully sooner rather than later.
Big Diamond Raceway Friday night 6/20
Jeff Strunk took his first win of the year in the Keystone Racing #126 "Red Rocket"....The overall racing throughout the feature was probably the best it's been all year long, as there was plenty of side by side racing, more than a few times it's was three and even four wide, just what the fans want to see, and we were LOVIN' IT....Strunk was FAST (ripped of the fastest lap during the faeture), but Duane Howard and the BPG #4 was on the move, rim riding around the rim of the track in turns 1 and 2, and doing his amazing power move through turns 3 and 4, he's AMAZING at the place....As the race was winding down, Howard was on the move, he started to reel in the red #126 but ran out of laps, it would have been very interesting to see what would have happend if it was a 35 lap race instead of a 25 lapper, but it wasn't, and Strunk got the job done....The rest of the top 5 in the sbm's was Billy Pauch Jr, Doug Manmiller and Meme Desantis, all of whom ran a GREAT RACE.
Some sbm notes....The car count was back up to 35 sbm's this week, NICE, especially after seeing the car count dip to under 30 the last 2 weeks....Grandview Speedway regulars Stewart Friesen in the Hansell 357, Danny Hieber in the Korentsky Nitro Fish 107, and Shawn Horning in the Horning Racing 8 all made the tow to BDR, only Hieber made the feature field....Actually, I could be wrong, but this might have been Hieber's first ever race at the place, and he did VERY WELL, looking good out there and taking home a solid 11th place finish....A few '08 BDR regulars who have been missing lately also returned, Dan Hineline and Kenny Eckert returned after both have been missing due to motor issues....And Rookie of The Year contender Kevin Albert Jr was back in his #333, reportedly he was missing due to being on vaction the past 2 weeks....And first time starter (and Dale Hartz car owner) Neil Huber made his first start of the year in the red and white X-7.....It was GREAT to see Kevin Hirthler back at BDR this past Friday night after missing the last 2 weeks, it looked like they found "something" as Hirthler was FLYING on the outside coming up from the back after making the race through the consi, hopefully we'll be seeing much more of the Green 117 team.....A few "shout outs' go to Troy Wink and Gary Hager, both are getting better each week and both brought home the best finishes of the year, with Wink taking 6th and Hager grabbing 7th.....Shawn Reimert brought home his top 10 of the year (I believe) taking 9th, after running well most of the race....And John Willman took home a nice 10th in second run in the Eastern Rigging #11.
Folk's, the BDR Road Runner's have been, plain and simple, AMAZING, and this week was no different....It seems every week there is a 7-8 car battle for the win ALL RACE LONG, it's just INCREDIBLE....Kevin Olenick in the #450 led a 3 wide run to the checkered flag and it came down to a radiator at the line, it was AWESOME, Rob Pyle cossed the line 2nd, but that finish wouldn't stand, as he was later DQ'd for a rule infraction....Joey Hendricks, who has 2 wins this year, was then awarded 2nd....Mr Consistancy Elvin Brennan finshed 3rd and probably held the point lead....Kody Sites brought home 4th (a rookie in the division who has a couple of wins)....Marc Brezowski finished 5th, Marc was making his return to BDR aboard the Kuperavage #66, he lead most of the way only to have it slip away in the last few laps....Honestly, the RR division at BDR is probably one of the most exciting division anywhere right now at just about any track, these guys are just putting on some incredible shows lately ad the fans LOVE IT....Word is out to check these guys out, you won't be disappointed.
I'm not the BIG 600 cc mod follower out there, I do enjoy them, but I'm not a big expert on who's who out there, but these guys did put on another good show....Mike Keppler finally returned to BDR's victory lane on Friday night.....Last year Keppler practically dominated the action at BDR when the 600's came to town, Friday night he got the job done....He was followed by Butch Getz and previous BDR winner Nick Mady....A little 600'cc not, racer Chuck Miller took his 3c out of the "ball park" in turn 3, it was SCARY, it was great to hear he was OK, can you say ALTITUDE?
As for the BDR Spts race, well, I have to apologize for this week, as it was getting late, and I had to get up early for a trip to Fonda Speedway in NY on Saturday, so I had to skip the Spts race this week.....But I did hear I missed some "crazy" stuff....Earl Paules, a previous 4 week winner, IN A ROW, rolled his #4 over the backstretch, I was told the damage looked pretty heavy, hopefully they get the car back together and he is back next week....Also heard that Brad Brightbill was just INCREDIBLE out there...."Pap Pap" as many like to call him, Brightbill had his black 19 FLYING back to the front, heard he was just "on another planet" compared to the rest, but luck did him in, as the front bumper fell off on his charge to the front, which brought the black falg out, as racing without a front bumber is a "NO NO"....Tom Brennan went on to take his 2nd win of the year over, Kevin Beach, Kyle Weiss was 3rd in his #21, 4th was newcomer Mike Loney in the #723 and 5th went to Billy Moyer Jr in his #17....Hopefully next week I'll have a better Spts report for the blog
Don't forget, coming this Wednesday at the NEW BDR is the World of Outlaw Late Models, making their first appearance EVER at the place, the show should be one that has people talking for a long time once it's over....BDR sbm star Jeff Strunk will be in the field in the Bernheisel #119, actually Strunk took the #119 out for some practice laps Friday night, come Wednesday night, Strunk should do just fine.
Jamie's Saturday Night Notes
Mark Smoke picked up his first win of the year in the Cam-Am Speedway 358 race, Frankie Caprara won his 2nd race of the year in the Cam-Am Speedway big block race, Craig Von Dohren finally turned his luck around with a win at Grandview, Pat Ward won the 2nd NMX Mini Series race of the year at Fonda Speedway, Carey Terrance picked up the popular win at Mohawk International Raceway, Brad Rouse upset the field at Merrittville Speedway in the Lucas Oil 358 race, Chad James picked up career win #1 at Bridgeport Speedway, Vic Coffey picked up a big win at Canandaigua Speedway, Chris Schultz picked up his first win of the year at Orange County, Jessiza Zemken notched off another win at Brockville Ontairio Speedway, Kenny Tremont won the 358 main event at Lebanon Valley, Jeff Trombley picked up his 2nd win of the year by winning the big block feature at Lebanon Valley, and Keith Hoffman notched off his 2nd win of the year at New Egypt Speedway.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Jamie's Friday Night Quick Notes
Brian Swartzlander claimed yet another win at Lernerville Speedway, Jeff Strunk opened up his points lead with a win at Big Diamond Raceway, Laurent Ladouceur continued his hot streak with a win at Edelweiss Raceway, 2007 Ransomville champion Todd Burley collected another win at Ransomville Speedway, Billy Decker continues his dominance with a win at Brewerton Speedway, and Kevin Duryea won his first race of the year at Accord Speedway.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Quick Notes
The Jake Spraker saga continues as one of his cars has already been sold. Mark Forte will remain in the MAD Motorsports #11D at Big Diamond. Mike Gular won the Grandview match race at the Kutztown Fairgrounds Wednesday night. Also, Gary Edwards has been released for the 2nd time in the past few years from the Mann Motorsports #55 big block he was running at Orange County. This leaves Mitch Gibbs as the team's only driver. That's all for now, stay tuned!
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Goodbye Jake Spraker!
After years of being one of the top teams in the northeast, Jake Spraker is selling out. Following the announcement a few days ago that Spraker and Varin wouldn't be returning to the Fonda Speedway, it has now been announced he's officially selling out and is done racing. However, we've heard this announcement 2 times before, only to see him return to the track not long after. However, with the circumstances of the past few weeks, this may be the final chapter of a great career owning modifieds.
Jeff Trombley, Jack Johnson, Bobby Varin, and Alan Johnson are just a few of the big names that have piloted the beautiful number 1J cars. It's been a long ride, and we wish Jake and Nancy the best of luck in the future. Thanks for the memories!
Monday, June 16, 2008
Jamie's Sunday Night Notes
Veteran Rex King picked up his first win at Tri-City of the year on Sunday night, Laurent Ladouceur won a thrilling battle with Wagoneer Kyle Dingwall at Cornwall, and Robert King won his first feature of the year at Devil's Bowl.
In other news, Mark Forte Jr. may be out of the DiNatale 11D already after being involved in a hard crash in warm-ups at Big Diamond. We'll keep you posted.
Jeff Strunk will be driving a late model at Big Diamond on June 25th in the World of Outlaw race.
Brad Brightbill, Doug Manmiller, Jeff Strunk, Duane Howard, Mike Gular, Kevin Hirthler, Bobby Gunther-Walsh, and Kurt Spotts will be racing at Kutztown Wednesday in either the 600 modified match race, or the 600 modified points race. Doug Manmiller will also be driving a 600 sprint. Mike Gular and Jason Smythe will have their cars on display as well.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Driver's Leaving Fonda, Kenny Brightbill news
One of the most historic and popular dirt tracks in the northeast is suddently losing a handful of cars due to unhappy drivers. Not only have drivers been leaving but many fans have left as well over the passed few weeks. Now, this week Mike Fusco, who was a modified feature winner in 2007 is selling out and is done racing, sportsman hot-shoe Dave Constantino will be leaving Fonda in favor of Albany-Saratoga, and the biggest news came that the Jake Spraker #1J driven by Bobby Varin will not be returning to Fonda Speedway. Apparently, handicapping, points, and the track not doing anything about rough driving are all reasons for the fans leaving as well as drivers. The crowd was terrible Saturday night, which can be credited to the poor weather, but it with Varin leaving the track it'll hurt the crowd significantly.
Apparently, Fonda's mini-series, the NMX Thunder Series is now having their points count towards the championship. Originally, it was announced that those races would only be worth 20 show-up points. So, since the first NMX Series race was ran a few weeks ago, and they only gave the drivers 20 show-up points, Bobby Varin was the Fonda points leader. However, this weekend they added the actual points recieved towards the series to the Series championship towards the track title. So after last Saturday's race, Varin was leading points, and before the green flag even dropped for the next race, and without there being any penalities or deductions, Varin lost the points lead to Pat Ward. More on this story is available on http://www.bobbyvarin.com/.
As for the legendary fan favorite Kenny Brightbill, he's currently getting the big block ready for the Super Dirt Series race at Grandview Speedway on July 16th which will mark his first race in 2008. Depending on how Grandview goes, he'll more than likely be at Georgetown the next night. Right now the only other race on his schedule is Super Dirt Week in Syracuse New York in early October. However, that could and probably will change.
Jamie's Saturday night Quick Notes
New Egypt Speedway saw Frank Cozze finally pick up his first win of the year, Alan Johnson kept his momentum going at Fulton, defending Lucas Oil 358 Champion Scott Wood picked up the win at Merrittville, the Gypsum Racing Team continued to dominate Can Am with Billy Decker picking up the big block win and Larry Wight picking up the 358 win, last year's champion H.J. Bunting picked up a big win at Delaware, Ronnie Johnson won an interesting night at Fonda, and Danny O'Brien cut into Jessica Zemken's points lead with a win at Brockville. Also a quick note, Glen Ridge on Friday night was won by last year's champion Craig Hanson.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Jamie's Friday Night Quick Hits
Another guy that deserves huge props is Darwin Greene who picked up his first career win at Penn Can on Friday night. Darwin jumped from a stock class to modifieds in 2005, and struggled big time early on. However, he's improved a great deal and has become very competitive at Penn Can especially. Hopefully this starts a new trend of DRG in victory lane. He plans to follow at least 90% of the Dirt Series tour as well this year. Other Friday night modified winners include...
Rick Richner at Ransomville, Billy Decker continued his dominance on 2008 with another win at Brewerton, Jeff Trombley picked up his first win of the year at Albany, Jessica Zemken picked up her 3rd career modified and 3rd win of the year at Edelweiss, Andy Bachetti stretched his points lead with a win at Accord, Eric Kormann picked up his first win of the year at Bridgeport, and Del Rougeux held on to win again at Lernerville. Well, tonight I'm off to Grandview Speedway to watch the 358 modifieds and the URC sprints. Hope everyone has a great Saturday night of racing!
Also, for those of you looking for something to read, Jay Fish wrote a great article about how lucky we are as race fans to be part of this generation. Read it here, http://www.raceproweekly.com/columns2006.php?subaction=showfull&id=1213216777&archive=&start_from=&ucat=&=&
Friday, June 13, 2008
Georgetown back from the dead... again
Thursday, June 12, 2008
I suppose it would probably be in my best interest to give a synopsis of my life and how racing has affected it with my first post, so here it goes:
My name is Josh Bayko, and I'm 31 years old. I live in Pittsburgh, PA with my wonderful fiance Marcia. We have a fairly small apartment in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of the city. I work as an auto parts counterman in a call center for a group of Main Auto parts stores. It's a wholesale based group of stores, so most of the calls we receive are from garages and then we ship the parts out of whichever store is closest to the customer that has called. The pay isn't what I'd like, but in all honesty, who's job does pay them what they feel is fair?
I have three sisters, two that live in New Jersey, and one that lives about four blocks away from me with her fiance. My parents also live not far from me. I don't see my sisters as much as I'd like, but you know, as life goes on, folks get busy and the little things you appreciate get lost in the shuffle sometimes. I completely understand that, so it makes the times I do get to see them even better.
Now, on to the more pertinent stuff that this blog should be about. I grew up in lovely Morristown, NJ. It's a pretty large town in Northern NJ off of rt. 287, about a half hour away from where Modified Country USA used to sit. My dad had grown up going to the races, so when he felt I was old enough, he started taking me. My first trip to the races was at Nazareth National when it was still dirt in about '82 or '83. It was for a USAC Silver Crown show (I think) I didn't like it at all. It was hot, loud, and too dusty for me. My dad was kind of disappointed, so, later that summer he took me to the half mile down the hill, and that would change my life. I saw modifieds for the first time, and I was absolutely hooked. The next year, we made Flemington our weekly haunt. That's where the love affair really began. There was nothing like that square. The racing, the fun, the folks we rolled with. They were some of the greatest times I've ever had. As time went on, we became involved with some teams, first Freddy Orchard, then later, Jimmy Romeo. I saw racing from an entirely different angle. I saw a lot of tracks along the way, too, pretty much all the places that raced modifieds at the time.
Later on, when I became a teenager, I kind of drifted away from it. Part of it was the paving of Flemington (although I did fall in love with Grandview over that), the other was wanting to fit in with my snobby NJ classmates (don't get it twisted, I have some great friends in NJ, but if you have lived there, you understand). I got into some less than savory things, and I became an asshole. I was in desperate need for change, so when my parents announced they were moving to Pittsburgh, where my dad had grown up, I was into the idea. So I moved here with them. Then, I got here and hated it, so I saved all my cash and moved back to Morristown and got a place for myself (and continued being an asshole). I was able to make it last three years before I had to throw in the towel and learn to grow up. I moved back to the 'burgh with my folks. This time, I was humbled, and willing to calm way down and become a man.
Two great things about moving back became pretty evident to me. I met the woman who will become my wife next year, and I fell in love with racing all over again. My dad suggested we hit Lernerville for a WoO sprint car show. I was down, I hadn't been to a race in a few years. Literally one lap into time trials, I was absolutely hooked all over again. I haven't missed but 10 or so races there in the six years since then. The track is second to none. They run the top three divisions on dirt weekly, lates, 410 sprints and big block mods. The facilities are great, and the racing is unbelievable. With all of that, though, a strange thing happened, I became less into modifieds, and more into late models. I had only seen late models at Hagerstown when I was younger, and I liked them then, but at Lernerville, I was like "Wow!" They were faster, they handled better, the fields were deeper, and they could race closer.
These days, I go to all the big late model races I can. All over the place. I've seen some of the most famous tracks in America, some of the most famous races in America, and some of the best racers in America. It's a whole different kind of atmosphere than anything I have ever seen at a modified race, even Syracuse. I will regale you with tails of these late model adventures with future blogs, and my thoughts on the debates of modifieds vs. late models will become evident in a future post as well.
I hope my story didn't bore you too much. I will say though, It was certainly cool to get it out.