Laubach and Rea Parting Ways?

Reports have indicated the Rick Laubach will not return to the Johnny Rea owned JR Motorsports #R1 small block modified this year. Laubach has a respectable season with Rea, but the team was expected to be a heavy championship contender at Big Diamond Raceway and weren't quite able to have that type of season. With the questions surrounding Big Diamond Raceway, no word on what either plans to do on Friday night. Laubach will remain with the Dieter Schmidt and Hermann Motorsports teams for special shows, and also has his self-owned #20 car for weekly big block action.

Look for Rea to possibly hire a young up-and-coming driver for the 2011 season if Laubach isn't in the seat.

Fantasy League Updated After Orange County; Hagerstown Entry List Up!

http://jw4.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=290

There's the link to the Club Wago Crown Jewel Fantasy League after Orange County Fair Speedway. There are only 4 races left in the fantasy league. Specials thanks to Zach Aubertine Motorsports, Area Auto Racing News, and Strapped In Magazine! Clickable link is where it always is, right below the chat box.

The Hagerstown Speedway entry list is posted over on at HagerstownSpeedway.com for their Octoberfest races.

Crazy Weekend Wrap Up: Plenty of 2011 Tidbits

Well, it was a big racing weekend, and it turned out to be a crazy one. Eastern States Weekend highlighted the weekend that included the Delaware State Championships and the Steal City Stampede Weekend at Lernerville.

On Friday the weekend kicked off with Billy Pauch cruising to an easy $5,000 win in the small block modified portion of DE State Championships at Delaware International Speedway. He backed up that performance by going around Matt Jester in the middle stages of the big block race on Saturday night at Delaware to complete the sweep on the weekend and collect another $6,500. At Lernerville Speedway arguably the race of the year took place, as Brian Weaver led as the field took the white flag, then had Rex King and Chad Homan split him going down the backstretch, the top 2 made contact coming to the line and Homan picked up his first career big block modified win in the BRP Series finale by just .019 seconds. King's second place finish clinched the BRP Modified Tour title to the #65 team. Brett Hearn dominated the small block race at Orange County Fair Speedway's Eastern States Weekend and picked up $7,500 for the win. Then, on Sunday, the $20,000 to win Eastern States 200 looked like it was going to be Stewart Friesen's to lose until a questionable call by the officials placed Friesen behind Tim McCreadie for a late race restart, Friesen proceeded to have a meltdown and was DQed (eventually he was allowed to rejoin the field) which allowed McCreadie to survive a few late race restarts and win the $20,000 feature. This was a fantasy league race, and I'll have the standings updated by Tuesday.

Also, Brett Deyo reports that Doug Manmiller has parted ways with the Breitenstein Motorsports team, which is the team he ran weekly with at Grandview Speedway. The team ran the last race of the year with Kenny Gilmore driving the team's second car, but Manmiller ran it weekly at Grandview throughout the season. Rumors have swirled since the early summer that the team would be shutting down at the conclusion of the season, but Deyo's articles quotes the owners as claiming they'd like to continue racing but are looking for sponsorship. Manmiller will run for Josh Biever, whom he won the Big Diamond championship with this year, at Grandview next year.

Deyo also informed me that you can expect to see the return of Donny Radd to competition in 2011. Right now he's working on an engine program that will see the driver return to weekly competition aboard his self-owned 15R, most likely at Delaware International Speedway.

Keith Hoffman has parted ways with the Moose Eisenhard Racing team. Hoffman ran weekly with Eisenhard at New Egypt Speedway, but the team also traveled to select shows throughout the year. Hoffman finished in the top 5 in points at New Egypt. Eisenhard will sell his big block equipment in favor of crate sportsman equipment for his grandson, Jordan Henn, who's raced slingshots for the past handful of seasons. Keith Hoffman currently has nothing lined up for 2011, and if he doesn't find a ride he won't be racing in 2011. Hoffman ran for Jonathan Kumernitsky for a few shows at Big Diamond Raceway at the end of the year and also ran for Blue Hen Racing at the Delaware State Championships, but don't expect him to run for those teams full-time next season.

Friesen Teaming with Lamb for ESW

RaceProWeekly.com has posted on their live coverage of ESW that Stewart Friesen will drive in the small block portion of Eastern States Weekend for Ted Lamb.

McCreadie to Run ESW

For those of you wondering, Tim McCreadie will be the driving of the Vinnie Salerno owned #4 car for Eastern States Weekend, and McCreadie and Salerno also plan to enter the World Finals together. Still no word on if the team will hire another drive to run the bulk of the races in 2011, or if Salerno will scale down to a part-time schedule with McCreadie.

Wednesday Tidbits

New Egypt Speedway regular Dom Buffalino will take over driving duties aboard the Michael Brothers 51m for the rest of the season, beginning at Delaware International Speedway this weekend. No word on what other races the team will enter with Buffalino, but my guess is at least Bridgeport and Georgetown for the final 2 Tri-Track Series races. The Michaels Brothers entered races this year with Wade Hendrickson and John McClelland, and ran a specials-only schedule for the most part.

The winner of this year's sportsman race at Super Dirt Week, Ryan Susice, will make the move up to 358 modifieds full-time in 2010, competing weekly at Ransomville Speedway. Saturday and Sunday plans will be finalized much closer to the 2011 season openers, but the young star also plans on following the 358 Dirt Series.

Chris Raabe is another sportsman superstar that will be making the move up to 358 modifieds in 2011. Raabe will drive for Perry Francis again in 2011, but the team will make the move up to 358 modifieds. The team will finalize plans later in the off-season, but right now it looks like Raabe will run weekly at Autodrome Drummond and also follow the 358 Dirt Series, but that has yet to be confirmed.

Danny Johnson Has Huge Weekend; Weekend Wrap Up

Danny Johnson has a huge weekend at Brockville Ontario Speedway. On Saturday the 358 Dirt Series had their season finale where Johnson was running 2nd in points to Danny O'Brien heading into the event. Johnson started deep in the field but climbed up to second place, behind feature winner Billy Decker, to secure to the 358 Dirt Series championship. On Sunday, the Super Dirt Series was in action, and Danny Johnson was able to run down and pass Matt Sheppard with less than 5 laps to go and went on to collect the feature win.

Also on Saturday, Meme DeSantis ended the Thunder on the Hill Series with a victory in the 358 modified race, Billy Pauch continued to increase his win count at New Egypt Speedway with a win in the Tri-Track Series race, Danny Tyler picked up his first career modified victory with a win at Accord Speedway's Run Whatcha-Brung Show.

On Sunday, the King of the Can was in action at Penn Can Speedway, and Kevin Bates was able to go and collect the $4,000 win.

Lots of Racing Today and Tomorrow!

Well race fans, we're approaching the end of a fantastic 2010 racing season, but it's not over yet! A full weekend of racing is planned for tonight (Saturday) and tomorrow (Sunday). This weekend is highlighted the the Global Warranty Fall Northeast Nationals at Brockville-Ontario Speedway, which will crown the 358 Dirt Series champion tonight (looks like a 3-person battle between Danny O'Brien, Danny Johnson, and Pete Bicknell; others still have a chance but need a miracle), and tomorrow they'll have the Super Dirt Series run their second last race of the year. The Tri-Track Big Block Series will also be in action tonight for Rocktoberfest at New Egypt Speedway. Grandview Speedway will run the 5-25s tonight which is highlighted by a 25-lapper for the 358 modifieds (Shawn Reimert and Billy Pauch Jr. will start on the front row for that feature), and Accord Speedway has their popular Run Whatcha Brung show scheduled for tonight. Tomorrow is Penn Can Speedway's big race, the King of the Can which will pay $4,000 to the winner. Check back here to see who won where on Monday!

Danny Varin a Free Agent

Danny Varin will not return to the Dover Brakes Racing #18 big block modified team in 2011. Varin's father, Bobby Varin, will continue to drive for the team in their #00 car (there have been many rumors about the team shutting down completely), but the team cannot afford to run 2 cars next season. Danny Varin is currently searching for a ride for 2011, the most likely scenario for Varin would be for him to return in the Masagarus Racing #93, which Danny drove in the Outlaw 200 this year. Brian Weaver ended the season in the car, no word if he'll return to the seat next season. We'll keep you posted.

Storms to Driver for Heard at ESW

Michael Storms will drive for Brett Hearn at Eastern States Weekend according to Race Pro Weekly. Hearn will still obviously still drive his own equipment as well. No word on anymore plans for Storms for the rest of this year or for 2011.

Salerno/Storms Split; Dirt Mods at the Turkey Derby

Michael Storms has parted ways with the Vinnie Salerno Motorsports #4 big block modified according to what he posted on his Facebook page. Storms will announce a team he will drive for at Eastern States Weekend in a day or two, according to the post. Don't be surprised to see Salerno run a part-time only schedule in the future with his now only current driver, Tim McCreadie. We'll keep you posted on what we hear or find out.

Dirt modifieds will be racing at Wall Speedway for the Turkey Derby in late November. It appears that New Egypt Speedway promotor Danny Serrano is in charge of the event, and the race will be twin 40 lap features that pay $1,500 per race, and $150 to start per race.

Wago Fantasy League Updated!

http://jw4.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=289

There's the link to the Fantasy League standings presented by Area Auto Racing News and Zach Aubertine Motorsports after Super Dirt Week! Thanks again to AARN, Zach Aubertine, and Strapped In Magazine!

Clickable link where it always is!

Big Wheel Race Winners!

Congratulations to Heather Thompson and Steve Sharadin for winning the second Super Dirt Week Adult Big Wheel Race feature event. For winning, they received a trophy donated by Weaknecht Archery, and also a large replica check and $100 cash from Zach Aubertine Motorsports. The 1/2 bonus went to a mystery team (sorry guys, I lost your names) that had a red trike and were fast all night long, they received $60 from Lance Willix Racing. The Steve Hough Motorsports fast time award was worth $50 and went to the team of Daryl Herman and Ryan Watt with a time of 7.33 seconds.

The race was actually pretty good, there were a lot of nice creations. Ryan Phelps and Casey Tiderman ended up 3rd, the mystery team was second, and Brad Brightbill and Kenny Hammond were DQed even though they ended up second for switching pushers at half way. Daryl Herman and Ryan Watt were fast most of the night along with the mystery team and it seemed like one of the two of them would win, but both teams got into a wreck along with Bert and Jason Hamilton, who were the top 3, and Heather and Steve went around the outside and passed the mystery team on the inside (they got out of the wreck still in the lead). Thanks to everyone that participated, we had 20 entries and started 13 in the feature!

Bash on the Backstretch

Well, another SDW is over. So, now it's time for those of us from Club Wago to thank everyone that helped us to put the Bash on the Backstretch together.

First, I want to thank Valken Wheels, Grandview Speedway, New Egypt Speedway, Orange County Fair Speedway, Brett Deyo Motorsports Media, Willix 16w Racing, Zach Aubertine Motorsports, CowPattyNation.com, Steve Hough Motors, Best LIne, and anyone else that helped out by giving prizes for us to give away throughout the night, I truly appreciate it!

Also, thank you to Adam Ross for letting us sell the shirts at the DTD stand on Sunday.

Also I want to thank everyone that participated in the big wheel race, our DJ DeRue, and everyone that came out. I hope everyone had a good time.

Now, time for some apologies, I'm sorry for all the headaches with the big wheel race, that was a lot harder to score than we thought, and I messed up by starting too many big wheels in the main event. I know we didn't mess up the top 3 in the feature, but if I screwed you out of any spots at 1/2 way I apologize.

I also would like to apologize for the music shutting off twice, the first time we had a wire problem and the second time we had a plug get pulled.

I know of one fight and heard about other instances that almost led to fights, I sincerely apologize for anyone involved in this. I don't drink at all on Friday in an attempt to help prevent anything out of hand happening at the Bash on the Backstretch, so I'm sorry that I didn't do my job there.

The Wago Donation Jar went to Lance Willix, which means that anyone that put the donation in there are the real sponsors of Lance. Lance received it this year because he ran Club Wago stickers all year long and also helped us many ways throughout SDW, thank you very much to Lance and everyone on his race team.

Again, I hope that most people had a good time, if not, we had another great crowd on hand and had 20 big wheel entries with money given out for the fast time award, 1/2 bonus, and the feature winners. We also did an invert draw after the heat races. Like I said earlier everything went smoothly until the 1/2 point in the feature when we pulled off all the lapped trikes and restarted the race. Thank you to the woman the showed me a video that showed us who the top 3 at 1/2 were, I have no idea who you were but I owe you a beer or dinner or something.

I hope you guys all enjoyed yourself, please give me some feedback so if we do it again next year we can make sure everything goes a lot smoother. Thank you!

Off to Syracuse!

Welp, it's finally that time of the year. All of us Wago guys are loading up the truck and heading north to the mile. Since I'll be gone until Sunday night, I won't be doing anymore updates until then. Be sure to check out RaceProWeekly.com, DirtTrackDigest.com, SouthJerseyDirtRacing.com, DougsDirtDiary.com, SuperDirtWeekOnline.com, and Syracuse.com/motorsports as all of them are doing an incredible job with their Syracuse coverage. See everyone there, and I can't wait to see you all on Friday night at the Bash!

Fantasy League Updated After Fulton!

http://jw4.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=287&page=1

There's the link to the fantasy league standings after race #11. Getting close to the end, 2 races at Syracuse, 2 races at Hagerstown, 2 races at Charlotte, and a race at Orange County is all that's left. Thanks again to everyone for playing, and to Zach Aubertine Motorsports and Area Auto Racing News for sponsoring the league! The clickable link is where it always is, to the right, below the question/comment box.

Also, a special thank you to Mike Feltenberger who will give all 3 2010 issues of Strapped In Magazine to the 8th place finisher in the Wago Crown Jewel Fantasy League in honor of the 8th anniversary of the magazine.

More SDW Photos

Race Pro Weekly has more photos up, and now Doug's Dirt Diary, Dirt Track Digest, and Syacuse.com/motorsports all have photos up from today's inspection.

Early SDW Photos

RaceProWeekly.com has won the first race of the weekend, as they're the first site to have shots up from inspection. They seem to be posting pictures every 2-3 minutes, so check back often. Go onto the tidbits page and click the link to the photos there, or just click the photo gallery link in the media tab at the top of the page.

Hearn Finally Wins Outlaw 200; Howard Dominant at Diamond; Thomas Takes Mahoning Title

Brett Hearn has won almost everything there is to win in modified racing. The one thing missing was Fulton Speedway's Outlaw 200 (formally Victoria 200), until Saturday night. Hearn was forced to qualify through the consolation and started outside of the top 30 in the starting field and used patience and some daring moves to pick up the $20,000 after sneaking passed Billy Decker not long after the half way point for the lead. From there, it was all Hearn, as he used his small block power to dominate and lapped 4th place finisher Justin Haers with just a few laps remaining, leaving 2nd place finisher Billy Decker and 3rd place finisher Stewart Friesen as the only cars on the lead lap. This race was a Club Wago Crown Jewel Fantasy League race, the standings will be updated by Tuesday night.

At Big Diamond, Duane Howard swept both days of competition at Big Diamond Raceway, winning the small block race on Saturday night, and using his small block to beat the big blocks on Sunday.

Mahoning Valley Speedway saw their defending modified track champion, Randy Thomas, pick up his second championship in as many years.

Dan Pompey invaded Woodhull Raceway's 50 lap season finale and went on to pick up the popular victory.

Accroding to Pete in our chatbox, Mike Ricci will take over driving duties for Ronnie Johnson aboard the Joe Grasso Racing #19 modified for competition at Accord Speedway. Area Auto Racing News reports that Johnson and the team had a dispute at the King of the Catskills race last weekend, which resulted in Johnson scratching from the starting field. No word what this means for the Mastrocola Racing team, as Ricci has spent the last few seasons with them. Jeff Richardson drives the teams second car.

Rick Laubach will run for Cliff Krause in the 358 race at Syracuse. It will be the first time that the #27 car has hit the track this season.

Race Pro Weekly, Dirt Track Digest, South Jersey Dirt Racing, and Dougs Dirt Diary should all have plenty of photos up from Syracuse early inspection tomorrow. Be sure to check out their sites and support the work they're doing!

Wago Bash on the Backstretch Big Wheel Race Update!

Well, it looks like we may end up having a much better turn out than I expected. We have my 4 big wheels, which are being given away to different people (one of which will be raffled off when we give away the door prizes), Zach Aubertine has 1, Kelly Boyer has 1 and possibly 2, Cow Patty Nation is coming with a 2-trike assault, Dom Buffalino/Kenny Hammond have put one together, Kenny Brightbill has built one, plus I've been told there are quite a few others that are getting built. Should be exciting!

Also, we know for sure that the winner of the feature event will receive at least $100, we hope to see that number go up soon!

Sheppard with Cullen for SDW? Kratz Returns

Tom Cullen Motorsports had a great season with Stewart Friesen, claiming the Utica Rome Speedway track championship. However, at Super Dirt Week, he will put the guy that drove his car in 2009 into his car. Dirt Track Digest released the news (and pictures of the car) on their forum that Matt Sheppard will drive for Tom Cullen at Super Dirt Week in the 358 race on the mile. Friesen, will run the 358 race in Buzz Chew's #99 358 that he won the Alex Friesen Summer Nationals with back in August.

Kerry Kratz will be making his first start of the year at Five Mile Point Speedway's Short Track Super Nationals on October 9th. His former team, JSG Motorsports, will also return to racing that night and own the #3G car that Kratz will be running.