Van Horn, Weaver, Dupree, Lazore, Higbie, Flach/Heffner, Murdick, Caprara, Sears, Brachmann, O'Brien, Paine crowned champions

Getting ready to head out the door, so I've gotta make this one short and sweet. Tommy Sears won his first career big block championship at Fulton, Mark Flach and J.R. Heffner tied for the Lebanon Valley championship, Frankie Caprara won his 2nd career Can-Am championship, Steve Paine continued his dominance at Canandaigua with another track championship, Danny O'Brien held off JZ to win another Brockville title, Chad Brachmann won his first career modified championship at Merrittville, Brian Weaver collected yet another Five Mile Point track championship, Patrick Dupree won his 2nd Airborne championship in the last 2 years, veteran Dave Murdick picked up the Sharon championship, John Lazore picked up his first career modified championship by winning the Mohawk title, David Van Horn backed up last year's small block Orange County championship by being crowned the big block champion, and Jerry Higbie won the Orange County small block championship.

Keith Flach won $4,500 in the Lebanon Valley big block points finale which was his first win of the year, Josh Hohenfrost won his first career modified feature in the Rumble at the Ridge worth $1,700, Billy Van Pelt won again at Woodhull, Craig Von Dohren ended his streak of bad luck with a win at Grandview, Sam Martz won his first race of the year at New Egypt, Steve Bottcher kept his title hopes alive with a win at Bridgeport, Steve Paine ended the Canandaigua year with a win, Larry Lampman won yet in Merrittville's finale, Bill Gill won his first race of the year at Brockville, Pat O'Brien notched off a win at Can-Am, Dale Planck kept his fine year going with another win at Fulton, John Lazore won a 50 lap Syracuse small block qualifier at Mohawk, Tim Votra collected his second career win at Five Mile Point in the 50 lap feature, Jamie Mills stretched his points lead at Delaware with another win, Dave Murdick won at Sharon, and at Orange County Chris Schultz won his 2nd big block race of the year, and Tommy Meier won the 358 feature.

Congratulations to all the track champions crowned last night, especially Wagoneers Chad Brachmann and Frankie Caprara. Also, forgot to send out special shout outs to other Wago champions Jeff Strunk (Big Diamond), and Kevin Bolland (Tri-City.)

Big races tonight include the Coalcracker 100 at Big Diamond Raceway worth $10,000 to the winner, which is also Wago Crowned Jewel Fantasy League race #4, the Super Dirt Series heads to Weedsport for twin 50 lappers, and Devil's Bowl has their annual 101 lapper.

Moose is Loose in 2009

Retired car owner Moose Eisenhard will make his return in 2009 with a driver yet to be named. Moose already purchased a brand new Troyer. Don't be surprised to see a retired driver be named to the car. Another possibility is Keith Hoffman, who he sponsored when he drove for the DiNatale Racing team. Stay tuned.

Decker, Pratt, Swarthout, Bicknell claim championships; day Winners

Here's what happened on Friday night, 2006 Accord Rookie of the Year Kevin Duryea notched off his 2nd win of the year at Accord, Willy Decker picked up the win at Brewerton while Billy Decker continued his amazing year by winning the Brewerton Speedway championship, Richie Pratt picked up yet another Bridgeport win on Friday which also crowned him Bridgeport 358 champion, Mike Maheney used a last lap pass to win at Black Rock Friday and Brian Swarthout picked up another Black Rock championship, Todd Burley did everything he could to win the Ransomville championship as he won the feature event, but he fell just 1 point short of 2008 champion Pete Bicknell.

Congratulations goes out to Billy Decker, Brian Swarthout, Richie Pratt, and Pete Bicknell. Decker now officially picked up his first of a couple of championships he'll win this year at Brewerton. Swarthout continues to be one of the most underrated drivers in the modified racing world, he doesn't have a huge budget, but has quite an impressive list of accomplishments, which now includes the 2008 Black Rock championships. Richie Pratt absolutley dominated the Friday night Bridgeport 358 season, which gave him 7 wins. It was his 2nd championship at Bridgeport in the 358 division, he's right in the running for winning the Bridgeport big block championship as well. And Mr. Small Block stayed true to his name by winning yet another Ransomville championship. Congratulations to these 4 drivers and their teams.

Heotzler with Mike Sparta

2007 Eastern States 200 winners, and Orange County Fair Speedway big block champion Jeff Heotzler is teaming up with former owner Mike Sparta for the rest of the year, including this past weekend. The Mike Petruska team, that Heotzler drove the past fews year including to two wins already this year, will not run the rest of the year weekly at Orange County, and will instead continue to help Danny Johnson. Heotlzer has been upset with Johnson being allowed to travel with the car from the get-go, since the team told Heotzler they couldn't afford to travel at the start of the year. Petruska and Heotzler could team up later in the year. Jared Petruska will run Eastern States, but that'll be it for him. Stay tuned!

Kenny Tremont Crowned "King of the Valley"

Well, the 4 race Lebanon Valley mini series was extended multiple times due to weather, but they've finally crowned a champion. Multiple time big and small block Lebanon Valley champion Kenny Tremont now has another championship to go into his impressive list of accomplishments as he won the "King of the Valley" Mini-Series by just 2 points over last years big and small block champion J.R. Heffner. The championship, which last for 4 races, paid a $4,000 bonus to Tremont. Tremont currently sits 3rd in big block points, 27 points out of the lead, and is 2nd in 358 points just 14 points out of the lead at Lebanon Valley. Congratulations to Kenny and the 115 team.

Sunday Night Winners

Larry Wight picked up his first career big block feature win Sunday night at Cayuga County, while it was the 15-year olds 1st big block wins, he does have 3 358 wins this year at Can-Am, and was crowned a shortened Can-Am 358 track champion. He also claimed the $5,000 win at Black Rock's big sportsman Super Dirt Series opening race.

Stewart Friesen picked up the win at Utica Rome, and Vince Quennville picked up his first win of the year with a win at Devils Bowl.

Bachetti's big night, Laubach Keeps Momentum Going, wins Garden State race at Bridgeort; Saturday Night Winners

Andy Bachetti made an exciting last lap pass to claim feature #1 at Lebanon Valley on Saturday night, and Rich Salisbury took advantage of borrowing a Steve Hough owned car and drove it to his first career big block modified victory in feature #2, Bachetti then came back with his small block and dominated the small block feature to pick up his 2nd win of the night. Ryan Godown finally broke through with his first win of the year with a big win at Grandview. Rick Laubach notched off his 2nd Garden State Series win of the week by claiming the $3,000 win at Bridgeport. Gary Tomkins also is riding momentum as he backs up last weeks two SDS wins with a last lap win at Canandaigua. Frankie Caprara padded his points lead with a win at Can-Am. Dale Planck also continues arguably his best season with a weekly win at Fulton on Saturday night. Clinton Mills took the big block feature and Brett Hearn claimed the small block victory at Orange County. Curt Van Pelt claimed his fifth Woodhull win of the year as he and his brother Billy continue to crush the competition at the fast 1/2 mile. Brian Swartzlander won at Sharon in dominating fashion. Danny O'Brien closed in on repeating as the Brockville champion with another win Saturday night. The ageless Brian Stevens notched off his popular first win of the year at Merrittville. Frank Guidance picked up his 2nd win of the year at Mercer. George Foley kept up his strong year with his 3rd win of the year at Airborne.

Strunk Diamond Champion; Friday winners

Jeff Strunk claimed his 5th career Big Diamond small block championship, and his 2nd in two years with a 3rd place finish in tonight's points finale at Big Diamond. Gary Hager won tonight's feature at Diamond, which was his first win of the year. Congratulations to Jeff Strunk on his championship. Strunk also holds a large lead in the modified points standings at Grandview Speedway.

Other Friday night racing action saw; Billy Decker win yet again, this time at Brewerton, Brett Hearn started the new era in the CVRA with a win at Albany with his small block modified, Jon Miller notched off his first win of the year at Ransomville in the 358 division, Rich Ricci made a big push for defending his 2007 Accord championship with a win, Kevin Bolland continued to have another fine season with another win at Lernerville, Jeff Rudalavage won the modified feature at Penn Can, Brett Ballard picked up his first Friday night win of the year at Bridgeport, Eric Gauvereau stretched out his Edelweiss points lead with another win, and Steve Paine claimed yet another win as he continues his dominance on the field at Black Rock.

Clair Proves He's the Man to Beat on the 358 Tour

2007 358 Super Dirt Series champion Mario Clair proved that he's serious about repeating with a $4,000 win in the 358 Tour race at Mohawk International Raceway. Stay tuned for more coming tomorrow, Danny Johnson and Jessica Zemken rounded out the top 3 in the 100 lap feature.

Donnie Corellis News, Other Tidbits

Donnie Corellis has had a year to forget in 2008. He started off the year by losing long-time sponsor Rifenburg Construction, and his struggles continued at Fonda Speedway all season. His new sponsor, Beer Belly Bob's didn't make it all the way through the year, which led to Donnie having to park the car for a few shows toward the end of the year. However, his luck may be changing. Rifenburg Construction announced that they will return to the 1/4 panels of the Donnie Corellis #21 big block block modified starting at the New York State Fairgrounds for Super Dirt Week in October. This means that Corellis will return to Lebanon Valley Speedway, the track he vowed never to return to after the 2006 points controversy between himself and eventual '06 champion Andy Bachetti.

Bobby Varin had his meeting with Jody Gable on Tuesday night, and everything is a go for the make the trek to Syracuse in the big block division.

Orange County big block regular Bob McGannon has purchased a brand new Bicknell car that will debut at Syracuse in an attempt to qualify for his 2nd Rite-Aid 200. He will then use the car the following week in the Eastern States 200.

Laubach and Cozze take New Egypt mains, Decker wins T3 Series race at Thunder Mountain

Rick Laubach went on to collect his 2nd win of the year at New Egypt in the make-up Garden State feature on Wednesday night, and Frank Cozze went on to take home the complete show feature in the Garden State feature #2. It was also Cozze's second win of the year. Special tip of the hat goes to a very underrated driver, Tim Tanner. Tanner collected a 2nd and a 3rd place finish tonight in the 30 lap features. The second generation driver has always been a top 5 car at New Egypt, and has 2 wins this year. He's also had success at East Windsor in the past. Tanner may not travel anymore, but he is still one of New Egypt's top drivers, hopefully soon more people will begin to realize this and stop considering him an underdog. Best of luck to Tanner the rest of the year. Feature #1 saw Tim Tanner picked up a 2nd place finish and rounding out the top 5 for that feature were Billy Pauch, Sam Martz, and Keith Hoffman, and feature #2 had Keith Hoffman finish 2nd, and rounding out the top 5 in order were Tim Tanner, Rick Laubach, and Ryan Godown.

Billy Decker picked up his first RoC Dirt Tourwin of the year last week at Utica Rome to go along with his seven Super Dirt Series wins on the year, and now tonight picked up his first career T3 All-Star Series win as Thunder Mountain had the modifieds return to the speedway. A great crowd was on hand, and a total of 56 small block modifieds filled the pits. 2007 Thunder Mountain champion Paul Jensen was second, followed by Pat Ward, Billy Van Pelt, and Tom McGurrin.

AJ in with Spraker, help from Kingsley

Dirt Track Digest has reported Alan Johnson, who's struggled this year on the Dirt Series tour after having a strong start to the year in Volusia, will be running the rest of the season with Jake Spraker on the Super Dirt Series tour. Spraker and Johnson teamed up and ran the Utica Rome RoC race last week and came home with a 3rd place finish.

No word on what Randy Sherlock's team will do. The team recently purchased a brand new specially designed Teo that AJ ran at the Orange County Dirt Series race a few weeks ago. You could see Sherlock return with Johnson for Super Dirt Week, because right now Spraker doesn't plan on running Syracuse. Sherlock himself has had success at Syracuse, and Johnson stated after last year he guarentees he'll be there this season with a full-out assault.

Specials This Week...

As points championships come to a close, the racing continues to become more and more important. We already have 3 2008 track champions crowned, Kevin Bolland at Tri-City, Bobby Varin at Fonda, and Larry Wight in CanAm's 358 division. Here are this weeks big shows...

Tonight (Wednesday) New Egypt Speedway has a make-up feature paying $3,000 to win, and they have a complete show that'll pay also pay $3,000 to win, both features will be 30 laps and are part of the NJ Garden State Series. Also tonight the modifieds return to the Thunder Mountain Speedway for a 40 lap $2,500 to win race for the small block modifieds, the event will be part of the T3 All-Star Series. On Thursday night, the 358 Super Dirt Series has it's 3rd race of the year with a $4,000 to win 100 lap race at the Mohawk International Speedway. On Friday it'll be the final points night of the year at Big Diamond Raceway, Jeff Strunk appears to be on his way to being crowned the Big Diamond champion yet again, Duane Howard currently sits 2nd in points. Saturday the NJ Garden State Series has their 3rd race of the week with a $3,000 to win show at Bridgeport Speedway.

JZ to team with Lazore?

Fan favorite Jessica Zemken may have a big block ride part-time the rest of the year. Last night, at Cornwall's Super Dirt Series race, Zemken drove the #19 John Lazore owned big block modified. Reports are saying that the two sides and in negotiations to running a few more end of the year shows, including SDW together. Check back for updates.

Zemken has been driving the LaSalle Motorsports #m96 weekly at Brockville Speedway, along with the running the 358 Super Dirt Series and other specials. She's also been running her 360 and 410 sprint part-time.

John Lazore has been running weekly at the Mohawk Speedway, and currently leads points in the 358 modified class. Tim Fuller has also been running his equipment and has a small block win under his belt as well. Of course, Fuller is only running part-time because he's running the World of Outlaw Late Model schedule this year.

Tomkins Wins 2nd SDS Race in 2 days with Cornwall, Bolland Tri-City Champ, Brachmann takes Lucas Oil Race; Sunday Winners

Dale Planck dominated the Super Dirt Series race at Cornwall, but Gary Tomkins stole the win away on a restart. This was Tomkins 2nd Dirt Series win of the year, and his 2nd in two days, he also won at CanAm Speedway last night. Tip of the hat goes to Carey Terrance, who finished 4th on Sunday night, his best career Super Dirt Series finish.

Joe Crawford picked up the season finale at Tri-City Speedway, but Kevin Bolland was the big winner as he collected his 3rd Tri-City track championship in a row, and the 5th of his career. Bolland held on to win the championship after a season long battle with Jeremiah Shingledecker. Congratulations to a good friend of Club Wago, Kevin Bolland, on yet another track championship.

Chad Brachmann continued his fine season with a win in the Lucas Oil 358 Series season race at Humberstone Speedway Sunday night. It was his 2nd win of the season on the Lucas Oil tour. Brachmann and Pete Bicknell dominated the Lucas Oil Series in 2008, but a DNF at the last event led to Brachmann finishing 24th place, which gave Bicknell a large points lead heading into tonight. No word on where Bicknell finished yet, stay tuned. The final points race of the year will be Septmeber 5th at Merrittville Speedway.

Utica Rome had twin 20s for the small block modifieds. In the first feature Willy Decker held off Pat Ward to collect his 2nd Utica win of the year, and in the second feature the roles were reversed, Pat Ward held on to collect yet another Utica Rome win at Willy Decker finished 2nd. Devils Bowl saw Rob Langevin pick up his first modified win of the year. Finally, at Cayuga County, up and comer Mike Bowman picked up his first career big block modified victory.

You have to LOVE a FIRST TIME WINNER

In all my years of going to the dirt track races, about 30 of them, it's ALWAYS just a special night, a "feel good" night if you will, a night that just about everyone in the grandstands gets on their feet at the end of the feature race, and stands there and applauds the winner, it doesn't matter who your "favorit driver" is....It's a night at the races when a racer, who has paid his "dues" over many years, FINALLY gets his first career win.

That's exactly the scenario that went down at the Big Diamond Raceway last Friday night....Long time racer and BDR supporter Dale Hartz SHOCKED the Pa sbm racing scene Friday night, when he drove the Huber #178 to victory lane for the first time EVER in the sbm division....The night started off pretty well for Hartz and the #178 team, as in his heat, he lead the enitre distance, only to have the hottest driver on the scene lately, Craig Von Dohren, go up on the outside on the last lap, in turn 4, and pass the #178 for the heat win, not a bad way to start the night off though, eh....Now it was Feature Race time, and Hartz started the #178 on the pole, on the outside of him was Colt Harris in the C7....The green flag drops and Hartz leads the way....Only 2 caution flags flew during this race, and both were early in the feature race....The race goes back green, and with about the last 20 laps going non stop, Dale Hartz CHECKED OUT, I mean he was GONE, and the Huber #178 was FLYING on Friday night....Towards the final laps of the race, Hartz had to deal with lapped traffic, which he did VERY WELL, but the traffic did allow 2nd place finisher Mike Nicholas to close the gap a bit, but it wasn't close enough.

When the checkered flag flew, it was Dale Hartz taking the win for the first time in the sbm division....Hartz did win at BDR years back when he raced in the Road Runner division, then he moved up to the SPTS class, never won....And a few years back Hartz and his family and team moved up to the sbm's....Hartz did have some success over the years, but nothing to compare what transpired Friday night....As a matter of fact, almost a year ago, during the running of BDR's biggest race, the Coal Cracker 100, Hartz found himself upside down ON FIRE, on the frontstretch in the family owned #15, WOW, talk about paying your dues....Almost a year later from that horrible accident, during this year BDR's Pepsi Challenge Night (which by the way, last year, another first time winner won on this night, Ryan Grim took his first sbm win) it all FINALLY PAID OFF for Dale Hartz and his race team....As Dale Hartz FINALLY got to feel what it's like to be on top of the racing world he's known for many years....With the fans in the grandstands, standing and applauding him, as he was doing that "roof dance" many racers do after that first BIG WIN....OH YEAH, YOU HAVE TO LOVE A FIRST TIME WINNER.

Tomkins Wins first SDS Race of the Year, Varin Fonda Champ; Some Saturday winners

opeCraig Hanson and Matt DeLorenzo split the twin big block features at Fonda on Saturday night, but the big winner was Bobby Varin who completed his big week. Earlier this week Varin announced plans to re-unite with former part time owner Jody Gable for a Super Dirt Week assault, and tonight, Bobby Varin locked up his 3rd career Fonda Speedway big block championship. Along with fighting off the tough weekly field at Fonda, racing for the championship against names like Matt DeLorenzo, Pat Ward, Dave Camara, Ronnie Johnson, Jack Johnson, Ryan Odasz, and Jimmy Davis, Varin also had to win the title with lots of distractions involved. Varin started the season off with Jake Spraker Racing, but track owner Ric Lucia and Spraker got into heated arguments on a handful of nights, eventually leading Spraker to stop attending Fonda weekly (although he did return once with A.J. Romano driving, and once with Bobby Varin driving since then) and leaving Varin without a ride. Varin's Utica-Rome owner, Dave Cruickshank, stepped up to the plate and bought some big block equipment off of Spraker and gave Varin a ride the rest of the year, and tonight it all pays off. Congratulations to Bobby Varin and the entire Dover Brakes Racing Team.

Gary Tomkins notched off his first Super Dirt Series win of the year at his 2007 home-track CanAm Speedway. Tomkins earned $6,000 for the win. Other Saturday night notes; Tom Umbenhauer picked up his first win of the year with a win at Grandview, Danny O'Brien helped out his track championship hopes with a win at Brockville, big-time Wago supporter Dom Buffalino ended his streak of bad luck with his 2nd win of the year at New Egypt, Steve Bottcher drove into victory lane at Bridgeport, Kevin Chilson picked up his first career modified win Saturday at Woodhull, Scott Wood and Pete Bicknell split Merrittville's small block twin features, Mike Kolka won his 2nd career feature in the big block division at Orange County while Jerry Higibie gave himself a comfortable points cushion with a win in the 358 division.

CVRA Going Big Blocks

The CVRA tracks, Albany-Saratoga Speedway, and Devil's Bowl Speedway, have announced that starting 1 week Yesterday, big blocks will be legal at their events. Big blocks will be allowed to run with the small blocks the rest of the year, and for all of 2009 in hopes of helping with car counts. Albany is the only of the 2 to have a big block race this year, the CVRA vs. The World 100 which drew around 50 modifieds.

Decker Does it Again on the SDS; Friday Winners

Billy Decker picked up his 19th win of the year in the Super Dirt Series race at Brewerton Speedway that landed him $6,000. More importantly, he passed Dale Planck for the win, who is one of the few drivers in striking distance of the Dirt Series championship.

Other Friday night winners include; Dale Hartz who picked up his first career modified win in the small block feature at Big Diamond, Pete Bicknell stayed in the title hunt with a win at Ransomville, Del Rougeux picked up his 2nd win of the year at Lernerville, Dan Vauter repeated at Penn Can, and Ronnie Johnson picked up the win at Albany. Mother nature again was the big winner on Friday night.

Kenny Brightbill News

Kenny Brightbill will now NOT be attending Super Dirt Week, his sponsorship from Heavy Business has fallen through yet again. Heavy Business hasn't helped Kenny so far this year, as Chad Sinon has helped Kenny get to the only races Kenny ran this year. However, Brightbill has recieved sponsorship for the Coalcracker 100 at Big Diamond and the Freedom 76er. Kenny will be running Big Diamond tonight to shake down the car.

Former owner returns for Big Block assault on SDW; New Website Launches

Jody Gable and Gable Motorsports has been out of action since 2006, but the team will return for an all-out big block assault on the Syracuse mile for Super Dirt Week. The driver of the car will be current Fonda points leader Bobby Varin. Varin and Gable teamed up in 2006 at Syracuse and at a couple of late races at Lebanon Valley. Brett Hearn has by far had the most success with the Gable team as they dominated the Valley for a handful of years. Rich Ricci Jr also had some goods seasons with Gable. Bobby Varin has yet to win the big one at Syracuse, but sat on the pole in 1998, and came close to winning and finished in the top 5 in 2005. In 2006 when Varin and Gable teamed up, Varin set 7th fastest time during time trials but dropped out of the 200. Gable is looking at a possible full-time return in 2009.

In Salute to the Troops 150 news, defending Brewerton Speedway champion Willy Decker, 2007 Super Dirt Week 358 Modifieds Futures Race winner Brett Graham, and 2-time feature winner in 2008 at Glen Ridge Paul Kinney have all stated that they'll be running in the small block portion of Super Dirt Week.

Photographer, columnist, and popular fan Rick Young recently launched a website which includes pictures, columns, and blasts from the past. Be sure to check it out at http://www.rickattheraces.com/

Decker takes Specials Richie Evans Memorial RoC Dirt Tour at Utica

Billy Decker continues to rack up the wins, now picking up his first RoC Dirt Tour win of the year at Utica Rome Wednesday night. Decker started 2nd on the feature and after passing pole-sitter Billy Shantel for the lead, he never looked back. Pat Ward, who currently leads RoC Dirt Points, blew a tire while challenging for the lead around the half-way point was able to come back up through the field and finish 7th. Stewart Friesen broke, which means Pat Ward has all but clinched the RoC Dirt Tour title with 3 races remaining in the year. Jimmy Phelps finished 2nd, Alan Johnson was 3rd in Jake Spraker's #1J, Willy Decker was 4th, and Brett Hearn rounded out the top 5.

Rest In Peace John Wertz

Long time car owned on the Pennsylvania modified scene, John Wertz, lost his battle with a long-running illness Yesterday. John was also a long-time promotor at the greatly missed Penn National Speedway. John most recently has had Corey Sechrist drive his #42 at Big Diamond Raceway over the past 2 seasons. He also proudly displayed ClubWago.com on his car over that time period. Rest in peace John!

Von Dohren wins again

Craig Von Dohren took the 358 modified portion of the Thunder on the Hill 5-25's on Tuesday night. Von Dohren continues to be the hottest driver on dirt, as he has now won 6 of his last 8 races, 4 of which have been special shows including this one, the Chad Miller Memorial worth $3,500 (and the $1,000 dash for cash that he won), the $5,500 to win MS Race for a Cure big block race at Bridgeport Speedway, and the Forrest Rogers Memorial which was worth $10,000. Simply put, CVD looked to be unstoppable heading into the end of the year shows.

Specials This Week

Tonight (Tuesday) Grandview Speedway has a Thunder on the Hill 5-25's features only format, which includes URC Sprints, 358 modifieds, 600cc sprints, 600cc modifieds, and legends. On Wednesday, the RoC Dirt Tour swings into action with a 61 lap big block feature paying $6,161.61 in honor of the late great Richie Evans. On Friday the Super Dirt Series starts their three-race weekend with a 100 lap race at Brewerton Speedway paying $6,000 to win. Also on Friday Glen Ridge will have the 1st ever "Rumble at the Ridge" with heats paying to win, and the feature paying a record $1,700 to win. Then, on Saturday, the Super Dirt Series invades Can Am Speedway for another $6,000 to win 100-lapper. Also on Saturday is the final race of the King of the Valley mini-series at Lebanon Valley (Kenny Tremont currently leads over J.R. Heffner) and Fonda Speedway has their points finale (Bobby Varin currently leads over Pat Ward.) Saturday will also see twin features for the modifieds at Merrittville Speedway. Finally, on Sunday Cornwall Speedway has their $6,000 to win Super Dirt Series race. Also on Sunday Utica Rome will have twin features of the 358 modifieds.

Kellner in with Kratz

Jon Kellner Sr, who retired from modified racing 2 years ago, will return to the seat of a modified aboard the Steve Kratz owned #8 small block for weekly Grandview competition. The team may also run some end of the year shows at Big Diamond, notable the Coalcracker 100 and the Diamond Nationals, along with Grandview. Kellner is the all-time feature winner at Grandview in the late model division, and also owns 14 career small block modified wins at the track, highlighted by a $10,000 triumph in the Forrest Rogers Memorial a few years ago. Kellner had been running a late model at Grandview this year but blew a motor near the beginning of the season, since then he's been out of action. Kellner's sons, Jon Kellner Jr (modifieds) and Mike Kellner (late models) also race weekly at Grandview. Mike Gular, who had been in the Steve Kratz #8 until being fired last week, will continue to run weekly at Grandview aboard his own #53.

Sunday night winners

Jimmy Phelps finished off the week the way he started, in victory lane, he won at Cayuga County. Don Mattison picked up his first win of the year in the modified ranks with a small block win at Devils Bowl. Mother nature took out racing at Cornwall, Utica Rome, and Tri-City.

Decker sweeps Canandaigua SDS 50 lappers; Saturday winners

Is there anyone having a better year than Billy Decker? Decker picked up 2 more feature wins on the Super Dirt Series by sweeping the twin 50's at Canandaigua Speedway, netting him $3,000 each. The wins now give him a comfortable cushion as we come into the final stretch of the Super Dirt Series.

Other Saturday night winners include; Jeff Strunk continues his dominance at Grandview with another win. Scott Parliament picked up another big block win at Can-Am keeping his championship hopes very alive. Jimmy Horton broke his losing streak with a win at Bridgeport. Dave Camara finally broke through with a win at Fonda. Kenny Meisner picked up his first career big block win at New Egypt. Steve Hough picked up his first win of the year at Lebanon Valley in the big block feature, and Matt Quinn returned to victory lane with a popular win in the small block feature. Stephane LaFrance and Danny O'Brien swept the Brockville small block twin eatures. Mike DePalma broke through with an upset win in the big block feature at Orange County, and Jeremy Markle leaped into victory lane with a small block win at Orange County. Dan Vauter picked up his first career Woodhull modified win Saturday night. Finally, Joseph Watson picked up his first career win at Delaware International.

CVD stays hot; Bicknell wins Ohsweken, Cartwright tames Black Rock; Friday night winners

Craig Von Dohren won his 4th race in a row, and 5th race in his last 6 races with a win in the Chad Miller Memorial worth $3,500 on Friday night at Big Diamond. Von Dohren also won the post-feature dash for cash which ran the 10 cars with the fastest lap times of the feature event against each other in a 10 lap race paying $1,000 to the winner. Von Dohren has now won over $25,000 in the past 3 weeks.

Ron Cartwright picked up the $3,000 to win 30 lap small block feature at Black Rock Speedway. Jim Cottrell picked up his 2nd career win at Albany-Saratoga. Jeremiah Shingledecker held on to stay hot at Lernerville with a win. Pete Bicknell picked up a huge win in the Lucas Oil 358 Series at Ohsweken Speedway which gave him the points lead heading into the final race of the series over Chad Brachmann. Joel Doiron continues his successful unretirement with another win at Edelweiss. Richie Pratt continues to run away with the small block Bridgeport championship with a win Friday night. Brian Weaver finally won his first race of the year at Penn Can, but unfortunately mother nature was the big winner on Friday.

John Wertz Get Well Soon!

Long-time car owner John Wertz is in bad shape in the hospital. John currently owns the #42 small block modified driven by Corey Sechrist at Big Diamond Raceway and a few other specials. Keep John in your prayers!

Brad Brightbill done with Banos; Kenny Brightbill and Mike Gular news

Brad Brightbill will not be driving for the Banos Brothers Racing team any longer at Grandview Speedway on Saturday nights in the 358 modified division. Jeremy Banos needed the car back for parts for his own #3 small block for the rest of the season. Brad will drive his father's famous blue and white #19 on Saturday night.

Brad's father Kenny Brightbill will make another start this year on Tuesday night in the 358 modified 25 lap Thunder on the Hill feature. Due to the handicapping in place, he'll be forced to start second-last on the field.

It's been reported on the South Jersey Dirt Racing message board that Mike Gular is out of the Steve Kratz #8. Gular picked up an earlier victory with the team at Grandview. Stay tuned for more news, don't be surprised to see Brad Brightbill get into that seat.

Roy takes Airborne Challenge; Friesen holds off Ward at Five Mile Point; Andy Bachetti news

Martin Roy defended his home turf at Airborne Speedway with a 75 lap feature win worth $3,000, Tim McCreadie made his 2nd start in a big block this season with a strong 2nd place finish.

Stewart Friesen held off Pat Ward to slightly cut into Ward's points lead with a $4,000 triumph at Five Mile Point on Wednesday night on the RoC Dirt Tour.

Current Accord Speedway points leader was involved in a hard crash Tuesday night with Bob Henry Jr at Fonda Speedway. Bachetti went to the hospital with an apparent broken shoulder that could sit him out of action for a few weeks. Henry was scene in the pits with a bad limp, but was not taken to the hospital. More news to come.

Pauch Jr OCFS Bound with Nick Noll

Billy Pauch Jr will jump behind the wheel of the Nick Noll #6n according to AARN reporter Brett Deyo. Noll released Eric Palmer after a sub-par start to the season, and hasn't had anyone drive the car since then. Pauch Jr will run the Noll car when he's free on Saturday night from asphalt racing, or travel plans with his #15 big block modified. Noll and Pauch will also run select big block specials.

Specials This Week

Well, as we start to near the end of the racing season, the special shows continue to pile up. This week there were already 2 specials, Merrittville's Super Dirt Series race that netted Jimmy Phelps $6,000 and Fonda's NMX Series race that netted Brett Hearn $6,000. Tonight on the schedule is the dirt big block/small block asphalt shootout at Airborne Speedway which will pay $3,000 to win the 75 lap feature, also on the schedule for tonight the RoC Dirt Tour invades Five Mile Point Speedway for a $4,000 to win 75 lap feature event. Then on Friday night, the Super Dirt Series invades the Brewerton Speedway for another $6,000 to win 100 lap big block event. Two other specials on Friday include Black Rock paying $3,000 to win the 30 lap 358 modified feature, the Lucas Oil 358 Series invades Ohsweken for their 2nd last race of the year, and Big Diamond paying $3,500 to win the 40 lap 358 modified feature for the Chad Miller Memorial. Finally, on Saturday the Super Dirt Series has two 50 lap races at the Canandaigua Speedway paying $3,000 a piece to win.

Hearn picks up $6,000 win at Fonda NMX Series Race

Brett Hearn made the decision to bring the 358 modified to Fonda Speedway after failing to win either of the first two races in the NMX Fonda Mini Series, and it paid off. Hearn went on to win the 60 lap modified feature in dominating fashion after getting around Dave Camara around the 1/2 way point.

Danny Johnson was again in the Petruska Racing #66J tonight, expect to see him in the car the rest of the year.

Two special shows are scheduled for tomorrow, Airborne Speedway will have their big block/small block asphalt challenge worth $5,000 to the winner. Along with their weekly stars like Martin Roy, Leon Gonyo, Mike Bruno, and Patrick Dupree, invaders that have committed to coming include Bobby Santos, Frank Cozze, Vince Quennville, Wayne Jelley, Todd Stone, and Keith Flach. Also scheduled tomorrow is the next race on the RoC Dirt Tour which will be run at Five Mile Point Speedway, which will pay $4,000 to win. This will be RoC's 2nd stop at the Kirkwood race track, Brian Weaver defended his home track with a win in race earlier this year. Pat Ward, Jerry Higbie, Joey Grammes, Jeff Strunk, Rick Laubach, and Stewart Friesen will be just some of the drivers in attendance trying to keep Weaver from repeating his win.

Mike out AJ in with Spraker tonight

Mike Romano was scheduled to make his final start of his career tonight at Fonda Speedway, but has decided not to run the Jake Spraker #1J tonight. Instead, his brother AJ Romano will make his return after recent health issues to drive the car for the NMX Series race worth $6,000 to the winner.

Phelps takes Merrittville SDS Race; DJ News; Wago Fantasy League

Jimmy Phelps cruised to his first win of the season on the Super Dirt Series this year on Monday night at the Merrittville Speedway. Danny Johnson, who drove a Petruska Motorsports #66J car, finished in 2nd, followed by Steve Paine, Billy Decker, and Dale Planck.

Wago Crowned Jewel Fantasy League standings have been updated, check them out here
http://jw4.proboards85.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=236

Fonda Speedway has an NMX Series race tomorrow worth $6,000 to the winner of the 60 lap big block feature. Sportsman and the ESS Sprint Tour are also on the card. Wednesday I'll post the rest of the specials coming up this week.

Georgetown Speedway Lives

Georgetown Speedway isn't done yet in 2008. Bridgeport owner, and the man who brought Georgetown back to life, Jay James has scheduled a 2nd race on the fast 1/2 mile Delaware oval. On August 31st the big block modifieds and the super late models will have 25 lap features, no word on a purse yet. While it's great to see Georgetown get another race this year, they're scheduled against a couple of big late model shows, along with Big Diamond's Coalcracker 100 which pays $10,000 to win, and the Super Dirt Series is at Weedsport that night. While some have stated that they won't lose many, if any, cars to these races because of the distance between the tracks, fans are now forced with having to make a decision on what to attend. Oh well, in any case, welcome back Georgetown!

Planck Wins Cornwall 100 lapper, Sunday Night Winners; Wago Fantasy League to be Updated Tomorrow!

Quick reminder that Merrittville Speedway has their Super Dirt Series race tomorrow night, 100 laps $6,000 to win.

Dale Planck continued his huge year with a win in what was supposed to be the final of the Canadian Dirt Series. The win was worth $3,000. The final for the series will now be run at Brockville on October 18th, there are 96 lap remaining in the feature there.

Other stuff from Sunday night; Matt Sheppard picked up his 3rd win in 3 days with a win at Cayuga County, Pat Ward opened up his points lead with another win at Utica Rome, and Jeremiah Shingledecker helped out his title hopes with a win at Tri-City

Big Diamond 8/1 "Observations"

Just wanted to throw a few of my "observations" from this past Friday nights action.

It was GREAT to see a few old faces back at BDR last Friday night....Early season regular Ryan Grim brought his blue #17 back to BDR on Friday night and made the feature field....Grandview steady Tommy Sheetz brought his red #37 to the track, reports have it they were only there to "shake down" the car for the Forrest Rogers race the following night at Gview, whatever the case, it was nice to see the name Tommy Sheetz Jr back at BDR....Also, the man they call "Double L" Larry Lippencott made his 2nd start of the year at BDR with BEAUTIFUL yellow #515, Larry did well, was the first alternate for the feature....There were two "surprises" in the SBM field Friday night, first, top 5 point man Rick Laubach was not behind the wheel of his normal Friday night ride, the Dick Biever Alpha Mills #14, instead, Laubach sat behind the wheel of the red Tom Umbenhauer #19, reports have it that there was a motor issue with the #14, so Laubach jumped at the chance to drive "Umby's" #19, and he did quite well, as Laubach won the consi and brought home a nice top 10 Friday night....The other "surprise" was seeing BDR "Tough Luck 08" award winner so far, Dan Hineline behine the wheel of the Dinatale 11D, this ride has been driven by Mark Forte Jr recently at BDR, no word on what the deal is as to why Forte Jr wasn't in the ride....Hineline did a VERY GOOD job in this ride as he qualified in his heat, but a "meeting" with the 3rd turn wall ende Hineline's nice run in the 11D....Craig Von Dohren FINALLY got the "monkey" off his back at BDR on Friday night, as CVD took home his first win of the year at the place, and he did it IMPRESSIVELY I might add, but it took CVD to make a car change during the week, as CVD and the Harvey 1c team converted their BB car, which they just won a race at Bport with, to their new BDR sbm car, and it worked, as CVD was holding the checkered flag at the end of the night....A newcomer has been calling BDR home the last couple of weeks, as former Mahoning Valley asphalt champion Eric Kocher has been "getting hs dirt on" and calling BDR home on Friday nights lately, and he's been getting better each week in his sharp looking red #20....Good to see Greg Weiland back at BDR more frequently the last couple of weeks, and this week Weiland put his #1450 on the feature field....'07 sbm champ took over the point lead from Duane Howard on Friday night, as Strunk brought home a nice 2nd place finish....Howard on the other hand had a night he'd like to forget, as he got caught up in a lap 1 skirmish, and when he went pitside he used the wrong gate, he went IN the OUT gate, and that is a "no no", so when Howard came back on the track was sent pitside with the black flag waving, tough way to lose the point lead.

A few SPTS notes, Dr. Pete Phillips got his first career win ANYWHERE Friday night,he drove his sweet looking #27 to VL...A former BDR regular had been back lately, and that would be Justin Andrews....Justin and his brother Jason used to call BDR home a few years ago, but in recent years the two have jumped around to other speedways, this year they were calling 5 Mile Point Speedway home, but recently we've seen the Andrews Trucking Repair #24 has been back at BDR in the SPTS divisions, from what I hear, it will be a week to week deal....Newcomer Bill Shire towed his black and white #924 from NJ for the first time Friday night, but mechanical issues sidelined their effort....Also, 16yr old Mike Chorchoran has been in the firld recently with the former Kermit Horning entry, which is now #9, instead of the #19 Horning was using....We also seen a change at the top of the Spts standing Friday night, as Brad Brightbill brought home a nice 3rd, while point leader Kyle Weiss was towed pitside on the back of a wrecker, tough luck for the 21K.

The RR race was another fan pleasing performance, with Kody Sites picking up the win....And the ARDC gang put on another AWESOME show at BDR, with '07 champ Andy Martin all over the #54 of Ryan Smith the last 2 laps, with Smith taking th win by about a foot to pick up his first midget win ever.

Folks, the crowds at BDR have been, in just one word, AWESOME, the place was absolutely PACKED again Friday night....If you ahven't been going to BDR on Friday nights, YOUR MISSING OUT, the place really just has an INCREDIBLE atmosphere this year, with plenty of fan give aways, entertainment for the fans uring the down time, it really IS the place to be this year....And last but not least, KODOS to the BDR track crew on turning the surface around and doing a great job in keeping the track in great shape during the night, especially for the heat races, where there seemed to have been a problem for most of the years, it seems they found something with the track and are just making it better each week, and just in time for some BIG end of the year races.

Don't forget, this week is the Chad Miller Memorial Race, if you can, coe on out and support this INCREDIBLE race, it's going to be an EVENT your not going to want to miss.

CVD Pockets $10,000; Rain the Big Winner, Other Saturday Winners

Craig Von Dohren picked up his 4th win in 10 days with a $10,000 triumph in the 358 modified 50 lap feature at the Forrest Rogers Memorial. Von Dohren survived an early race tangle to come through the field and take over the lead with less than 10 laps to go, and survived a late race restart to pick up his 2nd Forrest Rogers win in 3 years. Von Dohren also won Big Diamond last night, Grandview last week, and last Thursday won the MS Race for a Cure big block feature at Bridgeport which netted him $5,500. He's now won 4 of the last 5 races he entered. Rain washed out most of the races on Saturday, especially in the New York area.

Other Saturday night winners; Matt Sheppard picked up his 2nd win of the weekend with a win at Canandaigua, Tommy Carberry won his first feature of the year at New Egypt, Steve Hartman Jr. ended the Van Pelt brother's winning streak at Woodhull, Chad James, Wade Hendrickson, Steve Bottcher, and Mike Iles split the Bridgeport 4-dozen lap features, and Joey Grammes won at Five Mile Point.

Burley takes Summer Nationals, Clair and Hearn win 100 lappers on Friday; other winners

This huge week in modified racing continued with Todd Burley picked up the big win in Ransomville Speedway's biggest race of the season. Vic Coffey and Chad Brachmann were battling with Burley for the lead with a handful of laps to go when Coffey and Brachmann were involved in an accident with a lapped car, allowing Burley to cruise to the $6,800 victory. Brett Hearn won Albany's second 100 lapper of the season, netting him over $3,000, and Mario Clair was able to stop David Hebert's streak on the Canadian Dirt Tour as he picked up the $3,000 to win 100 lap big block main at Edelweiss.

Other Friday night mains went to; Richie Pratt opened up his points lead with a win at Bridgeport, Craig Terrell crept back into the points chase with a win at Penn Can, Matt Sheppard finally picked up another feature win at Brewerton, Craig Von Dohren kept momentum on his side by picking up his 3rd win in 9 days with a win at Big Diamond, Jamie Yannone ended his sophmore slump with a win at Accord, Craig Hanson notched off his 2nd win of the year at Glen Ridge, and Kevin Bolland ended Brian Swartzlander's dominance with a win at Lernerville.

Keith Hoffman Hooks up with Sinon for Coalcracker

Keith Hoffman, a multiple time Big Diamond modified track champion, and the man who won the last 2 Diamond Nationals in the big block division, will make his return to Big Diamond for the $10,000 to win Coalcracker 100 on August 31st. Hoffman will drive for Chad Sinon in the prestigious race. Hoffman started the year running weekly in the DiNatale #11D, but left the team after a few weeks. Last year, Sinon put Bobby Trapper in the team's one-off entry, he failed to qualify. More information is available via press release on southjerseydirtracing.com.

DJ Saga Continues, Teaming with Carleton Tonight, SDW News

Danny Johnson continues to try to find a ride for the rest of the season. While he still hasn't found anything full-time, the Doctor will be in action tonight at Ransomville for the Alex Friesen Summer Nationals 358 Super Dirt Series show. He'll be teaming up with Merrittville regular Fred Carleton who pilots the #96 358 modified. For more on the deal, and on Danny's situation, hop on over to DougsDirtDiary.com and listen to his interview.

The SDW list is beginning to grow. Willy Decker has confirmed that he'll be in action for the 358 race at the moody mile, and Jason Barney and Pat Ward have confirmed they'll be in action in the big block division at Syracuse.

Hebert takes Canadian Dirt Series race #2 at Mohawk

David Hebert continued his dominance as he looks to claim his 2nd Canadian Dirt Series title in a row by winning his 2nd Canadian Dirt Series race in a row. The 100 lap win netted him $3,000 for the big block victory, and he continued to show his case that he is arguably the best big block driver north of the boarder in todays modified division. With Hebert's two wins, he's jumped out to a big points lead with just 3 races remaining. Tonight the series heads to Edelweiss Speedway for another exciting 100 lap feature event.

After questions about how the series would fair with the series running 6 100-lappers in a span of a week, many fans and drivers thought that drivers wouldn't be able to afford to support the series and car counts would be disappointing. However, all the races so far have had more than 30 modifieds in the pit area, and have had great crowds. Good to see the Canadian Dirt Series getting the support it deserves.

Guarino to drive for Boria

Last year's Orange County Fair Speedway 358 modified Rookie of the Year, and the man the currently sits in 5th in Orange County Fair Speedway 358 points made his big block debut at the Super Dirt Series race Thursday night at Orange County driving for Oscar Boria. Guarino will run the rest of the season at Orange County in the big block division for Boria in the #OB's big block. Gary Edwards drove the car in 2007, and for a race in 2008 after being released from the Mann Motorsports big block ride. Guarino will go maintenance on the car, and will continue to pilot his self owned #9 in the 358 division. Club Wago wishes on of our personal favorite Wago drivers the best of luck with his big block ride.

Hearn makes history with win at OCFS

Brett Hearn claimed a big win for his Super Dirt Series title hopes, but that wasn't the big story after his $6,000 victory at the Orange County 75 lap Super Dirt Series feature event. Instead, Hearn's victory stole the spotlight for making history by becoming the first driver to reach 100 Super Dirt Series wins. Congratulations to arguably the best dirt modified driver of all time.