Caprara and DJ Done With Thompson?

Well, things are starting to get crazy. Danny Johnson and Petruska Racing split, not long after Brett Hearn and Vinnie Salerno Motorsports, and Billy Pauch and Glenn Hyneman Racing follow suit. Now, it appears two more big name drivers could be out of their rides. Danny Johnson, after parting ways with the Petruska Racing Team, has driven on the Super Dirt Series for Dave Thompson Motorsports, teaming up with Frankie Caprara who has driven the car the past 2 years. Now, it appears that both drivers could be done with their team, as reports have stated that Dave Thompson has taken all his equipment back to his shop. Stay tuned for updates, please note, while this information has come from a strong source, it's not yet confirmed.

DeLorenzo, Pratt, Decker Win Big Races; Tidbits

Well, as you guys may have noticed, I haven't done a good job of updating this thing. Unfortunately, this once a week updating will probably continue for another 2 weeks, getting set up with school has been taking up a lot of time.

Anyway, last night, August 26th, the CVRA vs. The World returned with Matt DeLorenzo holding off a hard charging Dave Camara to collect the $5,000 pay-day. The Tri-Track Series was also in action last night at New Egypt Speedway, and it appeared as if Billy Pauch had the race well in hand, until suspension problems caused him to slow on the final lap, giving Richie Pratt the big win.

Tonight, August 27th, Mr. Dirt Track USA returned to Lebanon Valley Speedway for a $17,500 to win Super Dirt Series race. Brett Hearn led early, but just after the 1/2 way point was forced pitside with problems, handing the lead to Jimmy Phelps. Late in the race, Phelps had rear-end problems ending his night, and handing the big payday to Billy Decker, rounding out the top 5 were Eddie Marshall, Matt Sheppard, D0nnie Corellis, and Jeff Brownell.

Also, in case you didn't realize, Tim McCreadie has been tabbed as the new driver of the Vinnie Salerno owned small block modified. McCreadie will drive the car in select specials, including all small block races during Super Dirt Week. McCreadie will also return to the Sweetner's Plus #39 big block modified for the Rite-Aid 200.

Also, Billy Pauch and Glenn Hyneman have parted ways. Pauch will drive a few shows in a second Bob Greene owned small block, running as a teammate to his son, Billy Pauch Jr. He will also run his Kevin Bilfulco owned #1 big block modified at New Egypt and a few other specials. Rumors have a huge name going into the Hyneman 126, but they have yet to be confirmed.

Also, check out RaceProWeekly.com in their "features" section to read my new column, outlining some early plans on drivers planning on running this year's Rite-Aid 200 at Super Dirt Week.

Brett Hearn and Salerno Part Ways

Brett Hearn and small block car owner Vinnie Salerno have parted ways over personal reasons. Hearn, who has dominated at Albany-Saratoga Speedway with the car, along with winning tons of features with the team throughout the east coast, will now drive the Madsen Motorsports #20 in small block specials throughout the rest of the season, along with big block specials and the Super Dirt Series. As for the Salerno team, it would seem that Michael Storms is the most likely to take over the ride, as he's been running the team's big block on the Super Dirt Series tour along with other special shows, however, nothing is official yet pertaining to Hearn's replacement in the small block portion of the team.

Dingwall and Varin Crowned Track Champions

Club Wago driver Kyle Dingwall was crowned the Cornwall Motor Speedway 2009 track champion, the first of his career, and Bobby Varin picked up the Fonda Speedway track championship, the 5th Fonda championship of his career. Congratulations to both drivers on their championships! Here's how the top 10 in points from both tracks looked, weekend recap to follow this week.

Cornwall Motor Speedway (Small Block Modifieds)

1st #96 Kyle Dingwall

2nd #46 Kayle Robidoux

3rd #66x Carey Terrance

4th #14 Mitch Jock

5th #88 Tim O'Brien

6th #73 Alain Boisvert

7th #23 Laurent Ladouceur

8th #40 Joel Doiron

9th #55 Perry Francis

10th #84 Dave Heaslip

Fonda Speedway (Big Block Modifieds)

1st #00 Bobby Varin

2nd #3D Matt DeLorenzo

3rd #2 Ronnie Johnson

4th #26 Dave Camara

5th #24 Ryan Odasz

6th #16 A.J. Romano

7th #18v Danny Varin

8th #21J Jeff Trombley

9th #17 Elmo Reckner

10th #73D Jimmy Davis

Kingsley Teaming up with AJ; Tidbits

Eric Kingsley Racing will be re-uniting with former driver Alan Johnson for an assault on Super Dirt Week, along with some other Super Dirt Series shows. Kingsley returned to the dirt modified owners role late last year and he and Jake Spraker formed a partnership that had Alan Johnson win a slew of Series races late in the year. Kingsley in 2009 has had Tommy Sears running his cars at select specials, but the two parted ways on friendly terms.

J.R. Heffner, multiple time Lebanon Valley Speedway track champion, will be heading to Super Dirt Week for the 200 lap big block race, but not with the team he originally planned with. Instead of running the Dwyer Motorsports #88 he had run the previous handful of years, he will be driving for Jody Gable Motorsports on the Moody Mile. Heffner announced about a month ago his plans to run for Gable at Mr. DIRT Track USA at Lebanon Valley, but now Super Dirt Week has been added to their schedule.

Jimmy Horton IV will be driving for Boinke Motorsports aboard their #19 big block modified for the rest of the year at Bridgeport Speedway.

Look for Tom Mayberry, who ran in the $10,000 to win Forrest Rogers Memorial for DiNatale Motorsports, marking his return to dirt modified racing, to run the in Freedom 76er for the team, along with select other dates when time permits.

Buzzie Reutimann will attempt to qualify Mike Kolka's back-up big block modified for this year's Eastern States 200.

Rite-Aid, as of now, is out of sponsorship for Super Dirt Week, however, DIRT is working with them to try to get them to remain the sponsor of the headline event at Super Dirt Week for at least 2009. Check Area Auto Racing News in the next few weeks for a feature story.

Ward Wins Appreciation Night at Utica Rome

Pat Ward picked up the Wednesday night, August 12th, fan appreciation night big block modified feature win at Utica Rome Speedway. Ward took the lead early in the race and won in dominating fashion. Rounding out the top 5 were Bobby Varin, Ronnie Johnson, Ted Lamb, and Willy Decker.

Jeff Rudalavage Wins Thrilling RoC Race at Penn Can

On Tuesday night, August 11th, the RoC Dirt Tour invaded Penn Can Speedway for 75 laps of big block modified action. Mike Gular took the lead late in the race and seemed to be headed towards arguably the biggest win of his career, when he ran out of gas on the backstretch coming to get the white flag, due to the high amount of caution flag laps run. Jeff Rudalavage used the slow Mike Gular car as a pick to jump around Mike Colsten, along with Gular, to go from 3rd to 1st and to pick up the $4,250 win on the final lap. Rounding out the top 5 were Colsten, Jerry Higbie, Danny Johnson, and Jimmy Phelps.

Higbie Lands Petruska Ride

The 2008 Orange County Fair Speedway small block points champion, Jerry Higbie, has taken over the driving duties for the Petruska Racing #66 modified for the rest of the year. Higbie will drive for Petruska Racing at Accord Speedway throughout the rest of the season, and the team will hit late race specials throughout the east coast with Higbie as well, along with some select Super Dirt Series race and RoC Dirt Tour races. Higbie will continue to drive for the Shaver Motorsports #47 big block modified at Orange County Fair Speedway. The remaining RoC Dirt Tour races that the Petruska team does not attend, will see Higbie enter in his self-owned #97 big block modified, and Higbie will continue to run in the small block division at Orange County Fair Speedway aboard the Affordable Transmissions Motorsports #17 small block modified.

There is a possibility that a super team could emerge from this combination. There are talks that have the 3 big block teams Higbie drives for (his self-owned #97, Shaver Motorsports #47, and Petruska Racing #66) combining their resources and forming a super team. If that were to happen, it likely wouldn't take place until the 2010 season.

DeLorenzo Uses Late Race Pass to Win Fonda

On Tuesday night, August 4th, the Thunder Series roared into Fonda Speedway for a big night of racing. Brett Hearn was in control of the race until near the half way point, when the Madsen Motorsports big block modified broke going into turn 3. This left an exciting battle shape up at the end of the race, as Matt DeLorenzo snuck around Bobby Varin with 6 laps to go to pick up the big win. Varin was able to hold onto second place, Dave Camara, Jeff Trombley, and Andy Bachetti rounded out the top 5.

Small Weekend Round-Up

First of all, just an update on the Thompson Motorsports situation, Dougs Dirt Diary broke the news that Caprara is actually NOT out of the Thompson Motorsports big block, instead, the team will run 2 cars the rest of the year. Johnson will focus on Super Dirt Series and other select specials throughout the rest of the year, Caprara will run at Cayuga County Fair Speedway, and part-time at Can Am Motorsports Park, with some specials thrown in as well. Still no word on who's going to drive the Petruska Racing #66 for the rest of the year.

Also, Mike Romano will jump into the owner role, starting tonight with the Thunder Series race at Fonda Speedway, Danny Johnson will drive Romano's #97 big block modified in that event tonight.

Now, I'm having problems with the site right now, so this is going to be a short round weekend round up, because for some reason it won't let me post the whole thing, I get a message about it being to long. So, here's who had big weekends this weekend.

There were 2 $10,000 to win races this past weekend. One was at New Egypt Speedway, for Friends of Mike which was 40 laps and $10,000 to win for big block modifieds, and the other was the 50 lap Forrest Rogers Memorial at Grandview Speedway for the small block modifieds. Billy Pauch continued his dominance at New Egypt with the win there, and Ryan Godown ended his string of bad luck with the big win at Grandview.

Matt Sheppard won twice this weekend, on Friday night at Brewerton, and Saturday night at Canandaigua, and backed that up with a win Monday night in the Super Dirt Series race at Merrittville Speedway.

Two drivers swept twin-features this weekend, Jimmy Horton accomplished that feat that Bridgeport Speedway to make it 3 wins in a row at the huge 5/8th mile, and Randy Thomas won twin feature on the asphalt at Mahoning Valley Speedway.

Ransomville Speedway saw the 358 Super Dirt Series invade for the Alex Friesen Summernationals, it was Danny Johnson who made his return to the Dave Thompson Motorsports team and picked up the win.

The Lucas Oil Small Block Series was also in action this past weekend for two races, on Friday night David Hebert took the 100 lap feature win at Autodrome Edelweiss, and on Saturday Danny O'Brien defended his home turf with a win in the 100 lapper at Brockville-Ontario Speedway.

Finally, there was a career big block modified win #1 this past weekend, and it came at Five Mile Point Speedway, as up-and-comer Wade Decker picked up the popular first career win.

Danny Johnson Back With Thompson

Danny Johnson has replaced Frankie Caprara aboard the Thompson Motorsports big block modified. Johnson will run the rest of the Super Dirt Series for the team. He has parted ways with the Petruska Racing #66 big block, in which he'd been running since mid-season last year. No word on what that team, or Frankie Caprara will do from here on out.