Sunday, August 24, 2008
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.
Friday, August 22, 2008
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.
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.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
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.
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.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
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.
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.
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.
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.
Monday, August 18, 2008
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.
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.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
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.
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.
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.
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