Laubach Out One Door and In Another; Tons of Tidbits

Rick Laubach, as most of you probably know, has officially gone his seperate ways from the Dick Biever owned #14 big block team. Laubach was upset over Doug Manmiller taking over the controls of the team's small block, which was announced in late 2008. No official word yet on the replacement. Laubach will now not be attending the races in Florida in a month at Volusia County Speedway, despite being on the entry list.

Laubach will be a weekly racer at the Big Diamond Raceway in 2009. Laubach will driv for sportsman competitor Guy Germano to run weekly in the small block division in Germano's #542.

Danny O'Brien, who won yet another Brockville Speedway championship in 2008 and picked up a $15,000 win at Granby, will drive for Kendrick Racing in 2009. Kendrick Racing will continue to have Tim Jones drive the team's second car.

Sean Beardsley, who made a handful of modified starts at the beginning of 2008 before selling off his modified equipment to focus on running the World of Outlaw Late Model schedule, has purchased a big block modified and will run it part-time in 2009. This news came from an interview on Doug's Dirt Diary, be sure to shoot on over there and check it out.
Jeff Strunk has scratched his plans to run at Volusia in a month on the Florida Dirt Tour.

Florida Update

There's a feature stoey on the Super Dirt Series website that reports on big block rookie James Michael Friesen's plans for Volusia in about a month. A few drivers on this list aren't mentioned in the press release, such as Jeff Brownell, Carey Terrance, Richie Pratt, and Jeff Strunk. However, Terrance and Brownell were mentioned in the first story (which focused on Matt Sheppard) as being entered. Richie Pratt mentioned on Dougs Dirt Diary in December that his team planned on attending Florida, and Ernie Saxton posted on South Jersey Dirt Racing about a month ago that Jeff Strunk planned to attend Florida with his new ride.

#0 Richie Pratt
#5 Jimmy Horton
#9 Jeff Brown
#9T Brad Trice
#12 Jason Ingalls
#14 Rick Laubach
#14J Alan Johnson
#20 Brett Hearn
#21K Randy Chystler
#21T Roger Chrystler
#26 Dave Camara
#29 Jeff Brownell
#32 Jim Rasey
#33 Ray Swinehart
#34 Andy Bachetti
#41 Jeff Strunk
#42p Pat Ward
#43 Keith Flach
#52 James Michael Friesen
#55 Jamie Mills
#62 Matt Jester
#66x Carey Terrance
#91 Billy Decker
#97 Michael Chicoine
#97 Doug Ingalls
#99 Larry Wight
#165 Rex King Jr.

Utica Rome Speedway News; Tidbits

Utica Rome Speedway will be added for the NMX Modified Series in 2009. Fonda Speedway ran the NMX Series in 2008 for the first time, and didn't run events and any other tracks. Brett Hearn ended up being crowned champion. This year, Utica Rome will have two NMX Series races that will pay $5,000 to win each. Fonda will have 4 races. Rumors have been swirling about Accord Speedway possibly joining this series as well. Brett Deyo broke the news in AARN.

Area Auto Racing News has reported that defending New Egypt Speedway sportsman champion Willie Osmun will be moving up to the big block modified division in 2009. Osmun ran in the big block division in the late 90s, and is excited about the return to the division. He'll drive for former small block and sportsman driver Mike Bent, who owns the #88 that was driven by Ray Woodall in the sportsman division in 2008. Bent and Osmun will compete weekly at the New Egypt Speedway.

Nick Rochinski will be moving up to the modified division at Five Mile Point Speedway.

Modifieds Return to Susky June 14th

The small block modifieds will return to Susquehanna Speedway on June 14th. The modifieds will run with the 358 sprint cars. This will be the first time the modifieds have visited the speedway since 2006, when Jimmy Horton passed Dale Planck late in the race to collect the $6,000 top prize for the Super Dirt Series 100 lap event. No word on the distance of the feature or the purse yet.

Pat Ward Latest to attend Florida

According to Gypsum Racing's website, you can now add 2004 Florida Dirt Tour champion Pat Ward to the list of drivers headed to Florida in about a month. Ward joins the list of drivers tentatively planning the trip south Hearn, B. Decker, Pratt, Strunk, Wight, A. Johnson, Brownell, Sheppard, Camara, J. Ingalls, D. Ingalls, Bachetti, Terrance, Planck, J. Mills, and Horton.

Ward, who won both the RoC Dirt Tour and the Utica Rome Speedway points championships, finished 4th in the Florida Dirt Tour final standings.

Randy Decker Done? Tidbits

Reports out of the Five Mile Point Speedway banquet are that long-time car owner Randy Decker will not be fielding a modified in 2009. Decker and Brian Weaver shared a ton of success over their tenure together, including multiple Five Mile Point and Penn Can Speedway championships. No word on what Weaver will do, he will continue to drive for Ron Dieffenbach, however that more than likely will only be on a part-time basis. Stay tuned for updates.

South Jersey Dirt Racing broke the news that sportsman competitor Lou Farina will be moving up to the big block modified division in 2009 and will drive to Anthony Moran. The team is expected to run weekly at Bridgeport Speedway, but that's nowhere near official. Moran will continue to drive as Farina's teammate.

Mark D'Ilario and Chuck McKee Tidbits

Mark D'Ilario will be moving up to the modified division in 2009. D'Ilario has been one of the top Canadian sportsman drivers over the past few season, and has ran solidly on the Sportman Dirt Tour. The team will run weekly at Merrittville Speedway.

We've recieved reports that one of the all-time greats in Orange County Fair Speedway history, Chuck McKee, is thinking about scaling back in 2009. It appears as if McKee may run the entire 358 modified schedule at Orange County, and run the big block every once in a while. Stay tuned for updates.

Alan Johnson Officially with Thompson

The press release announcing Alan Johnson officially taking over at Dave Thompson Motorsports for Frankie Caprara is listed here, http://www.superdirtcarseries.com/news/2008/december/122908_sd_ajjoinsthompson.aspx

It now appears that the pre-entry list for Volusia includes a slew 2008 champions, Bridgeport Speedway Friday night small block champion Richie Pratt, Glen Ridge Motorsports Park track champion Jeff Brownell, Cornwall Motor Speedway track champion Carey Terrance, Fonda NMX Series and Co-Florida champion Brett Hearn, Super Dirt Series and Brewerton Speedway champion Billy Decker, Cayuga County Fair Speedway champion Alan Johnson, CanAm Speedway small block champion Larry Wight, Delaware International Speedway champion Jamie Mills, Grandview Speedway and Big Diamond Raceway champion Jeff Strunk, and Accord Speedway Andy Bachetti. Other drivers entered thus far include Dale Planck, Matt Sheppard, Jimmy Horton, Dave Camara, father son combo from Texas Doug and Jason Ingalls.

Hagerstown Speedway Releases Schedule; CanAm Schedule Change

Hagerstown Speedway has released their 2009 schedule. The fast and smooth 1/2 mile will host modifieds at the speedway 5 times next season. The Super Dirt Series returns on March 28th, and Octoberfest weekend takes place over the weekend of October 24th-25th. It's also worth noting that Hagerstown will not run modifieds on March 21st, which means they won't be running against Selinsgrove's RoC weekend. The full schedule is available here, http://www.hagerstownspeedway.com/schedule.htm

CanAm Speedway will be run Friday night in 2009 as opposed to Saturdays. Also, the track will run small block modifieds as their headline division, as opposed to the big blocks they ran in 2008.

Ransomville Speedway Tidbits

Son of former DIRT Series champion Charlie Rudolph, Erick Rudolph, will be running weekly in the small block modified division at the Ransomville Speedway for H&H Motorsports in 2009. Rudolph runs asphalt modifieds and had a double-digit amount of wins in the division in 2008, and won the only dirt race he entered at Syracuse in the sportsman division. Rudolph will also probably hit up some small block series specials with H&H, but will miss a few weekly shows at Ransomville when he has an asphalt show scheduled.

James Michael Friesen, who had a break-out season aboard his #52 sportsman in 2008, will be moving up to the small block division in 2008 to run at Ransomville Speedway.

Mat Williamson will also be moving up to the small block modified class for weekly competition at Ransomville Speedway as well.

All news stories came were reported by Ransomville Speedway on Dirt Track Digest.