Postponement Of Orange County Fair Speedway ‘Hard Clay Open’ Has Not Dulled Buzz For $30,000 Spectacular Event; Diverse Field Set To Embark On ‘Hard Clay’ Oval Sunday, April 6; Five States & One Canadian Province Represented On Early Registration List
MIDDLETOWN, NY – A two-week postponement has done little to deter the feverish buzz for the first-ever ‘Hard Clay Open’ at Orange County Fair Speedway.
A growing and diverse field is set to tackle the legendary five-eighths-mile oval on Sunday, April 6 for the inaugural 50-lap National Dirt Racing League (NDRL) Short Track Super Series Fueled By VP big-block/small-block Modified event. The $30,000-plus spectacular is a first-time co-promotion involving Orange County operators Michael Gurda IV and Howie Commander in conjunction with special events promoter Brett Deyo. The event is sponsored by United Pump & Tank, East Coast Speed/ECS Auto and West Point Golf.
Fans and racers alike expressed their enthusiasm for the event during the two-day Orange County Fair Speedway Motorsports Show held in the Fairgrounds Arena March 15-16.
The ‘Hard Clay Open’ at Orange County kicks off the NDRL Short Track Super Series Fueled By VP, a six-race big-block/small-block Modified series offering a recently increased $6,000 to the champion from a point fund of $25,000. The series visits Orange County, Thunder Mountain (N.Y.), I-88 (N.Y.), Accord (N.Y.) and Penn Can (Pa.) speedways. A long list of contingency and special awards has been assembled for the first Short Track Super Series season.
Five states and one Canadian province are already represented on the current list of ‘Hard Clay Open’ registrants.
Entries continue to be received by the BD Motorsports Media LLC office, led by Sussex, N.J., superstar Brett Hearn, who will be racing for his 300th career Orange County victory at the ‘Hard Clay Open’ event. Hearn currently owns 299 career Orange County checkered flags (173 big-block Mod; 124 small-block Mod; and two Sprint Car).
Hearn’s longtime rival Danny Johnson of Rochester, N.Y., has picked up the ride in Chris Gennarelli’s No. 86, typically driven by Adam MacGeorge at Penn Can. MacGeorge, a rising Modified star who won his first Penn Can main event last year, steps out of the seat at the ‘Hard Clay Open’ in favor of Johnson.
The winner of the 358-Modified Championship during Eastern States Weekend last October, Stewart Friesen of Sprakers, N.Y., readies for the ‘Hard Clay Open’ off the strength of Fonda (N.Y.) and Utica-Rome (N.Y.) championships in ’13. Friesen is already a winner this season, annexing a triumph at Volusia (Fla.) Speedway Park in February.
Rookie phenom, 19-year-old Anthony Perrego of Montgomery, N.Y., straps into Gary Mann’s New York Truck Parts No. 55 off a wave of momentum. Perrego, who moved into the Modified ranks last August, won the November ‘Gobbler’ spectacular at Accord (worth $7,732.11) and finished second in his very first big-block start at Volusia in February.
Bridgeport (N.J.) Speedway ’13 big-block Mod champion Ryan Watt, driving for Ron Roberts, plans to make his first Orange County start in more than a decade. Boyertown, Pa.’s Watt, who won a BD Motorsports Media LLC event at Penn Can last June, will chase the ’14 NDRL Short Track Super Series Fueled By VP title with plans to attend all six events.
A past champion at Orange County, Lebanon Valley (N.Y.) and Accord speedways, Sheffield, Mass., star Andy Bachetti will pilot the Steve Hough Motors No. 34 at the ‘Hard Clay Open’ event. Bachetti, like Watt, has filed a full-season entry for the ’14 NDRL Short Track Super Series.
Former Mr. DIRTcar Modified champion Gary Tomkins of Clifton Springs, N.Y., a Canandaigua (N.Y.) Motorsports Park regular, will strap into the Ray and Debbie Tuit/Mike Sparta Trucking No. 673 for the ‘Hard Clay Open’ event. The Tuits and Sparta have a long history of racing at OCFS. Tomkins will be joined by fellow Canandaigua regulars Matt Billings of Brockville, Ont., Canada and Tim Currier of Auburn, N.Y.
New Egypt (N.J.) Speedway regular David Van Horn Jr. of Harmony, N.J., returns to his former home at Orange County, where he is both a big- and small-block past champion, for the ‘Hard Clay Open’ in the Harmony Sand & Gravel No. 71.
Second-generation driver Mike Mahaney of King Ferry, N.Y., the ’13 I-88 Speedway Modified champion, heads to Orange County in his family owned No. 33 big-block. Mahaney has very limited experience at the ‘Legendary House of Power’ turning only a handful of laps in borrowed rides during last October’s Eastern States Weekend.
Accord Speedway ’13 Modified champion Jackie Brown Jr., formerly an Orange County regular, returns to the Hard Clay for the April kickoff. Brown won the ‘King of the Catskill’s event at Accord last September with a pass of Danny Johnson.
The OCFS open-wheel champions from ’13 – Tim Hindley of Fair Oaks, N.Y., (big-block) and Danny Creeden of Middletown, N.Y., (small-block) are set to defend their home turf. Ironically, Hindley reported he will compete with the Joe Sarvis-owned No. 94 small-block, while Creeden will strap into a big-block powered car.
Tommy Meier of Waldwick, N.J., who has won big-block, small-block, Sportsman and Street Stock championships at Orange County, plans to drive a Jeff Behrent-owned No. 3 at the ‘Hard Clay Open’ to kick off his pursuit of the NDRL Short Track Super Series Fueled By VP point title.
Short-trackers looking to tackle the large and fast Orange County oval include Accord regular and previous Short Track SuperNationals winner Danny Tyler of Cottekill, N.Y., I-88 Speedway racer Brett Tonkin of Carbondale, Pa., short-track ace and 10-time Accord champion Rich Ricci Jr. of New Paltz, N.Y., past Five Mile Point champion Justin Holland of Kauneonga Lake, N.Y., and a veteran driver who has visited Victory Lane frequently at the quarter-mile Glen Ridge (N.Y.) Motorsports Park in recent seasons: Elmo Reckner of Ballston Lake, N.Y.
The ‘Hard Clay Open’ is a lucrative Modified event paying $5,000 plus bonuses to the winner, $4,000 for second, $1,500 for fifth, $1,000 for 10th and $500 just to take the green flag. Lap money has been collected and will cycle through the top-seven running positions. The total has climbed to $2,439. A number of other cash awards and bonuses will add to the huge payday for competitors.
Joining the Modifieds are Crate 602 Sportsman in a 25-lap, $1,000-to-win event for the Dig Safely New York GRIT Series. Lap money and special awards are also adding up for ‘Hard Clay Open’ 602 Sportsman competitors.
The ‘Hard Clay Open’ postponement has prompted changes in the Orange County Fair Speedway schedule. The open practice session, originally slated for March 29, has been pushed back to April 5, the eve of the ‘Hard Clay Open’ event. The regular season opener for 2014 will now hit the track on April 12.
In Orange County’s long and storied history, there have been eight different race events completed on or before April 6: March 18, 1984 won by Larry Brolsma; March 25, 1984 won by Charlie Rudolph; April 2, 1983 won by C.D. Coville; April 2, 1983 won by Gary Iulg (heldover from March 27, 1983); April 3, 1966 won by Bill Wimble; April 4, 1959 won by Carl Van Horn; April 4, 1964 won by Bill Wimble and April 6, 1984 won by Bob McCreadie.
For the ‘Hard Clay Open’ pit gates will open at 8 a.m. Grandstand and drive-in section gates unlock at 10 a.m. A drivers’ meeting is set for 12:45 p.m., with hot laps at 1:05 p.m. and racing at 2 p.m.
Admission for the ‘Hard Clay Open’ is $20 for Adults, $18 for Seniors and $2 for Kids 12 and under. Pit admission is $35, with no license required.
Big- and small-block combinations are legal for this unique event with staggered minimum weights. American Racer and Hoosier tires are both legal, as well. Accepted tire compounds have been outlined in the race rules/information.
For the first time ever at Orange County, sail panels are permitted for the ‘Hard Clay Open’ Modified event. Sail panels must be no taller than 65 inches when measured from the ground and must mirror each other in size and shape side-for-side. A four-inch roof spoiler is permitted, as well. All other Orange County/DIRTcar body rules will be in effect. Complete race rules, weights and tire compounds can be found online at www.bdmotorsportsmedia.com or www.orangecountyfairspeedway.net.
For qualifying, drivers will draw for their starting positions upon entry to the speedway. Heat-race finishes utilizing staggered passing points will be calculated to set the redraw participants and qualified cars from 10-lap heat races. Consolations, 10 laps each, will set the remainder of the 28-car starting field via their order of finish. The heat-race finish/passing point combination will set the starting lineups for the consolations.
The passing points system, new to Modified racing but widely used in other forms of racing including Sprint Cars and the famed ‘Chili Bowl’ in Tulsa, Okla., aims to satisfy the desires of both racers and fans by easing the consequences of a poor draw for competitors and providing heat-race excitement for fans.
For further ‘Hard Clay Open’ information, contact Brett Deyo of BD Motorsports Media at Deyo99H@aol.com or by phone at 845.728.2781. BD Motorsports Media is on the web at www.bdmotorsportsmedia.com. “Like” BD Motorsports Media on Facebook or “follow” @BrettDeyo on Twitter.
Located at 239 Wisner Avenue Middletown, NY 10940 on the Orange County Fairgrounds, Orange County Fair Speedway is the oldest continuously operating dirt track in the United States. The first auto race was held at the speedway in 1919. The five-eighths-mile oval offers fully-covered and half-covered grandstands in addition to open bleacher seating on the frontstretch and turn one areas, with drive-in viewing on the backstretch. To learn more, contact the Orange County Fair Speedway office at 845.342.2573 or visit www.orangecountyfairspeedway.net.
The ‘Hard Clay Open’ is presented by United Pump & Tank, East Coast Speed/ECS Auto, West Point Golf, Rock Fantasy Concert, Smoke Shop & Pinball Room, Simplicity Design, 673 Racing, Mike Sparta Trucking, Elmo’s Auto Body, Zubi’s Racing, McGannon Excavating, Teo-Pro Car, Rochinski Contracting Services, Bob Hilbert Sportswear & many other fine marketing and lap sponsors.
The National Dirt Racing League (NDRL) Short Track Super Series is presented by VP Racing Fuels, Pioneer Pole Buildings Inc., East Coast Speed/ECS Auto, Rochinski Contracting Services, Allstar Performance, American Racer/Lias Tire, Art’s Radiator, ATL Fuel Cells, Behrent’s Performance Warehouse, BFP Specialty, Bicknell Racing Products, Bob Hilbert Sportswear, COMP Performance Group, Dirt Track Digest, DRACO Springs, Driven Racing Oil, ERK Steering, Finish Line Web Design, FOX Shox, H.B. Steele & Son, Henry’s Stainless Steel Exhaust, Hig Fab Chassis, Jack’s Used Race Car Parts, Kirkey Racing Products, PM3 Digital Imaging, Quarter Master, Race Pro Weekly, Schaeffer Racing Oil, Shiley Fabrication, Sleepy Hollow Golf, Teo-Pro Car, Troyer Race Cars & Vahlco Wheels.
Sources: BD Motorsports Media