OVRP Dirt Oval
Report
By: John Schoebel
Cuddebackville, NY – Summer racing makes an early start this year as the temperatures reach
the upper 80’s on Saturday making for an interesting night of racing. The track
was much slower than normal with most kart classes struggling to break into the
fourteen second bracket. Slightly dusty and no grip was the complaint heard
throughout the kart pit area. The motorcycles and slingshots were also
struggling to find grip as they were also slower than normal.
Now before I go any
further, I want to stop and thank Jeff Johnson (Kenney Johnson’s father) for
creating a spot on his website for this article. I know many of you enjoy
reading the weekly reports, so make sure you tell Mr. Johnson thank you when
you see him!
127 entries made for
a very long night of racing with the features finishing up just before 11pm. The
racing action was great, however some classes got carried away and a terrible
accident occurred. In the first heat of the Lights class, the leader spun off of
turn 2 causing the field to go high, well being two and three wide already, the
guys on the outside were doomed. Dale Madsen got the worst of it, flipping over
and landing with the kart on top of his body. Fortunately enough, the track
crew rushed to the scene quickly as well as Ryan Edwards jumping out of his
kart to help get the kart off of Madsen. The end result was minor damage to the
kart and Dale was able to walk away. Spectators at the turn 2 fence were
shocked he was able to walk away from such a horrifying crash. As you can see
in the results below, Madsen raced in the Mediums feature, but did not start in
the Lights feature.
Many other spins and
such occurred throughout the day and into the night. Almost all of the spins
caused the yellow flag to come out in the heats, but in the feature it was a
different story. One driver in the Lights class spun and got no yellow flag.
Many other spins just like this driver’s was given a caution. Obviously this
created a great deal of anger in the father, causing them to load up early and
leave without running their other feature. This will most likely be brought up
in the driver’s meeting to get a better understanding on the ruling. The rule
for spins is simple, if you are not in harms way you keep on going. Last
Saturday almost every spin brought out the yellow flag which contradicts that
rule. What I was told by multiple racers is they just want it to stay the same
throughout the night, either always throw the yellow flag or don’t.
With the kart
entries reaching 69 karts this week, we can’t help but to think this is due to
the new payouts for 2009. At the beginning of the season Denise stated all
senior classes + Junior Stock will be racing for money instead of trophies. The
entry fee has been raised by $5.00 but statistically it is showing to be a
success for the track. This time last year the Dirt Oval was only getting about
51 kart entries which was about average for most of the season until other
tracks started closing. This year so far there has been an average of 62 karts
per race night.
On the other hand,
around this time in 2008 there was an average of 26 slingshots per race. This
year there is only about 20 per race night. However the Senior Slingshot class
was close to 20 cars weekly and has now dropped to around 10. Many Slingshot
drivers were unhappy with the amount of dust the track kicks up when they raced
last season. Simple answer would be they went to other tracks? Some did, but
many names have just not been in any results locally this season. Some have
moved up into the dirt sportsman cars such as Anthony Perrego and others such
as Jason Kosch has only attended one event this season.
One of the new
changes for 2009 seems to be failing so far, this being the clone class. So far
no senior clones have been raced since the opening practice day. A couple
Junior Rookies are racing them but that’s it. If a clone money race is planned
in the near future it may bring about the hype about the clone motor.
Just a reminder that
Becky and Ralph are still around taking photos every week! I am unsure if Ralph
is attending Indy this year or not, so the best way to find out is to go
through www.ovrpdirtoval.com and use
the pictures link to get to his site. Becky also has her photos posted on her
website as well!
Spelling names correctly: If you see your name spelled incorrectly, please let me know through
email so I can fix it! There are certain names which are spelled differently
every week on the time sheets so I begin to wonder which ones are correct! A
few examples of this is Tom Wesolowski or Weslowski, Hassenflue or Hasenflue,
MacChurch or McChurch, Hassenmeyer or Hassenmayer, and there are a few more. If
I’m uncertain I go by last year’s spelling or by which ever I think is correct.
I pretty certain on the ones listed above as to which are correct, but I want
to make sure!
Now onto the results
for the evening:
Kid Kart: 1. (#320) Evan VanValkenburg (18.643 -
fastest lap of the race with an average speed of 38.620mph) 2. (125) TJ
MacChurch (20.010) 3. (#77) Mackenzie Ross (no times shown)
Rookie Champ: 1. (#2) Jessica Mattera 2. (#3) Robert Mattera
Junior Rookie: 1. (#9) Tyler Belanger (16.038 - fastest lap of the race
with an average speed of 44.893mph) 2. (#88) Tyler Treacy (16.694) 3. (#65)
Chad Cooper (17.227) 4. (#2) Jessica Mattera (17.232) 5. (#21) Matt Mattera
(17.159) 6. (#48) Ryan Doty (18.508) 7. (#4B) Samantha Mattera (19.006) 8. (#5)
Cameron Hadden (20.337)
Junior 1: 1. (#4) Colin Belanger (16.067 - fastest lap of the race with
an average speed of 44.812mph) 2. (#88) Kevin Wilbur (16.651) 3. (#221) Jared
Miller (16.561)
Junior Stock: 1. (#86) Geoff Feola (14.950) 2. (#9m) McKenzie Hassenflue (14.822) 3. (#54a) Alex Wanerus (14.711) 4. (#611) Corey Wood (14.833) 5. (#2) James Hayden (14.999) 6. (#14) Brett Wright (15.266) 7. (#10) Danny Hoeffner (15.273) 8. (#20) Toni Shipman (15.189) 9. (#13) Stephen Reynolds (15.092) 10. (#50) Spencer Kronyak (15.232) 11. (#12) Aaron Doolittle (14.660 - fastest lap of the race with an average speed of 49.113mph) 12. (#712) Dylan Wood (15.289) 13. (#99) Paul Wilbur (15.911) 14. (#1) Brendan Finley (14.862)
Light: 1. (#8) Josh Ledoux (14.989 - fastest lap of the race with an average speed of 48.035mph) 2. (#11) Mike Snyder (15.059) 3. (#38) Ryan Edwards (15.090) 4. (#02) John Doty (15.386) 5. (#612) Brianna Hassenflue (15.544) 6. (#63) Tom Wesolowski (15.331) 7. (#42) Clark McCollum (15.123) 8. (#9) Tyler Pirone (15.155) DNS - (#12) Dale Madsen DNS - (#2) Joey Bruning DNS - (#38) Richard Smith
Medium: 1. (#612) Brad Szulewski (14.826) 2. (#12) Dale Madsen (14.719 - fastest lap of the race with an average speed of 48.916mph) 3. (#77) Stanley Tabaka III (14.917) 4. (#11) George Johnson (15.213)
Heavy: 1. (#20) Joe Rivera (15.003 - fastest lap of the race with an average speed of 47.990mph) 2. (#58) John Schoebel (15.240) 3. (#33) Derek Botticelli (15.485) 4. (#27) Roger Belanger (15.412) 5. (#3s) Mark Stanley (15.511) 6. (#14x) Brett Hassenmayer (15.650) 7. (#1) John Diotte Jr. (no times shown)
Animal Medium: 1. (#44) Vito Iannarella Sr. (14.206 - fastest lap of the race with an average speed of 50.683mph) 2. (#58) Dylan Potter (14.431) DNS - (#57) Darrin Butler
Animal Heavy: 1. (#11) Vito Iannarella Jr. (14.558 - fastest lap of the race with an average speed of 49.457mph) 2. (#13) Keith Roe (14.852) 3. (#51) Mike Lockhart (14.927) 4. (#60) Bob Clark (14.942)
Senior Stock: 1. (#28) Tom Brundage (14.953 - fastest lap of the race with an average speed of 48.151mph) 2. (#19) Randy Wilbur (15.080) 3. (#72) Kevin Morgan (14.982) 4. (#58) Don Potter (15.296) 5. (#07) Frank Hadden (15.040) 6. (#40) Mike Ford (15.168)
Senior Rookie: 1. (#12) Chris Predmore (15.222 - fastest lap of the race with an average speed of 47.300mph) 2. (#3m) Tom Mileti (15.263) 3. (#26) Ian Petry (15.656) DNS - (#4) Salvatore Deangelis
Junior Slingshot: 1. (#46) Kenney Johnson (15.389) 2. (#17) Matt Reiley (15.441) 3. (#125) Seth Pacella (15.303 - fastest lap of the race with an average speed of 47.050mph) 4. (#22) Michelle Campbell (15.732) 5. (#44R) Danielle Dickinson (15.821) 6. (#88) Eric Scalone (15.521) 7. (#58) Kevin Predmore (15.829) 8. (#1) Tyler Dippel (15.498) 9. (#10) Eddie Reiley (15.667)
Senior Slingshot: 1. (#3) RJ Smykla (14.748) 2. (#29) Kayla Smykla (14.708 - fastest lap of the race with an average speed of 48.953mph) 3. (#10) Joseph Kata III (14.889) 4. (#20k) Kevin Vanvalkenburg (14.852) 5. (#32) Steven Vanvalkenburg (15.088) 6. (#4NY) Charlie Lawrence (15.052) 7. (#37) Todd Dippel (15.087) 8. (#21) Fred Cannock (15.106) 9. (#121) John Mann (15.093) 10. (#85) Kyle Vanduser (14.940) 11. (#5.5) Michael Wolfe (15.312) DNS - (#18) Tyler Pirone
0-100cc: 1. (#144) Gabriel Vazquez (15.924 -
fastest lap of the race with an average speed of 45.215mph) 2. (#555)
Sandriana Shipman (16.499) 3. (#918) Nazarius Vazquez (19.071) 4. (#555j)
Charles Williams (21.690)
Vintage: 1. (#269) Jon Riley (15.763) 2. (#49) Tony Pino (16.479) 3.
(#278) Mike Kramer (16.483) 4. (#495) Nick Weimer (15.727) 5. (#398)
Fumihisa Matsueda (15.600 - fastest lap of the race with an average speed of
46.154mph) DNS - (#703) Hugh Mackie, (#16) William Miller Sr.
Open Amateur: 1. (#125) Jacob Youmans (15.068 -
fastest lap of the race with an average speed of 47.783mph) 2. (#495) Nick
Weimer (15.160) 3. (#398) Fumihisa Matsueda (15.738) 4. (#144) Gabriel Vazquez
(15.788) 5. (#269) Jon Riley (15.911) 6. (#555) Sandriana Shipman (16.477) 7.
(#33) Michael Martin (16.324) 8. (#278) Mike Kramer (16.557) 9. (#89) Michael
Martin (16.494) 10. (#703) Hugh Mackie (No time shown) DNS - (#16) William
Miller Jr.
Open Expert: 1. (#17B) Mike Radley (14.833) 2. (#3) Andy Karadontes
(15.242) 3. (#597) Jacob Constantine (15.400) 4. (#831) James Wells Jr. (6.825
- scoring error in lap time) 5. (#16) Jerry Dinnen (15.580) 6. (#58) Jake Quick
(15.830)
Sportsman: 1. (#17B) Mike Radley (14.858 - fastest lap of the race with an average speed of 48.459mph) 2. (#41) Pete McGirr (14.933) 3. (#3) Andy Karadontes (15.223) 4. (#831) James Wells Jr. (15.272) 5. (#125) Jacob Youmans (15.356) 6. (#597) Jacob Constantine (15.537) 7. (#16) Jerry Dinnen (15.516) 8. (#58) Jake Quick (15.904) 9. (#495) Nick Weimer (15.416)
Fastest laps of the night
Fastest Junior kart: Junior Stock: (#12)
Aaron Doolittle (14.660)
Fastest Senior Flathead kart: Mediums:
(#12) Dale Madsen (14.719)
Fastest Senior Animal kart: Animal
Medium: (#44) Vito Iannarella Sr. (14.206)
Fastest Senior Slingshot: (#29) Kayla Smykla (14.708)
Fastest Junior Slingshot: (#125) Seth Pacella (15.303)
Fastest Motorcycle: Open Expert: (#17B) Mike Radley (14.833)
Fastest of the Night: Animal Medium: (#44)
Vito Iannarella Sr. (14.206)
Be sure to check out www.ovrpdirtoval.com for upcoming races and events!
As always, feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, concerns, suggestions, or what ever it may be. I can be reached at teamcal_js@yahoo.com NOTE: This is a new email address for the 2009 season. I do not check my old account anymore so please be sure to add the new address!