Oakland Valley Speedway

Race Report by John Sainz

November 11, 2012: We would like to start out by thanking all of you racers and families of racers, that came out and supported Oakland Valley Speedway this season and those who came and raced at NOVEMBERFEST. We had a great and successful end of the season race this year. Also thanks to John Diotte and his staff for an awesome racing surface. Lap times were the best all year. Thanks to Ken Chubb of Greenwood Raceway for coming and flagging the races for us. Great job by Ken and the show flowed smoothly. Thanks to Al Smith of the Upstate Racing Show for recording our event. Dvd’s are available for purchase and will be posted soon.

I wanted to start this report with the Super Heavys class. This class was won by Anthony Mone, driving a kart that was prepared by friends of the owner, Derek Botticelli, a lifelong friend of the Diottes, who earlier this year had passed away. Anthony drove it as a tribute for Derek, as this was Derek’s class when he raced here. Johnny Diotte,Jr, Roger Belanger and Anthony Mone worked countless hours to get this kart ready and with Derek riding along with Anthony, he drove it to all three feature wins. With Derek’s family in attendance, including his young son, Anthony took the checkered flag on a parade lap, saluting his friend, who rode with him that day. Congratulations to Anthony on a job well done. Paul Tani took second place overall and Scott Thomas,Jr. was third.

In the Lights class, Ryan Edwards, after finishing second in the first feature, by less than half a second, went on to win the next two to take the overall title. Dennis Matthews, winner of the first feature, took second place overall. Scott Bentley took third overall. In the Mediums class, Dan the Man Hoeffner swept all three features to win the overall title. Alex Arndt took second place overall, and Brian Smith took third. In the Heavys class, Ryan Edwards was at it again, winning the first two features. Danny Hoeffner won the third feature, spoiling another sweep by Ryan. Ryan finished second in the last feature to take the overall title. Danny Hoeffner took second and John Diotte,Jr was third. Great weekend for Ryan. Johnny Diotte looked good after getting back into racing this weekend. In Senior Stock, Scott Thomas swept all three features to claim the overall title. Mark Stanley took second place overall with John Wolfe,Sr. finishing third.

The Junior classes started off with Junior 1, with Nathan Armstrong winning the first two features, the last being won by Giovanni Bromante, who tried valiantly to get past Nathan all weekend. Finally he was able to make the pass for the lead, and took the win in feature 3. Nathan won the overall title with Giovanni second. John David DeBarber was our third place driver. In Junior 2, Richard Armstrong took the win in the first feature. Features 2 and 3 were won by Patrick McLaughlin, Jr., the last one by a wide margin. Great job by Patrick, who won the overall title. Richard Armstrong III took second place overall, and Damon Paul was third. In Junior Stock, Sean Glennon, won the first two features by close margins, with Steve LaRochelle close behind. Then on Sunday, feature three was pretty much dominated by Sean, winning by over six seconds and setting the fastest lap time by a flat kart all weekend, with a time of 12.741, a 56.268 average lap speed. He was moving! Great job by Sean and crew chief Pat! Sean took the overall title, with Steve LaRochelle taking second place. Colin Belanger took third place overall.

Our Champ classes were next, and in Junior Sportsman Champ 1, Robert the Rocket Mattera swept all three features, with the first features margin of victory being .0001! That was a close one! Michael Jacques took second place overall and Jake Mason was third. In Junior Sportsman Champ 2, track champion Anthony Wood took the win in the first two features, followed closely by Jessica Mattera. Jessica took the win in the third feature on Sunday, taking second place overall. Anthony took the overall title and Douglas Goetz,Jr was third. In Junior Champ, Anthony Wood swept all three features to win the overall title, two close races in the first two features preceded a great performance in the third feature by Anthony. Good job! Track class champion Samantha Mattera took second place overall with always fast Sam Neary placing third overall.

In our Slingshot classes, the Junior Slingshots had a great group of young drivers. Erin Paulison took the wins in features 1 and 3, with Cole Henschel winning the second feature. Erin was awarded the overall title and Daniel Morgiewicz took second place. Thomas Zwart was third overall. In Senior Slingshot, features 1 and 2 were won by Wyatt Clark , with feature 3 being won by Eddie Reiley. Wyatt was awarded the overall title with Eddie Reiley second and Charlie Shaver third. In KT100, feature 1 was won by BK Rizzo. Feature 2 was won by Christian Rumsey and feature 3 was won by James Dyer. BK Rizzo was awarded the overall title with James Dyer placing second. Alex the Axeman Wanerus took third place overall.

Looking forward to a new racing season next year! Hope to see all of you at Oakland Valley Speedway! Enjoy the off season and the holidays with your families. God bless.

Oakland Valley Speedway…Great track, great people, the best dirt track to race at in New York State!! Come check it out!

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