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Kevin Duryea Rockets To Second Accord Speedway Win On Artic Adventures Night
By Steve Pados, Accord Media
The threatening skies of Mother Nature couldn't hold back a great crowd or a great field of race cars as the Accord Speedway ushered in the Labor Day weekend with another great side by side racing show complete with a fabulous chicken BBQ and a spectacular light show that lit up the Hudson Valley sky. Even though the 15th weekly program was eventually halted by a quick-hitting rainstorm, the on-track racing action provided excellent racing action and along with it sets the stage for the dramatic conclusions to some divisional point races that will more than likely decided when the final checkered flag falls on the Ruge's Dodge Night of Champions scheduled for September 12th at the speedway With a powerful field of 26 Modifieds signing in for the evening's action, three heats and a consolation were needed to determine the starting field for the Rhinebeck Modified 30-lap headliner. Mark Pullen and David Bush brought the field down for the start and Pullen wasted no time to hustle his racer out front and lead the first three laps of the event. A caution was needed for a three car skirmish in turn one that saw current point leader Andy Bachetti involved in the incident. While Bachetti was able drive away, he quickly went pitside as his Albreada Waste sponsored racer suffered heavy front end damage in the wreck. On the restart, Kevin Duryea hustled his Mike Moshier powered, K&M Painting and Powerwashing sponsored racer to the point with a power move and quickly drove away from the rest of the talented field of drivers. Veteran racer Barry Davis had his Sunderskill Farms PMC Chassis machine up to task and moved out to a comfortable second place run. Behind the pair of front runners, the action was tight and heated and the large crowd on hand was treated to some fabulous darting, diving and rim-riding racing action. "Jumpin" John McGill was the first to break through and and settled into third place. David Bush back-peddled a bit but then settled into fourth place. Scranton's Bobby Trapper who was a consolation transfer into the main event, quickly adapted to the Accord clay and was utilizing much of the racing room to find his way to the front. Jerry Higbie, coming off a week where he won his third 358 Modified title at the Orange County Fair Speedway, found the topside of the raceway clogged with talent so dove his Mid-City Transit sponsored to the bottom of the raceway and worked his way into contention. The Ricci brothers also found some success in driving their way forward as the race progressed. Trapper moved into seventh place by the mid way point and just as quickly was facing traffic as his right rear sneaker sprung a leak and was forced pitside ending his great run. On the restart Duryea wasted no time in moving out to another big advantage and won the race going away to record his second triumph in the 2008 racing season. Davis was steady throughout the event and settled for second place money. John McGill was third and David Bush crossed the line for fourth place. Jerry Higbie rounded out the top five in a great run from 11th starting position. Rick Mill finished sixth and Mike Ricci was solid in seventh place. Rich Ricci Jr finished in eighth place and Danny Creeden and Jamie Yannone completed the top ten. The Bryant's Towing Pure Stock feature was another classic dual between a select group of drivers who have aspirations to wear a championship crown.Former track titilist and current fourth place in points runner Mike Dubois saw his title hopes deflate quickly as he was forced to pit before the initial green flag was displayed. Steve Smalley and Ryan Coon brought the field down for the start and it was Coon racing his JBS Graphics machine to the front for the first two laps. Fifth place starting Ray Tarantino quickly took the elevator to the top of the raceway and found the lofty view to his liking as he moved into the lead and drove out to a safe distance in the process. The drama was unfolding behind Tarantino as Paul Aragon Jr and Joe Judge, who came into the evening with one point separating them in the standings, locked up in a battle that saw both drivers trying for every inch of real estate they could find to have an advantage over the other. To make it even more interesting, the pair of battling warriors had John Woinoski, Andy Briggs and Tommy "Gun" Johnson racing with them and none of them giving an inch nor asking for one. As the laps wore down, the race became a three way sprint as both Aragon and Judge were now challenging Tarantino for the lead. With the white flag flying in the air, Tarantino saw the beak of the Judge racer aside of him. Behind him Aragon was drafting his racer. The trio raced with the final lap without breathing as Tarantino fought hard to hold on to the lead. Coming out of turn four with the checkered flag flying, Judge dove his racer to the bottom trying to get the slingshot effect to propel him forward but at the line it was "The Intimidator" Ray Tarantino securing his third win of the season. Joe Judge was a close second and with it takes a couple of point advantage into next week's racing action ahead of Paul Aragon who finished in third. John Woinoski raced well to finish in fourth place and Andy Briggs continued his great work to round out the top five. Tommy Johnson finished in sixth place in the event and with it keeps his fading title hopes alive. The Camper's Barn Sportsman feature event quickly became a tale of two talented racers trying to make amends for a couple of weeks of poor performances. Tom Dakake quickly took the lead at the start and the one time Accord feature event winner in 2008 was impressive in finding his marks on the raceway. Dakake, who suffered from a couple of weeks of not making the feature line-up, led through the first nine laps of the event. On a restart, Bobby Hentschel powered into the lead with Dakake, trying to recover from his poor restart, just behind him. Hentschel, who clipped the inside barriers last week while leading, was on the mark for the remainder of the 20-lap event. The racing behind the leaders was tight and close and perhaps a bit bumpy for some as the drivers took advantage of the multi-groove raceway to duke it out to the best of their abilities. With Brian Krummel, Steve Meilleur, Darrell Ford, Steve Krom, Ray See Jr and Jesse Marks all having shots at the Sportsman title, no driver gave an inch of real estate with their approval. Bobby Hentschel came across the finish line first to record his first win of the 2008 racing season. The "Haskell Hornet" Tom Dakake was a close second with the steady Jesse Marks riding home in third. Steve Krom finished fourth and Steve Meilleur completed the top five. Point leader Brian Krummel finished sixth in the hard fought contest and Ray See Jr was seventh. The returning Ryan Stortini was eighth and college student John Sundlof was ninth. Larry Hendershot raced from deep in the pack to complete the top ten running order. Just as the starting line-up for the Enzo's Ristorante Pro Stock event was announced and the drivers made their way to the track, a sudden shower quickly dumped a bunch of water onto the raceway. Even though the track staff tried valiantly to save the racetrack and continue with the remaining two feature events, another passing shower hit the speedway a hal an hour later and very reluctantly the staff was forced to throw in the towel. The feature events will be made up in the next two weeks. Speedway management would like to thank all of the drivers who made their way to the raceway to assist in trying to work the track back into racing shape after the initial storm passed. MUDPLUGS: The Accord Speedway management continues to give the fans a great show as once again Catskill Mountain DJ Tim Adams was on hand to set the stage for another great night of entertainment. While Adams played the sounds, the Chicken BBQ was a big hit with the racing faithful. The children arriving at the speedway were given balloons to mark the Labor day show. All of the qualifiying heats and consolation events were completed in one hour and twelve minutes and just as quickly as Tim Adams began his playing of patriotic music, the lights of the raceway went down and the sky became aglow with "Wild Bill's" labor day light show. For more than 25 minutes, the night sky surrounding the speedway was filled with spectacular visions of the grand fireworks above the electrified and estatic crowd. Upon completion of the show, the grandstand crowd gave "Wild Bill" a standing ovation for a job well done. Artic Adventures was the headline sponsor for the evening and during an interview with Steve Pados after the fireworks was completed, owner Tom Ferry was delighted his company could play a supporting role in presenting the great show to the racing fans. Artic Adventures has been in business since 1994 and the full service supplier of Artic Cat, Ski-Doo, Sea-Doo and Scag Power equipment encourages the racing fans to visit their showroom located on Route 32 in Rosendale, New York, to take a look at their varied offerings or to log on to their website at: www.articadventures.com and browse through their extensive website. Joe Torissi from Torissi Agway was the Modified Feature bonus sponsor with $250.00 and Bob Albreada from Albreada Waste added another $300.00 upon his arrival at the speedway. The Speedway management and the Modified driving roster thanks them for the support with the modified bonus program. New racers continue to arrive at the speedway. "MVT" Mike Van Tassel made his first appearance of the season and the Hamburg, New Jersey driving talent quickly found the new configuration of the speedway to his liking in dominating the Spec Sportsman consolation event. Mike Garagusa made his first appearance of the season although the car he was driving had been driven earlier in the season by Emerson Cargain Jr, Garagusa was fourth in his heat event and will start from 12th when the race is eventually run. Vinnie DeCicco and Howard Jarvis both competed in the Modified divisions and the drivers switched rides for the evening's action. DeCicco put the Jarvis machine in the starting field with a runnerup finish in the consolation event and was credited with a 20th place finish in the Modified main event. Jarvis did not make the transfer. Andy Bachetti's string of bad luck continued at the speedway as the Sheffield, Massachusetts driving star was an innocent victim in the skirmish that removed him for the event. Although Bachetti returned to action five laps in arrears to the field, the move was a smart one as Bachetti retained his point lead although the lead has dwindled to just eight points going into next week's racing card. Second place points man Rich Ricci Jr also suffered from an off night as he struggled to make it into the top ten and found it tougher to remain there with the tight racing action going on around him. With only 25-points separating the top three drivers, the final conclusion to a season long fight for supremacy will unfold with the final two weeks of points looming in front of the trio of superstars, Bachetti, Ricci Jr and Jerry Higbie. Promoter Gary Plamer has added new clay to the racing surface in the past two weeks and ever the perfectionist, Palmer has seen to it the new clay has knitted to the existing surface superbly and the faithful fans have been continuously treated to the best side by side racing one can only find at the Accord Speedway. Palmer has also worked on grading and landscaping the infield areas and the area above the new homestretch fence as the improvements at Accord continue on a daily basis. The Mid Week Madness final Wednesday night program took place last week and the largest crowd of the season came out to see the varied classes of top notch driving talent performing for them. Along with the great crowd cam twenty new entries as the word travels far and wide about the great competition at the speedway. RJ Smykla was the winner of the Slingshot event and he, his sister Kayla and another twenty top driving stars will showcase their talents on Saturday night, September 20th, when the Mid Week Madness Super Nationals take place at the speedway. With the office phone lines ringing constantly, drivers and riders from the tri-state area as well as Canada have shown an interest in competing at the event. The Slingshot driving stars will also be in action on Friday night, September 26th, as the scale Modified look alikes will compete in the "King of the Catskills" weekend. The interest with the addition of the slingshots to the two day super weekend has been superb and drivers from up and down the East Coast are expected in for the event. With Bobby Trapper taking advantage of the rainout at Penn Can, he has definitely shown he is quick at the accord facility and cannot be ruled out when the ROC sponsored event comes in to do battle. A recent addition to the ROC field will be Keith Hoffman as the multi-time track champion at the Big Diamond and New Egypt speedways, takes over the controls of a second Higbie Racing numbered 97 to try his hand at Accord. The Whitehall, Pennsylvania resident, who is tied for the points lead currently at New Egypt, is looking forward to racing at Accord and is quick to point out he knows his way around the tighter race courses with his participation at most of the raceways along the Eastern Seaboard. More news will follow in the next weeks regarding the expected sixty plus entries for the 75-lap show paying more than $5,000.00 to the winner of the event. Rhinebeck Ford Modifieds: Kevin Duryea, Barry Davis, John McGill, David Bush, Jerry Higbie, Rick Mill, Mike Ricci, Rich Ricci Jr, Danny Creeden, Jamie Yannone, Rich Eurich, Mark Pullen, Brett Graham, Mel Schrufer, Tom Demarmels, Jackie Brown Jr, Andy Bachetti, Bobby Trapper, Danny Tyler, Vinnie DeCicco, Dom Roselli, John Lutes Jr Heart Chevrolet Spec Sportsman: Rain: Will Race Next Week Campers Barn Sportsman: Bobby Hentschel, Tom Dakake, Jesse Marks, Steve Krom, Steve Meilleur, Brian Krummel, Ray See Jr, Ryan Stortini, John Sundlof, Larry Hendershot, Ken Ferrier, Mike Senecal, Greg McClosky, Joe Giachinta, Carl Dawes, Randy Banks Jr, David Coene, Darrell Ford, Vinnie Gress, Clinton Mills, Brad Rothaupt Enzo's Ristorante and Pizza Pro Stocks: Rain: Will Race Next Week Bryant's Towing Pure Stock: Ray Tarantino, Joe Judge, Paul Aragon Jr, John Woinoski, Andy Briggs, Tommy Johnson, Jay Smalley, Steve Smalley, Ryan Coon, Rich Scott, Chris Kanuk, Bill Judge, Clarence Smith Jr, Bill Merton, Kyle Wright, Phil Johnson, Steven Kanuk, Gary Ronk, Robert Ball, Chris Head, Mike DuBois (DNS) For further updates and information regarding the great racing at the Accord Speedway, log on to the their newly constructed website at: http://www.accordspeedway.com or call the speedway hotline at: 845 626 3478 |
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