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Accord Speedway Postpones King Of The Catskills Events For One Week; Weekend Rolls To October 3rd and 4th.
By Steve Pados, Accord Media The unpredictable weather pattern along the East Coast continues to haunt racing's late season events and has forced Accord Speedway Promoter Gary Palmer to find an alternative plan for his big two-day King of the Catskills weekend scheduled for September 26th and 27th. After consulting with ROC Series Promoter Andy Harpell regarding the best possible alternative dates, it has been decided the following weekend, October 3rd and 4th, will mark the best dates available to host the the highly anticipated racing events. While the racing schedule in-place remains intact for the big race weekend, the show will move to the following week. It is fully expected all of the the drivers who indicated they were competing in the event, will see the extra week as a bonus for them to have all of the guns and ammunition ready when the ROC Invaders make their way into town to challenge the Accord home-team contingent. Leading the impressive contingent of the ROC Team into town will be none other than the "Genoa Giant" himself Pat Ward, as Pat comes into the series event leading the season long point's battle with a 105-point buffer over the "Canadian Sensation" Stewart Friesen. Along with this pair of super talents comes the third place man in points Jeff Rudalavage, and Jeff is coming off a great year where he won the track championship at the Penn Can Speedway. Brian" The Dream" Weaver, a longtime champion in the Southern Tier, brings his brand of driving excitement into the Accord event and along with him comes another of the vaunted champions from the Southern Tier area as "The Recycler" Mike Colsten as signed his entry for the prestigious race. In the past two weeks, the "Corporate Jet" Brett Hearn has inked on to compete at the event and is looking forward to his first look at the newly refurbished speedplant. On Monday morning the "Doctor" Danny Johnson sent his entry in for the event and the list of invaders will rank as a who's who when the gates open on Friday afternoon. Other invaders expected in for the event include the "Quaker Shaker" Rick Laubach, Joey Grammes, who always seems to put on a good show at Accord,Billy Van Pelt, the "Middletown Missile" Chuck McKee, Alan Rudlavage, Dan Vauter, Bobby Trapper, Jason Hamilton, JR Crouse, Mark Johnson, Rick Wegner Jr, Chris Whitehead, Bernie Kelly, Larry Lippincott, Brian Malcolm and Ricky Yetter. The Accord home team itself throws equally impressive credentials back at the ROC Invaders coming in. The home team will be led by the newly crowned track champion at the speedway, the "Wild Child" Andy Bachetti, and Bachetti comes in to the event winning last week's feature event to capture the crown. Bachetti recently secured the win the ten grand that went with it when he won the Lebanon Valley 200. Ten-time track champion Rich Ricci Jr will be a force to reckon with as well as this champion campaigner has logged many laps around the Accord Speedway and comes into the event seeking his third consecutive Catskills race win. Last year Ricci left the speedway with more than $5,600.00 in prize money in his pocket for his win. "The Statesman From Slate Hill" Jerry Higbie will be a another of the top talents the home team can throw at the challengers. Higbie was third in points at the speedway and came away with a big win when he captured the Joe Winne Memorial race to the tune of $2,500.00. Higbie was the 358 Modified champion at the OCFS Speedway in 2008 and for this event will bring in a partner as Keith Hoffman will take over the controls of a second Higbie entry for the event. Hoffman himself owns numerous track titles at the Big Diamond Raceway and the New Egypt Speedway and will be a force to reckon with. "Jumpin" John McGill may well be the sleeper for the upcoming event. John finished fourth in points and captured one win during the season, but this seasoned veteran enjoyed a great year at the speedway and knows how to find his way to the front of the field. Jackie Brown Jr is another of the Accord stars who has logged many laps around the speedway. His fifth place in points showed his talent and his ability to come from deep in the field to complete the top five point-men at the track. Not to be counted out is "Slick" Rick Mill as he too enjoyed a great season as the speedway. Rick recorded one win at the speedway in 2008. Most if not all of the regular participants all season long at Accord will make up for a most formidable challenge when the racing gets underway. Two-time winner and Modified rookie David Bush heads up the list of regulars and he will have strong support from another top rookie pilot "Showtime" Danny Tyler, who finished seventh in the season long points chase. Richie Eurich, Mike Ricci, Scott Ferrier, Mel Schrufer, Barry Davis, Danny Creeden, Kevin Duryea,Tom Demarmels, Nick Lapp, Mark Pullen, and a host of others will make for an exciting evening of racing activity The race will be 100-laps straight through and much strategy will come into play before the winner can claim the $5,000.00 first place prize plus lap money. The Slingshots and Pro Stocks will also be in competition on the Friday night portion of the weekend. The Pro Stocks will compete in a 25-lap feature event and two-time consecutive champion Don Williams will head up the list of racers doing battle. The father and son Deak family, Jon Routhier, John Roese, Emerson Cargain Jr and Larry Temple will be among those challenging Williams on Friday evening. The Slingshots, who competed as a regular Wednesday night attraction at the speedway, will make up the third division racing on the Friday night portion and the "Bushkill Bullet" Kyle Rohner will be in action for both days of competition. Track champion RJ Smykla and his Sister Kayla are expected to be among the entrants as well as Zach O'Connell, Jim Babb, Kyle Van Duser, Jimmy Pollard, Kevin Shultz, Brian Fink and a host of other young driving talents making their mark in racing. Saturday, September 27th, will bring the CRSA Sprint Cars to the Accord Speedway for their second appearance of the season. Jeremy Quick won the first time the winged warriors appeared and he is currently leading the point's chase deep into the season. Behind Quick are Rookie Kory Gurney, Jeff Van Steenburg, Danny Ody, Chuck Alessi, John Matrafailo, Dylan Swiernik, Matt Tanner, Brian Davis and a host of others seeking to secure a win at the Accord quarter miler.Only 19-points separate the top five drivers in the season long battle and should prove to be an exciting addition to an already great weekend of racing. Johnny Brennan of Jerky Boy fame will be in attendance and signing autographs for the Saturday portion. The speedway's three other divisions, the Pure Stocks, Spec Sportsman and Sportsman will complete the divisions competing in extra distance events. Newly crowned Sportsman champion Brian Krummel heads the list of Sportsman competitors and brings along a strong supporting cast with Steve Meilleur, David Coene, John Sundlof, Jesse Marks, Ray See Jr and Darrell Ford. Two-time champions heads the list of Pure Stock driver doing battle and also has a strong supporting cast with Paul Aragon Jr, Tommy "Gun" Johnson, Ray Tarantino, Mike Deyo and Ryan Coon. The Spec Sportsman class, which has seen a tremendous increase of drivers all season long, is headed up by the veteran campaigner Champion Jeff Richardson, and he faces stiff competition from Danny Conklin, "Dynamite" Danny Cross, "The Twister" Tyler Boniface, Scott Mathews, Bobby Hassenmayer, Kyle Rohner , Eric Moon, and Anthony Perrego. Lap sponsorship is still available for the Modified race and a couple of the support divisions and the laps will be sold on both days of racing. The Modified laps are at $20.00 each and the support divisions are at $5.00 per lap Big Wheel Racing has been added to both days of competition and three divisions will participate in the exciting action. Camping is welcome but there are no hook-ups on-site. The Palmer Family would like to thank all of the drivers, owners, staff, and the great racing racing fans for making the 2008 racing season at the speedway so special. The racing has been superb and crowd excitement makes the Accord Speedway the great race place it is. Congratulations to all of the track champions. 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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