{"id":11059,"date":"2012-11-16T09:20:50","date_gmt":"2012-11-16T14:20:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/?p=11059"},"modified":"2012-11-16T19:21:17","modified_gmt":"2012-11-17T00:21:17","slug":"new-england-motorsports-north-for-nov-16-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/2012\/11\/new-england-motorsports-north-for-nov-16-18\/","title":{"rendered":"NEW ENGLAND MOTORSPORTS NORTH For Nov 16-18"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lou Modestino<\/strong><\/p>\n

The future of Devil\u2019s Bowl Speedway\u2019s stock car racing prot\u00e9g\u00e9s is proving to be rather bright. A talented crop of rookie drivers joined the track\u2019s weekly NASCAR Whelen All-American Series divisions in 2012 and left a significant mark on the record books.<\/p>\n

Joey \u201cFireball\u201d Roberts of Georgia, VT ran to the Rookie of the Year title in Devil\u2019s Bowl Speedway\u2019s headline Bond Auto Parts Modified class. After a decade in full-fender racecars, the third-generation racer made his open-wheel Modified debut at the 101.5 \u201cThe Fox\u201d Spring Green on May 5 in the No. 50x Vermont Life Safety\/Mansfield Heliflight-sponsored Bicknell. Roberts won his qualifying heat and finished fifth in the main event, the first of an overachieving 11 top-five finishes in 19 feature starts. Roberts took his first feature win on August 3 and finished fifth in overall championship standings.
\n<\/p>\n

Roberts didn\u2019t have it easy, however, with constant challenges from Wells, VT driver Jeff Haskins and \u201cSlammin\u2019 Andy\u201d Smith of Glens Falls, NY. As a true rookie with just five races under his belt prior to 2012, Haskins posted a dozen top-ten finishes, was the top-finishing rookie on four occasions, and won the Modified \u201cShootout\u201d during September\u2019s Vermont 200 Weekend. Smith, formerly a top runner in the Renegade and Duke Stock classes, had a productive year with top-ten finishes in more than half of the 19 races. Haskins ended the year in 10th place overall with Smith close behind in 11th.<\/p>\n

Robert Bryant, Jr., a Mount Holly, VT native now living in Brooklyn, CT, topped a large freshman class in the J&S Steel Late Model division, winning Rookie of the Year honors ahead of six others. The former World Karting Association national champion made his first year in a full-size stock car a good one, pushing his No. 3RB LaValley Building Supply Chevrolet to the win on Sugar & Spice Night on August 24 and finishing sixth in overall standings.<\/p>\n

Three other Late Model rookies cracked the top-ten, with Rutland, VT\u2019s Jesse Carris eighth overall, 18 year-old Johnny Chesnut of Elizabethtown, NY ninth, and 15 year-old fourth-generation racer Joey Laquerre of East Montpelier, VT in 10th. Danny Sullivan of Morrisonville, NY, Tom Eriksen, Jr. of West Ferrisburgh, VT, and Emily Packard of East Montpelier, VT also took part in the rookie program.<\/p>\n

Three drivers ran limited freshman campaigns in the Renegade division, with Robin Cummings of Milton, VT coming out on top for the Rookie of the Year title. Cummings finished fifth in three consecutive events in May with his No. 9 Cummings Plumbing & Heating\/Champlain Transmission Chevrolet but was sidelined by a crash in the middle of the season. Still, his early results were enough to hold off Bob Monroe of Granville, NY and 14 year-old Stephen Donahue of Graniteville, VT. Third-generation racer Donahue was a podium finisher in just his second start.<\/p>\n

Josh Masterson of Bristol, VT came out of the box flying in the Bomber division, winning back-to-back in the first two starts of his career in May. Masterson, 21, picked up five more feature wins and earned the nickname \u201cKid Rocket\u201d en route to winning not only the Rookie of the Year title but also the overall division championship with his No. 11x Masterson Excavation\/Avery Smith Construction Nissan.<\/p>\n

Gerald LaFlam\u2019s rookie campaign was also solid, as the Hinesburg, VT driver earned a top-ten finish in all but one of his 17 starts and finished fifth in championship standings. LaFlam\u2019s top finish was third on Green Mountain Water Environment Association\/Sunoco Race Fuels Night on August 31. Kyle Watrous of Bomoseen, VT, Bruce Schwab, Jr., of Whitehall, NY, Anthony Alger of Warrensburg, NY, and Shane Doran of Benson, VT also made their Bomber debuts during the year.<\/p>\n

Devil\u2019s Bowl Speedway will honor its top rookie performers during the Banquet of Champions, scheduled for Saturday, February 2, 2013 at the Holiday Inn Rutland-Killington in Rutland, VT. More details regarding the festivities will made available soon. Rule books governing each division for the 2013 racing season will also be made available in the near future.<\/p>\n

Picking a favorite in any auto race is difficult. Picking the winner of an Indoor Three Quarter (TQ)Midget feature event is almost
\n impossible. Yet three talented drivers, hailing from three different states, figure to be among the competitors with a distinct advantage at 1st Mariner Center on December 8 in Baltimore, Md., December 31 at Dunkin\u2019 Donuts Center in Providence, R.I., and at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on February, 1-2, 2013. The three indoor auto racing events are produced by Len Sammons
\n Motorsports Productions.<\/p>\n

Erick Rudolph, of Ransomville, N.Y., won indoors this past year in Atlantic City. Mike Tidaback of Little Falls, N.J., is a past winner in Atlantic City and a past champion of the outdoor American Three Quarter Midget Racing Association. And Ryan Tidman of Levittown, Pa., won the ATQMRA TQ Midget driving championship in each of the past two years.
\n Rudolph, 20, will be driving the same Timex Morgan owned, Rochester, N.Y. based car he used to dominate indoor racing last year.
\n \u201cYou can\u2019t stand still in racing and even though the car was fast last year, we made some changes it that should make it better,\u201d
\n Rudolph said. Tidaback, 40. is behind the wheel of the same nearly decade old TQ he has owned and driven effectively both indoors and out. \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to racing in a new building in Baltimore and to coming back to Atlantic City,\u201d Tidaback said.<\/p>\n

Tidman, 25, struggled indoors with Lenny and Donna Boyd\u2019s No. 1B TQ, actually failing to transfer into the main event in one indoor
\n event last season. \u201cIt was a big disappointment last winter,\u201d Tidman said. Yet Tidman clinched the 2012 ATQMRA outdoor driving championship before the final race of the season had even started, an indicator of his and his team\u2019s prowess.<\/p>\n

Other TQ drivers who have entered the Indoor aces are Ted Christopher, Plainville, Ct.; Patrick Emerling, Orchard Park, N.Y., Ken Andreas, Hamilton, NJ., Steve Craig, Levittown, Pa., Tony DiMattia, Malvern, Pa., Paul Lotier, Lebanon, Pa., Erik Musto, Lockport, N.Y., Shawn Nye, Lancaster, N.Y, Mike Osite, Brooklyn, N.Y, Tim Proctor, Hamilton, N.J., the Quinones sisters Amamda and Ginny from Indian Trail, N.C., and Jonathan Reid, Lockport, N.Y.
\n Entries have been coming in at a steady rate as well for the Baltimore, Providence. and Atlantic Champ Kart class.
\n Heading this list are Glen Meisenhelder, Feeding Hills, Ma., Ron Midford Jr., Tolland, Ct., Brandon Ruszek, Wallingford, Ct., and the
\n Sullivan brothers, Brian and Tom of South Windsor, Ct. Registration forms, technical rules and race procedures for both
\n events are available on line at www.aarn.com or by calling 609-888-3618.
\n The addition of the Baltimore race to the previous two events provides TQ drivers and Champ Kart racers with three major events
\n in three destination cities. \u201cBaltimore is a great location for an Indoor race,\u201d said event organizer Len Sammons. \u201cIt is easily accessible from central Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey. We expect the event to be as popular as our Atlantic City and Providence races have become in its very first year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 1st Mariner Center is near the very popular Camden Yards and is in the middle of Baltimore\u2019s trendy Inner Harbor area, a tourist
\n mecca with dozens of shops, restaurants and attractions. The host hotel will be the Holiday Inn directly across the street from the Center.<\/p>\n

The Providence race in Dunkin\u2019 Donuts Center is the fifth Indoor race at that venue promoted by Sammons. The December 31 scheduling – on New Years Eve – has provided race teams and their followers with a rare opportunity to compete against one another, then party the night away and herald the coming of the new year.<\/p>\n

The Clarion Inn in Seekonk, Mass. will serve as the host hotel for the Providence Indoor race. Located less than ten minutes from the Dunkin\u2019 Donuts Center, Clarion guests will enjoy the ease of parking their vehicles at no charge in a secured area. Reservations, available at a reduced nightly rate of $89.00, may be made by calling l-508-336-7300. With making reservations, ask for
\n the “Indoor Racing” special rate.<\/p>\n

Entry forms for two-day Boardwalk Hall Indoor Race, featuring TQ Midgets, Champ Karts and Tobias Slingshots are now available on line. The 2013 running at Boardwalk Hall will be the eleventh event under Len Sammons Motorsports Productions. Racing indoors in Boardwalk Hall took place for the first time in 1938.<\/p>\n

Overhead at last weekend’s Riverside Speedway’s awards banquet. Riverside Speedway will be hosting the ACT Tour on Sunday June 2, 2013. <\/p>\n

This Saturday night the Caribou Motor Inn in that Maine town will host the Spud Speedway Awards Night starting at 5 p.m. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lou Modestino The future of Devil\u2019s Bowl Speedway\u2019s stock car racing prot\u00e9g\u00e9s is proving to be rather bright. A talented crop of rookie drivers joined the track\u2019s weekly NASCAR Whelen All-American Series divisions in 2012 and left a significant mark on the record books. Joey \u201cFireball\u201d Roberts of Georgia, VT ran to the Rookie […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[126,15172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-england","category-new-england-motorsports-north"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11059\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}