As the 2018 whines down, everyone thought turn to one of biggest racing weekend in the Northeast.   Known as the Shootout at the Bullring.   It’s a 2 day event this year with racing starting Friday night Oct 12th and more racing Saturday Oct 13th.  To cap off the fall weekend is the 100 lap Jim Pierce Memorial race.   Why is this race so important?   Well first it’s a tribute to a great Driver, Mechanic and family man.  Jim Pierce was a SST Modified driver that was well respected and a great wheel man.   Was always helping others no matter what class you ran, Mod, Super stock, 4 cylinder.   It also helps that it’s a significant payday for the winner of $2600. (26 being Jim’s racing number).  Details of the racing itinerary and camping info can be found on the tracks web site www.wcisbullring.com 

With the Shoot just a few weeks away, many drivers and crews were on hand to try and get some good note and set up for the big race that caps off racing for 2018 at the Wyoming County Intl. Speedway.   It was a full house in the garage area with nearly 70 cars signed in to race.   And for those that came to watch most definitely got their money’s worth with fantastic racing and some flared emotions on the speedway.   

I was told by an older gentleman in the midway area, “it’s a great night of racing, when you have 4 to 8 cars all with a very capable of winning in any given class, “ and he was right.   The smallest of cars are the 4 cylinders, but they are far from the smallest in excitement.   1/3 of the cars in this division have won feature in 2018.  Sickles and Sass where the two guys pacing this field to green.  It would take no time for the non-regular, but 3x winner in 2018, Jacob Gusafson to jump out front from his third starting spot.   Most thought the race was for the seconf position, but we were all wrong as the 2x winner of Greg Moldts would find his way to the front and the #26 The Shadow Jimmie Pierce Jr would come from last starting spot to battle with Moldts and then start running down Gusafson.   Jacob had to put together 25 almost perfect laps to keep the Pirce and Moldts behind.   That’s exactly what he did.   “She’s a lil' banged up, Thanks Jody, but it’s mostly cosmetic, it’s still a rocket,” said Gustafson.   

Super 6’s got a bit of good new on this night.   With all the effort by local teams and participation from other track‘s teams, Super 6 will be a weekly class at the Blacktop Bullring in 2019.   Great to give new drivers and crews a great entry level class and they have a  whole winter to get a car and get it prepared for 2019.   More invaders were on hand than WCIS regulars.   Parthemer and last weeks winner Barrett Schenk brought this highly compitive fields to green for their 20 main event.   Schenk wasted no time in showing why he is a track champion and that last week’s win was no fluke.   Hallett in the #36 had a valient effort to no avail as his right rear tire was going bad for the mid point in the race, but would hang on for second as new comer or first time to Wyoming this season, Brandon Allen would put his #89 in third at the conclusion of the Super 6 feature.

SST Super Stocks, this is where the emotion and tempers flared tonight.   Mike Chenaille and Scott Gleed would bring this field to green for their 50 lap event.   Both Chenaille and Gleed have had terrible luck. Gleed, all year in the features as he has won some heats.  Chenaille was had bad luck in the second half of the season.   Both looking to turn it around and close out 2018 strong.   Gleed and Chenaille would battle for the lead and it was not long befor the Stealth missle of Joe Horvatits would take control of the race.   Thru a few cautions and restarts, Horvatits was dominating.   His closest competition was the 17x of Meyers the 2018 track champion and the 14 of Dan Majchrzak.

Early in this feature there seemed to be some bad blood between Majchrzak and Meyers from the previous week.   Last week these two came together in a heat race cutting down a tire on the 17x and the 14 bent a rear axel.   Both would make repairs and run the balance of the night.   That brings us to tonight where you have two very good drivers that was not going to cut any slack to the other.   Early in the 50 lap main these two were racing hard and they made contact with each other entering turn 3.   Both cars heading for the concrete wall that always wins.   Majchrzak hit the hall a ton and the right side of the car climbed the wall doing significant damage to the Majchrzak machine.   Meyer on the other hand had significant damage to his right side.   What appeared to be mostly cosmetic, as Meyers went pit side and was checked over by his crew.   Meyers would return and get a very respectful second for the night.

Lots of action on the speedway for the Modifieds.  As I stated earlier, a bunch of invaders came to the track to shake down their cars in preparation of the BIG Shootout at the Bullring  October 12th -13th.   Twenty six cars on hand and that calculates into tons of action on a 1/3 mile speedway.    After the redraw, Bro Bradshaw would be on the pole with last weeks winner Alan Bookmiller to his outside.    Then it looked like the who’s who of Modified drivers, Rusty Smith, Tony Hanbury, TJ Potrzebowski, John Barbar, Patti Pruitt and our weekly runners.  Rick Knapp Jr,(2018 WCIS Champion),  Dan Majchrzak, the Bradshaw Brothers and the Dennie Girls.   A great start for all and it would not last as the first a a handful of cautions would slow the field.

The first was the #66 of Geoff Sharkey, seems the fuel cap came off and he was spilling fuel on the track.  Back to green and bookmiller had the lead with Bradshaw second and the charging Rusty Smith on his way to the front.   Hanbury, Potrzebowski and Majchrzak and Knapp were bidding their time and making their way to the front.   The surface of the Bullring is not overly abusive to tires, but these seasoned racers were not going to waste the tires in the first have of the race.  They all knew they needed some tire in the last 10 -15 laps if they wanted a shot at the win.

About 20 laps in it was Smith , Hanbury and Potrzebowski in the top three positions and as the restart happened it seemed Smiths car when wide forcing Hanbury up in the marbles.   Hanbury gathered it up and we stayed green, a few laps later Hanbury passed Smith and coming down the front straight Hanbury repaid the favor as he break checked Smith allowing Potrzebowski to blow by both cars.   That was short lived as both Hanbury and Smith would get back by the Potrzebowski  #72.   Then it seemed every 20 or so laps we would draw a caution and that would tighten the field back up and add to what could be a lot more drama.   Lap 25 the Billy Kosachook would spin his #19 machine.   Lap 32 the Timmy Lewis car would come to a stop in the infield just off the racing surface in turns 1 and 2.  Lap 55 saw the 6j machine of Carrie Bolton loose the handle and spin her ride off turn 2 and slide thru the grass on the back straight away.

The last caution flew on lap 85 with Jen Dennie looping her #22 ride off turn four.   This left us with a 15 lap shoot out, sort of a look into the future and see who was best prepared for the 100 laps tonight as well as the Jim Pierce Memorial race in a few weeks.  Hanbury was on point, Smith at the ready and local runners Knapp and Majchrzak representing WCIS well.   Also representing the speedway wall was the fact our four lady racers were all running together and in the top ten. Cassie Logsdon, 7th, Beth Dennie 8th, her sister Jen 9th and Carrie Bolton rounding out the top ten.  So the 15 lap shoot out.  The questions were answered soon as the green fell for the last 15 circuits or 5 miles.   It looks as if the top ten or so had played it just about perfect.  Hanbury jumped out front, smuith in second followed by Knap, Majchrzak and Potrzebowski.

Winner circle interviews were as expected, “Well Rusty ran me up in the loose stuff cause he knew we were a rocket on restarts, so after a few laps and the tires were cleaned off we got back around him and repaid the favor”  Smith said “ Tony has run into us before and this is twice I let him gather it up and we raced on, next time I won’t be so nice”.   So with the Writing on the wall it will be interesting at the very least to see if this power struggle of two very talented drivers carries thru to the Shoootout at the Bullring October.

Order your pictures and video of the Sept. 1st race and you decide who was right and wrong at www.mmsportsphotos.com  or www.racingfanchaser88.com 

The new 2018 Shootout at the Bullring format will be as follows:

Friday, Oct. 12th
WCIS Super Stocks (50), 6 Cylinders (25), 4 Cylinder Dash-4-Cash (20)
SST Modified Pit Stop Challenge during intermission
- 4 person crew/driver in-car
- 2 right sides
- $100 bonus to winning crew + 2 new air tire changing guns
Entertainment/Camp Fires to Follow

Saturday, Oct. 13th
SST Modified Jim Pierce Memorial 100 (100), NYSS Sandra Vogler Memorial 51, 4 Cylinders (30), Vintage Racecars (15)
SST Modified Race is $2,600 to Win! 

Sunday, Oct. 14th
Rain date for either days events

4 Cylinders          Heats:  O.Bradshaw,  J.Gustafson
1) J.Gustafson,  
2) J.Pierce Jr,  
3) G.Moldts,  
4) O.Bradshaw,  
5) J.Klamut,  
6) S.Sickles,                   
7) K.Ricketson, 
8) J.Sass,  
9) M.Hurlburt,  
10) K.Kocher,  
1) M.Virts,  
12) K.Landcastle,                
13) D.Heimes (DNS)

Super 6             Heats:  J.Parthemer,  B.Hallett
1) B.Schenk, 
2) B.Hallett,  
3) B.Allen,  
4) J.Parthemer, 
5) R.Cassidy,  
6) F.Kline,  
7) A.Cocilova,      
8) T.Faro, 
9) A.Knoepfler, 
10)  C.Parsons  

Super Stocks          Heats:  D.Majchrzak,  J.Horvatits
1) J.Horvatits,  
2) Z.Meyers,  
3) P.Flye,  
4) S.Gleed,  
5) E.Hastreiter, 
6) C.Hicks,  
7) K.Lanni,          
8) F.Kline,  
9) K.Skoney,  
10) D.Majchrzak, 
11) M.Chenaille, 
12) B.Raycroft,  \
13) E.Stone (DNS)

SST Modifieds         Heats:  A.Bookmiller,  R.Smith,  P.Pruitt
1) T.Hanbury,  
2) R.Smith,  
3) R.Knapp Jr,  
4) D.Majchrzak,  
5) Tj.Potrobowski,  
6) T.Bradshaw,    
7) C.Logsdon,  
8) B.Dennie, 
9) J.Dennie,  
10) C.Bolton,  
11) T.Lewis,  
12) Z.Kosachook,               
13) A.Bookmiller,  
14) P.Pruitt,  
15) B.Bradshaw,  
16) S.Fuchs,  
17) J.Barber,  
18) N.Michielsen,  
19) B.Kosachook, 
20) B.Kosachook Sr,  
21) G.Sharkey,  
22) D.Kluth,  
23) J.Matzen,  
24) T.Alloco,  
25) J.Whithey, 
26) G.Noe (DNS)

Registration begins at 2 p.m., followed by practice from 3 until 4 p.m. and a rider's meeting from 4 until 5 p.m.

The WNY Dirt Track Racing Racing Club is sponsoring the event, which will feature over 200 ATVs at speeds of 60 miles per hour and more.

For more information, call 737-5698 or email donaldjones@frontiernet.net.

Registration begins at 2 p.m., followed by practice from 3 until 4 p.m. and a rider's meeting from 4 until 5 p.m.

The WNY Extreme Dirt Track Racing Club is sponsoring the event, which will feature over 200 ATVs at speeds of 60 miles per hour or more.

For more information, call 737-5698 or e-mail donaldjones@frontiernet.net.

Patsy Rapone, who passed away after a fight with brain cancer, was inducted with an impressive 14,765 starts, 2,643 wins, and lifetime earnings of $5,821,089.

Ben Webster was also inducted and present for the honor.

Ben's 4,378 wins and lifetime earnings of $43,197,645 earned him a spot in the Hall of Fame.

Pictured with Ben Webster is Don Suozzi, an aquintance of over 50 years.

Congratulations to both new members of the Batavia Downs Hall of Fame!

On Tuesday, Jim DiSalvo invited me to his house on Fargo Road, Stafford, to meet his son, Jason, and Jason's racing team. I thought I'd get a picture and share a little bit about the great season Jason is having.

I set up a shot with a couple of bikes in the background and just as we were getting ready to make a photograph, Jason asked, "When will your picture run?" I told him, "probably tonight."

Well, that would never do. See that Triumph in the background -- the racing world didn't yet know that Jason would be running it this week at the final race of the season in New Jersey.

I agreed to hold the picture until the bike change was officially announced, and I also redesigned the shot to better include the bike in the picture.

This evening, the DiSalvo team officially announced that for the last race as well as next season, Jason will race a Triumph 675 Triple in Daytona Sportbike class races.

Jason said the team felt they would get great support from Triumph and he was excited about the switch.

Race 1 on Saturday will start at 2 p.m., and Sunday's race starts at 2:15 p.m.  Live timing for both events can be viewed at www.amaproracing.com.

Speed TV will air the races at 11 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Jason is currently third this season in points standing with three wins and four pole positions.

Pictured with Jason are Jordan Fielder, left, Bubba Evoy, Chase McFarland and Ronnie Saner.

HAWLEY DISPELS “STATE TAKEOVER OF OTB” RUMORS

A member of the Assembly Racing and Wagering Committee, Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R, I, C – Batavia) would like to assure all residents that rumors currently circulating of a state takeover of Off Track Betting (OTB) operations are untrue.  The Assemblyman has been vital in brokering racing and wagering agreements with the state, such as the new New York Racing Association (NYRA) agreement that increased revenues for Batavia Downs.

“To be very clear, there have been no discussions of a state takeover of OTB and should such discussions arise, I would like all residents to know that I am strongly opposed to such an initiative, especially regarding a takeover of OTBs in Western New York,” said Hawley, who upon learning of the rumors, immediately called Western New York OTB officials to dispel the rumors.

The state took over New York City OTB in June 2008; however, due to mounting problems, on September 1, 2009, Governor Paterson signed an executive order allowing the NYC OTB organization to file for reorganization under Chapter 9 of the federal Bankruptcy Code (executive order #27).  In that executive order, the Governor has directed NYC OTB to put together a restructuring plan within the next two months.

Contained in the 2008 legislation allowing the state to take over NYC OTB, the State Legislature also appointed a task force to study regional OTB corporations.  Their report is due later this fall.

Both of these actions have helped to fuel rumors that the task force would “rubber stamp” a rumored initiative for a state takeover to allow OTB revenues to be moved from local governments to the state’s General Fund to balance budget deficits.

In order for the state to take over OTB corporations across the state, there would need to be legislation drafted and moved through both houses.  However, at this time, there is no such legislation, nor have there been discussions to draft or introduce any legislation of the sort.

Assemblyman Hawley stated, “I can certainly understand the concern: last year the Governor swiped money from snowmobilers, this year he chose to give $200 handouts to recipients of social services instead of renewing the STAR rebate program.  Both of his budgets have been excessive in their spending, irresponsible and secretive in their negotiations. When it comes to making fiscal choices, there is a reason why New York State residents are skeptical of the Governor doing the right thing.  However, at present, I would like to ensure all residents that there have been no discussions about a state takeover of OTB operations.  Furthermore, I am adamantly against such a proposal and will fight it tooth-and-nail should such a proposal be made.”

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clors chicken bbq(located across from tops in batavia)

fundraiser to benefit mini stock teams of

7+1

29H

dinner includes:salt potatoes,macaroni salad,roll and butter.  $8.00

come on out get a great bbq,and help some hometown race teams while doing it.

contact for tickets:webmaster@mayhemriders.com