Afton Completes Second Practice; New Era Starts Next Friday

Story By: JR KENNERUP – AFTON, NY – The Afton Motorsports Park held their second and final test and tune session this past Friday night to the surprise of many who didn’t think there was anyway the track was going to be able to hold practice.

The area received over one inch of rain late Thursday night and into Friday morning, this caused the area in the first turn to flood considerably. Afton Motorsports Park co – promoters Ron Ford and Leon Andrus were hard at work pumping water from the racing surface, which started at 6:30 am.

By noon time all water was removed fromthe racing surface and the track packing process was started. By early evening the racing surface was all set to go and despite heavy rain in surrounding areas, only a few sprinkles fell at the race track.

” I am very surprised just how good the track held up with all of the rain we received over the last 24 hours ” said Ron Ford. ” We had a little ripple in four that got taken care of with some track packing. It was a different story down in turn one after removing all of the standing water we had a small hole but there was room to go above and below it. Overall all the drivers I spoke to were very happy with the surface as they all commented that the track surface had tons of bite in it along with being table top smooth. ”

Close to forty race cars in seven different divisions competed in five rounds of hot laps until rain showers stopped all activity two and half hours into the test and tune session. Fast times of the evening for the cars who had transponders on belonged to JR Hurlburt in the Modifieds with a 14.665 lap. In the Open Sportsman Chris Hines has fast time with a lap of 14.415, while in the Open Sportsman Steve Anderson had a quick lap 15.600.

” Tonight proved just how hard we’re going to try and race every Friday night ” said Leon Andrus. ” There are only so many nights we can race, so we’re not going to cancel early in the morning, we’re going to try every way possible to get the show in. ”

Attention now turns to opening night, which is this Friday night April 28th with pit gates opening at 4 pm, grandstands at 4:30 pm, hot laps at 6:15 pm, and racing starting at 7 pm sharp. Adult admission is $12, Seniors ( age 62 and up ) $10, Youth ( ages 9 to 14 ) $5, and ages 8 and under are Free.

All racing machines competing in the Modified, Open & Crate Sportsman divisions are reminded that they will need a transponder, the track does have a few transponders to rent and they are available on a first come, first served basis.

Racing teams are reminded that the draw for heat race lineups will close at the start of hot laps. If any racing team is going to be arriving late, they can have someone draw for them, all they need to do is call the race track during the day on Friday and inform the track you will be late.

In competition this Friday night will be the ZMK Construction Modifieds, Scorpion Security Products Open Sportsman, Ted’s Body Shop Crate Sportsman, Auto Plus Street Stocks, and Chambers & O’Hara Four Cylinder Trucks.

For more information on the Afton Motorsports Park you can go to the world wide web at; www.aftonmotorsportspark.com or by calling 607 – 639 – DIRT.

This Friday night the new era starts at the Afton Motorsports Park, it’s going to be fun, fast, and furious.