Saturday At Eastern States Is Always Entertaining; 2017 Was No Exception

Column By: TOBY LAGRANGE / RPW – MIDDLETOWN, NY – The Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown, NY opened up the Saturday portion of the 56th annual Eastern States Weekend with a packed pit area and large crowd. In all 88 drivers would see competition on Saturday, breaking down to 64 Small Block Modifieds and 24 CRSA Sprint Cars. It was a long and unseasonably warm day that saw its share of incidents on the track.

This is my second appearance at the Eastern States Weekend and first in a very long time. My previous trip was a number of years ago as the PR person and general helper for the CRSA club under when it was still under creator Brian Grisel’s control. This year I return as a member of the announcing team. I get to handle pit road interviews. Unfortunately on Saturday we encountered some technical issues which did not allow me to be over the airwaves after the Small Block Modified time trials. Hopefully those will be resolved for Sunday’s action.

The 64 Small Block Modifieds first took part in time trials Saturday morning. When all was said and done third place point runner at Orange County, Gary Edwards, Jr. set quick time. Edwards, who finished second in points a year ago, turned the House of Power in 20.835 seconds. Mr. Middletown, Brett Hearn timed second quick with a lap of 20.907 seconds. The top six drivers would be locked in with Mike Maresca, Craig Mitchell, Anthony Perrego and Thursday night’s Short Track Super Series winner Stewart Friesen rounding out the top six.

From there a total of five, eight lap heat races were held with wins going to Brian Krummel, Tyler Dippel, Andy Bachetti, Brad Horton and Tim Hindley. The three last chance qualifiers were won by Frank Cozze, Joe Conklin and Tyler Boniface. Ricky Davis took a hard hit in the turn one wall in heat race number one. He would not return for the last chance qualifier.

The 100 lap Small Block event was riddled with cautions. Honestly, I lost count early on. The most serious was a lap 97 pile up on the front stretch which saw a dozen or so drivers involved including Bachetti who took the worst of it. His beautiful machine looked to be destroyed. Horton also took a wild ride in the incident, landing on pit road.

When all was said and done, Friesen landed in victory lane. Friesen was followed by Hearn, Tommy Meier, Hindley and Edwards. Other notables included J.R. Heffner (7th), Allison Ricci (9th), Maresca (12th), Kenny Tremont, Jr. (18th), Bachetti (20th), Tyler Dippel (27th) and C.G. Morey (28th).

The CRSA Sprint Cars were also on the card. It was good to catch up with the group, whom I worked with as a fill-in announcer at the Albany-Saratoga Speedway back in August. Thomas Radivoy picked up the A-Main victory over Bobby Hackel, IV and Jeff Trombley. Trombley was crowned the 2017 CRSA Champion by virtue of his podium finish. Radivoy, whose right rear tire was nearly used up after the 20 lap event, finished second in points.

The Eastern States Weekend continues today with the running of the 56th Eastern States 200 and the Street Stock division.