RPW Column: Joey Falanga Memorial, Increased Cash For Street Stocks At Orange County Saturday
Column By: MIKE TRAVERSE / RPW – MIDDLETOWN, NY – There are extra dollars available for drivers in the United Rentals DIRTcar Big Block Modified and the NAPA North East Parts Group Street Stock divisions when they line up for their features on this coming Saturday, May 1st, at the Orange County Fair Speedway.
The Modifieds will be racing in the 30 lap Joey Falanga Memorial/Big Block Derby.
For many years, Joey was a familiar and popular figure in the pits at OCFS with his #88 cars which ran in the Sportsman, 358 and Modified divisions. Joey was lost in a highway accident on May 3rd, 2019. He is badly missed by his family, friends and fans.
In Joey’s memory, the Falanga Family has added money to winner’s purse which will have the victorious driver taking home $4,000 for his night’s work Saturday. The Falangas have been longtime supporters of OCFS and it’s wonderful for them and the speedway to remember Joey this coming Saturday.
Also in the Modifieds, a $200 halfway leader bonus has been posted courtesy of Rock Fantasy in Middletown. Stephen Keeler of Rock Fantasy has been a longtime sponsor of races and events at OCFS and he continues it in a generous way again Saturday. Nice going Stephen.
The Street Stocks will be having bonus money courtesy of the NorthEast Racing Happy Hour with Predmore & Murns. They have added $250 to the Street Stocks winner’s purse plus an $100 Hard Charger bonus. Another $100 bonus will be going to the 4th place feature finisher and a surprise $100 bonus that will be revealed Saturday. Great job by this group to support the full fender division at OCFS. The NorthEast Racing Happy Hour with Predmore & Murns can be heard every Thursday at 7pm on their Facebook page.
The Arkel Motors Sportsman division will also be in action with their 20 Lap feature.
This is kind of an obscure statistic, not too important, but one that I thought was kind of interesting. When I saw the OCFS schedule for 2021 and I saw that there 4 events scheduled for April, I thought to myself that considering how fickle the April weather can be in the northeast, that I would be surprised if all 4 events went off and completed as scheduled. But the weather throughout April cooperated very well. Using the OCFS winners list compiled by the late Bill Hanna, 2021 is only the 2nd time in track history that 4 separate April events took place. The only other time this has occurred was in 1960.
Looking back on April of 2021, OCFS hosted 11 features across 5 divisions and has had 11 different winners. The track conditions have been great. Many of the competitors, speaking in Victory Lane, have praised the fine work that the OCFS track crew has done this year,
One of the cool things that OCFS has done in 2021 is to have constructed a Victory Lane podium. It’s a good thing for fans to have a look at the top 3 finishers in each week and the competitors seem to be enjoying doing the podium photos.
With the 358 and Sportsman divisions having completed 3 and 4 races respectively, we are seeing some possible championship contenders beginning to emerge.
Craig Mitchell, Anthony Perrego and Tyler Boniface have taken the 3 feature wins so far in 2021 and they have shown the speed to be contenders in every Small Block race.
Danny Creeden is off to a good 2021 start in the Small Blocks. With two 3rd’s and a 5th in 3 starts, he is at the top of the point standings ahead of Perrego.
Tanner VanDoren has made what looks to be a seamless transition into the Small Blocks, showing the form which vaulted him to the 2020 Sportsman champion and Eastern States Sportsman triumph. VanDoren’s consistent finishes has him in 3rd place, 9 points behind Creeden.
Jimmy Horton is currently 4th with Mitchell 5th and Boniface 6th. Corey Cormier, Richard Smith, Jerry Higbie and Billy VanInwegen complete the top 10 after 3 events.
In the Sportsman division, consistent finishes have Joe Bonetti and Jeff Hulseapple at the top of the point standings. Bonetti is coming off his best finish of the season, a 2nd place this past Saturday. Hulseapple leads all OCFS drivers with 3 podium finishes this season. Both Bonetti and Hulseapple have had all their feature finishes in the top 5.
Joey Bruning has scored a feature win and currently sits 3rd in the standings. Bruning indicated in a recent OCFS podcast that he was unsure of his full season plans, so he may or may not be contending for the Sportsman championship.
Bobby Flood, Gary Edwards Jr, Jake Bedell, Josh Allen, Joe Conklin, Ryan Neiger and Jeff Higham complete the top 10 point standings after 4 races.
In 11th place, Grant Hilfiger has had an up and down season at OCFS with 2 good weeks with a 2nd place finish and a feature win. But he also has had 2 bad weeks and even with last Saturday’s win, the car had damage enough to go to Hig Fab for work. But Grant has shown that he can put together a run of good finishes. Look for the 2019 champion to get back into point contention.
Brian Krummel is the other OCFS Sportsman regular who has recorded a feature win this season. With the unfortunate disqualification after an apparent opening night win and overheating problems the 2nd week, Krummel is 19th in points. But he has shown the speed to win multiple features this season.
This Saturday, the pits open at 3pm, grandstands and drive-in at 4pm. Hot laps are at 6pm with racing at 7pm.
