RICK @ the RACES (22/23 Oct 2011)
22/23 October Orange County Fair Speedway, Middletown NY
One of the longest running auto racing events in North America, and also one of my favorites, is the Eastern States Championship, held annually at the Orange County Fair Speedway at Middletown , New York. I first attended this event back in 2001 and since then I’ve only missed it a couple of times. This year the OCFS celebrated it’s fiftieth staging and of course, I wanted to be there.
A late finish at work, meant I couldn’t get down there for Friday’s show, but was ready to head out that night as soon as my shift was over. The HHR was loaded before I went to work in the morning, so I was able to leave Cornwall , Ontario and enter the USA just before 9-00pm . There are two ways of getting to Middletown from Cornwall, and both take about six hours to get there. For my outbound journey , I chose to go via Albany, so once in the USA , I drove across upstate NY to Plattsburgh to pick up 187.
By 2-00 am I’d reached the New Baltimore, service area south of Albany, where I parked up for a few hours. After a few hours ‘shut eye’ I was back on the road before 6-30 am , and by 8-00 am was having breakfast in the Middletown, McDonalds. Regular readers will know, that I’ve started eating at McDonalds since they started offering free WiFi, where I’m able to use my lap top and keep up to date with what’s going on.
The weather forecast for the weekend had been good and it was warm and sunny when I arrived at the track soon after breakfast.
This years Eastern States Weekend was going to be a bit different for me. Most of my previous visits were made with my late friend Roger Aubin . He and a party of friends would travel down each year in his Motorhome and I’d always base myself with them in the Fairground camp site.
Roger sadly passed away back in January, so this year his familiar RV would be missing.
Actually , there were a lot of vacant spaces in the camp ground this year, and it was obvious that the economic situation of the country was taking effect. It was also noticeable , that there was lack of fellow Canadian visitors this year. Normally there would be hundreds of us, with Ontario and Quebec license plates evident all over the Fairgrounds. This time , I saw just a few. The reason for this could be due to the politics of the recent past. The OCFS chose to opt out of DIRTCAR sanctioning for a year or two so the events had not been part of the SUPER DIRTCAR Series. This year the Big Block Modified section of the program was back as an SDS race, but not so for the other divisions. 
In my opinion, if the 358 Mods, Pro Stocks and Sportsman had also been racing for SDS points, the attendance figures would have been a lot more. Hopefully , by next year there will be a return to SDS points races for all divisions.
The program for Saturday included 305 Sprint Cars and Crate Sportsman with a 100 lap 358 Modified race topping the bill.
I spent the afternoon taking pics of the hot laps and heats before heading off to town for some supper before the evenings races. By now it had turned a bit chilly and I was in need of a warm up.
The big race for 358’s was won Jimmy Phelps , after long time leader Brett Hearn had to retire, with what appeared to be motor problems.
There were only two Canadians taking part, Stewart Friesen of Niagara on the Lake , Ontario and Pierre Dagenais of Gatineau, Quebec.
With Saturday nights racing completed well before 10-00pm it was time for the partying to begin. I’ve always enjoyed a good ‘racing party’ and the one held each year at the Eastern States Weekend is the best one I’ve attended , this side of the Atlantic ( I enjoyed partying at the races on a regular basis when living in the UK ! )
The track bar, named the ’31st Lap’ , is decked out with lots of historic racing memorabilia and hosts it’s famous ‘New Years Eve Party’ every October during this special weekend. It’s just like a real New Years Eve party with good music for dancing, silly hats, streamers and other party favors. It’s always been a ‘must’ for me, and a good enough reason to be camping out in October, instead of stuck in a hotel for the night.
I hung out with my media friends, Mike Petrucci, Dean Reynolds , Jamie Weaknecht and Mike Mallett and by 2-00 am I was ready for some serious sleep. With the absence of my departed friend Roger, his motor-home and the rest of the gang, my HHR was parked by it’s self close to the pit gate campground and washrooms.
Once awake, I again made McDonalds my chosen breakfast stop, where I was able to catch up with my e-mails and Face Book friends. While on line, I got an instant message from one of my buddies Dave Bissonnette, a Cornwall area Pro Stock driver. He asked me to wish , good luck to our friend Rob Yetman, who was taking part in Sunday’s 30 lapper.
When I returned to the track , I passed on Dave’s good wishes to Rob, and commented, that I hoped to be taking pics of him later in the day with the checkers. The Pro Stocks heats were scheduled for 12-30 pm which were to be followed by a Vintage Modified race. 
There was a very good collection of Vintage Mods and I really enjoyed watching these guys in action.
The Pro Stock race at the Eastern States always seems to be a good one and this was no exception.
It was almost a repeat of the Syracuse SUPER DIRT WEEK race two weeks earlier where Yetman and Rocky Warner had dueled throughout.
At Syracuse, it was Warner who came out tops but this time it was our friend Rob who took the checkers. ( I’m so glad my comments earlier in the day, hadn’t given him the ‘kiss of death’ )
Following the Pro Stocks, it was the 200 lap Eastern States Big Block Modified race, the main event of the weekend.
Once again there were just two Canadians taking part, Friesen was in his Big Block while Dagenais ran with his 358.
After the pre-race introductions the race got under way, after the now traditional four wide , crowd appreciation ‘wave lap’
I stationed myself in my usual OCFS picture taking position between turn three and four, close to the Tim Currier and Stewart Friesen pit stall.
Not long after the start of the race a red flag situation occurred for an incident at another part of the track. Obviously, I (or the other photographers with me) had no idea what had happened. The pace car lined the remaining field of cars up in front of us, and it soon became evident that Stewart Friesen was missing from the pack . When news started to filter through, we heard that he’d had a heavy impact against the retaining wall and another car.
We knew it was a bad wreck when the safety truck returned to the Friesen pit, with part of the roof panel . Stewart was taken to the local hospital, and thankfully , according to the press release that followed, he was released with no serious injuries.
( the following day Stewart made this comment on his Face Book Page “Thanks everyone for the get well Wishes, I’m doing ok, just a few lumps and bumps. Unfortunately the car is done. Should be good for the RoC race at 5 Mile this weekend. Hopefully we can put something together for Charlotte. Thanks again, Stew ” )
The race was under red flag status, for quite a while and once restarted, an abundance of cautions and a second red flag ( for a Jimmy Phelps incident) delayed the outcome even more. From lap 136 onwards, Danny Johnson would dominate the race after passing leader Justin Haers during a pit stop. At around 6-15 pm Johnson crossed the line to take the checkers and a victory in the 2011 Eastern States Championship.
With a six hour drive ahead of me, and work on Monday morning, I didn’t stay for the Victory Lane presentations, and was out of the gate as soon as I could.
Thanks go out to, my good friend and local photographer , Boris Rudzinski, who took care of the Victory photo for this report. I chose to make my return trip, via Binghamton, instead of Albany, so travelled up I81, to Syracuse, and on to Canada. After yet another quick ‘McDonalds stop’ at Binghamton, I was back home in Cornwall , at 1-00 am.