11/16/2003

NORTH EAST ENDURO TOUR SERIES TOP TEN HONORED AT FIRST ANNUAL AWARDS BANQUET

 The North East Enduro Tour Series held its awards banquet at the Best Western/Gennetti Motor Lodge in Hazleton,Pa to honor the top ten in points and crown the first Champion for its inaugural season. The series was asked by Mountain Speedway promoter Joe Calavini to join in their ceremonies because NEETS considers Mountain its "hometrack".
  In their portion of the night, NEETS promoter Billy B. (also Mountain Speedway Director of Operations) took over the podium duties from the never for a loss of words, regular speedway announcer, Dino Oberto, to honor his tour members.
  Billy talked about the success of the series first season and future goals. He then went on to recognize his first top ten leaders in points and award them their beautiful trophies and point fund monies.
   Sharing in the awards were (from second to tenth) were Rich Johnson from Mastic NY; Richard Petey - Hackettsville, NJ; Bill Blessing - Westfield, NJ; Howie Bott - Budd Lake, NJ; Dave Shafnisky - Whitehall, PA; Caesar Cunaccia - Lindenhurst, NY; Bobby Pease - Medford, NY; Jim Erdbrink - Bellmar, NJ; and George Herman - Kutztown, PA.
  The high point came when the series first champion Ray Fitzgerald from Manorville, NY was called to the stage and given his awards. Ray was met with much applause and went on to speak about the tour. He thanked all that helped him and the people that put this series together. "Ray will be an excellent representative for NEETS" says Billy B.
   Other special awards went out to certain tour members for their help in some of the series events and extra effort put forth. Those recognized were Jeannine Sykes and Gene Ostrowski. One more "Promoters Award" went to the driver that helped the morale of the series the most, Richard Petey. The award was named the "Uncle Petey Award" after the first winner and will be presented every year.
   A few surprises came when Billy B was presented with some very special gifts from the tour members. He received a plaque for his work on making the tour a success, a checkered flag with the signatures of the top ten drivers and a yearbook with stories, pictures, AARN advertisements and press releases from the prior season. Flowers for his wife were also presented.
   NEETS has now completed the 2003 season and is working on the next. Billy has explained that he is working on the 2004 schedule and will be out in January. Some new tracks are going to be seen and some will be dropped but cannot be announced until all the papers are signed. A rules meeting is going to be scheduled for early December so the crews can get working on their cars. The 2004 NEETS licenses are now available and the applications can be obtained from the tour official website.
   The North East Enduro Tour Series is an affordable form of racing and if you are looking to have fun this year, look into this series. All info about NEETS can be found at www.neetstour.net or you can e-mail the tour promoter at billyb@neetstour.net

Sources:  NEETS PR
Posted:  November 17, 2003