11/22/2004

FINAL PRACTICE PACKED

WALL TOWNSHIP, N.J. ~ Despite chilly temperatures and a morning drizzle, close to 85 race teams gather at Wall Township Speedway on Saturday (9/22) for the final practice session in preparation for this weekend's Turkey Derby XXXI presented by Victory Lane Racing Collectibles. The season-ending two-day event is scheduled for this Friday and Saturday, November 26 and 27, during the day light hours. The competitor pit area will open at 7:00 a.m. on both days, while fans will be welcomed into the grandstand area at 8:30 a.m. on both Friday and Saturday.

"There is a lot of interest for this race," operations manager Joe Lewandoski says. "About half of all the cars here on Saturday were Modified cars and a lot more stayed away because they were afraid to travel far with the weather looking so bad. Right now, the forecast for this weekend is good and that will be great for the traveling teams.

"I think that I can be conservative in saying that fans can expect at least 30 cars in both of our Modified divisions for Turkey Derby."

While Friday adult tickets are priced at $20 and Saturday adult tickets are $25, the two-day adult Turkey Derby ticket is a real bargain at just $30. Children age 6 to 12 will be admitted each day for $6, or a two-day children's ticket is being offered for just $10

On Friday, practice for all eight Turkey Derby divisions will run from 8:30 a.m. until driver's meetings begin at 11:30 a.m. At noon, qualifying heat races for Legend Cars, TQ Midgets, Truck and Four Cylinder racers will be contested before Tour Type Modified time trials are presented at 1:30 p.m. Next up at 2:15 p.m. will be Pro Stock and Street Stock heat races, before the Wall, SK and B Modified time trials take to the oval. Friday activity will then wrap up with Four Cylinder, TQ Midget, Truck and Legend Cars feature races. The first Friday main event green flag is set for 3:30 p.m.

On Saturday, practice for the Tour Type Modifieds, Wall Modifieds, Street Stocks and Pro Stocks starts the on track action at 8:30 a.m., before the mandatory driver's meeting at 10:15 a.m. and a series of last chance races for all divisions that need them starts at 10:30 a.m. At high noon, pre-race festivities will take place before the Turkey Derby 125 for Tour Type Modifieds takes the green flag at 12:30 p.m. Following immediately after will be a 40-lapper for the Pro Stocks, the Turkey Derby 100 for the Wall, SK B Modified and the a 40 lap main event for the Street Stocks.

The "Turkey Derby 125" for the Tour-Type Modifieds offers the fans 125-laps of green flag racing, while offering the drivers $5,000 to win and $500 to take the green flag. The "Turkey Derby 100" for the Wall/SK/B Modifieds will offer 100-laps of green flag racing with the winner pocketing $2,500 and $150 offered for starting the event.

Thanks to a $1,500 bonus posted by Dunkin' Donuts to an invading race team that can beat the locals in the tour type Modified 125-lapper, a large field of out of the area racers is expected.

The 125 lap Modified main event at Turkey Derby XXXI could be a rematch of a sizzling summer battle that happened here. The two combatants, Reggie Ruggiero and Ken Barry, have indicated that they will return for more action on the third mile high-banked paved oval speedway this weekend.

Back in June, when tour type Modified veteran Reggie Ruggiero and young lion Ken Barry met during the NASCAR Featherlite Modified Series, on track fireworks were the result! A fierce late-race battle between the two racers ended when the duo tangled exiting turn four. Barry's car slid to the infield; Ruggiero raced on to the win.

Each driver has made it clear that they will be looking for the checker flag on Saturday. Still, they will have plenty of invading competition.

The NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour will be well represented as standout Nevin George was one of the first to announce his intentions to compete. Tony Ferrante, Jr., Ted Christopher, Ken Barry, Eric Beers and Jimmy Broderick are other Tour regulars who have said that they plan on competing.

The Sunoco Race of Champions Modified Tour will also offer its fair share of competitors led by series champion and Tioga Speedway titlist Tony Hanbury. Other ROC Tour standouts who have said they'll participate include Matt Hirschman, John Markovic and J. Wesley Swartout. Even competitors from the SMART Tour have expressed great interest as Brian Pack plans on making the long tow from North Carolina. Wayne Helliwell, Jr. from the True Value Modified Tour has also filed an entry.

The Riverhead Raceway has a long list of entries for the contest. The famous speedway's 2004 NASCAR Modified champion Tom Rogers says that he is ready for the battle, as are Chuck Steuer, Ed Brunhoelzl, Dave Sapienza, John Bush, JR Bertuccio, Ken Vogel, Ken Heagy and Mike Andrews. Tom Flanagan and Jason Trinchere say they plan on representing the Mahoning Valley Speedway.

Lewandoski's "Jersey Dirty Dozen" in the Tour Type Modified 125 is also impressive. A trio of NASCAR Featherlite Modified Series regulars, John Blewett III, Jamie Tomaino and Brian Cranmer, lead the list. Ruggiero will join the "home team" as he pairs with Jersey car-owner legend Dick Barney in the Big Red No. 14.

Former Wall Speedway open Modified champion and Race Of Champions Tour standout Pete Brittain has also inked an entry form and has joined the "home team," as have fellow ROC Tour standouts Jim Willis and Richie Crompton. Ken Woolley, Jr. will be stepping it up for the Tour Type Modified race, while third generation driver Michael Bohn and the family act of Anthony and Amanda Sessley round out the Jersey drivers currently registered for the Tour type Modified event.

Almost all of the Wall Modified regulars are expected for the companion 100-lap event. Still, several drivers will see double duty as John Blewett, Jamie Tomaino and Pete Brittain are slated to compete in both championship races.

An innovative qualifying format for both the Tour Type Modifieds and the Wall/SK/B Modifieds has earned a lot of favorable attention.

In an effort to draw as many cars as possible in both Modified classes, while still offering fans plenty of meaningful racing, Lewandoski says that the top 14 drivers from time trials in each division will go directly into their respective main events. Two B Mains will then be contested by cars in each division that did not make the field through time trials. Each B Main will advance five cars into the feature race fields. Four provisional starters, determined from guaranteed starters or the fastest time trial runners who do not qualify through the B mains, will fill out each 28-car field.

Wall Township Speedway is located on Rt. 34, less than a mile north of Garden State Parkway exit 98 and Interstate 195 exit 35b. For more information on Wall Township Speedway call the speedway hotline at 732-681-6400 or visit the website at www.wallspeedway.com.

Sources:  Jeff Gravatt/Wall Township Speedway PR
Posted:  November 25, 2004