The Write Track – Little Valley Speedway – Brock Young Memorial – July 15th, 2011

I’m back with part two of a two-day race fest, as this is the second track in two days that it was my first time being there. This was a bit different, as I was a guest with the Knowles racing team. I rode along with Brian Knowles who drives the number 7 BRP 360 late model who was going to be racing in the Brock Young Memorial Race,

a race that his father Larry has won before. Brian’s brother Jason was also racing(number 4)

and he beat us there, but we weren’t really racing to get there, but we were plenty early. As soon as we pull into the pits, the lady come right up to the truck and let us sign in and we were on our way. Thanks to Larry Knowles also for offering up the ride to get there and also on a side note, Larry is the owner of Doug Gross Construction, who obviously is helping out his kids racing now and he has retired from racing.

This racetrack is actually the Cattaraugus County Fairgrounds, so there are plenty of horse barns, fenced in areas and a bunch of buildings on the property. Brian parked the truck and trailer just outside of turn three which he was telling me the whole way there is you can see everything from where we park.

He wasn’t kidding, after we got the racecar un-strapped and the ladder out, I set that up and climbed up on the platform on the roof of the hauler. Wow, what a view. I am told that the track is a measured ½ mile and I think it looks a bit bigger than that. The straight-aways are very long and the corners are very tight, so I guess you could say it was a big “paper clip” so to speak. I could not wait to see some racing as I figured any car on this track is absolutely going to be flying down the long straight-aways.

I left Brian and John (Crew) to get their stuff out of trailer and set up so that I could walk around and check the place out. I noticed that the “Snack Shack”

was opened and went on over to see what was on the menu. This is the concession stand in the pits. To my surprise, you can get anything from a taco salad, ice cream, eggs and bacon, sloppy joes, potato and macaroni salad and much more.

They also were making milkshakes and ice cream floats along with serving coca-cola products for beverages. The condiment table was filled with a ton of things for your goodies. I had some French fries and a taco salad along with a hot dog, all was very good and another thing I like is that they have combo deals that save you some money. Just outside the Snack Shack is also the pit shack/office and there are two boards that they write the lineups on.

We had some time as we are there early and Brian took me for a ride out on the track on the four-wheeler, which gave me a great opportunity to snap some pictures.

^Turn 4^

The grandstands that are there are huge and are down into turn one. The flag stand is also closer to turn one and not centered on the straightaway.

I find it amazing that the place actually has no tower for the officials or scorers to sit and they sit in chairs on the platform with tables setup.

I could not believe this at all, I’m sure they are using pencils, as soon as you get dirt flying in the air you can’t write to good on paper with a pen. They also have a lap counter with the top 3 positions and this sits in between turn 1 and 2.

It was still a bit hard to see from where we were standing in turn three as it is or it seems like a mile away.

On the inside of the corners they have tires half buried and Brian is telling me it isn’t good when you get into to of them as they run right close to the bottom and many guys have been bitten by this.

I have a bunch of video that I will have posted on my youtube channel that shows a great speed shot of the E-Mods racing down the backstretch. I never made it over to sit in the grandstands or check out the food over there, but I guess the pizza you can get over in the grandstand area is huge.

This event was the 100th event on the BRP 360 Late Model Can Am Series that is run and operated by Gary Montgomery. Along with this racing were street stocks, UEMS E-Mods and also the super late models. The UEMS (United E-Mod Series) was doing a make-up feature from an earlier date as well as a regular show. They did no hot laps for the event and also had a drivers meeting. They pretty much covered all the basics in the meeting and Chris Zuver talked with the E-Mod drivers as he also runs this series along with the ULMS for the super late models.

John, Brian’s crew guy drew #6 and it ended up putting Brian on the pole in the first heat as no one drew any lower than that. The heats went 8 laps in distance and Brian would go on to win his heat, putting him in the redraw for the feature. John would then again draw the number six and that is where he would be starting the feature event. Brian’s brother Jason drew #3 just one row ahead of Brian. There was a total of 23 BRP cars in attendance which all would qualify and make the feature event. Bruce Miller started on the pole and went on to lead all the laps with Jeremy Wonderling in tow right behind him. There were 7 cautions in the first 8 laps, and unfortunately Brian ended up spinning out in turns 1 and 2. And lost some positions. On another restart it looked like someone hit Brian in the rear and then got banged up on the right hand side and ruined a great run giving Brian two flat rear tires. The crew was hustling around to get ready for him to come in and do some tire changes and we did, it was fast and he was able to get back out there and finish the race.
Jason held on for a 4th place finish while Brian charged up from the tail of the pack to salvage a 12th place finish. Hats off to Gary Montgomery for his 100th race and also to all the drivers who supported him along the way. Without much rain in the area, the track crew had watered down the track, but at feature time it was already hard and bumpy and very dry and dusty.

All the racing divisions put on great shows and there was racing and passing throughout each feature. Each class enters the corners completely different and some of the super late models were sliding it in so hard the rear of their cars was almost hitting the guardrail fence on the outside. The E-Mods were as loud as the super late models and put on a very competitive race in their makeup feature. Bob Close would take the win in that one while Dan Davies took the win in the regular feature event. I did not get to see the second feature as we were on our way out of there and going home. Andy Michael won the street stock race in their 15th lap feature while Richard “Boom” Briggs won the super late models.

Overall, this racing experience was really fun, I got to see some really great racing and more important is the speed that I got to see with the super lates. It was fun helping Brian out getting the mud of the car and just being part of the team was super fun and it gave me someone to cheer for. I want to say thanks again to the Knowles Racing family and a friends for allowing me to go with them racing. Be sure to check out there team website below and also find them on facebook under Team 4 Racing. Also check out Doug Gross Construction for all your construction needs. They specialize in equipment rentals, dumpster and roll off service, and much more. Give them a call at 607-936-0168.

No plans of yet where the next race track that I will be at, Little Valley will be racing next on September 4th for the Labor Day Coca-Cola Classic. So keep it tuned right her and stay on “The Write Track” and get out and support racing at your local track. Be sure to always visit sponsors who support racing as it helps us all in the long run. Thanks again to the Knowles family for taking me to a great racetrack I really enjoyed myself, THANKS!!
After a tought night of racing, the car is loaded and we were headed home.

Website Links of interest

Little Valley Speedway>
http://www.littlevalleyspeedway.com
BRP Can Am 360 Late Model Series
http://www.brpcanamseries.com/
UEMS E Mod Series>
http://unitedlatemodelseries.com/
Knowles Racing Team>
http://www.goteam4racing.com/
My Blogsite>
http://thewritetrackracing.blogspot.com/
My YouTube Channel>
http://www.youtube.com/user/tazman27j

Full Results July 15th, 2011

Super Late Models: (30 laps) 1. Boom Briggs 2. Mike Knight, 3. Chad Valone, 4. Jason Dupont, 5. Rod Maloy, 6. Dick Barton, 7. Greg Oakes, 8. David Scott, 9. John Lacki, 10. Chris Hackett, 11. Jeff Dayman, 12. Terry Porter, 13. Doug Ricotta, 14. Dutch Davies, 15. Paul Grigsby, 16. James Mason, and 17. Bump Hedman. Heat winners were Knight and Briggs.

360 Late Models Brock Young Memorial: (22 laps) 1. Bruce Miller, 2. Jeremy Wonderling, 3. Mikey Wonderling, 4. Jason Knowles. 5. Bryce Davis, 6. Greg Galligan, 7. Dave Dubois, 8. Dusty Waters, 9. Mike Wonderling, 10. Brian Hoffman, 11. Bob Close, 12. Brian Knowles, 13. Jon Rivers, 14. DJ Krug 15. John Waters, 16. Glen Writenour, 17. Jarod Hill, 18. Carl Cleveland, 19. Ron Wilkins, 20. Jeff Chesebro, 21. Quinn Sutherland, 22. Bob Babbitt, and 23. Barry Payne. Heat winners were Brian Knowles, Mikey Wonderling, and Chesebro.

E-Mod Makeup: (20 laps) 1. Bob Close, 2. Joel Watson, 3. Rich Michael, 4. Jack Young, 5. Craig Bedell, 6. Kyle Bedell, 7. Al Brewer, 8. Justin Carlson, 9. John Woodward, 10. Tim Peterson, 11. Vic Vena, 12. Mike McGee, 13. Randy Hall, 14. Nate Hill, 15. Brian Fardink, 16. Bud Watson, 17. Kari Gasser, 18. Kyle Inman, 19. Butch Southwell, 20. Dan Davies, and 21. Tim Rockwell. Heat winners were Joel Watson, Michael, Rockwell, and Davies. Consi winner was Woodward.

E-Mod Feature: (20 laps) 1. Dan Davies, 2. Justin Carlson, 3. Butch Southwell, 4. Rich Michael, 5. Joel Watson, 6. Al Brewer, 7. John Woodward 8. Darren Tarabori, 9. Craig Bedell, 10. Tim Rockwell, 11. Brain Fardink, 12. Bud Watson, 13. Kari Gasser, 14. Vic Vena, 15. Kevin Buff, 16. Tim Peterson, 17. Mike McGee, 18. Jeff Johnson, 19. Jack Young, 20. Randy Hall, 21. Nate Hill, 22. Bob Close, 23. Ben Asel, and 24. Kyle Bedell.

Street Stocks: (15 laps) 1. Andy Michael 2. Rich Wojtowicz, 3. Critter Hemphill, 4. Rob Stromecki, 5. Butch Talbot, 6. John Woodward 7. Levi Watson, 8. Jeff Woodward, 9. Josh Wilcox, 10. Tim Bruce, 11. Steve Sklar, 12. Barry Tingue, 13. Chris Austin, 14. Kevin Dzuroff, and 15. Craig Rex. DNS: Bruno Mowery. Heat winners were Michael and Wojtowicz.