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Spring Green - Furniture World of VT ACT 100 Lap ACT Late Model Tour and regular Airborne divisions Saturday, May 12th 2007
by Silent Dale
Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh NY kicked off its 2007 season opener in front of a crowd of over 3000 people. Under the new
ownership of the Fuller family, the ACT late models present for a 100 lap ACT race, and ticket prices pushing $20.00 per seat
they were able to pack the grandstands.
The main event, the 100 lap ACT race was won by a youngster from Georgia Vermont named Ryan Nolin. Nolin began racing
in the 4 cylinder Street Stock division, which he dominated in. He then moved up to the Tiger Sportsman division, again winning
multiple races and contending for a championship before making the latest move to an ACT late model. Due to a good qualifying
run he was able to start near the front of the pack. The battle for the lead quickly became amongst veterans Jean Paul Cyr
and Brent Dragon. While they were side by side going into turn 3, Nolin somehow managed to go 3 wide and slip under both of
them overtaking the lead which he would not relinquish. It wasn't long after Nolin in the 78 car took the lead that the cautions
began to fly. Restart after restart with veteran Cyr on the outside of Nolin, Ryan continued to gain the advantage every time.
Fans were wondering how many times he could hold off a driver like Jean Paul Cyr, but he was able to do that task every time
necessary being the first car to take the checkered flag at lap 100. It was his first ACT tour win and he could not have picked
a better track to do it at because as he mentioned in victory lane, Airborne was where he began attending races.
Airborne's headlining division, the 358 Modifieds put on a good show as always. In his heat race, George Foley was looking
extremely fast and was a favorite to win the feature main event. Other fast cars including the regular names of Leon Gonyo,
Mike Bruno, and Patrick Dupree, amongst others. George Foley was indeed dominating the feature race until a mishap with a
lap down car who was ignoring a black flag. This damaged Foley's car, and put him back towards the middle of the pack. An
understandably upset Foley was charging towards the front, until he was behind the always fast Ford of Leon Gonyo. Impatiently,
Foley attempted to dive under Gonyo to a spot that wasn't quite there, resulting in the Gonyo machine spinning into the infield
bringing out a caution. Airborne Speedway has a policy that if a car spins another car in this manner that both cars must
restart at the tail of the field, which Foley was not able to recover from. But Patrick Dupree was, and captured another victory
at the ½ mile asphalt track to his portfolio. Mike Bruno overcame problems such as a necessary mid race pit stop for a flat
tire to still capture a podium finish of 3rd.
Defending Tiger Sportsman champion, Toby Ebersole, finished right where he left off last year and that would be first
place. Jamy Begor appeared to have the race won until about the mid point of the race. He had led virtually lap in dominating
fashion until his car shutting down under a caution in turn 2. Ebersole would inherit the lead on the restart. He fought off
a hungry Bucko Branham for the win while Bucko repeatedly knocked on the back door of the Ebersole car. Bucko Branham is always
a front runner and threat to win in any division he runs in, which the previous two years was the Modifieds and the Tigers.
However, this year he is running a Tiger Sportsman race car only. Many fans would say that the Tiger Sportsman division would
be their favorite division at Airborne Speedway. The cars very much resemble the NASCAR cars of the 1980s, with a somewhat
shorter car length. They have a tendency to run in packs, always two and often three wide. When you can throw a blanket over
a pack of cars at the front of the field, it always makes for exciting racing. And what race fan does not like that?
Feature winners in the other divisions included Don Bluto Jr. in the Renegades, Billy Jenkins in the Warriors and Joe
Garrow in the Bombers. The Renegades are an 8 cylinder street stock divisions, and the Warriors and Bombers are 4 cylinder
entry level division. The difference between the Bombers and Warriors is they are 8 valve and 16 valve motors, respectively.
Airborne's opening day was a huge success, and I look forward to many more to come. If you are, or ever are in the Plattsburgh
NY area I highly urge you to come out to see some great Saturday night short track racing. It is racing the way it used to
be. With the recent new management of Mike Perrotte, and the new ownership of the Fuller family, the facility is certainly
in great hands. Many improvements to the grounds have been done in the off season such as a giant tech building in the pit
area, many new sponsor billboards, and clearing out some trees surrounding track and it certainly shows that the track has
a bright future. Come on out and enjoy some racing.
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