FRIDAY’S 100-LAP MODIFIED FEATURE TO CLOSE OUT MOHAWK RACEWAY SEASON

AKWESASNE, NY -- Mohawk International Raceway’s (MIR) season roars to a close this Friday, September 11th, as the SuperDIRT 358 Modified series will be on the card with a 100-lap feature event, presented by A&M Beverage of Malone and Tarbell Management Group, Bear’s Den, Eastern Door, Western Door and Jen Tobacco. Racing action starts at 7:45 PM. The SUNY Canton Street Stocks will also be on the racing card, with a 30-lap open competition feature paying $1,000 to win, while the Bandits will have a 20-lap open competition feature paying $200 to win.

The SuperDIRT 358 tour is one of the Northeast’s major touring series and Friday night’s event at Mohawk International Raceway is expected to draw a stellar field of Frenchie’s Chevrolet DIRTcar 358 Modifieds. Last Sunday’s SuperDIRT 358 series race at Cornwall Motor Speedway drew 48 Modifieds and Friday night’s event will draw the best teams from throughout Ontario, Quebec and Northern New York to challenge the DIRT invaders. Friday night’s race at Mohawk International Raceway will kick off a three-night swing through the North Country, as on Saturday night, September 12th the SuperDIRT 358 tour moves to the Brockville Ontario Speeway (the BOS) and the weekend swing concludes on Sunday, September 13th at Autodrome Granby.

Going into Friday’s race, 2009 358 Modified track champion Roy Tarbell and the team of Carey Terrance and Dale Planck will be looking to etch their names on the winner’s trophy. Tarbell and Terrance have each won three features at MIR this season and Terrance is coming off a huge win at the Jiffy 100 SuperDIRT series event at Cornwall. Planck leads the SuperDIRT 358 points coming into the event, with an outstanding second-place finish on Sunday at Cornwall after starting 34th on the field, and Planck knows Mohawk Raceway quite well: in his first start of the season, he dominated the later stages of the Lucas Oil 358 series 100-lap event before a mechanical failure sidelined him and he scored a second-place finish to teammate Terrance in his second start of the season.

Besides Planck, some of the DIRT invaders expected to appear include “Mr. Small Block” Pete Bicknell, Danny O’Brien, Larry Lapman Jr. and Chad Brachman, who are all following the SuperDIRT 358 tour. A strong contingent of Quebec Modified stars is also expected to challenge the DIRT invaders as the Quebec drivers have shown through their strong Lucas Oil series runs that they are up to the challenge. The defending champion of this race is Mario Clair, while David Hebert has won back-to-back Lucas Oil 100-lappers at Mohawk Raceway.

The SUNY Canton Street Stock series event will be a wide-open affair with several outsiders expected to challenge the Mohawk Raceway regulars. Three drivers have dominated the Street Stocks at Mohawk Raceway this year, with Mike Allen, Preston Forbes and Mike White each scoring three feature wins, but new addition Eli Gilbert is coming off two straight second-place finishes.

The Battle of the Bandits is expected to draw cars from throughout the Seaway Valley but the invaders will likely find the Mohawk Raceway regulars tough to beat. Newly crowned Bandit champion Joey Foster and second-place point man Scott Mere will be looking to complete their seasons with a big win, but the list of possible winners is long: Nolan Swamp has two wins, Derek Hulbert is coming off a win last Friday in his first start of the season, while Henry Lamica, Justin White and Brad Fish are just a few of the Bandit regulars still looking to break into the win column.

Mohawk International Raceway is located in Akwesasne, NY, one mile east of the International Bridge to Cornwall, ONT. From Route 37, turn south onto Frogtown Road. Racing is held on Friday nights from May through September, featuring DIRTcar 358 Modifieds and Pro Stocks, Street Stocks and Bandits. Visit us on the web at http://www.MohawkIntRaceway.com.

Mike Watts photos