Explanation From Orange County Fair Speedway Following April 2nd Sportsman Rules Infraction

Story By: ORANGE COUNTY FAIR SPEEDWAY – MIDDLETOWN, NY – On Saturday April 2nd the top 5 finishers of the Sportsman class went through a vigorous post-race inspection following the OCFS 25 lap Feature event.

The post-race inspection included Cubic inch measurement of the engines, compression ratio, valve spring & valve retainer inspection , rocker arm ratio and checking for proper 602 seals.

During the process the carburetors were removed. The venturis were checked as per rules, as were the throttle shafts and base plates. No infractions were found by the STSS Tech Officials, with the exception of the winning car’s carburetor spacer plate.

The spacer plate in question was brought to the OCFS Chief Technical Director, George Johnson for review and interpretation.

After reviewing the rulebook, it was determined that the spacer plate was not an illegal or banned component as described in the rule book. The rule states that you may have a spacer plate with an “unaltered single hole carb spacer”.

The spacer plate on the 38 car did not violate this rule. The intent of the rule was to have the “square” hole with even lines around the outside edges however, this is not spelled out in the rules definitively.

Therefore, it could not be determined to be an unallowed or illegal component.

While it’s highly unlikely the plate on the 38 car gave the team any performance advantage, the spacer was confiscated and the team was fined $250 because the officials felt it was not what was intended when writing the rulebook.

Moving forward, the OCFS Officials will update the language in the rule book to more clearly identify the intent of the rule.