RPW Column: Around 100 Cars Fill Orange County’s Pit Area For Eastern States Weekend Practice
News Director 
Column By: MIKE TRAVERSE / RPW – MIDDLETOWN, NY – From the looks of the pit area at OCFS on Saturday, next weekend’s Eastern States Weekend is going to be filled with competitors.
More than 50 Sportsman signed in for practice. Add in the Modifieds, 358 Small Block Modifieds, Street Stocks and Pro Stocks and it was right about 100 cars that participated in Saturday’s practice.
A couple of prominent Lebanon Valley regulars checked in for practice. Marc Johnson in the #9 and Kyle Armstrong in the 11A both were fast in the sessions. Johnson was in the top 3 in all three sessions while Armstrong was 4th in the first session with the other two in the top ten.
Some cars had sail panels in preparation for the Short Track Series Hard Clay Finale. Charles Loiodice was the fastest of all Modifieds the first two sessions. Some others running sail panels were Randy Green, John Ferrier, Geoff Quackenbush and Jimmy Devitt.
OCFS regular, Craig Mitchell, paced the 3rd Modified practice session.
Dillon Steuer was the quickest in 358 sessions one and two and was 2nd quick in session three. Roger Henion Jr. was the fastest in session 3.
Kasey Hufcut and Tyler Johnston were the dominant cars in the Sportsman sessions. Hufcut led session 1 and 2 and Johnston was 2nd quick in all three sessions. 2022 Sportsman champion, Cody Higbie, was in the top 5 the first two sessions and was the quickest in session three.
The Street Stocks took their sessions with the Pro Stocks that were attending the practice. The Team Froggy #07 of Ryan Modiano led sessions one and three with Dillon Gannon quickest in session two.
Some Practice Notes…
Pat Giuliano had his immaculate #51 at the track for practice and his driver for ESW is Randy Green. Pat has had success in the past in the ESW Sportsman race. As a 12 year old, Tanner VanDoren won the race in 2020. Randy moved up the charts from session one to finish 10th and 14th in the final two sessions.
Accord regular, Geoff Quackenbush, was practicing for the STSS race on Friday. Geoff was in the top 6 the first two sessions.
Mike Vigiletti had a big crash on the final night of the regular season. Mike and the crew have pieced together what was salvageable from the crashed car with some of last year’s car and the 4 time OCFS Street Stock Champion will be in action for the Eastern States Weekend. Once again, the dedication of racers and teams is evident. .
Jimmy Maher had his Street Stock out for practice. Jim has won many of the big money Street Stock races at OCFS through the years and it was good to see the M1 back out on the track.
Moose Shauger has finished up his first season at OCFS. Moose and the #88 team are not planning on running ESW, but they used the practice session to see how some of the changes that they’ve done to the car worked out. A very nice group of people on the #88 team, I wish them well in their racing endeavors.
