Bob “the Headhunter” Hechkoff has been a force to be
reckoned with over the past few years in the Billings Harness Driving
Series. With his victory at Freehold Raceway on Saturday afternoon(Sept.
20) the Executive Recruiter by trade, notched his eighth seasonal victory when
he guided his own Tagmaster to gate to wire triumph in a 2:01.1
clocking. Alaric and “Johnny on The Spot” Kolkowski finished second some
four lengths behind the winner while third place went to Sam’s Honeybee, driven
by the Billings Series president, Tony “the Capo” Verruso.
Besides his eight wins Hechkoff’s seasonal stats also
include 12 seconds and four thirds in 38 trips to post for a whopping .421UDR.
Last year he was the winner of the Harness Racing
Museum’s Amateur Driver of the Year Award and again this year , “the
Headhunter” has a good chance of repeating especially if he can hold off
Steve’ You’re Never Too” Oldford.
Although Hechkoff currently leads Oldford in total points
125 -115, to become the Museum’s Amateur of the Year it all comes down to the
total amount of money donated to the Museum from the percentage earned by the
horses they drive in the Billings Series.
Still, there are plenty of chances for all Billings
participants to add to their seasonal earnings with 10 series events remaining
before the regional finales in November. And when the series preliminary legs
are concluded the $25,000 Gold and $15,000 Silver Cup Finals will be contested
at Harrah’s Philadelphia on November 23.
The Gold and Silver Cup finales are for the Billings drivers
who earned the most points during the seven month series.
Besides Hechkoff (135) and Oldford (115) the current leaders
in points include Tony Verruso (81), “Marvelous Marvin” Raber (80),”Mighty
Matt” Zuccarello (73), Dave“ Yes it’s True” Offenberg, (73), David “Steady As”
Yarock (66), “Tough Tony” Ciuffetelli (61), Peter “Sycamore Ventures”
Gerry (61) and Dave “Linemaster” Ehrenberg (54).
