by joe faraldo with assistance from john
manzi
The night of July
27th in northern Italy started off with the Italian team once again
besting the Americans, scoring yet another victory. It came in the first event
over Padova's half mile oval when Ortello Zorzetto piloted Urgara wire to wire
which dashed hopes of any chance for team America.
Aided by a
teammate riding shotgun the Americans have yet to forego the individual
sacrifice for a team effort, which is frowned upon by US regulators and
bettors alike but seemingly acceptable on this side of the pond.
Tony Ciuffetelli,
the most consistent of the American team thus far, picked up a fourth
place finish.in the first race. But
depression was fast setting in.
Then came the
second chance in the next event and the least likely to emerge a winner after
two horrible experiences the night before was the so called team leader, Joe
Faraldo, who racketed a fractious Tieppo Mrs to the lead from her outside post
at 21-1 and she never yielded and went on to win in 2:01:4.What was especially
pleasing for Faraldo was that the fractious mare had made breaks in half
of her previous 15 starts.
According to
Faraldo, " it was a long time since my first ever win with my P license
which came here at this track, Padovanelle, 25 years ago with the horse
Aggonismo from the stable of Mr. Valpo".
Mario Greco the
trainer and regular reinsman for Tieppo Mrs was shocked at Faraldo’s win but
very, very happy with the share of the win from his mare's most often
unpredictability and her difficulty to drive, especially for an amateur.
After his recent
driving victory at Vincennes it was a little bit disquieting for Joe who
claimed to get only wins across the pond .
Alan
Schwartz, got a taste of the Italian team racing as he was charging for second
but got the tarantella from Team Italia pushing him so wide to rest second from
his grasp and forcing him to to a third place finish.
The evening ended
with a visit from Walter Destro, the 15 year president of the Veneto club who
started the friendship competition with The North American Amateur Drivers
Association 25 years ago. That special treat and a super dinner at Villa D'
Italia with Team Italia topped off a night when previously the US team was just
treading water. Hopefully, Ciuffetelli,the most consistent point getter,will be
picked up by Tony Verruso, Schwartz and Faraldo to pull the preverbal rabbit
out of the hat.
Tomorrow the
American team meets the former Italian Champion Michele Canali and another team
of Italian super amateurs at the beautiful Cesena racetrack by the sea.
Frequented by large crowds, the Americans will need to be at their best and
will need some bocca lupo for sure.
