Hamburg, NY – The curtain was raised on a brand new
season of racing earlier this week at Buffalo Raceway, and new faces continue
to arrive on the Western New York racing scene heating up the competition on
the track to an all new level.
Drivers Dan Noble and Shawn Gray exploded on the scene
locally last year to take top honors in the drivers standings, with Gray
becoming the first Buffalo Raceway regular to earn over one million dollars in
one season and Noble reaching the $800,000 plateau in his first season of local
action as well.
It didn’t take long for a trio of newcomers to make their
presence felt in the new season, as newcomers Billy Dobson, Fern Paquet Jr.,
and Ronnie Wrenn Jr. each picked up a victory on the opening night
program. Veteran Saratoga reinsmen Mark Beckwith, who typically competes
at Buffalo in the winter months, posted two victories on the
card.
Dobson, a Michigan native, has been the leading driver at
Saratoga Raceway in each of the last three seasons and has opted to spend the
first part of 2013 as a Buffalo regular.
“I plan to be at Buffalo every night until Saratoga opens
back up in early March,” said Dobson. “I decided to come here and give it
a try with the good purse money, and the tracks in the city (Meadowlands and
Yonkers) are typically overloaded with drivers this time of year.”
Wrenn, also a Michigan native, has enjoyed huge success in
his home state over the last several years and has since branched out to enjoy
being on or near the top of drivers standings at Northfield Park and Running
Aces over the last several months.
“I look forward to coming up on Wednesdays to drive at
Buffalo, and might try to add weekends later on down the road,” Wrenn
stated.
Another newcomer planning to ply his trade locally this
season is Greg Merton, who fans will recognize quickly as one of the perennial
top guns at Monticello Raceway, where he finished as the leading percentage
driver in 2012.
“I am going to continue to race at Monticello Monday through
Thursday, and I plan to race at Buffalo Raceway on Fridays and Saturdays as
long as I can continue to get work,” Merton explained. Merton has been
called upon by the barns of David Sabatelli and John Mungillo as part of his
opening weekend driving duties.
Yet another newcomer slated to make his career debut at
Buffalo Raceway in 2013 is 19-year old Tyler Smith of Ohio, who plans to spend
his Saturday nights locally to start off the new year. One of the
brightest young stars in the industry, Smith has been piling up victories in
Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio over the last couple of seasons, leaving him less
than 300 victories shy of becoming the youngest driver in history to reach
1,000 wins. He has just over a year to accomplish the amazing feat, a
mark currently held by Canadian Doug McNair. Although he is programmed to
compete on the first Saturday night card, Smith noted a licensing issue would
keep him out of action for the first week but he expects things to fall in
place by the second Saturday of action.
Not only will the new faces find stiff competition on the
track from one another, they will have to contend with a veteran driving colony
that have called Buffalo Raceway home in the past.
Although 2012 leader Shawn Gray posted an extremely rare
shutout on the Opening Night card, driver Dan Noble greeted the newcomers by
posting 6 wins on the program. Drivers Kevin Cummings and John Cummings
Jr., who finished 3rd and 4th in 2012 respectively, each
posted a win on the opening program as well. Local regulars Ray Fisher
Jr., Jack Flanigen, Jim McNeight, and David McNeight III all finished with over
75 wins in 2012 and should find plenty of success in the 2013 season as well.
The live racing season continues at Buffalo Raceway each
Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. First post Wednesday is at 5 p.m. and
features a $5,000 Guaranteed Pick 4 Pool. Friday and Saturday evening
first post is at 6:40 p.m.
