Hoseheads New York, Another Summer, Another Exceptional Show (originally posted on August 5, 2002)

Published October 28, 2008 05:09AM, by Jake MorganViewed: 2923 times

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(originally posted on August 5, 2002)

This summer has been a very frustrating season as a spectator. I’ve seen a number of sub-par events with only a few exceptions; The ATPA Grand American event at Arcola Indiana was one standout event, as well as the ATPA putting on a good show in Mercer Pennsylvania. There were quality vehicles at both events and very efficiently run shows.

Unfortunately it’s been all down hill since those events. I was counting on the co-sanctioned event between the Empire State Pullers and the New York Tractor Pullers Association in Horseheads, NY to pull my summer out of a tailspin. Luckily, it worked; the Horseheads pull was one of the best events I’ve seen in a very long time. Rick Feicht and Full Pull Productions have put on a great show for the past few years, and he continued that tradition again this summer.

The turnout of vehicles was great, but the quality of the show was exceptional. The pull started exactly on time. The announcing was great and the show went smoothly. The track crew did a great job keeping things moving along quickly with very short time in-between hooks. The track was exceptionally smooth and the tractors seemed to be hooking up real well. There was also a good crowd on hand and all the seats are very close to trackside.

The Mod class had a good turnout of nearly a dozen vehicles. Jeff Parker started out the class with a very strong pass on the Northern Eagle taking Richard Love’s sled out to about 290’. A few tractors later Bob Cole tried the left side of the track but wound up fighting the brake for a good part of his run and the Bandit came to a rest about 20’ behind Parker. Dana Freeman in his first full season behind the seat has had a great summer so far leading the ESP points and picking up quite a few wins along the way. Dana took the center line and blazed a new leading distance to beat at just a hair over 300’. Nobody else would get close to that mark as the Hammer Time mod picked up another win.

The next class up was the Two Wheel drive trucks. There were about a dozen vehicles in this class also. There is a good a mix of t-buckets and full-bodied trucks. Ken Wheeler Something Special, Mike Bartoszewski Destination 300, Dave Laskowski Never Say Never Again, and Rick Simpson Outlaws Obsession are some of the top trucks in each of the organizations and they continued to battle it out at this co-sanctioned event. Wheeler laid down a great pass for the win and it seemed as if the track was getting better all night. If my memory serves me correctly Destination 300 took second place with Simpson and Laskowski a little off of their usual pace.

The last class of the night was the Superstock class. 17 tractors made the trip, and they were some of the best NY has to offer. Hooking early in the class was Henry Everman and Final Decision. Henry’s motor mad tons of power but he had a rocking ride and didn’t get all the power to the ground but still managed to get the IH 5488 out to 297’. Henry would hold the lead for about half the class until another top diesel IH would hook to the sled. This time it was Hans Boxlers MX 270. Hans was pushing the tractor really hard tonight and laid down a picture perfect run carrying the front a few feet off the ground and straight down the center of the track to 317’. Boxler’s diesel puts out about a 3’ flame out of each of the twin stacks on a good run and tonight was no exception. Unfortunately at the end of the run as the tractor was just about out of momentum the intake manifold let go and took some of the MX sheet metal with it. Hooking near the tail end of the class were 3 strong running alcohol tractors. Chris Cole, not convinced that his father’s line in the Mod class was a bad idea also tried the left side of the track on his V-8 Reborn Binder IH 1068. And unfortunately Chris’s motor ran great but unfortunately he fought the brakes as hard as his father did and fell well short of the full pull line. Mark Hayes IH 766 Supernatural showed that a strong running light Superstock can still run with the heavy tractors. He put a straight pass down the center of the track but fell about 20’ short of pulloff territory. The third alcohol in the group was a blue one, Mark Hootman’s New Holland TJ 275 Hooter’s Scooter. The Scooter screamed to life and launched off of the line straight down the center of the track. Mark got on the wheelie bars hard on his run about 3 times but it didn’t seem to matter tonight as the Scooter easily takes the sled out the end and Mark gets flagged and come to a stop at about 315’. Giving up 500 lbs. to the diesel tractors didn’t matter tonight for the Scooter. Unfortunately, no one else made it out the end and Hootman and Boxler split the win. As a side note, Hootman got out of the throttle early, and could have used at least another 150’ on the nose, and Boxlers intake blew apart when they had a few more ft in the tractor. Hamburg NY should be interesting, hopefully we will see where these two tractors stack up against the best alkies in the country and if Boxlers have gained any ground on the alcohol burners.

Overall the event was a great show. If anyone is interested in seeing some quality tractor pulling in New York next summer Horseheads is the pull to go to. If the weather holds I’m expecting Full Pull Productions to put on the same great quality show at the ATPA Bull Pull in Hamburg NY this Wednesday Night.

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Jake Morgan
Owner, PULLOFF.COM
Independent Pulling News

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