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MONDAY, MARCH 31, 2008 Contact: David Siegel (dsiegel@axcis.com) Team East, comprised of
seasoned Billings’s vets, will be treated to spring in California this
weekend as the Third Annual East-West Amateur Driving Challenge kicks off
with three races scheduled. The
two-day series continues on Saturday with three more races to close out the
competition. Bob Troyer, Howie
Gelfand, George Casale, Steve Oldford and Scott Woogen will represent the
Eastern delegation. Sue Boyce,
Sabrina Shaw, Rick Bertrand, Jason Maier and David Siegel represent the left
coasters. The teams include great
diversities of backgrounds, home states, gender, age and occupations. In 2006 and 2007, the home
field advantage prevailed over experience with the West Team nudging out the
East Team for top honors. This year
however, Team East has assembled a very strong group and will be slightly
favored to take the series. In
addition, Bob Troyer has some experience as he participated in the Northfield
Park Cal-Expo Pro Am and impressed all with his 1-mile oval driving skills. Ben Kenney, California
Harness Horseman’s Association president remarked, “The CHHA is happy to
support the Challenge as it has the last three years. Amateur racing brings some nice diversity
to our program out here and we appreciate the Billings group traveling such a
long distance to support this unique series.” Dave Elliott, Cal-Expo’s
General Manager echoed Ben’s sentiments.
The Amateur Club here has done a nice job with its creativity and we
are fully support their efforts in this and similar special events. After all, harness racing developed
through “gentlemen drivers (amateurs)” and I feel it is incumbent upon us to
keep such a tie to the past alive. The Billings Brigade will
be treated to tours of a local breeding farm, the State Capitol and
Sacramento as it was in the mid-1850s in “Old Town”. TrackMaster will be
providing Racing Fans free programs for the two-day event on their web site. Click here for free programs. For information about the
CADC, the Challenge or Amateur Driving in general, please visit www.thecadc.com. |