2016 New Egypt Speedway Modified Preview
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2016 New Egypt Speedway Modified Preview
By: Pete MacDonald
New Egypt Speedway kicks off its 19th consecutive season as a dirt track this Saturday night. If the March Meltdown and Open Practice are any indication the race track surface will be once again smooth as glass for 2016.
Obviously the favorites heading into this season will again be Billy Pauch, Ryan Godown and Billy Pauch Jr, since New Egypt switched to small block’s full time at the beginning of 2013 those three drivers have managed to win 37 of the 59 weekly Modified features.
Let’s start with the two-time defending champion Ryan Godown. Ryan is probably the most consistent car week in and week out at New Egypt, since the switch over in 2013, Ryan has an astounding 18 Wins, 45 Top-5 finishes and 56 Top-10s in 59 races. I don’t care who you are, in this day and age that’s hard to do. He’s obviously the favorite to repeat again in 2016 in the EG Tire & Auto No.747.
Billy Pauch has dominated New Egypt Speedway for years. He has 126 wins at the track to go along with his six titles which may or may not ever be touched. Billy will also be a contender again in 2016, I believe after winning only a single feature event last year that he has a fire lit under his tail to prove that he still has it. Billy’s stats aren’t very far off of Ryan Godown’s with 13 Wins, 43 Top-5’s and 50 Top-10’s in the same 59 starts. Pauch has switched colors to yellow this season in hope to bring luck to Kevin Bifulco’s owned No.1.
Nobody had a better end to 2015 than Billy Pauch Jr. “The Kids Kid” went on a tear in August winning two features, running 2nd twice and finishing 7th in the other. Billy Jr. will again team up with Rick Holsten to pilot his potent No. 96, a newer Bicknell chassis was purchased over the off season to compliment the car that was ever so fast at the end of 2015. Since 2013, Pauch Jr. has made 34 starts at NES with 6 wins, 15 Top-5’s and 26 Top-10’s.
Neal Williams was another driver that seemed to get faster as the season went on and looks to build on what he learned at the end of 2015. Williams who has one feature event win at the Ocean County D-Shaped oval back in 2013 ended 2015 with 5 Top-5’s and 11 Top-10s at NES.
John McClelland is one of the nicest guys in the pit area, rarely ever has a bad thing to say, always upbeat and brings one of the nicest looking pieces to the race track weekly. “Johnny Mac” is set to contend for a NES title in 2016 with a brand new Teo Pro Car. McClelland ended 2015 with one Top-5 and 6 Top-10’s
Returning after a three year hiatus Dominick Buffalino plans to return to New Egypt as a weekly combatant driving Pat Michaels No. 51m. Buffalino who picked up the win in the Doug Hoffman Memorial last weekend has seven career New Egypt Speedway Modified wins. In three weekly starts last year at NES, Buffalino had a single Top-5 and 2 Top-10s. I believe Dominick can be a title contender if he plays his cards right.
Speaking of drivers that can be title contenders, 17-yr-old Ryan Krachun has the potential to be the youngest Modified champion in New Jersey history this year. Krachun won two races last year at New Egypt, one which came in only his second start in a dirt modified. Ryan ended his 2015 New Egypt Speedway season with three Top-5’s and five Top-10’s.
“Willie O” Willie Osmun will be a regular again at New Egypt this season driving Norm Saxton’s No. 23x weekly. Willie is one of the few drivers that has supported NES in some capacity since the place reopened in 1998. Willie’s 2015 season was highlighted by the $3,000 win in the May Modified Madness Finale last year.
If any driver would like to forget 2015 it would be Danny Bouc, Bouc struggled through the first part of 2015 through no fault of his own to the point he took a few weeks off in early August to regroup. Bouc is back with a vengeance in 2016 with a brand new Teo Pro Car and motor built by his father Gary. Bouc who won out at the Rumble in Ft. Wayne in Indiana and SHOULD have won the Atlantic City Indoor Race in Champ Karts is bringing that same intensity to New Egypt for 2016.
At the end of the day there are a lot of good cars weekly at New Egypt. Mikey and Clay Butler, Andrew Bohn, Lou Cicconi, Chad Barney, to Tad Cox they all bring excellent pieces to the race track weekly and any one of them can win on any given night.
I can be reached at racersguide@gmail.com or found on Twitter @PMacDonald51. Thanks for Reading!
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