Excitement looms over SCoNE’s first standalone event at historic New York track
PLATTSBURGH, New York (August 5, 2024) – There’s a wave of change building for the McGee Automotive Family Sprint Cars of New England (SCoNE) Tour. The old guard is still strong, but a crop of young, talented drivers is beginning to show the way around the track. As the “winged, wild, and wicked fast” SCoNE Tour visits New York’s Airborne Park Speedway on Saturday, August 10, that contrast will be put to the test.
Saturday’s race, which is sponsored by SEACOMM Federal Credit Union, is one that racers circled on their calendars when the SCoNE schedule was announced last winter. The fast, D-shaped, 4/10-mile oval at Airborne Park Speedway is enjoying a resurgent 70th season, and the event will be the first standalone race for SCoNE in the track’s history; SCoNE’s only other appearance came in 2018 as a combination event with the Empire Super Sprints (ESS).
As for the division in age, the top 20 drivers in the SCoNE Tour championship standings are split evenly among racers on either side of 30 years old. Campton, New Hampshire’s Matt Hoyt, 24, finds himself leading the points as he chases his first title, while nipping at his heels is former two-time champion Will Hull, who is 42. Behind them are 30-year-old Jake Williams, 17-year-old Kadyn Berry, and Floyd Billington, who turns 60 next month.
While the youth movement leads the points, the veterans have scored more race victories in 2024. Through the first eight A-Main features of the year, the score is 6-2, in favor of the more experienced runners: Hull has a pair of wins, as does 33-year-old Matt Tanner, while Troy Comeau, 38, and Scott Holcomb, 55, each have a win. Hoyt and 20-year-old Chase Moran have scored for the younger crowd this year.
But the kids have been charging hard lately. Berry recently earned a career-best runner-up finish at Devil’s Bowl Speedway and fellow 17-year-old Caiden Herbert scored the first top-five finish of his rookie season at Bear Ridge Speedway. Twenty-somethings Travis Billington, Caleb Lamson, and Tyler Chartrand each have podium finishes, 30-year-old Dylan Menditto recently scored his first heat race win, and 22-year-old Nick Comeau is riding a string of three consecutive top-fives entering the Airborne Park event.
SCoNE regulars Hull, Holcomb, Williams, and Lamson have each raced at Airborne Park while competing with ESS. Recent ESS winners there include Tanner, Steve and Jordan Poirier, Coleman Gulick, and Josh Pieniazek.
General admission for Saturday’s event at Airborne Speedway is $20. Pit passes will be $30 for members and $40 for non-members. The pit area opens at 3 p.m., grandstands open at 4:30 p.m., and racing starts at 6 p.m. Airborne Park Speedway is located at 70 Broderick Road in Plattsburgh, New York.
To learn more about the McGee Automotive Family Sprint Cars of New England (SCoNE) Tour, please visit www.nesprintcars.com or find the “SCoNE – Sprint Cars of New England” page on Facebook.
(Photo by Bill McGaffin)