The All-American “Smoker Series” point race for 2009 is about as close as possible with just one pull remaining in the season.  Three tractors are within three points of each other going into the USA-EAST Finals at the Bloomsburg Fair in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania.  This ‘Finals’ event will be held on Saturday, October 3rd - beginning at 7:00pm.  The “Smoker Series” is scheduled as the second of three classes on the program that evening.  This close point race is made all that more interesting by the fact that there are three different brands of tractors represented: Case; International and John Deere.

Kris Hoyt from Shickshinny, Pennsylvania is the current point leader after his awesome run at the Great Geauga County Fair in Burton, Ohio on Sunday, September 6th.  Hoyt’s “Nut Case” with an original Case 970 engine ended that pull tied for first when neither he nor Carlton Cope on the “Warpath”  Massey-Ferguson were able to participate in a pull-off.  This allowed Hoyt’s tractor to gain valuable first place points and raise his season total to 409 points – just enough to claim the point lead.  The “Nut Case” was also the winner earlier in the season at the Perry Pull-Off in New Lexington, Ohio and finished 2nd at the Warren County Fair at Pittsfield, Pennsylvania in mid-August.  Hoyt will be the local Bloomsburg favorite as he hails from eastern Pennsylvania.  And Hoyt will no doubt be the sentimental favorite after coming back in record time from a disastrous workplace injury that left him hospitalized for many weeks and pushed a couple of very capable replacements into the driver’s seat on the “Nut Case” through the mid-point of the season.

The tractor that is now second in the point race has amassed a point total of 408 points.  This beautiful International MX design tractor is operated by nineteen year old Aaron Bradish from Ruffsdale, Pennsylvania and is called “Recycled Red”.  Bradish has captured victories against the  “Smoker Series” competition at both the Trumbull County Fair in Cortland, Ohio and at the Crawford County Fair in Meadville, Pennsylvania.  Both of these wins have been punctuated by awesome wheel-standing runs that left the competition in the dust.  Additionally, Bradish was second at the Canfield Fair in Canfield, Ohio on Labor Day finishing behind the 2009 NTPA Grand National Super Stock Tractor champion Bryan Shramek and “Youngblood” from Williamsburg, Missouri.  “Recycled Red” lost one of the turbo-chargers upon leaving the starting line at Burton, Ohio a week ago and dropped valuable points at that event.  The tractor was built by Mark Bradish (father) and was campaigned by Mark until Aaron was ready to take the seat in 2009.  This was the tractor that was the winner at Bloomsburg a year ago, so the Bradish Team might have a slight edge in that regard.

Third in the season points currently is the most consistent tractor of the top group – the “JD Express” owned and operated by Russell Hildenbrand from Ruffsdale, Pennsylvania.  This JD 7240 Pro Stock tractor has not missed an event in 2009 and has been either first of second in the point race throughout the season.  Now the “JD Express” is in third place with 406 points – just three points away from the point leader.   Hildenbrand was second on three occasions in 2009.  First at Mercer Raceway to start the season and also at the Trumbull County Fair in Cortland, Ohio on the 4th of July and at the Columbiana County Fair in Lisbon, Ohio in early August.  “JD Express” has been no worse that fourth place in each of the “Smoker Series” events in 2009.  Russell is a former championship Top Fuel Motorcycle drag racer and is searching for his very first crown in the sport of tractor pulling.

This log-jam at the top of the points has happened partly due to the unfortunate turn of events of Ray Link and “Gone Mokin”.  Link, from Patton, Pennsylvania was the 2008 Champion and had two victories in the “Smoker Series” before the tractor lost bearings at Lisbon, Ohio in early August.  And then before the tractor could be repaired, Ray Link was involved in an agricultural related accident and is currently spending an extended period of recuperation time in the Johnstown hospital.  Link was the winner at Mercer Raceway at the beginning of the season and also took the win at the Clearfield County Fair.  This John Deere 4455 would certainly have been a factor in determining the 2009 point race.

The “Smoker Series” accepts both Super Stock Tractors and Pro Stock Tractors.  Of the group at the top the only multi-charger Super Stock tractor is “Recycled Red”.  The other two tractors are single charger Pro Stock designs.

Tickets to the Bloomsburg Fair USA-EAST “Finals” are now on sale.  Order forms for tickets are available by going to the Bloomsburg Fair web page at www.bloomsburgfair.com where the form can be printed out and mailed to the Fair.  Additionally tickets are available by phone (using a major credit card) at 570.387.4192.  On line ticket sales are also available through the same web site where fans can actually choose their seats in the giant 7500 seat arena.

Should inclement weather force a postponement of the Saturday evening session at Bloomsburg, the entire event will be run on Sunday afternoon with a 2:00pm starting time.