Friday night the Ransomville Speedway held its annual banquet to culminate the 2011 season. Chad Brachmann knew going into the night he would receive honors for his 358 Modified Championship, but both he and his crew were quite surprised with the nights events when all of the hardware had been handed out.

 Chad graciously accepted his plaques and point money for his seasons feature wins and division championship, but Tana Robinson and the Friesen family still had a few more accolades to present to Brachmann Racing. Chad's brother Corey was presented with the Mechanic of the Year award, and immediately made a statement to the full house that "We here at Brachmann Racing are a team, we win as a team" and followed that statement with a request that his father Mike and fellow crew member Jason "Cash" Nevins join him at the front.

 Soon to follow, Chad would once again grace the staging area as he was announced as this years Driver of the Year for the Big R. To be noted in the presentation was a statistic that truely stands out, one which saw the Sanborn Ny driver achieve top 5 finishes in all but 2 weeks this season and of all his top 5's, a mere 1 was a 5th. Chad immediately stated that "(He) would like to thank all the females in (his) life that help (him) achieve (his) success", adding that without his crew, sponsors, fans and the hard work of Ransomville and it's competitors, he would not be in such a position.

 From a media standpoint, I have seen both the ups and downs of this team for many years now. I can without a doubt say that this team insists on constantly giving its best effort on any night at any given speedway. They will put their best foot forward to ensure the fans of that facility on that night, get their full moneys worth, and not a penny less. I can't tell you how proud I am to have the privledge to write for this great team week in and week out over the seasons and friday night was one which I will not forget for a very long time.

 Congratulations to the Brachmann Racing Team on a great 2011 season. Milestones have been achieved, and standards have been raised, but you can bet that this team will do it's best to make 2012 even more entertaining, exciting and successful for each and every one associated with it in some way.

(Hartford, OH)…Night 2 of the annual “Apple Festival Nationals” wrapped up the 2011 racing season at Sharon Speedway with 130 cars in the pit area on a cool fall-like evening and a great crowd on hand. Celebrating with wins in the Hovis Auto & Truck Supply victory lane were Rex King-BRP Modified Tour for the Governor Insurance Agency Big Blocks, Ryan Montgomery-FASTRAK Northeast Touring Series for the Barris Supply Late Models, Tim Burns-Gibson Insurance Agency Stock Cars, Brandon Blackshear-Summit Racing Equipment Econo Mods, and Bill Fuchs & Jamie Wrightsman-Presidential Lawn Care Mini Stocks.

The season long FASTRAK drawing for the Golf Cars 4 All golf car was held as Troy Holtgraver of Pittsburgh, Pa. was the winner. All proceeds from the drawing went to the American Cancer Society as over $2,000 was raised.

On Friday night at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway, New York invader Chad Brachmann ran down Rex King and passed the western Pa./eastern Ohio great for the BRP Modified Tour win. On Saturday night, Brachmann came from 13th to run down King in the closing laps, but wasn’t able to steal a second straight win away from King, who would recorded his third career win in his father Russ’ Memorial event. The 35-lap feature was worth $2,000.

“He was just much faster last night at Pittsburgh,” revealed the Bristolville, Ohio veteran. “I was just happy to be able to run on that slick track as good as we did last night. It was a real good car and I have a lot of great people; my boys, my wife, my family. I have a ton of sponsors and 95% of them are here tonight. A lot of employees from King Bros. are here. I appreciate everything they do for us.”

King drew the outside pole and took the lead away from Rob Curtis, who was debuting a new car for Mini Stock driver Rob McElhaney. Jim Rasey, a three-time Russ King Memorial winner, passed Curtis on lap two for second. Kevin Hoffman started sixth and was on the move driving under Curtis for third on lap four. Jeremiah Shingledecker was another driving making his way to the front. Shingledecker started 12th and cracked the top five on lap seven then grabbed fourth from Tom Mattocks on lap nine. Brachmann wasn’t far behind moving into the top five on lap 12 past Mattocks.

Following a caution for Curtis, Hoffman got around Rasey for second on lap 13 with Brachmann taking fourth from Shingledecker. Lapped traffic came into play on lap 23 allowing Hoffman to close in; meanwhile, Brachmann dove under Rasey on lap 23, but couldn’t make the pass stick. Finally Brachmann was able to clear Rasey driving under and past Rasey for third on lap 28.

King opened up some ground as the laps ticked off, while it was a four-car race for second with Hoffman trying to hold off Brachmann, Rasey, and Shingledecker. A scary accident took place on lap 32 when Justin Rasey slammed the fence and Rob Kristyak took a wild flip into the turn three catch fence and also collected Rex King, Jr. All drivers were okay, but heavy damage was sustained by Rasey and Kristyak.

When racing resumed, Brachmann and Shingledecker got great restarts taking over second and third from Hoffman and Rasey. With a clear track, Brachmann began to cut into King’s lead and was nearly right on him at the finish, but came up shy by 0.251 seconds to King’s Bristol Disposal/Midway Garage Door/RD Banks Chevrolet/Hunyady Auction/Cedar Steel/Auntie V’s Pizza/GS Engine Power-sponsored #65. King’s division-leading fifth win of the season was his 39th of his career moving him into a second place tie with Bob Kraus on the all-time win list!

On the July 12 Lou Blaney Memorial, Brachmann rallied from 21st to finish third and in his second appearance on Saturday night had to pass 11 cars to record a career best finish at the track. Making just his third start of the season, Shingledecker recorded his third top five matching his third from April 30. Hoffman crossed the line in fourth, but came up light at the scales for the second time in three races at Sharon. Rasey and Kevin Bolland were credited with fourth and fifth.

Sixth through 10th were Dave Murdick, New York’s Shannon Whaley, Jim Weller, Jr., 20th starting Scott Gurdak, who was behind the wheel of the Lon Baker #2, and King, Jr. Heat victors over the season-high 36-car field were Bolland, Curtis, Rasey, and Murdick. Steve Feder and Skip Moore won the two B mains.

  Photo courtesy of Rob Mortier

 It was just a mere 369 days ago when Chad Brachmann pulled into the pits at the Humberstone Speedway with a point lead that many had figured was already locked up. On that fateful night, Chad would break on an initial green flag incident and barely make his way back on to the speedway surface to evidently finish 15th and lose a points championship by 1 point.

 Tonight, CB3 has officially written the word Karma into his vocabulary and pulled off the unthinkable when he went into the Ransomville Speedway's final night of points. Trailing Mr Smallblock Pete Bicknell by 14 points and Todd Burley by 6, Chad was in a must win situation and needed help for just a glimmer of hope to become the 2011 track champion. He got just that.

 Tonight's feature was an extra distance event of 50 laps and had the top 3 contenders starting in the 11th, 12th and 14th positions. When the green flag dropped, it seemed as if the three veterans were marching forward like a pack of hungry wolves. On just the 5th lap, Burley had obtained the 9th position, Bicknell the 10th and Brachmann the 11th, however, just before the caution flew on lap 11, Brachmann would slip by Bicknell for 10th and you could tell something was off with Mr Smallblock. The race's only restart would see Burley and Brachmann move through the field, taking their time to pick off cars when they saw the right opportunity to do so. Soon after, CB3 would begin to lock his car on the bottom of turns 3 and 4 and it seemed that he could do no wrong on the north end of the speedway. He soon began to reel in the top 5, and Chad would continue his tear to the front by simply taking spots as opportunities came to him. When he began to cut down the leader Ryan Susice's lead by 3 or 4 car lengths every lap, you began to think more and more that Brachmann may have that setup that everyone wanted. Meanwhile, Burley continued to battle for the 5th position, then the 4th, while Bicknell just could not get his car to stay on the bottom of turns 1 and 2. This is something that Pete has mastered in his many years of experience, and all the while, you couldn't help but wonder, is this really happening. Brachmann caught up to Susice, and made his move to the outside on lap 33 taking the lead, and immediately beginning to put car lengths between them. Burley, remained locked in the 5th position, and Pete the same. In the final laps, it was obvious that someone had decided to write a story on this night, that may just be told for years to come. In the trailers of all 3 points contenders, this story will in fact be told in 3 ways, one of destiny, one of misfortune and one of heartbreak.

 Chad Brachmann would go on to win the 50 lap feature this evening, and control his own destiny, unfortunately for Todd Burley, he missed his by 3 positions and finished in 5th, while Pete Bicknell could only watch the heartbreak unfold in front of him from his 10th place finish.

 The Brachmann Racing Team would like to thank all their sponsors, families, friends, fans and the Ransomville Speedway for a fantastic 2011 season. Without any of you, this would never be possible.

 369 days later, Chad Brachmann pulled into the pits at the Ransomville Speedway with the intentions of winning a feature and hoping it may help his points race, turns out, that feature won it for him. Now that's, Karma.