Track conditions do not keep OSTPA from putting on a good show

  • By Tricia Flickinger
  • August 19, 2010
  • 278
                        
The big boys were in town on opening day of the Holmes County Fair, Aug. 16, and they were making a lot of noise as it could be heard all through town. For the third year, the Ohio State Tractor Pull Association (OSTPA) came to Holmes County and put on another great show. “I thought we had a really good showing here Monday night,” said Brad Giauque, Holmes County Fair board member. “One class had really low competitors, the pro stock tractors, but other than that we had a really good show.” The exciting event was put on hold and started a little later than expected due to a wonderful gift from mother nature. “The track wasn’t in the best condition, but we were able to move off the main track,” Giauque said. “We had an inch and a half of rain on Saturday afternoon and the track that we usually pull on was still too wet to be pulling on.” Giauque said that the track acts like a giant sponge and just takes in all the water and sits there. Luckily, they were able to move over slightly to the dry dirt where the water wasn’t added and they seemed to get along pretty well there. “We were able to make a track pretty quickly and it worked out pretty good,” Giauque said. “We got a lot of compliments on the way the pull went from the pullers. OSTPA was really happy with the show and I think the fair board was happy with the attendance and show, so we’ll shoot for that again next year.” There really isn’t any doubt that driving experience is key when it comes to pulling tractors, but it was even more of a key on Monday night. “You gotta know what the track conditions are like so you know where to put your weights,” Giauque said. “It probably was a factor on Monday night just because of the different kind of dirt we were pulling on, compared to what we would have pulled on.” Track problems at the south end of the area forced to change the way the pull was going to be done. In year’s past, pullers have pulled south to north, but with the track problems at the south end, pullers had to pull from the north end to the south end. “Ever since I’ve been on the fair board, we have pulled south to north, but Monday night we had a big wet spot even on the dirt at the south end,” Giauque said. “We thought we would start on the north end, then that way we could get them stopped before they got to the wet spot and I think it worked out really well. We pulled into the crowd instead of pulling away and we got a lot of compliments. The spectators can see more and enjoy more.” Overall Giauque was happy with the turnout and was thrilled that everything worked out on the new track. “OSTPA really put on a good show Monday night,” he said.


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