by John Manzi, publicity director, Monticello Raceway

Monticello, NY — Bruce Aldrich, Jr. keeps winning races with regularity. After driving four winners on the Monday (Nov. 8) program he was “held” to just two victories on the Tuesday (Nov. 9) afternoon card as he pursues a personal goal of owning the second best seasonal output by a driver in Monticello Raceway history.

Geri Schwarz photo

Bruce Aldrich, Jr. had a pair of winners on the Wednesday card at Monticello Raceway.

His triumphs on Nov. 9 included a wire-to-wire triumph with Sempre Pronto ($5.60) in a 1:59.3 clocking and a 1:58.3 score behind Coastal Highway ($3.30) in the eighth. For the latter it marked the 8-year-old Jenna’s Beach Boy gelding’s 13th victory of the year which goes hand in hand with his 11 second place finishes and four thirds and purse earnings in of $48,495 in 37 seasonal starts, all at the Mighty M.

Though Aldrich’s current total of 373 wins erases his previous personal best of 316 driving victories registered when he won the driving title here in 2001, Aldrich’s personal goal this year is to finish with the second best win total in Monticello Raceway history. Billy “Zeke” Parker, Jr. holds the record with 526 wins during the 1995 campaign.

“Zeke’s 526 are certainly out of reach so my personal goal is to be second best behind my boyhood idol,” Aldrich said.

For Aldrich to claim being second best he’ll have to top Stephane Bouchard’s total of 410 wins during the 2006 season.

“Even that number is still far in the distance for me but topping that is what I’m shooting for,” the 41-year-old driver explained.

With some 37 more driving victories needed to equal Bouchard’s total Aldrich will have to hurry. Since there are 28 racing programs remaining before the curtain comes down on the 2010 season at the Mighty M Aldrich does have a legitimate chance of winning more than 410 races this year.

“Since I had 373 winners on the first 175 racing programs that’s an average of over two wins per program and if I keep the same pace up until the end of the season I’ll be able to reach my goal,” Aldrich reasoned. “But the fact remains I still need to win 38 more races to be second best here at Monticello.”

Aldrich has driven 3,316 winners thus far in his career with the bulk coming since the 2000 season. With over 3,000 wins here since 2000 Aldrich was the “Driver of the Decade” at Monticello Raceway but with even that great output Aldrich only captured one driving title, though he’s poised to make that two on Dec. 31, 2010.