by John Manzi, publicity director, Monticello Raceway

Monticello, NY — The seventh leg in Monticello Raceway’s Heritage Drivers Series, the Munich Mile for drivers of German descent, is set to go to post on Thursday afternoon, July 30.

Named in honor of one of the most beautiful cities in the Bavarian Alps the contest will go as race number three on the 10-race card.

This year’s Munich Mile is loaded with driving talent and contains some former Mighty M driving champions.

Headlining the event is Jordan Stratton, who last year became the youngest driver in Mighty M history to win a driving title when his 362 wins was tops on the local leaderboard. He was the second driver in the history of the sport to register 1,000 wins prior to his 22nd birthday. He has reined 265 winners in 2009 and has 1,208 in less than three full years in the sulky.

Joining him will be two other former Monticello Raceway driving champs, Greg Merton and Bruce Aldrich, Jr. Merton won the title here in 2000 while Aldrich was tops during the 2001 campaign. This season Merton has 150 wins and 2,808 lifetime while Aldrich has 105 wins this year and 2,776 lifetime.

Billy Dobson will also be driving in the Munich Mile. Dobson, 25, came out of Michigan last year to begin his east coast assault at Monticello Raceway and since has become a driving force not only here but at Yonkers Raceway and at some other east coast racetracks. Last year he won 337 races and is rapidly approaching 200 wins this season and has 1,154 thus far in his career.

Also with mounts in the race for drivers of German extraction are Jimmy Clouser, Kevin Hough, Keith Haase and Josh Wharton.

According to John Flynn, the track odds-maker, Stratton has the morning line favorite in West Coast Bad Boy from post position three and Hough will handle the second choice on the early line, Fast Falcon, from the pole position.

The field lines up as follows (with post positions, drivers and odds): 1, Fast Falcon, Kevin Hough, 3-1; 2, Celebriter, Josh Wharton, 4-1; 3, West Coast Bad Boy, Jordan Stratton, 5-2; 4, Stobie Two, Bruce Aldrich, Jr., 9-2; 5, Cartel Hanover, Jim Clouser, 10-1; 6, S S Cherry Bomb, Keith Haase, 12-1; 7, Crack A Jack, Greg Merton, 5-1; and 8, Helioscope, Billy Dobson, 8-1.

Like post positions, the drivers were assigned to their mounts by a lottery drawing.

The winner of this race will become eligible for the series finale — dubbed the All-America Cup — which will be contested in early October and will include the winners of the previous Heritage Series events.

Post time for the Thursday card will be at 1:10 p.m.