by John Manzi, for the Delvin Miller Amateur Drivers Association

Monticello, NY — As the C.K.G. Billings Harness Driving Championship Series passes the halfway point in its 2011 season, races will be contested at the Lake County Fair in Painesville, Ohio, on Saturday (August 20) and at Tioga Downs in Nichols, N.Y., on Sunday (August 21).

One Midwest Region event will go to post at the Lake County Fair while two races in the Eastern Region are carded at Tioga Downs.

Dave “Linemaster” Ehrenberg, currently fourth in points in the Midwest Region, will lead the charge against five other starters who’ll compete at Painesville, including “Trader Bud” Hatfield, “Chicago George” Bonomo, Michelle “the Belle” Ruvola, Bob “the Lumberman” Troyer and Timothy Williams, all of whom will be looking to earn enough points to be eligible for post season action.

At Tioga the top eight point-earners on the Eastern Region leaderboard have mounts on Sunday including the top three, Simeon “Hot Rod” Hunsdon, Tony “the Capo” Verruso and Dave “Steady As” Yarock.

The tops in points will become eligible for their respective regional finals in late November and then many of the same will convene at the Meadows in western Pa. on Friday, December 2, for the Gold, Silver and Bronze Cup Championship Finals.

Currently Steve “You’re Never Too” Oldford leads the Midwest Region in points with 72, some 33 more than runner-up “Roundhouse Rob” Krivelin’s 39. Mike “the Mortgage Man” Mitchell is third with 35 points followed by Dave Ehrenberg (33), Hal “Smiley” Edwards (31), “Joltin’ Joe” Pennacchio (30), “Tiny Tim” Miller (23), Kelly “Sky” Walker (19), Howie “the Horse” Gelfand (17) and Bob “Chappy” Chapman (16).

In the Eastern Region, Simeon Hunsdon leads runner-up Tony Verruso by just one point, 76-75. Dave Yarock is a close third with 68 points followed by “Lightning Laura” MacNamara (61), “Tough Tony” Ciuffettelli (53) and Dave “Yes It’s True” Offenberg (51). Alan “The Intimidator” Schwartz, with only five Billings starts, is in seventh place with 45 points, while “Schoolboy Joe” Bongiorno (43), Harvey “Doc” Stein (35) and Vladimir “Butch” Melnichenko (34) complete the top ten in this region.

On Thursday, August 25, a Midwest Region contest will be presented at the Darke County Fair in Greenville, Ohio, and on August 28 there’ll be a Billings event at Balmoral Park before harness racing’s greatest traveling sideshow moves into September and prepares for its final two months of regional competitions.