Recap of the 7th Battalion/Town of Hempstead Drill

by Dan Laverty

Last Friday night was the 7th Battalion/Town of Hempstead combination drill. In the previous five times this drill was held, only Efficiency Replacement was added back in 2008. This year the host decided to not run C-Trucks and instead added Efficiency Replacement and Two Into One. Due to weather conditions 3-Man Ladder, B-Ladder and B-Hose were not run. Motor Pump was the only motorized event to be run which led many who were running to declare this an Old Fashioned Drill, making die-hard Old Fashioned fans very happy.

The Hempstead Yellow Hornets put on a great drill as always and were not thinking about how many were in attendance when it was time to run Buckets. The Yellow Hornets, as we all know, can run some great buckets. They set the best time of the year by running a 21.21. Still early in the season with many chances still out there to set the new state record.

Highlight of the evening had to have been Benny Casselo of the Sally Boys (South Hempstead Rascals) running nozzle in Two Into One. Benny is the team’s Motor Pump nozzle-man so he wore the same gear and ran the way he knows how…sliding just like in Pump. When I told Benny about the crowd’s reaction when the nozzle hit the street, he just shook his head and laughed.

Another notable highlight had to have been the WYE that the Westbury Turtles brought out onto the course for Two Into One. It was approximately five feet long in total length but they had to use it because the smaller WYE that the team had was not in good enough condition for them to run with. I asked Daryl Ranaldo about the giant WYE and all he could say was, “It is what it is.” (They took third place in the event in case you were wondering.)

The Lynbrook Tumblers seem to always be in the top five and that didn’t change when they place 4th overall in the Town of Hempstead drill. I overheard them saying that they set a new team record in Efficiency Replacement. Congratulations, Tumblers!

This was a close throughout the night. It was a great night of racing and a good, safe time was had by all. Nobody was injured during the drill which is something you always like to hear. At the end of the night I got a great quote from Patrick Cloudman regarding interviews, “You can’t ask for an interview. You have to do something great and they ask you.”

Here are the Final Results from the drill:

7th Battalion Drill Final Results

1st Place – Hempstead – 21 Pts.

2nd Place – West Hempstead – 20 Pts.

3rd Place – South Hempstead – 16 Pts.

4th Place – Elmont – 11 Pts.

5th Place – Franklin Square – 6 Pts.

Town of Hempstead Final Results

1st Place – Hempstead – 16 Pts.

2nd Place – West Hempstead – 14 Pts.

3rd Place – Westbury –12 Pts.

4th Place – Lynbrook – 10 Pts.

5th Place – Freeport (DEK) – 9 Pts.