RICK @ the RACES (19/20/21 July 2013)
19 July Mohawk International Raceway.NY (Rained Out)
20 July Brockville Ontario Speedway
21 July Cornwall Motor Speedway, Ont
After nearly two weeks of unbearable heat wave conditions, a big thunderstorm was forecast in my area for Friday evening (19 July).
It had been hot and humid all day and when I finished work at 4-00 pm , it was still that way. By the time I clocked out on Friday, I had already put in another crazy 62 hours and was ready for a nice ‘relaxing’ weekend of racing.
I left home in Cornwall, Ont and crossed into the USA bound for the Mohawk International Raceway at 5-00 pm, just as a huge black cloud was approaching. I was earlier than usual so decided to grab a quick supper at the Pondorosa Restaurant in Masena, as well as picking up a few things up in Walmart.
While I was in there, the black cloud finally caught up with me and the heavens opened. It was pretty obvious what the out come would be, and sure enough, by the time I got back to Akwesasne, I spotted race haulers coming away from the track.
So it turned out to be one of the shortest trips I’ve made to the USA, and I was back home in Canada by 7-30pm.
Much of the rain had dried up over night and things looked good for my usual Saturday evening at the Brockville Ontario Speedway.
As an addition to the regular program the Patriot Sprint Cars were appearing, and I have to admit, I was dreading the thought of a ‘long night’. I was also fan appeciation night.
On this occasion they ‘behaved them selves’ very well and found them more enjoyable to watch, than on some of their previous visits. We only had one long delay and that was for a rollover. Sorry if I’m sounding harsh, but they are not ‘my cup of tea’ and I will never forget the time they had so many stoppages, that a red flag was needed to refuel.
Winner on this occasion was Jamie Collard .
The main event of the night, for the 358 Modifieds was won by Stephane Lafrance,
Aaron Pugh took the Sportsman race, while the other winners included Kevin Fetterley Jr (Street Stocks) Corbin Miller (Rookie) and Tristan Draper (Rookie Sportsman).
The highlight of the night for many of the race fans came at intermission when the annual front stretch autograph session took place. It gave the youngsters a chance to get up close to their favorite drivers and race cars.
On Sunday it was a normal show at the Cornwall Motor Speedway, but was labelled as ‘Ladies Night’ . One of the special events of the evening was a Ladies Sportsman race, featuring three of the tracks female competitors, Jessica Power and the David sisters, Jenna and Jasmine. Power was the winner, who also went on to take the checkers in the regular Sportsman Feature later in the program.
The Modified Feature had to be red flagged after a spectacular multi-car crash that resulted in the Laurent Ladouceur car on it’s side.
In true Laurent Ladouceur style, once the wrecked car was towed back to the pits, his crew made some hasty repairs to get him back on the track before the end of the race
Chris Raabe took the checkers, his second win of the weekend, after winning at the RPM track in Quebec, the night before.
The Pro Stock Feature was a very exciting race where Charles David Beauchamp of Ormstown , Quebec held off PJ Peters to collect his first ever Feature victory.
The other Features at Cornwall were taken by the familiar faces of Mike Gaucher (Ministock) and Derek Cryderman (Semi Pro)