RICK @ the RACES (26/27/28 July 2013)
26 July Mohawk International Raceway (NY)
27 July Autodrome Drummond (Que)
28 July Cornwall Motor Speedway (Ont) rained out
30 July Cornwall Dirt Raceway Park, Ont
It’s still very busy at my place of work, and I’m having to do far too many hours for my liking. For the third week running I finished my shift on Friday with over 60 hours clocked up. I managed to get away at 4-00 pm which gave me enough time to dash home for a shower before heading out to the races.
As usual my Friday night destination was the nearby Mohawk International Raceway, across the St Lawrence Seaway at Hogansburg NY. After getting a few things in the Massena Walmart I arrived at the track at 6.30 pm and already the pits were full. It was a big night, with a 40 lap Seaway Series race for the Sportsman division, Mod Lites, the visiting ESS Sprint Cars and of course, the fans favourites, the Modifieds. The lady on the pit gate told me they’d already got 43 Sportsman booked in.
Hot laps were about to start, so I took my position on the center ready to capture some pics.
With the heat races and Mod Lite Feature over ( won by Joel Hargrave) it was time for me to take a wander around , and meet up with my friends from the ESS. It was good to see, Dean Reynolds, Mike Mallett and the lovely Dawn Kamff who runs their merchandise trailer.
The first Feature of the night was for the Sprint Cars and after a number of cautions the eventual winner was Quebecs Steve Poirier.
Next up was the Sportsman Feature and with a full field of cars, I must admit, I was expecting plenty of carnage. I’m pleased to say I was proved wrong, and witnessed something I’ve never seen before ! From the drop of the green flag, the race continued without a caution, for the duration of the full 40 laps. To top it all, we had a new face in Victory Lane too. The winner was long distance traveller , Daryl Nutting who’d driven up from Albany (NY).
In the the Modified Feature, Billy Dunn once again made it look easy, after taking another victory in the Laurent Ladouceur car. Laurent told me afterwards it was the same car that he put on its side in a wreck at Cornwall , the previous week.
The racing was over soon after 11-00pm , and it wasn’t long before I was back over the bridge and at my home in Cornwall, Ontario.
On Saturday, I planned to miss out on my usual trip to the Brockville Ontario Speedway in favor of Autodrome Drummond, where the World of Outlaw Sprint Cars were appearing, on the first of a two day visit to my area.
The HHR was booked in to SEAWAY GM for an oil change in the morning and my intention was to leave soon after lunch for a leisurely drive up. The new Autoroute 30 that bypasses Montreal makes the journey so much easier , and I didn’t leave Cornwall until 2-00pm.
I arrived just before 5-00pm and as expected, the place was already very busy.
Sharing the bill with the World of Outlaws were the 358 Modifieds and the Lightening Sprints.
I had plenty of time to wander around the pits and had a good chat with Mike Raabe (Chris’s dad) .
I also bumped into the pretty Susie Langlois who was helping out with the Kevin Hamel Modified team. Susie also drive Modifieds with the same team # 31.
Once the racing got under way I took my position on the center between turns 3 and 4 , to snap the action. I was out there for the heats but chose to miss the Lightening Sprint Feature, for another tour of the pits.
After the driver introductions it was time for the nights big race. When I’m at Drummond I prefer to watch the Features from one of the media booths above the grandstand. Once I was up there, it was good to meet up again with Catherine Brunelle who runs the VIP bar.
Apart from Daryn Pittman rolling over on turn 1 and 2 , there weren’t too many stoppages and Cody Darrah soon built up a commanding lead to grab the checkers. Donny Schatz was second and Craig Kinser was third.
The Modified race was a 50 lapper and turned out to be a very exciting affair with Chris Raabe and David Hebert trading places for the lead through out the race, and then Steve Bernard coming up later to separate them. Raabe crossed the line first with Bernard and Hebert close behind.
The racing was over at around 11-00 pm and as soon as I’d finished taking the Victory Lane pics, I made my exit. With such a large crowd in attendance, it took a while to get out, but after stopping for a late night cup of tea at the Tim Hortons at St Helene, I was home at 2-30am. It had rained for the latter part of the return journey, and I was hoping it would be gone before the morning.
I had a nice long lay in ( 9-00 am) on Sunday morning and when I awoke, the sun was shining again . I had time to relax before heading down to my local Cornwall Motor Speedway for day two of the World of Outlaw tour.
As usual I picked up a hot drink from Tim Hortons on my way to the track, and spotted the Donny Schatz and both Kinser race car haulers parked at the local Super 8 Hotel.
I got to the track just after 1-00 pm and began to set up my stuff in the control tower. The ‘voice’ of the World of Outlaws Johnny Gibson was already up there getting his stuff ready.
He’d been looking at the weather radar pics on his lap top, and told me things didn’t look good. There was a lot of heavy rain heading our way !
I chatted with Johnny and did some computer work for about an hour , until the expected thunder storm hit us. It didn’t take long for the organizing bodies to call off the races, and by 3-30 pm I was back at my home.
I was back there two days later, when it was Kids Kart night at the Cornwall Dirt Raceway Park.
Making his debut at this track was Brandon Revelle, nephew of www.rickattheraces.com webmaster Craig Revelle. Craig’s brother and his Dad were also there to give there support. An addition to the karts and lawn tractors on the program were a couple of small caged sprint cars, I’m told they are called Quarter Sprints. It was a first time viewing for me.
I didn’t stay right to the end, but I was there long enough to see Tristan Ladouceur, son of my buddy Joey, get his first ever kart feature