RICK @ the RACES ( 7 to 10 Aug 2014)
Thursday 7 August Weedsport Speedway NY
Friday 8 August Brewerton Speedway, NY
Saturday 9 August Brockville Ontario Speedway
Sunday 10 August Cornwall Motor Speedway, Ont
Carrying on from last weeks report, you will recall, that I had a week off work, and the first two days (Monday and Tuesday) , I never made it to my intended destinations of the Merrittville and Ransomville Speedways for the back to back Super Dirt Series races. On Wednesday, where I left off, I’d been along to Ottawa’s Capital City Speedway.
On Thursday and bringing things up to date, my plans were to head south.
There was a Super Dirt Series race ( The Hall of Fame 100) taking place at the Weedsport Speedway NY, which was also a bit special. It was the rebirth of the track, that was formerly known as the Cayuga County Fair Speedway.
I set off from my home in Cornwall , around 11-00am and by 2-00 pm I was in Adams NY. After a quick bite to eat, with my racing friend Dawn Kamff, who works nearby, I was heading down to Weedsport.
It was a lovely summers day and the sun was shining when I pulled in to the track at about 4-30 pm. The speedway and the facilities looked very impressive, and it was obvious that the new owners had put a lot of money and effort in to revamping the place. A large number of fans had turned out for this reopener, and it seemed like most of my photographer friends were there too.
My buddies, ‘Stock Car Steve’ Bilow, Craig Revelle and Ron Morin from my part of Eastern Ontario had also made the trip down.
One of the first people I bumped into, was Brian Carter, the CEO of the North Carolina based World Racing Group. We’ve met a few times over the years, and I always enjoy having a chat with him.
There was a party atmosphere at the track and a band was playing at the back of the grandstand beside cars on display from the Dirt Hall of Fame.
I had plenty of time to wander around the pits and got a Rick at the Races sticker attached to the Matt Billings car. I also bumped into my friend Amy Walton, who took a sticker to put on Willy Deckers car.
Once the racing got under way, I joined my buddy John Meloling and the rest of the huge army of photographers present on the middle.
The headline event was the 100 lapper for the Big Block Mods, with the Dirt Sportsman, and Vintage Mods added as the program back up.
The big race got a bit dusty towards the end, when Billy Decker took the checkers from Matt Sheppard and Justin Haers in third. After the presentations, on the new Victory Lane that’s located on a grass hill, where the old covered stage used to be, the Sportsman took to the track for their Feature. By this time, most of the other photographers had made their exit, and when Dave Marcuccilli got the honors in Victory Lane, only John and I were remaining.
I hadn’t bothered to get a room for the night, and had decided in advance to make a bed up in the back of my HHR, have a few beers and camp out at the track. Craig did like wise in his truck, and so did Ron with his campervan.
In the morning we all met up, along with another Cornwall race fan Mike Bray at the nearby Weedsport Tim Hortons before going our separate ways. Ron was going back to Cornwall, while Craig was heading for the Can Am Speedway, at Lafargeville NY. My destination , like Mike’s was the Friday night weekly show at the Brewerton Speedway NY.
I had plenty of time to kill, but my first port of call was the Pilot Truck Stop in Syracuse for a shower. I did a bit of Walmart shopping then spent some time using the free WiFi at the Panera Bread location at the Great North Mall before driving to the track.
I was still realy early, but Mike had beaten me to it, so I parked up next to him . I snoozed for a while, and then chatted with track manager Cory Read and my media friend at the track Dave Medler.
Some of my photographer friends were there, including Dave Meloling, who introduced me to the 50/50 girls for a photo shoot. Dave is one of the regular photographers at Brewerton and it’s sister track of Fulton. He shoots with a Nikon like me, so it’s always good to ‘compare notes’
The program consisted of 4 cylinders, Mod Lites, 600 Sprints , IMCA Mods and of course the Big Block Dirt Modifieds which had attracted me.
After the heats the first feature was for the 4 cylinders , which after a long red flag delay due to a driver injury, Chuck Powelczwk took the checkers.
Thankfully the Modified Feature was up next, and after seeing a rare win (for me) by Tom Sears, I was out of the gate and heading for I81 north. After various stops on the way, for cups of tea etc, I was back home in Cornwall , Ontario by 2-00 am.
I had a really good lay in that morning before getting myself ready for my evenings races. Once again, Saturday’s track of choice was the Brockville Ontario Speedway. It was the Ogilvies Triple Crown Series for Mods and Sportsman plus a regular program with the addition of last weeks Rookie and Rookie Sportsman Features, postponed from the previous weeks ‘marathon’ show.
This weeks show went very smoothly with no major delays, with Danny O’Brien getting another Modified Feature win after a long battle with Jason Ridell. Shane Pecore got the Sportsman win.
These two races were over by 10-15 pm so I took the opportunity of getting home at reasonable time, and was back in Cornwall by 11-00 pm.
It wasn’t long after switching my lap top on, that I heard the sad news that came from the Canandaigua Speedway NY.
Kevin Ward Jr, the young Sprint Car driver had been killed in an incident involving NASCAR driver Tony Stewart. Three years ago, I was at Canandaigua for this Sprint Car event which has become the tradition on the weekend of NASCAR’s visit to nearby Watkins Glen. Since first hearing this terrible news, the media, both national and social, have been been full of it, with speculation and comments from all quarters. Like thousands of other people, I’ve seen the video of the incident which was posted by someone the same night, and have formed my own opinion.
So many people have had their say on the matter, but I prefer to keep my thoughts to myself, I wasn’t at the track, and the investigations are on going.
At this difficult time my deepest sympathies go out to the Ward family and everyone else that has been effected by this tragic event.
It was only recently, that I witnessed Kevin in action, when the ESS Sprint Cars visited my local Mohawk International Raceway on June 6.
On Sunday night I was at the Cornwall Motor Speedway, and you can guess what the main topic of conversation was about. A Moment of Silence was held for Kevin, who I’m told was a visitor to the track last year on the Patriot Sprint tour. (Sorry I’m not 100% sure)
Cornwall’s previous weeks show, like Brockville, was a long one, and a big effort by all concerned, was made to get this week show done at sensible time.
The heats and 25 lap Ministock feature (won by Marc Dagenais)
and 15 Lap Semi Pro (Derek Cryderman) was over by 8-30 pm, and after about 45 minute for intermission, the rest of the Features got under way. During the intermission I took the opportunity to take some stuff back to my car, and had a big suprise when I got a tap on the shoulder. It was my TRACKCHASER friends Randy and Carol Lewis from San Clemente , California. I first met Randy many years back, when he was visiting Cornwall and adding it to his track totals. This time, they were there to add it to Carol’s totals. I’m not sure of the exact numbers, as they are increasing all the time, but Randy has now visited over 2000 different tracks, and Carol has over 500. It was nice to see them again, and pleased to hear the good remarks they made about the organization and food concessions at my local track.
The first Feature was for the Mods and what a joy it was to see Gage Morin get the checkers. I’ve known Gage , the grandson of my buddy Ron Morin (former CMS promoter) since he was a kid, and it’s always nice to see him back in Victory Lane.
I even joined in for the ‘group shot’ on this one and got my photographer partner, Bobby Lebvre to do the honours.
The Sportsman Feature followed this and Shane Pecore got his second big win in two days.
Another of my good friends rached Victory Lane in the Pro Stock Feature when Dave ‘the Bulldog’ Bissonnette took the checkers.
Well, so ended ‘part two’ of my weeks vacation from work, with a net total of eight racing events in ten days. Phew! It was good to be back at work on Monday for a rest 🙂