RICK @ the RACES (20 to 27 May 2015)
22 May Mohawk International Raceway
27 May Brockville Ontario Speedway (SDS RACE)
Well this has been a difficult week !
I guess I should start the story , at the point when I finished work on Wednesday 20th May.
I’d felt groggy all day and was aching all over my body, so was glad that Thursday was my day off. Even though I’d had the Flu Shot, I assumed it was the Flu or something similar. I didn’t feel much better on Thursday so decided to get plenty of rest and take the Friday off work as a sick day.
I was still aching on Friday, but the rest and sleep had done me good, so decided I’d be OK to go to the evening races at the Mohawk International Raceway, which is less than a fifteen minute drive from my house.
The weather had changed dramatically from the scorching hot of mid week to the ‘brass monkey’ coldness of Friday. It was a really chilly night and I only remained out on the middle for the heats.
I joined Andy and Jane Watts in their photo booth between the feature races.
It was the 25th running of the annual Memorial Cup, for the 358 Mods , and this was the major factor in me not wanting to miss out.
The program consisted of all the usual support divisions, which were won by Matt Zira (Bandits) Mathieu Robinson (Mod Lites) and Corey Wheeler (Sportsman).
On such a chilly night, it was a great relief to have the 50 lap Memorial Cup, run with very few cautions. Billy Dunn made it look easy once more with another convincing win. Jordon McCreadie came home second with Chris Raabe third.
The next day, I still wasn’t feeling up to par, so decided to give Saturday’s races at Brockville a miss, and instead have a relaxing evening.
The weather had warmed up and my friends, the Lesage and Lebrun families were with their RV’s camping at the nearby Cornwall Motor Speedway for the weekend.
I paid them a visit, and around supper time, Chanty and myself left the others, and took off to eat out. While we were in the restaurant, I started to feel unwell, and we both figured I ought to be checked out at the Cornwall hospital. I was in the waiting room from about 7-30pm until 11-50pm before I saw a doctor. I won’t go into any details in this report, but will just say various tests were taken, a prescription was given, and an appointment to see a specialist. Various tests are still on going.
Even though it had been a long night, I was still awake at 8 am, in time watch the Monaco Grand Prix on TV .
I decided , with all that had taken place the night before, to give my Sunday evening work at the track a miss, so my good friend Sylvain Lauwers, kindly stood in for me on Victory Lane duties. Here’s a couple of his pics.
I took Monday off work, as I had to see the specialist doctor at the hospital, but with the medication that had been prescribed, appearing to be working OK . I returned on Tuesday to do reduced hours.
Everything was still allright on Wednesday, so after finishing work at 4-00 pm I was ready for some racing.
The Brockville Ontario Speedway were holding a mid week SUPER DIRT SERIES event for Big Block Modifieds, and it’s something I would of hated to miss.
I had a nice relaxing drive down Highway 401 and after grabbing a burger at Wendy’s , I was at the B.O.S by 5-45 pm.
On my pre race wander around the pits, the first person I bumped into, was my buddy, Jim Clarke, media guy at the paved Peterborough Speedway. The mid week fixture had allowed him to get a rare bit of dirt racing.
The next person I saw , was my good friend SDS racer Gary Tomkins. He had been without his regular car for this show, and the # 112 Charlie Rice, Mohawk Foundation Motorsports car was going to be his loaner. The car had yet to arrive and he was starting to get worried. Apparently, the hauler was stuck in traffic, but luckily it arrived before time trials.
Another good friend , out in different car was Stewart Friesen in the # 51 Superior Crushing , Siri Car.
While walking around it was also great to meet up with another long time buddy. Mike Perrotte, former Airborne Speedway promoter and Modified driver ( still does a bit of racing, I think) who is now the new Director of the SUPER DIRT SERIES. He replaced Joe Scotniki . Mike is a good guy, and knows what he’s talking about when it comes to racing, He was very well respected at Airborne , and I’m sure the SDS drivers and fans will respect him too.
Once the racing began I took up my usual spot out on the middle on turn one and two.
It was a lovely sunny night, I was in shorts and T shirt ( so different from Friday at M.I.R) and with only the Sportsman cars as the support act, I was looking forward to a nice early finish.
The 750 bucks to win Sportsman race , unfortunately didn’t attract as many cars as I’d expected, but that turned out to be a good thing. Less cars meant less wrecks, no consolation race needed, and a quick running of the 25 Lap Feature. This race provided a great win for the young Aaron Pugh.
There was a good turnout of Mods for the SDS race and two quickly run Consi’s took place.
At the redraw, Billy Dunn picked the # 1 spot on the grid, and once the green flag fell, he took full advantage of it.
He led right up until lap 91 of the 100, when the tailing Danny Johnson made his move.
Like so many other long haul races I’ve seen in the past ‘ the Doctor’ shadowed the leader at a safe distance until about ten laps to go, when decides to puts the hammer down and make his move.
Tim Fuller had been lying third for a long time, but Matt Williamson got past to claim the last podium position.
The actual race up at the front wasn’t the most exciting I’ve seen, but the mid pack battle between Ryan Arbuthnot and Brett Hearn was definitely something to keep my attention. There was enough bumping and banging taking place between them to keep this BriSCA F1 fan happy !
The race was over at about 9-30 pm and once the Victory Lane presentations were done, I got the early finish I’d wished for.
Finally, Before I sign off for this week. I’d just like to wish a BIG CONGRATS to my friends, Announcer, Tim Baltz and Rachel Barcier on the birth of their daughter , Sadie, born shortly before this report was published.