SUMMER FAST wins for Friesen and Yankowski (18th of Aug BLOG)

The last BLOG ended on Wednesday the 12th of August with my next race date coming up the next day.

Thursday the 13th , would find me heading off to the Airborne Park Speedway in Plattsburgh NY. This would be the start of a long run of non stop racing days.

With all the traveling and editing of pictures recently , I’ve had very little time to sit down and write a ‘Blog’ . So I’ll make it concise, and just concentrate on the headline divisions.

THURSDAY 13th AUG

Airborne was a regular show of 358 Modifieds, Sportsman, Limited Sportsman , Renegades, Mini – stocks , and the Crown Vics .

The weather was a bit iffy but I decided to take the gamble. On arrival, there were dark clouds on the horizon, but they skirted around us and we stayed dry .

For hot laps I stationed myself in my usual spot on the outside of turn four.

Don Simpson and Kyle Coryea , the other ‘togs’ , that normally join me , were taking a night off , and I was joined by Dave Szatkowski , who was replacing Kyle on Official Track Photographer duties.

The heat races were almost in the books , when we started to get a light drizzle during the remaining Limited Sportsman heats. It was only a little bit , so by keeping the cars circulating , we got the races in, and made it to intermission.

The drizzle then got heavier for a while , but the packer trucks kept going and the track was ‘saved’ by the end of the break.

The Crown Vics had their feature up before the Modifieds , so that helped get the track back in good shape for the headline feature .

Once the Vics were done , the Modifieds took to the track for the main event.

Early leaders were Matt Woodruff and RJ Tressider, but Thomas Cook using the high groove soon made the passes.

It soon became obvious the top was the fastest part of the track and Felix Roy was catching up by using the same route.

He tried passing by ducking to the middle , but couldnt find enough bite .

When the checkers came out it was Cook. followed by Roy , who had both stuck to the outside. Tim Fuller followed them for third.

It was great to see Thomas get the win.

It was his career first victory in the Modified division.

With the rain challenging us all night, the show had moved along swiftly, so instead of making an exit , I remained for the Sportsman feature.

This was a good one too, where Charlotte Morin looked the dead cert winner , until a last lap caution brought out the yellows. She survived the restart , and two more cautions after that, before she was taken off the track after a tangle with a challenging car.

Evan Roberts was in the right place at the right time and inherited the win

FRIDAY 14th AUGUST

I was close to home for this one and was at my local Mohawk International Raceway .

The program consisted of Modifieds, Sportsman, Limited Sportsman , Pro Stocks and Mini Stocks.

The first feature was for the Mini Stocks and it was run before intermission.

It was won by Cj Lavair .

After the break it was the Limited Sportsman where Graysen Reddick got his second consecutive win.

The Pro Stocks were up next , and it was no surprise to get a bunch of cautions.

Dakota Sharp was the winner

The Sportsman Feature was next where once again Tristan Ladouceur made it look easy by getting his 8th win in a row.

The Modified feature ended the night , where local hero, Carry Terrance battled with Chris Raabe to get his first M.I.R win of the year.

SATURDAY 15th AUGUST

On Saturday I was heading down the 401 for a regular show at the Brockville Ontario Speedway . The program consisted of Modifieds , Sportsman , Novice Sportsman , Sprint Cars and Street Stocks.

I started my evening by taking a few shots on the outside of turn four before moving to the middle.

The heats moved along quickly with no major delays .

A surpise addition to the Modifieds was David Hebert driving the Pierre Dagenais owned # 124

After the intermission , the first of the features was for the Novice Sportsman

Garin Thompson was the winner of this one.

The Modified feature then followed.

This was dominated by Tristan Draper using the top groove , with Johnathon Ferguson making valiant attempts to get passed.

At the checkers it was Draper, from Ferguson, with Chris Raabe in third.

The Sportsman feature came next and provided a popular win for Dylan Kirkland.

Following the Victory Lane ceremonies , I chose to miss the final two features (Sprint Cars and Street Stocks) and was soon heading back down the 401 to home .

SUNDAY the 16th August

The weather forecast for my area looked bad , with plenty of rain expected, so it was no surprise to get a mid morning cancelation notice from my local Cornwall Motor Speedway.

Sunday the 16th of August also signaled the beginning of the four day, ‘DirtCar Summer Fast ‘ in Central New York . It began at the Weedsport Speedway on the 16th , then the following days at the Brewerton , Land of Legends and Utica-Rome Speedways .

I had already planned to be at Brewerton and Utica Rome, but due to my CMS commitments , the opening night at Weedsport hadn’t been on my agenda.

I heard about the Cornwall cancelation at 11-45 am , and by 1-00pm , my over-night gear was packed in the car, and I was heading south.

I got to the track just just as the pre race drivers meeting started, and before long I was out on the middle with my Tog buddies on turn one and two.

The program consisted of the Super DirtCar Modifieds, Sportsman and Mod Lites.

The Mod Lite heats were up first and I had one do a flip right in front of me.

The Sportsman heats followed

Then the Modified heats were up next .

Once the Last Chance Qualifiers , Redraw and short intermission were in the books, it was the Sportsman feature

This was won by Tony Finch II .

The Mods were up next .

One of the news worthy things about this race, named ‘The Hall of Fame Classic’ was the inclusion of Tim McCreadie .

He’d recently been inducted to the Hall of Fame, and was guest driving that night night in a loaned car . Unfortunately , his night was cut short , after colliding with the Tim Sears car that bounced off the wall in front of him.

Early leader was Alex Payne but he also came to grief after hitting the wall.

Matt Sheppard and Jack Lehner then became the main contenders .

Meanwhile, Stewart Friesen had been working his way through the pack and was soon on their tails.

For the last sector of the race we were treated to a great side by side duel between Matt Sheppard and Stewart Friesen.

It went on for many laps , as they ducked and dived out in front. Either one of them could of been the winner

At the end it was Friesen who took the checkers.

Joining Stewart and Matt on the podium was third place man, Jack Lehner

I made my exit at this point , choosing to miss the Mod Lite Feature.

I had to find a room for the night !

I headed for Carrier Circle in Syracuse where I found a reasonably priced hotel.

Monday the 17th of August

My room was less than 30 minutes away from my evening races at the Brewerton Speedway, so I had plenty of time to kill.

I was one of the early arrivals at the track, so sat in the sun and relaxed until start time.

I had a wander around the pits and chatted with some of my local Pro Stock drivers .

Before the show got under way there was a drivers autograph session under the main grandstand.

As start time approached I moved to the middle on turn three and four .

Joining the Super DirtCar Series Mods on this occasion, were the DirtCar Pro Stocks for a Series round. , plus the Mod Lites once again.

Time trials for the Pro Stocks began the night, followed by the Modifieds .

I like the way they did this at Brewerton . All the Mods got parked on the middle after each groups timing was complete . This allows some nice ops for driver shots by their cars.

Jeremy Roy

Billy Pouch Jr .

Larry Wight

It was then heat race time

After the intermission and redraw , the Pro Stocks were the first of the features.

This was dominated by JJ Coursey 4 , but Tyler Bushey, 15x , one of my local drivers was the one to watch.

Bushey worked his way up to second and was on the back bumper of Courcy as they crossed the line. He looked quick, and maybe if there was another couple of laps he could of made the pass.

First three were JJ Coursy, Tyler Bushey , Jason Casey

The big race of the night was up next , the second of the Super DirtCar Series race of Summer Fast.

Jimmy Phelps was the early leader , with a lot of place changes going on at the front of the pack , but as the race got nearer the end it was Alex Yankowski who looked the strongest.