SUPER DIRTCAR WINS FOR YANKOWSKI and PHELPS ( 25th July 2026 BLOG)
The last BLOG ended on Saturday the 18th of July after a night spent at home , following some predicted rain canceled my plans for the Brockville Ontario Speedway .
On Sunday I was at my local Cornwall Motor Speedway , for a regular show, of Modifieds, Sportsman , Limited Sportsman , Pro Stocks and Mini Stocks , plus the added Vintage Modifieds.
As usual I was there early , and was able to ‘listen in’ to a much needed pre race meeting for the Pro Stock drivers that had been called by the management .
Promoter Raymond Lavergne and Race Director , Jason Aikman were expressing their concerns on the poor show this division put on during the 5th of July show.
I mentioned this Pro Stock race in my Blog , mentioning the poor driving actions that made the race a multi caution fiasco ( I wont use the actual words used ) LOL .
At the meeting, they were basically told to smarten up.
Once the nights racing got started, I took up my shooting positions .
The big talking point of the night was young Tristan Ladouceur getting his first drive in a 358 modified.
In recent weeks he has dominated our local Sportsman racing, and Pierre Dagenais had brought his #124 Modified along to give him try .
This meant Tristan would be racing against his father Joey in the premier division.
The first feature race of the night, and before intermission it was the Mini Stocks and this was won by Christopher Groulx
The Vintage Modifieds then followed, and as usual , they had two winners in the same race.
Chris Wilson won the 60’s class winner and Josh Power won the 70’s class
After the break the Limited Sportsman took to the track for their feature .
Kyle Reif was the winner of this one .
It was then time for the Modified feature.
Here’s Tristan Ladouceur , side by side with his dad Joey.
The feature was dominated by Ryan Stabler , who had Brian McDonald on his back bumper for most of the race.
At the Checkers it was Ryan.
The Pro Stock feature was on next , and the pre race ‘talking to’ must have done some good.
They all behaved themselves and we got a good race.
The winner was Tommy Lizotte .
The last race of the night was the Sportsman feature .
Tristan Ladouceur jumped back into the seat of his Sportsman , and after a short battle with Jacob Nadeau, he went on to win
So I got the opportunity to get this shot , of the three generations of Modified Ladouceurs . Tristan with father Joey and Grandfather Laurent.
The next day , Monday, the 20th of July I was heading into Quebec for two days.
Autodrome Drummond were holding a couple of back to back nights for the SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES.
I got to Drummondville by 3-00pm and was able to check in early at the TRAVELODGE .
It’s only about a mile from the track so I was there in good time to chat with the DIRTCAR officials and watch the race teams arrive.
It was nice to meet up with my good friend Josee Fortier who is a track official in Quebec.
My ‘Tog’ buddy Don Simpson was there , as well as Daniel Mailhot who was mentoring , young Anna -Eve Tasse, at the art of racing photography .
We all hung out as we waited for the action to begin.
I tried a few different shooting positions before settling for my usual spot on turn three and four.
It was good to see Danny Johnson, making an appearance in the loaned Wallace Stacey car.
Sportsman were the main support division for the Big Block Modifieds and their feature was run before the headline event.
Raphael Gougeon was the winner
The redraw, presentations and firework display then took place.
William Racine drew pole.
It was then time for 75 lap SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES race .
William Racine took the early lead, until being forced to retire with a mechanical failure.
Mat Williamson also retired when his motor let go.
Michael Parent was now up front with Alex Yankowski looking like a leading contender.
Alex Payne was also working his way nearer to the front
At the checkers, it was Alex Yankowski
He was followed over the line by Michael Parent and Alex Payne.
That was it , part one of the SDS visit to Drummond was over , and for me, it was back to the Travelodge .
The weather for the next day , didn’t look good , and as most people expected , the cancelation call was made in the morning.
So I checked out of my room at 10-00am and departed from Drummondville in the direction of home.
That gave me the rest of the day to relax before my next racing destination.
On Wednesday the 22nd , the Airborne Park Speedway at Plattsburgh NY were holding a SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES.
This was the first one to be staged at this track since the 1st of July 2019 .
Larry Wight was the winner that day
FLASHBACK to 2019
Before that, and the first one to be held there (I think), was in 2018 , the year before, when Danny Johnson was the winner.
FLASHBACK to 2019.
I left home in Cornwall early , and spent some time in the city of Plattsburgh before heading to the track.
I was there before 4-00pm so had plenty of time to take a wander.
Already most of the big teams were parked in the pits and getting prepared.
When it was time for the racing to begin, I took up my usual hot lap position on the outside of turn four with my ‘tog’ buddy Kyle Coryea .
At about the same time , a dark cloud was heading our way but we hoped it would just pass over. It soon passed over , but left us with a light shower of rain . The sun then came out again and following a bit of track prep, things looked set to get started .
Just as things were beginning to look OK , a darker cloud could be seen heading our way. This one didn’t look good , so instead of sheltering under a tree like we did before, I decided to make a B Line back to my car .
Sure enough , this was quite a big dump of rain and the out look didn’t look good.
I don’t think anyone really wanted to return the following day for the scheduled ‘rain date’ , so when the rain stopped, the game plan was to get the show in.
A lot more packing was required, and just after 9-00 pm things got underway.
By now it was too dark to shoot pics on the outside , so I moved to the middle.
The Big Block show had Sportsman , Limited Sportsman, Renegades (Street Stocks) and Mini Stocks as the support divisions
The later than scheduled start , meant things moved along as quickly as possible
The Heat races were soon in the books , and there was very little time wasted before the headline races.
During the break , I caught up with two of the sports finest flag men. DirtCars David Farney and the recently retired Airborne, flag man Ken Marshall .
First feature for the main divisions was the Limited Sportsman, and this was won by Stephen Bushey.
The SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES then followed .
The earlier rain gave us an unexpected benefit. The track had plenty of bite and was very ‘racey’ .
It allowed plenty of passing and we got a good race.
It was Jimmy Phelps who dominated, and he won the race with Mat Williamson closing in towards the end .
It was Jimmy’s second SDS win in just a few weeks , when he won at the M.I.R on the 8th of July
The first three were, Phelps, Williamson and Matt Sheppard
The time was now past 11-30 pm , so after watching Caleb Durgan take the Sportsman feature win, I made my exit.
In my absence the , final feature , for the Renegades was taking place.
I was home about 1-45 pm Thursday morning, and glad , I had nothing planned for that day.
On Friday the 24th July , I was back across the bridge to the Mohawk International Raceway for a regular night of racing. Modifieds, Sportsman, Limited Sportsman , Pro Stocks and Mini Stocks.
It happened to be Autograph night so during the intermission , while it was taking place , I was back in my car taking a nap .
Once things got going , it was young Stephen Bushey again in Victory Lane, taking the Limited Sportsman feature win.
Next up was the Pro Stock feature , and after a bunch of cautions it settled down to be the best race of the night.
Zack Daniels and Dakota Sharp were duelling side by side for most of the race , only to have Sid Harmer Jr, catch up and steal the win by making a bottom groove pass. Great Stuff.
The Sportsman were next , and it was Tristan Ladouceur making it six wins in a row.
After Bryan Preville and Marco McCarthy shared the front spot for the first few laps , he made the pass and there was no stopping him.
The Modified Feature followed this.
Lucas Fuller took the early lead with Louie Jackson Jr hot on his heels.
It wasn’t long before Jackson edged passed on the bottom, but Fuller stayed with him to the checkers.
Thats how they crossed the line .
The last race of the night was for the Mini Stocks.
Once again they put on a good show with a good battle between Mathieu Voghell and Felix Lavictoire.
Lavictoire , who was last weeks winner, had to settle for second behind Voghell
By the time Victory Lane was over , it was just before 11-45 .
I thought to myself , aghh good , I should be home around mid night. Then disappointment, when I reached the border there was a thirty minute wait as they only had one booth open , grrrrr !