RICK @ the RACES ( 24 – 29 June 2008)
28 June Capital City Speedway (Rained Out)
28 June Mohawk International Raceway
29 June Cornwall Motor Speedway ( rained out after three races)
Last Tuesday ( 24 June) it was the Jean Baptiste public holiday in Quebec, and because my ‘day job’ involves working in ‘Le Belle Province’ I get an unpaid vacation day whether I like it or not.
My original plans were to drive down to the Bridgeport Speedway in New Jersey for a ‘special race ‘ they had scheduled , but the sky rocketing gas prices changed my mind ( It’s about a 9 hour drive from my place) .
Instead of heading to New Jersey, I traveled to Gananoque (Ontario) to meet up with a couple of old buddies who were visiting from the UK.
One of them was Kev ‘Jinx’ Moriarty, a friend from my teenage days in Eaton Bray ( Bedfordshire, UK) when I was into motor bikes. We both had AJS 500 twins ( I bet many of my younger readers have no idea what an AJS is ! )
The other friend was Stan ‘the man’ Cole who I knew from racing stock cars in England . Stan an ex BriSCA F1 racer # 42 , was also a singer in a band and he used to have ‘Rock a Billy Rebel’ painted on his car.
Like with many of my buddies from the UK , I’ve kept in touch . Both were in the process of traveling across North America with their partners. We agreed to meet up in Gananoque for supper, and to ‘shoot the breeze’ over a few beers. 
There was no racing for me on Friday night, as I had to work late. I missed Autodrome Edelweiss and seeing 15 year old Gage Morin # 16 getting his first 358 Modified victory. Gage, the grandson of Cornwall Motor Speedway owner/promoter Ron Morin, is definitely a kid with talent and it was just a matter of time before he got his first big win. I just wish I’d been there to see it, so I could of got some memorable Victory Lane shots.
On Saturday, my plans were to visit the Capital City Speedway ( Ottawa) for their JUNE JAM. It was a rare afternoon show with ACT Late Models as the headliners. The program was due to start at 2-00pm , and with the Late Model feature taking place in the mid afternoon, it looked good , for me to make it to the evening races at the Brockville Ontario Speedway too ( about an hour away) .
The weather forecast was not very promising, but because Capital City is a paved track , I was willing to take the chance, and arrived at midday just after the rain had stopped. The skies were still overcast and the morning showers had already delayed the start time. I wandered around the pits and found most of the cars still under tarps.
The track dryers were at work and I still felt optimistic. I chatted to my friends Erin Joyce, her Dad, Mike and brother Billy who pulled in soon after me with their Legend car.
I also passed the time chatting to long distance travelers Tim Fernades and Tanya Carson of Peteborough and Belleville’s Jim Clarke.
The rain then started up again and I retreated to my car for shelter. It looked very likely we were in for intermittent showers for the rest of the day. Promoter Arnie Malcolm was determined to get the show in, but said a decision would be made around 3-00pm .
Around 2-30pm another downpour occurred and about fifteen minutes later the postponement to Sunday ( next day) was announced. This of course would be out of the question for me, because of my Cornwall Motor Speedway commitments.
With bad weather reported everywhere, I wisely made a phone call to Brockville to check if it was still on, and a recorded message relayed the bad news.
My next phone call was to the Mohawk International Raceway in Hogansburg, New York. I got through to , announcer and PR man Jamie Davis who told me things there were dry, and in fact they were watering the track. So, my plans changed dramatically and I sped off in the direction of the Canadian / USA border.
It was still raining as I joined the line at the customs, and I feared the worst for the MIR, which is located just 5 minutes away. Unbelievably, within a couple of miles of driving the rain had stopped and I arrived at a dry track.
I met up with my photographer buddy , Mike Watts, who had also diverted there after the Airborne Speedway at Plattsburg NY had got rained out.
The skies looked full of it, and we both had our doubts if the show would go ahead. Amazingly all we got was a couple of brief showers that only delayed the things for a short while. 
Allen Peters # 88 got a win in the Pro Stocks while Carey Terrance # 66 added another Modified Feature to his resume.
One familiar face that’s been missing from the raceways this season has been Smiths Falls (Ont) veteran , Dave ‘The Slip’ Heaslip. I’d heard that he’d got a brand new car , but lack of time due to an increase of work at his scrap metal business had prevented him getting out on track.
In a recent RICK@ the RACES report I mentioned that in 2001, Cornwall feature winner, Laurent Ladouceur was the first driver to represent Canada in the BriSCA F1 World Final. Dave Heaslip was the second, when he raced the Mark Woodhull # 335 car at the Coventry International Speedway (UK) staged event in 2003.
I’d heard from a very good source that Dave would be out this weekend and I was looking forward to seeing him on Sunday at the Cornwall Motor Speedway.
I was there early, but true to form, Dave was one of the last to arrive : )
A crowd gathered in the sunshine as the doors of the hauler were opened and his new 2008 Bicknell in National Parts Peddler livery was unloaded. It really looked impressive.
The bright sky was to be short lived as a massive black cloud on the horizon looked destined to hit us.
Each division took hot laps as the darkness approached, and when the time came for the rookie heats there was still no rain.
The Semi-Pro heats were next and that’s when the first drops were felt. We had one Semi Pro heat in the books with the second about to begin when the skies opened.
It came down suddenly in buckets. I’d been on the center taking photos , so put my camera back in it’s case and ran towards the Glens Towing flatbed for refuge.
I escaped from the middle by the same means, then sheltered in the pit office until the down pour subsided. That was it, the night was over, and I had another rain-out to add to my tally.
Before signing off, I have to forward this link that was sent to me by my buddy Dave ‘SmiffyMan’ Smith in the UK. It shows an event at the Long Marston (UK) track in 1976 where the oval racing Hot Rods took on the RallyCross cars. You can see George Polley and Barry Lee , two of the UK’s all time greats in an epic battle. GREAT STUFF ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZVgnCevtpI