RICK @ the RACES ( 3/5/6 July 2008)
Wed 3 JULY Capital City Speedway (Ont)
Sat 5 JULY Brockville Ontario Speedway (Ont)
Sun 6 JULY Cornwall Motor Speedway (Ont)
As we move into July and the racing season shifts into top gear, it’s getting harder to keep up with my RICK @ the RACES reports. For the next six weeks my diary is full of important events, which I hope to attend , many of which are mid-week. Until things start to quieten down I’ll be making them ‘short and sweet’ .
I still have ‘work in progress’ going on with my RICK @ the RACES ‘RETRO’ reports and I hope to have Episode # 26 , dealing with the final part of 1986, out soon.
Whilst on the subject of my ‘RETRO’ reports, you may recall an event I mentioned in Episode # 22 ( dealing with 1984).
To recap this is what I said.
From RETRO # 22 (1986)
<<A week after Belle Vue, I joined the ‘BriSCA F1 Traveling Road Show’ that moved over to Baarlo in the Netherlands for the Long Track World Final ( 22/23 Sept). Saturdays preliminary heats saw Friedhelm Welters # 8 in a class of his own and he looked like an easy ‘bet’ for Sunday’s big race.
Stuart Smith must have realized this too, because before the first lap was over, Welters was pushed hard into the armco ( crash barrier) where he rolled over and on to his side. The race came under red flag conditions while the # 8 car was put back on ‘all-fours’. On the restart Leon Cox took the lead, but was soon passed by eventual winner Rien Rutgens who grabbed his third Long Track victory in a row.>>
Well , this week I had a message from my old buddy, Colin Herridge in the UK who unearthed this classic piece of footage from that race I witnessed twenty four years ago. It just goes to show how tough BriSCA F1 Stock Car Racing is… ‘wimps’ need not apply ! Friedhelm was OK … and back out racing once the car was repaired.
( It was also nice to see promotor , the late , great Jac Van Claes doing the intro’s)
Fasten your seat belts and check out the action
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=5YLAPB8iO5c
Now back to the present for a quick up date.
Last Wednesday (3 July) I went along to the Capital City Speedway in Ottawa for a regular show that had a 50 lap race for Thunder Cars as the headliner.
The large mid week crowd in attendance got treated to an epic ‘one caution’ green flag race which saw Mike Hennick # 71 in Victory Lane. Once more Kevin Foisy # 55 took the Legend Car feature.
On Saturday (6 July) I was at the Brockville Ontario Speedway to see the 358 DIRTCAR Modifieds in action.
After a long absence in Victory Lane it was good to see Kingston, Ontario’s Todd Stewart # 72 with the Checkers. On my pit walk abouts I often chat to Todd and his crew and I know how hard they’ve been working for this win. Also, on the program were the Antique Stock Cars, which are always a favorite with me.
Sunday (7 July) , as usual, I was at the Cornwall Motor Speedway where the UMP (DIRTCAR) Pro Stock’s took center stage for a round of the Mohawk Racing Parts Series. This was won, by Giles Godard, a friend of mine who works for my local GM dealer in Cornwall. Following the Pro Stocks the Dirt Modifieds had their feature, and I’m pleased to report that another good friend of mine Joel Doiron, got a well deserved victory. He won the track championship at Cornwall a few years back without ever winning a feature, and this has been his goal ever since. Everything went just right for him on Sunday and after taking the checkers , a big celebration took place in Victory Lane.