RICK @ the RACES (30 April)
30 April Cornwall Motor Speedway (Emergency Team Training)
30 April Can Am Speedway , Lafargeville NY
The race season in my part of the world finally got under way this past weekend at the Can Am Speedway, Lafargeville NY. Even though it was the only show I attended, It turned out to be a busy weekend for me.
As a proud ‘Brit’ and Canadian , ( I have duel citizenship) I was up early on Friday 29 April to watch the Royal Wedding coverage live from London. According to the media, two thirds of the worlds population were watching it, so I wasn’t alone ! I lived in England for the first 40 years of my life so things like this are part of my heritage. It was a refreshing change to see something ‘happy’ as the worlds headline TV story and found it quite tedious when listening to the whines of the few who criticized it. I watched it until 7-30 in the morning before heading off to work.
The only local racing originally scheduled for Friday night was at the Brewerton Speedway NY , but this got canceled mid week after continuous bouts of wet weather.
By Saturday morning the sun was shining and it stayed that way for most of the day as things started to look good for my planned trip to Can Am.
Before doing this, I had a morning event to attend at my local Cornwall Motor Speedway, close to home and here in Ontario. With the season opener just two weeks away ( May 15) the St Johns Ambulance and the tracks fire crew were having a training day.
It was hosted by the Cornwall Motor Speedway ‘safety man’ Chris Burtenshaw . It was interesting to watch as the team did a mock rescue of a stricken driver. I stayed around until lunch time before heading off for Can Am.
The nice weather and the excitement of opening night attracted a good crowd of both fans and race teams. The pits were full and the spectator parking lot become an over flow area for the race teams. Not only were there the tracks regular divisions of Modifieds, Sportsman, Late Models, Thunder Cars and Street Stocks, but the ESS Sprint Cars were paying a visit too. Making the Street Stocks class more interesting, was the addition of the Dirt Pro Stocks, which included such notable drivers as NY’s Pete Stefanski and Apple Hill, Ontario’s Dave Bissonnette.
My Pentax SLR is still in the ‘shop’ for maintenance so for most of the night I was using a borrowed Cannon from webmaster Craig Revelle for my photo taking. The show ran very smoothly, had minimal delays and the nights first feature, for Late Models was won by local man , Lee Gill.
After a couple of early cautions the Sprint Cars eventually got into a rhythm as things got dominated by Quebecers Alain Bergeron and Steve Poirier, giving the ‘Belle Province’ a first and second.
In my opinion the Modified race was the best of the night, with Larry Wight and Willy Decker dueling for the lead as Carey Terrance lurked menacingly in third. After a late caution Wight got a way from Decker to take the checkers.
As you might expect, the Street Stocks/Pro Stocks feature had plenty of clattering and banging, which meant delays and cautions. The lead kept changing and there were many contenders but it was Stefanski who came out as the the eventual winner.
The penultimate feature of the night was for the Sportsman and was won by Josh Van Brocklin while Jon Williams took the Thunder Car honors. It was all over around 11-30 and I was soon on my way home to Canada.
After downloading pics from Craig’s Cannon until the early hours , I was up again at 9-00 am on Sunday morning for my next engagement. I was once again heading for the Cornwall Motor Speedway , for the pre season staff briefing. New race director Scott Hanton chaired the meeting as plans and procedures for the coming season were outlined. Once again an exciting season is on the cards with something on the schedule to please everyone.