RICK @ the RACES (24 to 27 Aug)
24 Aug Capital City Speedway , Ottawa, Ont
26 Aug Mohawk International Raceway, Hogansburg NY
27 Aug Brockville Ontario Speedway, Ont
Once again my weekly dose of racing began in Ottawa at the Capital City Speedway on Wednesday night (24 Aug) . As I made my pre race wander around the pits it was really good to see AJ Dickie ‘walking about’.Last week he was involved in a scary crash where his car hit the back straight wall and got written off. During the week friends and family rallied around and built a new ‘Four For Fun’ car for him, and for the night ( while AJ is still recovering) it was going be driven by Brian Sehl.
Brian then went on to win the nights feature with it.
The other Features went to Sean Kennedy who got his first Late Model win of the year,
Todd Musker got another victory in the Thunder Cars, and Corey Wilson won his first career feature in the Mini Stocks.
Charlotte NC. based Steve Cantrell , the Californian Legend Car visitor notched up his third consecutive win while his ‘host’ Kevin Foisy had to be content with second.
During the intermission, spectators were treated to their second ‘meet the drivers’ autograph night on the front stretch.
I had another early finish at work on Friday (5-00pm , Wow ! Now , that doesn’t happen very often !) so I was able to take a leisurely trip over to the Mohawk International Raceway. It’s located in Hogansburg NY, just a five minute drive from the Canada/USA border crossing close to my home in Cornwall ,Ont.
The ‘MIR’ as it’s become known, is a far cry from the old Frogtown Speedway that stood on the same spot up to a few years ago. Lots of money has been spent on the place, making it a desirable place to be on a Friday night, which has resulted in good car and crowd turnouts.
The Pro Stocks ranks were swelled by two surprise long distance travellers, Rob Yetman an Orange County Fair Speedway (Middletown NY) regular, and Lebanon Valley Speedway’s Chad Jesseo.
I had the pleasure of meeting Rob in the pits who kindly loaned the hood of his car for ‘photo shoot’ I was doing.
I’d asked my friend Chantal Lesage if she’d pose for some ‘Pretty Faces’ shots for www.rickattheraces.com and we used Rob’s car as a back drop.
The first three Features of the night, were carbon copy victories from the previous week with Dan Desnoyers taking the Bandit race, Matt Meuten winning in the Mod Lites while 
Dylan Evoy notched up an incredible ninth Sportsman victory.
The Sportsman Feature had to be red flagged at the start of the race , after a crash which resulted in Sheldon Hoogwerf ending up on his roof.
The Modified Feature looked all set for a fourth duplicate win as last weeks winner, Todd Stone edged into the lead from a challenging Gage Morin. When the caution flag came out for the slowing Ryan Helm car, we were all surprised to see Stone pull off into the pits and never to return. I guess the problem must have been ‘major’.
This worked well for Morin, who cruised on to take his second ‘late season’ win. ( his first of the year, was a couple of weeks back at the Cornwall Motor Speedway).
This weeks show ran quicker than in previous weeks which allowed me to stay right to the end, and see PJ Peters win the Pro Stocks Feature.
I have to be at work early on Saturday morning, so this is always a welcome occurrence for me.
After doing a Saturday morning shift , where I delivered a trailer to Rosemere, Quebec, I was back home in Cornwall and ready for my usual trip to the Brockvile Ontario Speedway.
Joining the regular cast of 358 Mods, Sportsman , Street Stocks and Rookies were the touring Patriot Sprint Cars. After the disappointing performance they gave us on their previous visit earlier in the season, I wasn’t looking forward to seeing them again ( I think they had almost as many cautions as they did laps and even had to stop the race for refueling ! ) I thought they’d surely be better this time, but I’m afraid to say, I’m still not impressed .
They didn’t have quite so many cautions, but there were still a lot ! Oh what a contrast to memorable night in July when we witnessed that great display of Sprint Car racing from the World Of Outlaw’s. Now those guys were ‘class acts’ and I hope they are back at the ‘BOS’ in 2012. 
The eventual winner of the Patriot Sprint Feature was Wayne Johnson from Oklahoma City.
The Modified Feature turned out to be another run away win for Stephane Lafrance… No one could catch him ! The Street Stocks gave us a first time win for Alain Croulx while Jean Marc Larose won the Rookie race. The best race of the night was the Sportsman Feature. During the early stages it looked like we were in for a ‘good news story’ with Sheldon Hoogwerf in his rebuilt car ( from the wreck at MIR the night before) leading the pack from Bruce Makinson. As the race moved towards its conclusion Chris Herbison and Dylan Evoy came into the picture, and as the laps wound down, it could of been any of the four to take the checkers.
As things turned out, and the flag dropped , it was young Mr Evoy again who took the honours.
Sunday was a day that was doomed right from the start, with dire warnings in the media of Hurricane Irene arriving and threatened anything that was taking place in the North East of Canada and the USA. Sure enough, not long after I got out of bed, the wind and rain started, which continued in to the evening. It was inevitable that there would be no racing at the Cornwall Motor Speedway for the second week running. I now look forward to next week, it’s the ‘Big One’ at Cornwall with the Canadian Nationals for the 358 Mods.
Finally I must mention a trip down memory lane, that one of my friends Tyler Lambert made this week. Tyler who lives in Cobden, Ontario revisited the site of the old Golden Lake Speedway ( near Eganville, Ont) which is a track close to my heart.
It was the first track I visited in North America after moving to Canada from England in 1994. Tyler went along and took an album of photos, of how it looks now.
The place happens to be For Sale and got me thinking ! The Ottawa Valley lost one of its tracks, Autodrome Edelweiss this year, and the Golden Lake site ( via Shawville, Que) is not far away from that same catchment area. The Edelweiss drivers are now having to travel further a field to get their kicks, so wouldn’t it be nice if someone came along and reopened it . Check out some of Tylers Pics !
