RICK @ the RACES (31 Aug to 4 Sept)
31 Aug Capital City Speedway , Ottawa, Ont
1 Sept Mohawk International Raceway, Hogansburg, NY
3 Sept Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, NY
4 Sept Cornwall Motor Speedway, Ont
This past weekend was the Labor Day Holiday, which is the traditional time for the track champions of the season to be crowned. It heralds the end of year wind down as we move on to the special events of the fall. All of my local tracks had their final points night this week and have a new list of names to be added to the history books.
As usual , I was at the Capital City Speedway (Ottawa) on Wednesday for their final weekly show of 2011. Before the nights racing took place, the ‘Four for Fun’ and Legend champions were already known, but the other divisions depended on the final races of the season.
Good performances throughout the year meant that Brooke Cordick and Matt Haufe could relax with the knowledge they’d already secured the top spot.
The Ministock Championship was very close as we came into the night, but at the end Kyle Baker edged past Casey Cavanagh to grab the honors.
The Thunder Car Championship went to Dave Stinson,
while Steve Munro was the winner for the Late Models . Feature races that night went to Brian Sehl (Four for Fun) Casey Cavanagh (Ministock) Mike Hennink (Thunder Car) Matt Haufe (Legend) and Ricky Rump (Late Model)
The Mohawk International Raceway chose to run their Final points night on Thursday, instead of the normal Friday, so as far as I was concerned, my attendance would depend on whether or not I got off work early. As my Thursday morning began , an unplanned event made things a lot easier for me. While munching on my breakfast of marmalade on toast, a big chunk from one of my back teeth broke off. A filling had come apart and with the ‘long weekend’ rapidly approaching, an emergency visit to the dentist was required. I had to take the morning ( and the rest of the day) off work to get it fixed.
This of course meant that the MIR was definitely doable and I had no rush to get there. Even the trip to the dentist was more pleasurable than expected.. My regular dentist wasn’t available and I had to settle for his very attractive Eastern European female associate! She did such a good job I was able to try out my repaired molars at the Pondorosa Buffet in Masena NY before the races.
Things at the track went well until the heats got under way, when Mother Nature got the cue to give us some rain.
It wasn’t too heavy and after the inevitable delay, racing resumed. This obviously made the program run late , and with work the next day , I knew I’d have to leave before the end. The Bandits had completed all their heats before the rain, so this Feature was run first, ( to pack the track) before the other divisions began their heats.
This was won by Nolan Swamp.
The Pro Stock Feature was won by Louie Jackson, and the Mod Lite race provided another win for Mathieu Robinson.
At about 11-45 pm the Modified Feature was concluded with Dale Planck taking the checkers. With time marching on, I had to leave, with the Sportsman and (visiting) Late Model features yet to run. In my absence things got delayed even further after a big front stretch wreck for the Sportsman, brought out the reds. Sheldon Hoogwerf was the eventual winner with Tim Sears Jnr taking the Late Model Victory.
Track Champions were Chris Raabe ( Modifieds) Dylan Evoy (Sportsman) Dave Bissonnette (Pro Stocks) Owen White (Bandits) and Mathieu Robinson (Mod Lites)
I was back at work at 7-30 am on Friday morning and ended up doing a thirteen hour shift that ruined my evenings racing plans. I’d hoped to finish early and get down to the Can Am Speedway at Lafargeville NY for their ‘Tribute to 911’ night.
This week I wasn’t required to work on Saturday morning, which gave me plenty of time to take a nice relaxing drive to my racing destination.
Last year my good friend and long time racing photographer Mike Watts passed away and his local Airborne Speedway in Platsburgh NY were holding a 50 lap Memorial race for Modifieds in his honor.
I arrived in good time and joined Andy Watts, Mike’s youngest son, on the center to take photos.
The 358 Modifieds are Airborne’s headline division and were joined by the other regular weekly divisions of Sportsman(Late Models), Mini Mods, Renegades and Bombers.
Prior to the ‘Mike Watts Memorial’ race ,the Dirt Sportsman of Neil ‘Hollywood’ Prevost came out on the track for a lap of honor and a photo shoot with the Watts Family. Neil who has his car painted up as a tribute to Mike then said a few words in memory of our lost friend. 
After a ‘four wide’ parade lap the 50 lap Memorial race got under way with Patrick Dupree taking the checkers.
The Sportsman race which was joined by cars from Autodrome St Eustache was won by local hero ‘Bucko’ Branham.
I had the pleasure of meeting up with Chantal Boisvert once again, who’s son Marc-Antione Demers drives the # 422 car . Chantal and I had met earlier in the year at the St Eustache and Repentigny ice races.
Martin Roy, of Napierville, Quebec was crowned as the Airborne 2011 Modified Champion.
By visiting Airborne, I missed , the Final points night at my regular Saturday base at the Brockville Ontario Speedway where Danny O’Brien clinched the Modified Championship with Chris Herbison taking the Sportsman division
Once again the weather forecast wasn’t good for Sunday’s show at the Cornwall Motor Speedway, but as the day went by the sun came out and things looked like we might be lucky.
The show got under way with hot laps and time trials for the Modifieds and Pro Stocks. These were then followed by the heats. Just after the Rookie and Semi Pro races were in the bag the first spots of rain were felt.
The rain got heavier and after ‘waiting it out’ for a while the decision was made to cancel. The track Championships went to Stephane Lafrance (Modifieds) Chris Herbison (Sportsman) and Joey Ladouceur (Pro Stocks).
The rain eventually stopped and the traditional end of season pit party still took place. I joined a bunch of friends from the Dave Bissonnette team and we partied until the early hours .