RICK @ the RACES (28 April 2012)
28 April Evans Mills Speedway NY (Practice Day)
28 April Can Am Speedway, Lafargeville, NY
This past week end was a bit on the chilly side, but it stayed dry enough for me to attend three events on Saturday.
My first port of call was in my home town of Cornwall, Ontario where the Cornwall Motor Speedway had some of their cars on display at Baxtrom’s THE INDEPENDENT GROCER, which is one of the latest local businesses to join the list of track sponsors.
They were putting on a fund raiser Barbecue in aid of the Childrens Treatment Center
As well as the familiar black pace truck, there were three race cars parked by the main entrance.
They were the Mini Stock of Justin Desrosiers and the Sportsman cars of Dan and Tammy Jalbert. I spent a short time there before heading off to my next destination.
I got onto Highway 401 and drove down to the border crossing into the USA at Ogdensburg NY .
The extreme cold weather ( for this time of year) had once again forced the Evans Mills Speedway NY to postpone their scheduled opening night. Instead, they were staging an afternoon practice session, with free entry to the public.
I arrived at about 2-30 pm, to check out what was going on. One thing that has really pleased me and many other race fans, is the fact that this year the track is reverting back to it’s ‘proper’ name of the Evans Mills Speedway. Back in 2004, it was re-christened , Thunder Alley , which was a name I was never too keen on.
There was an assortment of machinery, which included, Legends, Street Stocks, Late Models and even a Modified.
I stayed around for about half an hour, before taking off in the direction of my evenings racing.
Just a short distance away at Lafargeville NY the Can Am Speedway were holding their (postponed from the previous week), opening night. Rain had forced the original date to be cancelled.
The bill of fare, looked impressive with a Pro Stock Challenge, a Modified ‘Dash for Cash’ , Late Models and a full program of Sportsman and ESS Sprint Cars. If that wasn’t enough, there was also an Enduro to end the night.
I got to the track at around 4-30 pm for my usual pre race wander around the pits and the first people I bumped into were Christine Martin, and Wayne, her Dad.
For the last few years Christine has been one of the many young females that have been taking part in the Sportsman division. For 2012 she has moved up into the 358’s and this was only her second outing. A few weeks back they went down to the Penn Can Speedway in Pennsylvania for the opener , but this was their first time out on ‘home ground’ .
The pits were overflowing with cars , and it reminded me of the Can Am’s I recall from SUPER DIRT SERIES nights of the past. Once the racing got under way I joined photographers Don Simpson and Rebecca Eisele on the middle for the heats before moving up to the warmth of the media room for the Features. As I said earlier, it was a chilly one !
The Feature races were all good ones, with Sprint Car rookie Sammy Reakes 1V making history with a sensational win. In only his fourth start since moving into the Sprint car world, he held off a hard challenge by top driver Chuck Hebing to take the checkers.
Dylan Evoy carried on from where he left off last year, as the man to beat in the Sportsman division, by coming home in front of Josh Van Brocklin.
In the Modified ‘dash’ Chris Raabe over hauled long time leader Tom Conklin to collect another win.
The Pro Stock Feature was the most dramatic races of the night as Joey Ladouceur fought off a last lap assault by Pete Stefanski who was running second at the time. A coming together on the final turn resulted in Stefanski falling out of contention as Ladouceur sped on to take the checkers.
I never stayed for the Late Model feature, (as they ‘don’t really do much for me’) or the Enduro that closed the evening.
In consideration to the fans braving the cold weather, track management made a big effort to move the show along quickly and I was out of the gate, and back home in Cornwall by midnight.