M.I.R, B.O.S and C.M.S (8/9/10 June 2012)

 

Chris Herbison on his way to a Cornwall Sportsman win
Chris Herbison on his way to a Cornwall Sportsman win

RICK @ the RACES ( 8/9/10 June 2012)

8 June              Mohawk Raceway, Hogansburg ,NY (Rain)

9 June              Brockville Ontario Speedway

10 June            Cornwall Motor Speedway , Ont

My original plans for this past weekend, were to do something a little bit different, but financial considerations forced me to stay local. My buddy, and top UK racing photographer Colin Casserley was over here on a North American racing vacation along with Steve Cording and Ailsa Haigh ( two other friends from England). They were going to be attending Speedways in the PA and NY area at the weekend with a schedule of Big Diamond on Friday, Port Royal on Saturday and Utica-Rome on Sunday. My plan was to visit the Dunn Hill (PA) Speedway on Friday, then meet up with my friends at Port Royal on Saturday.

Following my previous weeks visits to Brockville and Mirabel, I came home a little disillusioned with the quality of my pics. I had owned my Pentax SLR digital camera for about five years and it was starting to get ‘tired’ . After much thought, I decided to dash straight from work on Thursday to Ottawa, where I bought a new Nikon. I couldn’t really afford it, but for someone like me, it’s a necessity . ( PLEASE NOTE Sponsorship spaces for any businesses wishing to advertize are available on the front page of www.rickattheraces.com) .

That meant, taking it easy with my purse strings for this weekend, and I decided to call off the planned  PA trip .

This of course was the first week of my new work shift schedule, so instead of the usual mid week Wednesday off work, I was now going to be off on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

I was eager to try out the new camera and early on Friday afternoon I took a leisurely drive over the International Bridge from Cornwall , Ontario to the Mohawk International Raceway at Hogansburg NY. There was a big show taking place with the regular Mods and Sportsman being joined by the ESS Sprint Cars and Late Models.

jess sprint mir 12

It had been a very hot and humid day and as the pits began to fill , Mother Nature started getting angry. With funnel clouds in the sky , a huge storm erupted and I hastily took shelter in the bar. Hail stones started to fall , with the chunks as big as marbles. For a few minutes the storm got quite ferocious as the ground got covered in a carpet of ‘golf balls’.

hail mir 12 I must admit, that at this stage I was expecting an immediate cancellation , but I was wrong, and once it was over, an optimistic management started packing the track, with the hope of getting the show in.

While this was going on, it was a good time for me to socialize with my many friends in attendance. I had a good chat with ESS Sprint Car buddies, Mike Mallett, Dean Reynolds, Dawn Kamff, Sylvain Mercier, Shauna Zemken and Lee Ladouceur

dawn ess trailer mir12

At about 8-45 pm just as the track was almost ready , we were targeted by another shower of rain . I sheltered in the Luke Whitteker hauler for a short while, until the inevitable cancellation call was made. That was it for the night and I never got to try out any action shots with my new camera. I was soon out of the gate and by 9-15 pm , I was back at home in the east end of Cornwall.

With the M.I.R getting its second consecutive rain out, it was a bad start to my first ‘three day weekend’, and as I woke on Saturday I was hopeful that the rest of the weekend would go with out a hitch.

The weather was warm and sunny as I took my regular Saturday afternoon drive down Hwy 401 to the Brockville Ontario Speedway. Once again there was good collection of race cars from the regular divisions.

One unusual addition was Michel Chicoine from Quebec, who I stopped by to chat with. He’d recently been running a Big Block Mod at the Canandaiguar Speedway NY but this week was giving his small block a try at the B.O.S .06142012g

Once the racing got underway  I went out on the middle in my usual spot, to try out the new Nikon. I was very pleased with the results from the early evening heats, but once it got dark, I wasn’t so happy. As expected, the basic intergural flash that’s part of the camera, wasn’t ‘man enough’ for the distant action shots . I will need to buy a decent external ‘add on’ flash. ( Is there anyone interested in sponsorship ? ) Once the light faded, I decided to watch the Features from the media room with my friend and Victory Lane presenter, Rosie Estevez.

06142012jOnce again the fans were treated to a different victor in the Modified division as Pat O’Brien became the fifth new winner in as many weeks. He had to fend off challenges from younger brother Danny and the hard charging Lee Gill.

06142012h Of course, Pat is no stranger to Victory Lane, but this was his first win for about 11 months.

06142012kChris Herbison was once again dominant in the Sportsman division, while Quincey Roberts took the Rookie Feature.

06142012l It was good to see Quincy get a win after recently switching to dirt at the B.O.S following a short successful career at Ottawa’s paved Capital City Speedway.

The Mod Lites were also on the program and their winner was Brian Green. I left before the last Feature of the night which was for Street Stocks, and it seems like I missed a spectacular race. Both top drivers Kevin Fetterley Jr and Derek Cryderman, were involved in a scary looking ( as seen on U Tube) wreck. After the restart, the winner was Danny Mocibob .

Sunday turned out to be a real scorcher of a day, as I arrived at the Cornwall Motor Speedway at my usual time of 3-00 pm. I like to be there early to get my stuff set up, and relax in the tower before the action commences.

Once the pit gate opened, I took a wander around to chat and take pics. It was good to see my old friend Terry Ladouceur back racing again, after taking a few years off.

Terry Ladouceur
Terry Ladouceur

A few years back, Terry was one of the regular Semi Pro drivers , and helped me out when I was involved in the organizing  of the Short Circuit Magazine , Team Foskett Canadian Tour of 2004.

06142012uFor those that don’t know, UK Hot Rod driver, Malcolm Foskett visited Canada that year and took part in various races in loaned cars. He used Bill Bago’s car at the Merrittville Speedway, Rob Ray’s at the Capital City Speedway, (know as the Ottadrome in those days) Ron Morin’s at the Cornwall Motor Speedway, and Terry’s at Autodrome Edelweiss.

06142012wTerry is now racing in the Sportsman division as # 74.

The nights big race, the 30 lap modified Feature was won by Stephane Lafrance giving him a 100% better result than his last appearance.

06142012rIf you remember in the report from May 27, the unfortunate ‘Steph’ rolled his car on turn three.

Stephane Lafrance
Stephane Lafrance

Once again we had familiar faces in Victory Lane for the Sportsman and Pro Stocks, with Chris Herbison

06142012sand Joey Ladouceur respectively taking the spoils. The Mini Stock winner was Mike Gaucher and Andrew Giroux in the Semi Pro’s.

Other Stuff …  Congrats go out to my Buddy Mike Perrotte, on his Modified win at the Albany -Saratoga Speedway on Friday night, and to fellow ‘Brit’ , Lewis Hamilton on another Victory in the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal on Sunday.

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