RICK @ the RACES (28/29 Sept 2012)
28 Sept Fulton Speedway NY
29 Sept Fulton Speedway NY
This past weekend it was time for another of the big post season events I always look forward to. For many years the ‘unofficial’ lead in to SUPER DIRT WEEK was the Victoria 200 held at the Fulton Speedway, NY, but in recent times, that race title got transferred to another track. Although many of us still think of it as the ‘Victoria’, Fulton’s fall classic is now called the ‘Outlaw 200’ . Last year the event got rained out, but in 2010, Brett Hearn was the winner. It’s traditionally a two day show and once again this years edition was challenged by ‘Mother Nature’.
As I set off Friday afternoon, from my place in Cornwall, Ontario and traveled through up state New York, I encountered plenty of rain. My windshield wipers were in constant use from Watertown to Central Square where I left I 81.
On arrival at the track at about 7-30 pm, the parking field was packed with campers and cars, and just like a typical ‘Victoria’. The rain had recently stopped, but the track was a muddy mess, as fans waited to see what decision would be made.
A determined management were busy working on the track trying to make it race worthy, but it was obvious it was going to be a long night. By about 11-00 pm it was ready for the warm ups and heat races to begin, for the Friday night divisions, of Sportsman, IMCA Modifieds, Late Models, Mod Lites and 4 cylinders.
I joined my photographer friends Mike Johnson and John Meloling in the mud on infield looking on to turn 3 and 4.
Under the circumstances the racing was quite good apart from the annoying and typical abundance of stoppages in the Late Models.
Obviously the delayed start time, meant we were in for some early hours of the morning, picture taking. At about 2-45 am we were out on the start straight taking the Late Model and Sportsman Victory Lane photos when we heard the decision was made to call it a ‘night’.
The 2-45 am in the morning Victory photo session was a record for me, beating my previous ‘long night’ at the Mohawk International Raceway of 2-00 am , a few weeks back.
I must also mention, that the last time I was watching auto racing at this time of the day , was back in 1975 when I attended the Le Mans 24 hour race in France.
The Late Model winner was Larry Wight,
while Sportsman winner was Jordon Bennett.
The remaining features for the IMCA and Mod Lites would be held during the Saturday evening show, while the 4 cylinders would have theirs at the Brewerton Speedway , on the coming Thursday.
After a can of beer for a night cap, I was snoring away in the back of the HHR until 9-00 am on Saturday morning.
After finding somewhere for a cup of tea and a clean up, I spent the first part of the day doing a bit of shopping, before returning to the track by mid afternoon. It was a lot drier and the sun was shining. The pits were full, and things looked good for a great night of racing.
As usual I wandered around the pits and chatted with friends. Among these were Christine Martin and her parents.
They introduced me to Ryan Scott, from Kingston , Ontario who drives the IMCA Mod # 33 and happens to be the Brewerton Speedway NY track champion.
I hadn’t seen much of the Martins during the year and they explained they’d been doing most of their racing at the Penn Can Speedway in PA.
It was a real treat to be taking pics in the afternoon sunshine and Fulton is one of my favorite places for getting action shots.
The big race of the weekend, the Outlaw 200 was a real classic, with plenty of drama and action.
Early leader Jimmy Phelps was later black flagged after an incident involving the challenging Stewart Friesen. Danny Johnson also looked good early on and retired to the pits as did Friesen later on.
One driver who’d been up near the front from the off set was Pat Ward, who drove a perfect race to collect a popular win.
Not far behind him as the checkers fell, was Brett Hearn and Matt Sheppard.
Even though the show was over at a nice sensible time of 10 30 pm, I chose to spend another night in the HHR before returning to Canada on Sunday morning.