5 July Mohawk International Raceway (NY)
6 July Brockville Ontario Speedway
7 July Cornwall Motor Speedway , Ont (RAINED OUT)
9 July Cornwall Dirt Raceway Park, Ont
As usual Friday was a busy day at work, and after clocking out just after 5-00pm I made a dash over the International Bridge from Cornwall, Ont to the Mohawk International Raceway at Hogansburg NY. Their previous weeks show had been rained out and I was looking forward to some action.
With Friday 5 July being the day after the American Independence Day, a big Fireworks display was planned for the end of the evening. My buddy , track photographer ,
Andy Watts had donned a ‘silly hat’ with the stars and stripes on it, in a similar style to the red and white maple leaf one I’d worn at the Cornwall Motor Speedway on Canada Day.
The Feature races turned out to be first class, with some excellent battles going on.
The high light of the night for me, and many other fans was the Sportsman race, where local favorite Jenna David got an emotional first time Feature victory, after managing to hold off Corey Wheeler in the closing laps.
Billy Dunn once again made it look easy in the Modified Feature after fending off an early challenge from Brian McDonald.
Stephane Lebrun took the Pro Stock race ,
and Scott Waldrif were the Bandit and Mod Lite winners.
On Saturday night , as normal, I was at the Brockville Ontario Speedway, where the headlining events were a 50 lapper for 358 Mods and a 40 lapper for Sportsman. I was there early and made my regular trip around the pits for the purpose chatting.
I spoke to my good friend Tabatha Murphy, who was excited about selling her first car.
She recently embarked on a new career in car sales, and after , just two weeks on the job at a Chrysler main dealer, that morning, she’d managed to finalize the first sale. She is specializing in the FIAT 500, which happens to be one of yours trulys favorites amongst modern day retro cars.
It was good to see my friend ‘Dentman Dave’ Watchhorn from the Capital City Speedway (Ottawa) out in his # 97 Rookie dirt car.
The Feature races were a bit too much ‘follow the leader’ for my liking with Danny O’Brien ( Modifieds) and Shane Pecore ( Sportsman) having very little opposition on their cruise to the checkers.
On Sunday I was at the Cornwall Motor Speedway at about 1-30 pm, where I found it nice a dry.
I then sat up in the Control Tower getting on with some work on my lap top, until I looked out the windows and noticed it spitting with rain . Within minutes the light rain , turned heavy and things did not look good.
As the wet stuff continued it became obvious we were on course for another rain out, and sure enough, at around 3-00 pm the inevitable call was made. My stuff was packed up, and before long I was heading back home.
By Tuesday night (9 July) it had stopped raining , and it was the Cornwall Kart Track night at the recently renamed Dirt Raceway Park.
As well as the kids karts and lawn tractors, the V twin Dirt Demons were there. These of course are caged and not for kids, so they have become ‘countable’ in TRACKCHASING.
I gained this as a new track a few weeks back, but on this occasion two of the worlds top TRACKCHASERS were there to add it to their lists. My friends, Guy Smith from Effort , Pennsylvania ( 1511 tracks) and Roland Vanden Eynde (1010 tracks ) from Vilvoorde in Belgium were both in attendance and it was a pleasure meeting up with them. We all stayed for the first of the Dirt Demon Features before making our departure.
