RICK @ the RACES ( 13/14/15 Sept 2013)
13 Sept Mohawk International Raceway .NY (postponed)
14 Sept Mohawk International Raceway. NY
15 Sept Mohawk International Raceway.NY
After another busy week at work, I managed to get away a bit earlier than usual, on Friday, for day one, of the Mohawk International Raceway’s SUPER DIRT SERIES weekend special. The agenda included a 358 Modified SDS race and Pro Stock Series race on Friday, followed by the Sportsman and Big Block Modifieds on Saturday. Both days had ‘Go Nuclear’ Late Models to pad out the program.
On the lead up to the weekend, our area endured some heavy rain storms and on Thursday , I saw some pictures on Face Book of the flooded track, and speedway staff attempting to pump it away. Better weather was forecast for Friday and a decision on whether or not to cancel was going to be made at 10-00 am in the morning. They did a great job of draining the track and with drier and better weather predicted, the show was to carry on as planned.
I finished work around 3-00 pm and after returning home for a while, I set off to the track in overcast conditions. Just as I was crossing the border from Cornwall (Ont) to Hogansburg (NY) a few sprinkles of rain appeared on my windscreen. There wasn’t too much, so I still felt optimistic. I got my usual JRECK Sub from the Twin Leaf Gas location and was soon down at the track and parked up close to the pit gate.
The pits were starting to fill up as the mist and drizzle continued. It was ‘Friday the thirteenth’ , and the meteorologists picked this day to get it wrong . Before long I was heading back across the bridge to Canada with Friday’s show postponed to Sunday, and Saturdays events staying as programmed.
I managed to get a few chores done on Saturday morning before making an early start for the evenings races. I was back there in good time to chat amongst friends. By now, the race track was in excellent shape, and we were in for a great night of racing.
Dale Caswell won an exciting Late Model race, that set the trend for the next big events of the night. He was greeted on the finish line by the ‘little green men’ of Twin Leaf, the evenings sponsors.
Dave Marcuccilli fought off a challenge from Chris Herbison, to win the Dirtcar Sportsman Series race,
while Matt Sheppard took the Big Block Modified race. Billy Dunn and Brett Hearn followed Matt across the line. 
All three features provided some nail biting finishes on a track that had a good top and bottom groove to choose from. The show was over, soon after 11-00 pm and it was time to head back over the bridge to Canada again.
Sunday’s rescheduled show was an afternoon event, the pit gates would open at 10.00 am and the racing was to begin at 1-00 pm. There was no lay in bed that morning , and I was back over the bridge as the pit gates opened.
It was now the turn of the 358 Modifieds and the Dirtcar Pro Stocks,
which were once again joined by the Late Models. With it being a day time show, the track conditions would be a lot different this time, with no evening moisture coming up, for the clay to get tacky. Instead, it was hard and slick, with most of the drivers, opting for the bottom groove .
One line of racing is never very exciting and all three of the features were follow the leader affairs . The Late Model Feature had an abundance of cautions too.
Rick Miller was the eventual Late Model winner , while Matt Sheppard made a clean weekend sweep by also taking the 358 Modified race.
The last event of the weekend was for the Pro Stocks , where Marc Lalonde got a flag to flag Victory, and a career , first ever win in the Series .
It was all over by a respectable 5-00 pm and I was looking forward to relaxing at home with a beer. I had to wait a bit longer for that , as my sixth and final trip across the bridge in just three days, proved to be the longest, and most frustrating of the lot. The line of cars waiting to get back into Canada from the USA stretched the complete span of the bridge, and back on to the Cornwall Island, that separates the two countries. I ended up waiting for over an hour, which was an all time record for me. I had plenty of time to get out of the car and take photos of the St Lawrence and the City of Cornwall below.
