RICK @ the RACES (4/5/6 April)
Fri 4 April Brockville Ontario Speedway Awards Night
Sat 5 April Cornwall Motor Speedway Banquet
This past weekend was a busy one, with a lot of things going on near to home.
For many years , I’ve considered Ron Morin, the promoter and owner of my local Cornwall Motor Speedway as a personal friend, and he’s often confided with me. In the recent past, and during many other closed-seasons there’s often been rumours doing the rounds, about him ‘selling up’ and gossip about a change of ownership. Up until now , they’ve always been ‘just rumors’, but this year, I knew different.
For sometime now, I’d had the knowledge that my friend Ron , was ready to retire, and this time, his ‘selling up’ gossip, had credibility. The track was to be purchased by the Lavergne Brothers, from the St Albert area of Ontario, and they were making Graham Gorman, from nearby Embrum as their Promoter and Manager. Graham is a former 358 Dirt Modified driver ( # 5 car, from a few years back) and in recent times, the crew chief for Stephane Lafrance.
Like most property exchanges, there was still a lot of work to be done by the lawyers, but it was decided to make the official announcement, this past weekend, at the tracks annual banquet.
My weekend started off, at a function for another of my local tracks when the Brockville Ontario Speedway had an awards night on Friday at the Centenial Centre in the city. After finishing work , at 6-30 pm, I dashed down Hwy 401 , to attend. I got there about 30 minutes before the start, and joined Ron Morin, Graham Gorman and respective partners on their table. After chatting for a while, the rest of my night was spent, taking awards photos. It was all over by about 10-00 pm, and after a bit of socializing I was on my way back to Cornwall.
I was up bright and early on Saturday morning to meet Graham at the Cornwall Civic Centre. In previous years, the Cornwall Motor Speedway has put on a Mall Show, but with renovations taking place in Cornwall Square it couldn’t happen this year. Instead, the track were hosting a booth at the Spring Home & Leisure Show at the Civic Centre. I met Graham before the opening, so I could get some pics.
My next engagement was for an afternoon meeting for staff of the Cornwall Motor Speedway at the Comfort Inn , where plans for the coming year were discussed.
After this , I returned home for a quick ‘clean up’ and to change into posh clothes, before heading off to Long Sault for the evenings banquet. The hall was packed out, and I was seated on the Media table. As usual , the meal was excellent , which was followed by the speeches and awards.
Scott Hanton emceed the evening and after announcing Ron’s retirement and new ownership, he passed the mike to Graham Gorman to introduce himself.
Cornwall’s Member of Parliament , Guy Lauzon was there to honour the out going Ron Morin for his service to the community.
I was kept busy throughout the night, along with my fellow photographer friend , Bob Levebvre, getting trophy shots of the various winners behind the champions banner.
In true Cornwall Motor Speedway fashion, it was a great night, where our retiring promoter and my good friend was honored.
Thankfully, my Sunday was a relaxing one, which was spent on my couch watching the live TV coverage of the F1 Grand Prix from Bahrain. This turned out to be one of the best televised races I’ve seen for a long time with England’s, Lewis Hamilton taking the checkers.