RICK @ the RACES ( 20/21/22 June 2014)
R.I.P Danny Lefebvre
It is with great sadness that I start this weeks report with the news that one of our young local race drivers, Danny Lefebvre has lost his life following a racing accident at the Cornwall Motor Speedway. It happened in the closing stages of the Mini Stock Feature as the race was reaching it’s climax. More details can be found on this link to the Cornwall Motor Speedway’s official Web Site.
CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS
Danny was a great competitor and will be sorely missed by all of us in the local racing fraternity. My thoughts and condolences go out to his family and friends at this difficult time.
The Reports from the first two events on my weekly agenda ( M.I.R and the B.O.S) were written before Sundays tragic events.
20 June Mohawk International Raceway NY
21 June Brockville Ontario Speedway.
22 June Cornwall Motor Speedway
With a weather forecast offering nothing but sunshine, this past weekend looked good for all my local tracks. My plans were to stay local on Friday and Sunday, but had the temptation to travel out of my area for Saturday. Regular readers will be aware, that when the Sprint Cars visit the Brockville Ontario Speedway , I usually go elsewhere. Past experiences, with their many race stoppages that have caused delays to the normal nights program , stick in my memory. Rather than watch caution after caution, I’ve often given them a miss. I had planned on going to the Fulton Speedway NY, but when it came to the crunch, I ended up at my regular Saturday home of Brockville. I was just too tired to drive the extra four hours, that the round trip would of meant.
When Friday came around, it was a busy day at work, and a struggle to get finished at a sensible time. I got away at 6-00 pm and after a quick wash and change at my house, I was heading across the border by 6-30 pm. There were about five control gates open, and I of course chose the slowest one !
I grabbed my usual Sub from Jreck next to the Twinleaf Gas Bar and got down to the track just as hot laps were finishing. I didn’t realize until I got there, that the Lightening Sprints were also on the program, but thankfully this sector of our local sprints are normally quite reliable and don’t usually lead to too many delays.
Even so, the show did tend to go on a bit longer than usual and it was about 11-30 before the Modified Feature was over. Both Modified and Sportsman races were nail biters, with last lap battles for first and second in both of them. Corey Wheeler fending off a challenge from Dylan Evoy in the Sportsman, and Carey Terrance doing likewise with Billy Dunn in the Modifieds.
Mathieu Borgoin won the Sprints and Matt Zira the Bandits.
With The Modifieds being the last Feature of the night, the crowds were all leaving the track at the same time, so this of course meant longer waits at the border.
On Saturday morning I was still undecided where to go that night.
Shall I go to Brockville, and risk getting frustrated with the Sprint Car delays, or drive an extra two hours to Fulton ? Well, with the tiring day I had at work on Friday, and the later than expected finish at M.I.R , it decided things for me. Late afternoon I set off on the much shorter drive to the B.O.S.
I had plenty of time to do my pit walk around and as usual chatted with my friends ‘Tabs’ and Ralph Murphy, who added a couple of new Rick @ the Races decals to their Sportsman.
I also had a good chat, and got a pic of Jordon McCreadie, who’d kindly added a sticker to his Modified a few weeks ago.
The sun was shining and it was a great night for taking action pics. I was in the middle taking the heat race action before moving to the Media booth to watch most of the Features.
At intermission I had a long chat with my friend Kayla Charland one of the Vintage Modified drivers, who told me she was taking this year off, but was making a one off appearance at the Capital City Speedway , Ottawa the following week. I said to her, that work, permitting, I’d try and get along.
I watched the Street Stock, Sportsman and Sprint Features from the booth before heading track side for the Modifieds. 
First Feature up was for Street Stocks that was won by Todd Raabe.
As expected the Sprint Car Feature was a marathon affair, with plenty of cautions but eventually won by Jared Zimbardi.
The Sportsman race was a really great one where Jonnathan Fergusson and Jason Shipclark fought side by side , lap by lap. All credit to both guys who kept it very fair and sportsman like, ( unlike the previous session at the B.O.S. where young Jonnathan was ‘ungentlemanly’ edged aside by a challenger )
Shipclark took the checkers, his first in the Dirt Sportsman division.
As mentioned earlier, I returned to the centre for the Modified Feature, which soon came under red flag conditions following a huge pile up at the end of the home straight, which completely blocked the track. There were about six cars involved with the unfortunate Jordon McCreadie’s looking to have come off worse.
After the restart, it was Elginburg , Ontario’s Bobby Herrington that took a convincing win, his first since 2012 ( I was told).
By now it was 11-30 am , so I missed the last two races (Rookies and Rookie Sportsman) that were won by Josh Kirkland and Brad Winters respectively in my absence.
Sunday started off pretty normal, with a short drive to the Cornwall Motor Speedway just after lunch. I like to get there early, and sit up in the control tower, where I have peace and quiet, to catch up with my Reports.
It was just a typical Sunday night of racing action, until the Ministock Feature .
I was at the back of Victory Lane, getting prepared for the presentations when a crash took place on the back straight near the exit of turn two.
As mentioned in the opening paragraph, it proved to be fatal for Danny Lefebvre, and the night was abandoned while the O.P.P did their investigations.