RICK @ the RACES (11/12/13 July 2014)
Friday 11 July Mohawk International Raceway NY
Saturday 12 July Brockville Ontario Speedway
Once again my weekend racing plans were centred around my three local tracks, the Mohawk International Raceway , Brockville Ontario Speedway and the Cornwall Motor Speedway. The weather forecast looked good for Friday and Saturday, but not so good for Sunday.
As scheduled, my HHR went in to SEAWAY GM in Cornwall on Thursday for the wheel bearing job, and it was all rearing to go for the weekend.
I had a busy day at work on Friday, and never got done until 6-20 pm. I was home by 6-30 pm and ten minutes later, I was ready to leave. Just as I was about to go out my door, a familiar face pulled up . It was my good friend and former Cornwall Motor Speedway owner, Ron Morin. He’d been passing and had spotted my car in the driveway, so wondered if I wanted to join him for the ‘Friday night trip over the bridge’.
I jumped into his truck and we set off for the M.I.R across the St Lawrence River in Hogansburg New York .
We got there about ten minutes before start time and I had plenty of time to take my usual spot on turn four.
The program was a bit different this week, the Sportsman Division were missing, but with we had the addition of the Pro Stocks. The Sportsman SEAWAY GM SERIES was taking place in Quebec, Friday (Autodrome Granby) and Saturday (Autodrome Drummond), and that’s why they were absent.
To make up for the loss of the Sportsman , the Mohawk Race Parts Series for the Pro Stocks had been added.
There was a good turnout of Modifieds with the field getting boosted by a couple of Sportsman cars, that hadn’t gone to race in Quebec.
Racing went smoothly with very few delays, and much to my liking, the show was over by 10-00pm.
Long time leader in the Modified Feature had been Jordon McCreadie, who was eventually overhauled by local hero Carey Terrance , who went on to take the checkers.
The 40 lap Pro Stock Feature, surprisingly had very few cautions, and was won by Stephane Lebrun. Mod Lite winner was Jesse Hudson while Matt Zira got the Bandit victory.
Ron and I , were soon on our way back to Canada, and I was dropped off at my place well before 11-00 pm.
On Saturday, I took my usual drive down Hwy 401 to the Brockville Ontario Speedway.
Unlike the M.I.R, instead of leaving out the Sportsman Division ( for the SEAWAY SERIES at Drummond) the B.O.S kept them on the program, but made it a ‘no points’ night. This didn’t effect the turn out too much, with most of the weekly top contenders, still in attendance.
I had my usual wander round the pits and had a good chat with Beau Miller, one of the Vintage Modified drivers. 
He’s from Maniwaki , Quebec which is about a two hour drive north of Ottawa. I’ve only been up that way twice before, for the Perce-Neige Rally and for some ice racing at Lake Calamet, but it looks like another trip is imminent. Beau has his own racing oval up there and has already ran winter races on the snow covered dirt. He told be it was a slow process, but hoped to eventually have it running as regular summertime track.
After my chat I went out on the middle to take my pics
The Sportsman Feature turned out to be one of those emotional ‘special occasions’ when young Kenny Polite, stormed into the lead and fended off a challenge by the divisions ‘top dog’ Dylan Evoy to take the big win. What made it special , was the fact that on this particular night his family, POLITE SAND & GRAVEL were the evenings sponsors.
Danny O’Brien had a run away victory in the Modifieds while Dave Wilgosh and Tyson Slinger won the Vintage and Rookies respectively.
It was another early finishing night and by 10.00 pm the aforementioned Features had been run.
I never stayed for the Rookie Sportsman or the Street Stocks Features, which were won by Connor Dowdy and Kevin Fetterley Jnr .
Once again I was home nice and early, and had most of my photo editing done before going to bed.
As the weather men predicted , I woke up on Sunday morning to the rain pouring down in my home town of Cornwall. It was just a matter of time before I received the news that the Cornwall Motor Speedway, had cancelled their evening show.
I wont let it worry me too much, because so far this year, we’ve had a good run with Mother Nature, and this being the first rain out of the season
Every cloud has a silver lining , so they say, and the lack of racing enabled me to have a relaxing day at home, watching Germany beat Argentina in the World Cup from Rio De Janeiro , Brazil, on TV .
After 90 minutes of no goals the game went into extra time, and it wasn’t until the dying minutes that young Mario Gotze, one of Germany’s substitutes, scored the winning goal.