
RICK @ the RACES ( 27 June to 2 July 2014)
29 June Cornwall Motor Speedway, Ont
1 July Humberstone Speedway, Port Colborne, Ont
This weeks report will be a bit different from usual, as I had three special guests paying me a visit, from Austin, Texas.
My daughter Carla, her husband Alex and my grandson Benji, would be flying into Montreal for the CANADA DAY weekend.
Friday 27 June
There was no racing planned for me this Friday, and my usual destination, the Mohawk International Raceway was being given a miss.
I arrived at the Montreal Airport, Quebec, in good time for my families arrival, and just as I parked the car I got a phone call from Carla. They were going to be delayed, and were still in Chicago, awaiting their connecting flight . The arrival time would now be about 1-45 am on Saturday morning ! This meant I had lots of time to kill , so exited the parking lot and took off in to Montreal for a few hours.
Saturday 28 June
The plane landed at about 1-50 am and by 2-30 am Carla, Alex, Benji and me were in my HHR heading for home in Cornwall. Ontario. We got indoors just after 3-30 am and were soon in bed.
I’d planned on missing my racing again on the Saturday night, and wouldn’t be at my usual track , the Brockville Ontario Speedway. Instead we had a family trip to Ottawa, the nations Capital. After doing the ‘tourist thing’ around the Byward Market and Parliament Square, we had supper at East Side Mario’s on St Laurent Blvd, before heading for home.
Sunday 29 June
Sunday was the Big Block Modified SUPER DIRT SERIES at the Cornwall Motor Speedway, and while I was going to be there, my guests would be borrowing the HHR to do the ‘tourist thing’ in Montreal, before dropping in at the Speedway later on.
I have to thank the Revelle Family for being my ‘taxi’ to and from the track that day.
It was scorching and I was there at 2-00pm chilling out in the Control Tower, until things started happening.
As a mark of respect to the tragedy that occurred the previous week, the evening would begin with a memorial ceremony on the front stretch for Danny Lefebvre, who sadly lost his life in a Mini Stock crash
After the very touching tribute to Danny, the Ministocks set the ball rolling with the evenings heat races.
Topping the bill were the Big Block Mods, with Sportsman, Pro Stocks and Semi Pro’s also on the program.
By the time intermission came around, I’d already located Carla, Alex and Benji, and was able to spend a bit of time with them during the short break.
The big race of the night, the 100 lapper for the Modifieds was won by Matt Sheppard, while the other features provided wins for Corey Wheeler (Sportsman) , Stephane Lebrun (Pro Stocks) Nico Leblanc (Semi Pro) and Chris James (Ministocks)
Monday 30 June
Alex dropped me off at work at 5-30 am in the morning , while they took the HHR on a drive over to Combermere (near Barrys Bay) to see relatives in the area we used to live.
I finished work at 4-30 pm and was given a ride home by a co-worker .
They returned to Cornwall just after 7-00 pm and before long, we were all set for our next adventure. At 8-00 pm. the HHR was loaded up as we set off for Niagara Falls. We arrived at the Falls View , Radisson Hotel at 2-00am in the morning.
Tuesday 1 July (CANADA DAY)
After breakfast we all walked across the road from the hotel and got on the ‘Incline Railway’ down to the Falls. After getting plenty of photos, we then strolled along the promenade to catch a boat ! Many years ago Carla and I went on the ‘Maid of the Mist’, which takes passengers for a ride under the Falls. These days, the ‘Maid of the Mist’ is only operated from the USA side of the river, and on the Canadian side, the boats are now called the Hornblower Tours.
That’s what we were going on. It was a lot of fun, and very refreshing on this very hot day to get sprayed by the water. After the short voyage, Carla and the family went on to look at the other attractions while I took off for some evening racing.
The nearby Humberstone Speedway was holding a 358 SUPER DIRT SERIES race and that was my destination. This was only my second ever visit to this track and it was 2006, that I was there last.
It’s a great track , and a bit of a shame that only twenty ‘something’ Mods turned up for this important show.
There were four of my local drivers taking part, Carey Terrance, Ryan Arbuthnott, Lance Willix and Mario Clair, but many of the big names were missing due to an ROC Series race taking place at the GrandView Speedway PA.
The 100 lapper turned out to be really exciting which consisted of a great battle between Erick Rudolph and Matt Williamson. Rudolph got past Williamson with about five laps to go, with Pete Bicknell following them home in third.
The show was over by 10-30 pm and I was soon back at the Radisson.
Wednesday 2 July
My original plans were ( before I heard that Carla was making a visit) to attend the 358 SUPER DIRT SERIES race across the Niagara River at the Ransomville Speedway New York on Wednesday, and the World of Outlaw Sprints at Rolling Wheels NY on Thursday, but these didn’t materialize for various reasons.
Their flight back to Texas was from the Pearson Airport, in Toronto, and they needed to be there by 3-00 pm. Ransomville was still ‘doable’, after dropping them off, and that’s what ‘Plan B’ involved.
Unfortunately, the Toronto Airport is a ‘zoo’, just like Montreal ( Ottawa is far more civilized ! ) and by the time I got out of the Parking lot it was 4-30 pm. It was raining and as usual the Hwy 401 traffic was at a standstill. Add to this, the fact that the HHR had developed an annoying whining noise ( possible wheel bearing), so I had to make a decision.
Do I return to the Niagara Region and risk getting to Ransomville late and possibly ‘rained out’ or head back to Cornwall and get my car checked out on Thursday ?
It seemed to make more sense to head home, so that’s what I did and in my absence, Danny ‘the Doctor’ Johnson won the race at Ransomville.