RICK @ the RACES (23/24 August 2014)
23 August Fulton Speedway , N.Y
24 August Cornwall Motor Speedway, Ont
This past Thursday (Aug 21), leading up to the weekend, we had plenty of rain around my area and that evening, I noticed some pictures AJ Baker (track preparer at the Mohawk International Raceway NY) had posted on Face Book.
The place was flooded, and I wasn’t surprised when I heard the early cancellation of Friday nights races. I got the news during the afternoon while I was still at work, so I was ready to put ‘Plan B’ in to action, and dash down to the Can Am Speedway at Lafargeville NY.
Just as I finished work at about 5-30 pm, I found out, that it too, had been called off . It was getting too late to attempt the drive up to Autodrome Granby ( and ‘risky’ with all the wet) so hadn’t got much of a choice, but to have a Friday night at home.
Regular readers will know, that most Saturdays, I’ll be at the Brockville Ontario Speedway, but every now and then, usually a just a couple of times a year , I like to go somewhere else for a ‘change of scenery’.
The Patriot Sprint Cars happened to be doing ‘back to back’ visits at the B.O.S and the Cornwall Motor Speedway at the weekend, so with me not being their biggest fan, I chose this occasion for a road trip.
I hadn’t been to the Fulton Speedway NY , this year, so with Modifieds and Sportsman on the program, that was my destination.
I left my home in Cornwall, Ontario mid morning for a leisurely drive down, and was quite surprised when I arrived at the Ogdensburg border crossing to find a long line. In all the years I’ve been crossing at this point, I’ve never had to wait long, but this weeks fifty minutes, was a record !
I’m glad I set off early and after stopping for a burger at Adams NY then doing a bit of shopping at Central Square, I was still at the track before 5-00 pm.
It was great to meet up with my NY photographer buddies, John Meloling, Jay Fish, Mike and Joe Johnson, Duane Van Gelder and Chris Marks. It’s always a great night shooting with these guys.
I wandered the pits with John before the races, and he introduced me to his young friend Bailey Groves who races a Sportsman. She was quite willing to put a Rick at the Races sticker on her car.
Once the racing got under way, most of us chose turn three and four to shoot our pics , while Mike Johnson opted for one and two. During the heats Billy Decker performed a really scary roll-over, and it was right in front of Mike, who got some great shots.
Thankfully, Billy was OK and promptly unloaded his spare car to run in the Feature. In the Feature, he put on a terrific show from his back of the grid start, working his way up to second place, and crossing the line just behind race winner Chad Phelps. 
The Sportsman Feature was won by Gregg Kimball.
The two main feature races, which I’d mainly come to see, were the first ones up, and were over just after 10-00 pm. So with this great bit of luck, I decided to miss the remaining divisions and head for home.
Before getting on I81 and heading north , I stopped in at the Dunkin Donuts at Central Square for a coffee and to use their free WiFi. After posting the Victory shots on Face Book I checked my messages, and discovered I’d been challenged !
My friend Jenay Morin had nominated me to do the ALS ice bucket challenge. That was convenient ! As staff at the Cornwall Motor Speedway were arranging one these fund raisers for intermission on Sunday night.
As mentioned before, the Patriot Sprints were paying a visit on Sunday night, who were joining a program of Sportsman , Semi Pro’s , Pro-Stocks , Speedsters and Vintage Mods.
Unfortunately the Modified division, the favourites of many, were taking a break this week.
It was a big show, with a lot of races, and of course we had the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge to do too.
All the heats were under the belt, as well as the Speedster and Semi Pro Features ( won by Josianne Plante and Derek Cryderman respectively) by 9-30 pm .
It was then my time to get wet, as I joined about twenty other staffers, stood underneath the bucket of a giant front end loader (provided by the nights sponsor Nortrax) .
The bucket which was full of water from the local creek, with the addition of several bags of ice cubes, was slowly tipped over us.
Actually it turned out to be a lot of fun, and after I’d changed into some dry clothes , it felt quite refreshing.
Obviously, I was unable to take the pictures of all that, and have to thank my good friend Chanty Lesage (daughter of CMS Tech Man Ted ) who used my camera to take some really great pics.
The rest of the night was crammed with action as Jared Zimbardi took the Sprint Feature, Louie Jackson the Sportsman, George Renaud the Pro Stocks and Wayne Riddel the Vintage,