RICK @ the RACES (6/7 June 2015)
6 June R.P.M Speedway , St Marcel. Que
7 June Cornwall Motor Speedway, Ont
Instead of my usual Saturday trip to the Brockville Ontario Speedway, this week I went somewhere a bit different. Some of my local Prostock drivers were competing in an Ontario V Quebec Challenge at the R.P.M Speedway at St Marcel in Quebec and I wanted to go along and give them a bit of support.
To add to this, there were two 40 Lap Modified features on the program and the chance to add a new track to my TRACKCHASER totals . I’ve been to R.P.M before for the regular track, but as an addition to the program, the ‘inner oval’ was going to be used for the Slingshots during intermission. The inner oval would be a new track for me.
Joining me on the trip would be former Cornwall Motor Speedway announcer, Brian Mulligan, and my good friend Chanty Lesage and her son Ty. We all arranged to meet at the Cornwall Speedway and then do the two and a half hour drive to St Marcel in my HHR.
We arrived at the track in plenty of time for the 6-30pm start. Brian went to sit in the grandstands with his nephew, while Chanty , Ty and me headed for the pits. Chanty is good friends with Carole Lebrun, the wife of Pro Stock driver Stephane Lebrun and Ty helps out the crew in the pits.
After we’d found their hauler, I took off to the middle to take pictures.
Before getting there, I bumped into Randy Lewis, the worlds number one TRACKCHASER who has over 2000 tracks to his credit. He was there to add both regular and inner track, while I was quite happy to gain just one.
It was a beautiful bright early evening which was ideal for getting some good shots.
As well as the headlining Modifieds and Pro Stocks there was an assortment of other divisions, that included Lightening Sprints and Speedsters.
I stayed on the middle for the heats on the big track, before the Slingshots took to the inner oval during intermission.
They had several races during there approx 15 minutes of race time. I found it interesting to watch Modified driver Mario Clair’s young son compete.
Once this was over , I had a new track in the bag . The ‘inner oval’ at the R.P.M Speedway became TRACK # 219 on my official TRACKCHASER totals.
After the first Modified feature, I returned to the Lebrun hauler to join my friends and watch the remaining features.
The first 40 lapper for the Mods had to come under the reds about half way through, when Chris Raabe was involved in a scary incident.
Apparently some gas had leaked on to the leg of his fire-suit and a spark from a malfunctioning electrical component, caused it to ignite. Luckily Chris managed to jump out of the car which allowed the marshals to extinguish him before it got too serious.
Once the race got restarted, David Hebert took the checkers.
The second 40 lapper provided a first time win for Simon Perrault. 
As for the Pro Stock Challenge, one of my local drivers, Roch Aubin of Alexandria , Ont , made it look easy by taking both 20 lap features.
The Lebrun team also made it to the presentations with a second place in the first race.
At the end of the night Stephane Lebrun presented me with the trophy he won at Cornwall, two weeks previous, on the night that I missed because I was unwell. That was a very nice gesture and much appreciated.
We all got back to Cornwall in the early hours of Sunday morning, and were ready for our sleep.
While we were away at R.P.M our good friend Stephane Lafrance got a good win at Brockville with a brand new car.
During the day on Sunday, it was the Canadian Grand Prix from Montreal, but I never got time to watch the TV coverage of England’s Lewis Hamilton get another great win.
Sunday night I was back at the Cornwall Motor Speedway for a regular weekly show. 
The only division that was missing was the Mini Stocks, who made way for the visiting Mod Lites.
For the first time in all the years of working at the track, I had my HHR on the center, close at hand behind Victory Lane. This made things so much easier, not having to carry all my equipment from the parking lot.
The weather forecast showed heavy rain later in the evening, so the show was moved along as swiftly as possible.
First Feature winner was Adam Delormier in the Semi Pro’s, followed by
Mod lites won by Eric Desilets.
CD Beauchamp was the Pro Stock winner.
After his bad experience the night before at R.P.M Chris Raabe bounced back to take a good win over Carey Terrance in the Modified Feature.
The Feature that got most people very excited was for the Sportsman , where, Mike Stacey, who’s been so close to a win in the past, finally made it to Victory Lane with a well deserved win.
With the HHR on the middle, I was out of the speedway and on my way home a lot sooner. Once the Victory Lane presentations were over for the last race, I was off the track and out through the pits.