1000 Island RV North East Fall Nationals @ the B.O.S (16/17/18 Oct 2015)
Friday 16 Oct Brockville Ontario Speedway (358 SDS rained out)
Saturday 17 Oct Brockville Ontario Speedway (Big Block SDS)
Sunday 18 Oct Brockville Ontario Speedway (358 SDS rained out)
Sadly, this years annual 1000 Island RV North East Fall nationals at my local Brockville speedway, suffered the wrath of Mother Nature, and only half of the scheduled program got in the books.
The weekend consisted of a 358 Super Dirt Series , with support from Go Nuclear Late Models and Street Stocks on Friday, while the Big Block Mods and Sportsman had their series races on the Saturday , with Vintage Mods and Rookies as support.
I joined my buddy Ron Morin for the trip down the ‘401’ to Brockville for the Friday night show, and when we arrived in town, and pulled into the Swiss Chalet for supper, the weather didn’t look too bad.
We were done eating , just after 7-00pm and as we got up from our seats and looked out side, we saw lots of rain coming down. By the time we got into his truck, and pulled out the parking lot, we saw familiar race car haulers and fans heading in the opposite direction of the track.
There was no point in driving the ten minutes further up the road to the B.O.S , we just headed back to Cornwall, as it was pretty obvious things had been called off.
Hopefully , all would be OK for next days Big Block and Sportsman SDS show , while Sunday was announced as the rain date for Friday.
It was an earlier start time for Saturdays show and I was back in Brockville for lunchtime, where I met up with former track Trophy Girl Rosie Estevez and track photographer Henry Hannewyk for a chat and a Coffee at Starbucks.
Once at the B.O.S , I had a short pit walk about to catch up with friends
The overnight rain had stopped and promoter Paul Kirkland had worked hard to get the track ready for action. While this was going on, the fans were being entertained with live music.
Before the racing got underway, Abby Stewart, the talented singing daughter of my good friend Todd Stewart performed in front of the fans. I’ve know Todd for many years and remember taking this family picture after a Brockville win a few years back.
I later met up with Todd, Abby and and our friend, media man, Garry McColman. You may remember , back in my ‘August 18’ Report , I mentioned her latest recording, when the video was filmed at the B.O.S
Once the race cars took to the track, I stationed my self on the center , by corner one and two to snap the heat race action. I was joined my my photographer buddies, Henry Hannewyk, Dale Calnan, Don Simpson, Alex Bruce and Jim Clarke.
It was good to see Rick Wilson # 15w, back racing Modifieds after, many years in the Sprints.
For the Feature races, I watched from the media room, with Jim Clarke and Trophy girl, Taya Heldens. It had been quite chilly out on the middle, and it’s good once in a while, to get back to being a ‘normal’ race fan and watch a race without clicking pictures.
First up was the Vintage Mod Feature where Wayne Riddell took the honors.
The 100 lapper for the Big Blocks turned out to be a great race , with Jordon McCreadie making the early running. He led the race for long time before being overhauled by hard charging Carey Terrance and Gary Tomkins. While Terrance and Tomkins batted it out, Chris Raabe and Danny Johnson got passed McCreadie, and for the last quarter of the race it could of been anybodies. When the checkers fell, it was Terrance, Tomkins and Raabe.
The 40 lap Sportsman SDS race was up next, and in contrast to the Big Blocks , it wasn’t so good … Caution flag , after caution flag , and about 45 minutes later it was over, with Dylan Evoy getting a predictable win.
After the Sportsman race, I made my exit, deciding to give the ‘500 bucks to win’ Rookie race a miss.
It had been very cold on Saturday night and was undecided whether to stay at home in the warm on Sunday or go back to the B.O.S a third time, for the rain-delayed from Friday , 358 SDS show. It was scheduled to start at 1-30 pm.
Well, at about mid day, I decided to ‘go for it’ and left home in Cornwall for the B.O.S . The weather, although cold, was dry and sunny and I was quite optimistic as I traveled down the ‘401’ for the third time in three days.
As I got off the ‘401’ at the Brockville exit I could see a big dark cloud in the direction of the track and things started looking bleak. As I started traveling the 10 more minutes to the track, I got snow flurries on my windshield, which after a few miles developed into a heavy snow storm . By the time I reached the track, the storm had stopped, but it was too late ! The races had been called off. As the sunshine returned, I chatted for a while to friends that were lining up for their ticket refunds, before heading for home once more.