APPLE FEST AND AIRBORNE (3rd September 2024 BLOG)
The last BLOG finished off , on Friday the 27th of September, after Lynn and I had returned from North Carolina.
We’d been visiting my daughter Carla and family in Willow Springs.
We’d driven back in ‘one hit ‘ on Thursday so our Friday was spent relaxing.
It had been a lovely day , so we took the Thunderbird out for a drive in the evening to the Road Warriers cruise night.
I was up early on Saturday (28th Sept) for a road trip in my Impala to Brighton, Ontario.
Lynn opted to stay back in Cornwall
It was the annual APPLEFEST Weekend , and the Brighton Speedway were holding the APPLEFEST SHOOTOUT .
It’s a weekend where the whole town comes alive with all sorts of events going on. During the day , a car show was taking places on the high school grounds, and that was the first place on my agenda.
There were plenty of nice cars in attendance , and I was told by the people in charge of registration , that 360 were there .
It was still only 11-30 am and the cars were still arriving .
I stayed untill mid day before taking the ten minute drive out of town to the Speedway.
The camping fields were filled with motor homes and trailers.
The APPLE FEST weekend at the Brighton Speedway, is not just for the headlining 358 Modifieds, there were also Sportsman , ‘Canadian Modifieds’ Late Models, Street Stocks and Mini Stocks on the program.
My main priority are the Modifieds and Sportsman and decided to take the hot lap pics from the outside of turn four .
The Mini Stock , Sportsman and ‘Canadian Modified’ features ran before Modified main event .
Adrian Black was the winner of the Mini Stock (Comp 4) feature which was the first to run.
The main event for Sportsman then followed , with Cody McPherson taking the honors
Then it was time for the Canadian Modifieds .
Shawn Gregory took this one.
The headline event , the APPLE FEST SHOOT OUT was up next.
Kyle Dingwall, who (in my absence) won the ‘Dash for Cash ‘ the previous night, took the early lead, but on lap 25 Mat Williamson found a way passed.
The two of them, dominated the race until they were joined at the front by Chris Raabe.
Raabe passed Dingwall and was on the tail of Williamson when the checkers came out
Top three were Williamson, Raabe and Dingwall
The Late Model and Street Stocks features then closed the weekend.
That was good news for me. By giving them a miss, I grasped the opportunity of an early get away.
I was out of the gate once the Shoot Out Victory Lane pics were done, and was back home in Cornwall soon after midnight.
The earlier than expected arrival home , gave me plenty of time for some good sleep, and to join Don Simpson on a Sunday drive to the Airborne Park Speedway.
They had a ‘special weekend event in the afternoon , with a $5000 to win Sportsman race.
Unfortunately there were no Modifieds on the program , but there were enough cars from other divisions to keep the fans happy.
They were the domestic Renegades and Mini Stocks , as well as the visiting 500cc Mini Sprints .
Actually there were a few Modified drivers in attendance, who were racing in the Sportsman division.
George Foley , Tanner Siemens and Jordan Fornwalt.
AS it was an afternoon show we had high hopes of getting back home early.
The big event for the Sportsman was the last race on the program , so we had no chance to get away early.
Things got delayed with various wrecks during the night, and a longer than expected break fortrack prep, so our early exit hopes got scuppered.
The race was a 100 lapper and the eventual winner was Donovan Lussier afterhaving a great battle with Jordan Fornwalt and Travis Bruno in the latter stages .
Lussiers win gave him enough points to capture the 2024 Sportsman Track Championship.
The first three were Lussier, Fornwalt and Bruno
It was now about 8-00 pm as we left the track on the homward bound journey.
I had nothing planned for Monday , but on Tuesday Lynn and I were heading to Ottawa.
She’s been there numerous times on her previous trips to Canada , but it’s always nice to revisit the downtown Byward Market area.
From our parking spot in the Rideau Centre we drove to the St Laurent Shopping Mall , where we met up with Don Simpson and his wife Lise, for lunch .
After eating and chatting, our next thing to do, was to track down one of the few exsisting Photo Booth machines still in use.
When we were teenagers, back in the early 1970’s , and before the age of cel phone selfies, we used to make our memories in these.
We wanted to recreate a snap taken of the two of us in our biker days of our youth.
I took along a leather jacket and wooly hat, and Lynn wore a similar jacket.
So , 54 years later in the Billings Bridge Mall, we squeezed into the tiny booth.
Wednesday was Lynn’s final full day of her visit , and in the evening we were invited to supper at our friends, Ron (Morin) and his wife Reina.
On Thursday (3rd Oct) she was flying out of Montreal Airport bound for London (Gatwick) .
During the day we joined the Cornwall Olde Car Club in my Thunderbird, for a short cruise to the Tim Hortons in Lancaster.
We were back at my place at 3-00 pm , where we switched cars , so I could drive Lynn to the Airport.
Once she’d been dropped her off , I returned back to Cornwall to get things organized for the next things on my busy schedule
More about that in the next BLOG