Another Big Win For Felix Roy (10th Sept 2025 BLOG)
The last Blog came to an end on the Labor Day Monday .
The following week turned out to be the quietest for a long while , with not a lot going on until the weekend.
I did , however take the Thunderbird out on Wednesday night for the Cornwall Olde Car Club’s weekly meet.
These will soon be coming to an end as we move closer in to fall.
On Friday the 5th, the Can Am Speedway at Lafargeville NY, were hosting a round of the Big Block SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES , which was complimented by the DirtCar Sportsman Series.
It was a lovely day when I left home in the middle of the afternoon, but according to the forecast, there was a possibility of showers in the evening.
I always enjoy my leisurely drives down to Can Am , after crossing the border to the USA which is just a couple of miles from my house , I take the road that runs along side the St Lawrence all the way down to Alexandria Bay. The track is just a 20 minute drive from there , on I 81 southbound .
I got to the track at about 4-00pm , giving me plenty of time to snooze in the car , until things started to happen.
Joining the headline DirtCar divisions , the Crate Sprint Cars were added to the program as support.
As usual , when at Can Am , I started by taking Hot Lap shots from the outside of turn 4.
Then , once the races began I spent most of the time shooting on turn 0ne and two with long time friend, and former Can Am track photographer , Rebecca Eisele .
Everything was going fine until we felt a few spots of rain , during the Sportsman heats.
It was nothing serious and all the heats were completed before intermission and the on track Big Block redraw .
Larry Wight drew pole position for the big one.
First up , and following the break was the Crate Sprint feature.
During their first caution, Rebecca showed me the weather radar on her phone. She told me , a big dump of rain was coming within the next ten minutes. Well, we didn’t have to wait that long , and after only 12 laps of the Sprint Car feature, the heavens opened.
Big thanks to a track staff member with a ‘four-wheel ATV’ that was based on the middle who kindly taxied me and my camera equipment off the track to shelter.
The rain was coming down ‘big time’ . There weren’t too many good spots left undercover , so I made a dash to my car.
After the 30 plus years I’ve been watching dirt racing . I knew that heavy rain , like this, at that time of night (9-30 pm ) meant it would be at least a two hour delay getting the track ‘race ready’, once the rain stopped.
Tracks that have curfews, would normally have to cancel , but (as far as I know) Can Am doesn’t have one. So , the chances of things happening again on track would be a long while after I wanted to be there.
There were still two and a half feature races left to run.
I didn’t want to be late home , as I’d a lot of things to do on Saturday morning, so I decided to put on my ‘Mr Sensible’ hat and made an exit.
I was back home in Cornwall before midnight and following up dates on Can Am on line.
Around mid night, racing resumed with the remainder of the Sprint Car feature , only for it to be red flagged on the first lap because of a two car flip. ( I can just imagine the disgruntled looks on peoples faces when this happened)
Once the Sprints were done , it was decided to bring the Sportsman feature forward before the main event. This was won by Richard Murtaugh
The SUPER DIRTCAR race was eventually in the books at 2-0 am.
I’m sorry that I wasn’t there to see Alex Yankowski get the win, but saying that, I have no regrets for taking my exit strategy .
I’m getting too old for ‘all-nighters’ LOL . I’ve been there and done that, during my youth and will never forget time I was taking Victory Lane pics at the Mohawk International Raceway, at 3-00 am
I’m glad they got the show in, and sorry that I had to miss the big race.
On Saturday the SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES was heading to the Weedport Speedway NY , but my plans were to stay nearer to home and go to the Le RPM Speedway in Quebec.
It was Enduro Weekend at my local Cornwall Motor Speedway, but when there’s ‘proper’ racing going on somewhere ‘doable’ I prefer to do that.
There is no real need for regular racing media , at the Enduro events and of course there are always plenty of guys and girls with cameras who turn up each week and love taking pictures of that kind of thing.
During the morning I heard via social media that both RPM and Weedsport had cancelled due to the rain front that had moved in. Other tracks suffered the same fate.
I decided to remain at home that day , and let the others take care of Enduro pics at Cornwall.
The Enduro weekend was a two day thing but my plans for Sunday were to be at the Airborne Park Speedway at Plattsburgh NY, where a 75 lap round of the Canadian Big Block Modified Series was taking place.
Yes. this speedway happens to be in the USA , but it’s considered to be one of the ‘border’ tracks where drivers of both nations regularly take part. Two other examples in NY are the Ransomville Speedway and the Mohawk International Raceway.
As usual I traveled over to Plattsburgh with Don Simpson, and we arrived at around 5-30 pm for an earlier than normal start. (6-00 pm)
Joining the Big Block Modifieds , was a full program of other stuff.
Sportsman, Limited Sportsman, Pro Stocks, Renegades, Crown Vics and Mini Stocks.
There were a few new faces from other tracks on the roster of 21 Big Blocks.
Notably, Jack Speshock from Malta NY
I took hot lap pics in my regular spot on the outside of turn four.
After that I moved to the inside of turns one and two.
The full quota of heat races all moved along swiftly with no major delays.
The first of the features was for the Limited Sportsman and was won by Vermonts, Gary English.
The 75 lapper for Modifieds then followed and turned out to be one of the best races I’ve seen at the Plattsburgh track in the 20 plus years I’ve been going there.
As the race drew to an end , there were six drivers all in with a chance of taking the win .
Early leader was William Racine driving the Steve Bernard car.
Albany-Saratoga ‘invader’ Jack Speshock was challenging when something on the Racine car quit, and came to a halt .
Speshock inherited the lead , and kept ahead after the restart, with Mike Mahaney and Felix Roy battling for second and third.
Roy got passed Speshock followed by Mahaney.
While all this was happening Tim Fuller had been creeping towards the front with Jackson Gill and Chris Raabe there too.
With 11 laps to go , Fuller got by the fading Mahaney .
He then set to work chasing down , race leader Roy.
The two of them , fought neck and neck to the checkers , Fuller lo0king like the fastest car, but somehow Roy managed to fend off the veteran .
Jackson Gill, had moved up to third with Mahaney and Raabe fighting for fourth.
Mahaney just hanging on to fourth from the faster looking Raabe.
A great race !
The Sportsman feature followed which was dominated and won, by Fire Smoke , after track champion and usual favorite to win, Donovan Lussier had a tire go down .
The Pro Stock feature was up next and won by Zack Daniels.
It was still only 9-15 pm, so took advantage of an early night, making an exit, and missing the three final races, for the Renegades, Mini Stocks and Crown Vics.
I was back home in Cornwall just after 11-00pm after an excellent night of racing.
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