Felix Roy Wins the Canadian Nationals plus wins for Camara, Shaw and Draper (2nd September 2025 BLOG)
The last Blog ended on Tuesday the 26th of August. I’d just returned from a trip to North Carolina .
On Wednesday the 27th, I was heading off to the Airborne Park Speedway at Plattsburgh NY, with my buddy Don Simpson.
Usually Airborne’s mid week shows are on Thursday’s but on this occasion it was brought forward a day , to avoid clashing with the SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES taking place at the Lebanon Valley Speedway, and a special Thursday night special at it’s neighboring track, the Mohawk International Raceway.
There was a good turnout of 15 Modifieds for this Plattsburgh midweeker, which was more than I expected.
As usual the Modifieds shared the program with Sportsman, Limited Sportsman ,Renegades and Minnistocks .
The show moved along quickly helped by the fact that , all the heat races in all the divisions ran ‘caution free’ . Quite an accomplishment !
The Modified feature followed the intermission, and was dominated from start to finish by veteran racer Dave Camera from Vermont.
He’s been in the sport for many years and this was the first victory I have personally witnessed.
It was still only 8-30 , pm so we decided to stay for the Sportsman feature.
In order to this we saw Tylor Terry get the win in the preceding Renegade race .
The Sportsman feature then followed, and once again it was Donovan Lussier taking the checkers.
It was now 9-15pm and all the divisions that we’d come to see , were now in the books .
It was time to make an exit, and by 11-15 pm I was home in Cornwall , and being dropped off by Don.
My original plan for Thursday was to attend the Super DirtCar Series at the Lebanon Valley Speedway , but when the M.I.R added the date as a remake for the rain-postponed Ovide Doiron Memorial, I changed my mind .
I would stay local rather than drive over four hours to ‘the valley’ .
On Thursday I awoke to read the posting , stating that the M.I.R had been cancelled . Rain was expected .
Such a shame , I was looking forward to that one ,
I instantly thought about heading south to the SUPER DIRTCAR show, but after some consideration , I decided against it. It would of been a long drive if that to rained out too .
So I had an unplanned night at home watching TV.
I later heard via social media that surprise winner at the ‘Valley’ was one of their local guys, Kolby Schroder
On Friday I took a leisurely drive to the Can Am Speedway , at Lafargeville NY.
The weather had been nice all day in Cornwall when I left home, and the forecast for the evening didn’t look too bad. As I passed Ogdensburg there were a few dark clouds on the horizon but nothing serious.
However, by the time I got to the track there was a slight drizzle , and a few large puddles. I guess it was the aftermath of a big afternoon dump of a rain.
The drizzle soon stopped and the track staff were already out packing.
It was the final points night of the season, for all the divisions , and I shot my usual Hot Lap pics from the pit lane corner, before moving to the middle
The order of events were first, Limited Sportsman, then Modifieds , Sportsman , Crate Sprints and Thunder Stocks (Mini Stocks) .
I planned to make my exit after the Sportsman feature , but it didn’t work out that way .
All the heat races went well until the Thunder Stocks.
A few spots of rain delayed things followed by a front stretch rollover.
Both drivers involved were OK.
An earlier than planned intermission took place while the track was cleared and more packing was done, to deal with the light rain.
The incomplete heat race followed the break , and prior to the first of the features.
Jackson Welling took the checkers in the Limited Sportsman feature .
We continued to get light rain on and off , so it was decided to do all the Victory Lane pictures at the end of the night .
I was trapped on the middle LOL, so there was no getting away early tonight.
The Modified feature was dominated by Shaun Shaw, who managed to fend off a late challenge from Billy Dunn, following a late caution that closed the field. This was the first time I’d seen Shaun get a feature win.
Richard Murtaugh then won the Sportsman feature.
For once, the Crate Sprints, impressed me, and on this occasion , we only had one caution.
George Sanford was the winner.
The final feature of the night was for the Thunder Stocks which also had just the one caution.
Corey Valade took the win.
As mentioned, the Victory Lane pictures were all done at the end of the night, as well as the crowning of the divisional champions.
Billy Dunn (Modifieds)
Gavin Eisele (Sportsman)
Josh Verne Jr (Crate Sprints)
Tony Frezzo (ThunderStocks)
I was home in Cornwall at 12-30 , a bit later than expected, but that was no big deal
On Saturday it was the turn of two more of my local tracks to have their final points night.
Autodrome Drummond in Quebec and the Brockville Ontario Speedway.
Heavy overnight rain with more expected , forced Drummond to announce a mid morning cancellation . Meanwhile , in Eastern Ontario the weather was a lot better and the B.O.S went ahead as scheduled.
I left home in Cornwall about 3-30 pm and was at the track by 5-00pm.
The program was for the regular divisions and no Crate Sprints .
There were a few more cars than in recent weeks, helped by Drummonds rain out.
The order of events were, Sportsman , Modifieds, Mini Stocks, Street Stocks and Limited Sportsman .
Also on the bill, were a couple of 7 lap ‘Dutchmans Dash’ races for the Modifieds and Sportsman . These were sponsored by long time , track flaggers Gary and Nate Vandermeer.
I started the night by taking hot lap shots from the outside of turn four.
It was great to see ‘Dent Man’ Dave Watchorn out on the track again in his old Toyota ‘battle wagon’ .
He’s been racing that same car for over 20 years. It was first debuted in 2004.
Here he is at the Capital City Speedway , Ottawa in 2008 .
I then moved on to the middle once the racing started.
The first feature , which was for the Sportsman followed the intermission.
It was another predictable win for Bobby Herrington .
So while we were doing the Victory Lane presentations, he also got crowned with the 2025 Sportsman Track Champion.
The Modified feature was up next and Tristan Draper duplicated Bobby Herrington’s performance by winning the nights feature and the 2025 Championship.
The first of the ‘Dash’s’ followed this , and was for the Sportsman .
The familiar face of Mr Herrington was back there in Victory Lane for this ,
The main event for Mini Stocks was next .
We had a new face in the Winners Circle with Renfrew’s Max Steele in his immaculate # 67 as winner ( I have to love the # 67 number)
Clayton Celovsky was then crowned 2025 Mini Stock Champion .
The ‘Dash’ for the Modifieds , then followed .
Quebecs Steve Bernier took the checkers in this one.
With just the Street Stocks and Limited Sportsman left to run, I made my exit and was home before 11-30pm.
In my absence , Mike Schonauer # 45 took the Street Stock Championship, with, Francis Gauthier getting the race win. Garin Thompson was the Rookie Sportsman feature winner .
Life’s been so busy lately, I’ve missed a few car shows, so decided to put things right on Sunday morning and take the ‘old girl’ to the Cameron’s Point Show
This show is nice and local , its beside the St Lawrence River, and only a 15 minute drive from my house.
I was there for a couple of hours before driving home and putting her back in the garage. It was then time to load up my Impala ready for the nights races at the Cornwall Motor Speedway.
As well as it being the Final Points night , it was also the prestigous 125 lap Canadian Nationals for the Modifieds.
Start time was earlier than normal so I got to the track soon after 3-00pm to get myself set up on the middle.
There was an impressive field of 32 Modifieds in the pits , with good numbers also from the supporting divisions . Sportsman, Rookie Sportsman , Pro Stocks and Mini Stocks.
It was a beautiful sunny day and things went along without a hitch . A great night to end the regular season.
The heat races went along smoothly for all five divisions .
The first feature to take place , and before the intermission was the Rookie Sportsman. Sarah Ann Lauziere was the winner.
After the break and track prep , the Modifieds entered for the big one .
32 cars started the 125 lap Canadian Nationals.
Ryan Stabler took advantage of his front row starting spot and became the early leader. Steve Bernier managed to get passed and led for a while, but Stabler regained the spot . Fast moving Felix Roy had been moving up it wasn’t long before he passed them both.
After 75 laps were complete , the race came to a controlled stop on the front stretch , Race teams were allowed on track and once directed, a strictly timed 10 minute pit stop took place. It was a great thing for fans in the grandstand to witness.
Here’s a few shots I took on my walk about of the crews in action .
When the race restarted , Felix was back in front , and stayed there to the checkers.
Things got interesting in the closing laps as Carey Tarrence moved up into contention . He’d got passed Bernier and Stabler and was then up to second .
When the 125 laps were over, he was on the tail of Roy. If there had been a few more laps, the result may of been different.
Once we’d done the Victory Lane presentations for Felix, 5th placed , Corey Wheeler was crowned 2025 Modified Points Champion.
Next up was the Pro Stock Feature.
This gave Jocelyn Roy the win .
Marc Lalonde was then crowned the 2025 Pro Stock Champion
The Sportsman Feature then followed .
Bobby Herrington added to his weekend haul, with another Victory in this one
It was Tristan Ladouceur who won the 2025 Sportsman Championship
The final race of the night was for the Mini Stocks.
This was won by Sebastien Raymond Beauregard who also clinched the 2025 Mini Stock Championship.
That was it , the final race night of the CMS regular season was in the books , and all done before 11-00 .
While we were enjoying ourselves at Cornwall, there was a Short Track Super Series taking place at the Afton Motorsports Park in NY.
My long time friend and local driver Chris Raabe was taking part in this and got the Victory .
Congrats Chris, A great job !
Photo courtesy of Short Track Super Series .
Before I finish this BLOG, I’ll mention a couple of other quick things.
I had a message during the week from Stuart Currall in the UK telling me about a new T Shirt he is producing .
As many know , I used to race BriSCA F1 stock cars in England , back in the 1970’s and 80’s , and Stuart has started doing a line of ‘retro’ shirts of the ‘old’ drivers (LOL) .
Apparently , he has produced one of me, which I hope to pick up next month when I return to the UK for a few days
Finally ,I just want to mention, on the Holiday Monday, (1st Sept) , I acquired another Chevy Impala .
Not a real one, I must add .
As a long time diecast car collector, one of my goals, is to get models of all the cars I’ve owned . I eventually found a 1/43 scale version by Road Champs (1/43 on Market Place at a very fair price , (1/43 is my favorite scale) .
Well that’s it, my Labor Day weekend is over .