Darren Smith wins a thrilling Finale to the 2026 SUPER DIRT WEEK (14th Oct 2026 BLOG
My last BLOG ended on the 30th of September .
I’d just returned from a trip to Europe where I took in a visit to Venice , Italy before attending the BriSCA F1 World Final at Brafield in the UK,
The day after my return , I was back at the Cornwall Motor Speedway for a practice day.
I only had a few days rest before I was back at the track that weekend.
My original plan for Saturday the 4th of Oct , was to attend the Outlaw 200 at the Fulton Speedway in New York , but my cold and flu symptoms had returned, so I decided to play it safe and stay local.
There was a two day show taking place at my local Cornwall track so that was my weekend base.
There were no Modifieds on the program and the roster was made up of the many support divisions that appear during the season.
Mini Stocks, Lightening Sprints , Sprint Cars, Mini Mods, STR’s, Vintage and Street Stocks were there on the Friday night.
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The Main event was for the Sprint Cars and was won by Andrew Hennessy .
On Saturday , the program included Dirt Car Sportsman , which made it more appealing for me.
They were joined by the same divisions as Friday night but minus the Mini Stocks
Winner in the Sprint Cars was Liam Ladouceur , son of Lee, and grandson of Laurent .
It was his first career Sprint Car win .
We also had a ‘career first’ winner in the Sportsman , when Sylvain Dupuis took the win.
So that was how my weekend panned out , and with big plans ahead for the coming week , I began getting my gear ready.
Up until the COVID pandemic of 2020, which shut down most of the worlds racing, I was a regular attendee of SUPER DIRT WEEK .
My first visit was in 2003
Firstly , the Moody Mile at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse , then at it’s present home , the ‘Steel Palace’ in Oswego , New York.
It moved to Oswego in 2016 when the Syracuse track was no longer available.
I was there at Oswego’s first one.
During the first year of COVID the event didn’t take place , then in the interim period my local Cornwall Motor Speedway started staging a conflicting event on the same week as Oswego.
So, my loyalty to the CMS , and the logistics have kept me away from SUPER DIRT WEEK .
I’m not getting any younger, and with all the great memories I have of Dirt Racings premier event (Some call it the ‘Daytona of Dirt Racing) I decided to make a return this year.
FLASH BACK to the final SUPER DIRT WEEK at Syracuse in 2015
My ‘side kick’ and right hand man in my position as the CMS Official Track Photographer happens to be my buddy Don Simpson. He’s never had much interest in attending Super Dirt Week , and he offered to cover for my CMS duties .
So that was it, and with no hesitation I was Oswego bound this year .
Like many of my previous visits to SUPER DIRT WEEK , I wasn’t planning to be there for the full week. Hotels are expensive and I don’t sleep in a tent or my car these days !
My plan was to sign in on Wednesday and watch the Parade through the City , take a few pics at the track , and return home that day. Then go back to Oswego for the big races on Friday and Saturday
So I left home in Cornwall , Ontario on Wednesday 7th Oct, before 7-00 am for the three hour drive to Oswego .
I was checked in at the media sign in before 10-00 am and had a chance for a quick look around the pits before the mid day race car parade through the city
I then drove down town to the City Center and staked my spot for the Parade.
It was an awesome sight as over 50 race cars did a loop of city .
Once it was over I returned to the track .
One of the first people I bumped into , was my old friend Rob Yetman from the Albany area of NY.
Rob is a multiple winner at SUPER DIRT WEEK in the Pro Stock division.
FLASH BACK to his Oswego win in 2016 and at Syracuse in 2015
FLASHBACK Rob’s winning car at the 2015 edition of SUPER DIRT WEEK
The Pro Stocks and 358 Modifieds were due on track at 1-30 for Hot Laps , so I hung out in the media center until then.
It was a bright and sunny afternoon so chose to shoot from the back stretch grandstand to get my pics.
The Pro Stocks were up first .
Here’s Rob’s car for this years campaign
You can always expect the not expected in Pro Stocks and it wasn’t long before we had a flip on the opposite straight.
The 358’s then followed for their Hot Laps
It was nice to see Ryan Godown on track with his tribute car to his late buddy, Stephane Lafrance.
Once the Hot Laps were over I made my exit and headed for home.
I was back in Cornwall by 8-00 pm which was perfect for me as I was pacing myself for the busy weekend ahead.
Thursday was spent at home relaxing while following the qualifying at Oswego on line.
Thursday night I was behind my TV watching the Ottawa Senators beat the Philadephia Flyers.
On Friday I left home at 7-00am for my drive back to Oswego .
My first stop was at Pamela NY , close to Watertown.
Hotels in the vicinity of SUPER DIRT WEEK were either full up , or asking silly prices .
I chose to stay at the Royal Inn , an hours drive from Oswego , and half the price of some of my quotes. Even with todays high gas prices , it still saved me a lot of dollars.
After paying in advance, they gave me my key which meant I didn’t have to check in, late at night.
After that was sorted , I continued onwards and before 10-00 am , I was sitting in the media tent behind my lap top. I used this down time to catch up with website stuff and some editing.
It was great to be back with all my media friends. Too many to mention all of them by name.
The headline events for Friday were the ‘ I LOVE NY’ 50 lapper for the Pro Stocks and the ‘Salute to the Troops ‘ 150 lapper for the 358 Modifieds.
I moved to the middle for these .
Before they got under way , there were ‘Last Chance Qualifiers’ for both divisions.
The Pro Stocks were up first , followed by the 358’s
Once these were over , we went straight into the introductions for the ‘I LOVE NY’ 50 Lapper for the Pro Stocks .
Veteran former NASCAR driver (and general racing all rounder) Kenny Schrader was there making a guest appearance .
My buddy Rob Yetman was on pole and was hoping to make it another win to add to his resume .
It wasn’t going to be Rob’s year, and started to slip back down the field after the first few laps.
Here’s Kenny Schrader in action on the bottom with Denis Gauvreau choosing the top.
When it came to the checkers , it was Nick Stone at the front.
Making his first Oswego debut on the flags , was my Autodrome Drummond , friend , and official Francis Potvin
FLASHBACK nine years ago to October 2006 and the first running of the OSWEGO based SUPER DIRT WEEK.
Here’s Francis with me, and his fellow Quebec media corps , Steve Brilliant Josee Fortier and Dan Mailhot .
Here’s Nick Stone in Victory Lane
When the presentations were over there was an extended break for track prep, so I returned to the Media tent and did some more editing.
The headline event of the day was for the 150 Lap ‘Salute to the Troops’ for the 358 Modifieds, which started later than scheduled , as the packers continued to prep the track
The delay was worth the wait, and gave us a track surface that provided excellent racing.
Mat Williamson , Billy Dunn and Larry Wight looked good at the start
As the race went on Alex Yankowski and Alex Payne moved up as the main contenders,
At the checkers it was Yankowski ahead of Payne , with Matt Sheppard in third to complete the podium.
The presentations were all done by 10-30 pm , so I grabbed my equipment and headed back to my room in Pamela NY .
Past experiences at SDW have taught me to be at the track early on the final day , as places in the media parking fill up quickly.
So, I was out of bed early and back in the media tent editing before 10-00 am.
The headline events of the day were for the ‘Great Lakes 75 Lapper’ for the Sportsman and the ‘ Billy Whittaker 150’ for the Big Block Modifieds.
Just like Friday’s show, the on-track action began after lunch with the last Chance qualifiers for both divisions. .
The Sportsman were up first, and were followed by the Big Blocks
Former SDW winner Stewart Friesen had missed Thursday’s qualifying heats due to his NASCAR Truck racing commitments, so had to run in the Last Chance Qualifiers.
Only the first two places from each of the two , would get you through . Stewart made sure of it by taking a first place in his .
With the LCQ’s in the books , cars rolled out for the headline race for the Sportsman, The Great Lakes 75 .
I have to be honest , this was one of the worst SDW races I’ve ever seen. For most of the 75 laps , there were cautions after caution . They rarely did a full five laps of racing before another yellow would come out .
It was painful to watch .
Looking on the bright side, two of my local drivers got first and second .
Early leader was Tyler Peet but once Tristan Ladouceur got passed , he took full control.
Jessica Power also got passed Peet and was gaining on Ladouceur towards the end . The lack of continuous green flag racing , made her challenge more difficult. Things might of gone differently if there were another five laps of uninterrupted racing
It was a pleasure to see Tristans well deserved win.
I’ve known the Ladouceur family personally for over 25 years, which was a long time before Tristan was born.
A big hug from his dad Joey Ladouceur
Mom Josee and dad Joey
FLASHBACK , 14 years goes by quickly when Tristan was a 2012 champion at the Cornwall Motor Speedway Kart Track
Once Victory Lane presentations were done, we had another long break for track prep. Just like the day before, the extended down time while this took place was well worth the wait.
The track was in excellent shape for the climax of SUPER DIRT WEEK
From the green it was Larry Wight who set the pace .
Jimmy Phelps was always not far behind
Mat Williamson, Alex Payne , and Alex Yankowski were up there too with Darren Smith running consistently in the middle of the pack
Just before the half way point, a controlled , 10 minute pit stop took place on the infield.
After the restart , things started to settle down with Mat Williamson or Alex Yankowski looking like the winners, but the other leading contenders were still in with a chance.
Like so many other good races , it was the last portion where things got interesting .
Matt Sheppard had worked his way into contention, and was really flying, as he got past Phelps , Yankowski and Payne , then went to work on Williamson .
Just as he went into the lead , the yellows came out for the dying Justin Stone car .
As the cars slowed down under caution , Sheppard ran out of gas and came to a halt.
On the re start and with about five laps to go , Williamson shot back into the lead with Yankowski and Phelps right behind him . From out of nowhere Darren Smith appeared on the scene. He looked like the quickest man out there, and soon squeezed past Phelps and Yankowski .
As the white flag came out he was nibbling away at Williamsons back bumper and on turn three he lunged to the outside to make the pass. Williamson shut the door on him, but Smith had enough momentum to quickly tuck back in on the inside , as they drag raced to the checkers.
Smith , just a few yards ahead of Williamson, got there first , as we witnessed a fantastic finish to SUPER DIRT WEEK .
After watching one of the worst ever races at SDW ( the Sportsman main event) , the Big Blocks sure knew how to turn things around as this race will surely go down in the books as one of the best in the history of SUPER DIRT WEEK .
Williamson took the runner up spot , with Yankowski taking third .
With Victory lane celebrations over by around 10-30pm , I had the task of getting out the track.
As you can imagine , with the show all over, there were a lot of people with the same idea. The police had set up a one way diversion , which meant a long detour, but I was soon heading in the right direction and on the I81 north.
I crossed back into Canada at 1000 Islands and was back home in Cornwall at 2-45 am.
I slept until 9-30am and by 1- 30 pm was relaxing in the sun at the Cornwall Moto Speedway.
Sunday the 11th of October was the final day of their three day Canadian Super Dirt Weekend .
In my absence David Hebert was the big winner on Friday , while Carrey Terrance did likewise on Saturday
There were three divisions on the program for Sunday.
The headline event was a 100 lap Modified race , with Sportsman and Pro Stocks as support divisions.
Before the racing got under way I had some pictures to take at the pit side stage, where I met up with my tog buddies Don Simpson and Dan Mailhot (Dan had also attended SDW)
The annual track awards were taking place and pictures were required of the drivers from the various divisions .
Here’s Corey Wheeler and his children picking up the Modified Championship award
We also took this opportunity to get a Cornwall Motor Speedway 2026 Staff Photo
Once this was done we got on with the days racing .
After all the heats the Modified feature was up first.
Ryan stabler led for most of this one but was passed by Felix Roy in the closing laps .
So, Felix Roy , fresh up from Oswego’s SUPER DIRT WEEK was back in Canada to take the Cornwall feature
Jacob Nadeau was the Sportsman winner
Jocelyn Roy , another driver who’d been at Oswego was there to take the Pro Stock win.
The show ran smoothly with no hiccups and it was all done by 9-30 pm, which was just what many of us needed.
Now it was time to relax before my next adventure
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