North East Season Openers (APRIL 2026 BLOG)
The month of April , began much the same as March. The wintery weather continued and the few racing events I’d got planned, were scratched.
I kept myself sane , by watching the Ottawa Senators games on TV as they battled for a Stanley Cup Play off spot.
Instead of heading to the races over the Easter Holiday , I attended the Sen’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes at the Canadian Tire Center in Ottawa.
(6-3 win to the Sens)
It turned out to be a prelude to the cup, as both teams were later matched against each other in the first round .
The following weekend (10/11/12 April) was supposed to be the start of my local racing season.
On Friday and Saturday the Can Am Speedway at Lafargeville NY had two DIRTCAR SERIES races scheduled (358 and Big Block) , While on Sunday the Airborne Park Speedway at Plattsburgh NY was having their season opener.
Wet weather resulted in the cancelation of all three events.
So on Saturday I was at home again, sitting behind my TV watching the Sens beat the New York Islanders, and clinching their play off spot.
That meant a conflict of interest in our family LOL .
My daughter Carla, lives in Raleigh and will be cheering for the Canes
As mentioned in my last BLOG , I have a special trip coming up , so the following weekend (17/18/19 April) , I decided to save money, stay local , and give the SUPER DIRTCAR series at the Albany-Saratoga Speedway and the 358 DIRTCAR series at the Lebanon Valley Speedway , a miss.
Instead my plans were to attend a Practice Day at the Can Am Speedway on Saturday and then the rescheduled Airborne opener on Sunday.
Once again Mother Nature , struck a blow, and both events were scrubbed.
Saturday the 18th and Monday the 20th became the opening two games in Raleigh for the Sens and Canes.
They were both great games to watch with Carolina coming up tops in both .
To cut a long story short, the rest of this first round clash went the same way. The Sens’s were not playing their best , and the Cane’s , arguably the best team in the NHL swept the series 4-0 in Ottawa.
STANLEY CUP . EXIT the Sens .
On the weekend of 24/25/26 April, the local racing finaly got underway.
On Friday night I headed down to the Can Am Speedway at Lafargeville NY .
It was nice and sunny so it was the perfect opportunity to make a relaxing day of it, by stopping off at Alexandria Bay and Clayton, to do some ship watching.
Clayton is just a 15 minute drive from the track so was there by 4-00 pm to watch the race teams arrive.
The program had the normal diet of the headlining 358 Modifieds, Sportsman, Rookie Sportsman, Sprint Cars and Thunder Cars (Ministocks) .
The Sportsman were having a DIRTCAR Series round.
The main reason for being there was my love of Modified racing, so quite often these days , I make an exit once they’re done. This was the case on this occasion .
The first feature was for the Rookie Sportsman , which was won by Mason Rogers.
The Sprint Car Feature then followed and it was no surprise to see Josh Verne get the win
The Modified Feature was up next
Jordan McCreadie looked all set for the win in the this one until a late race caution narrowed the gap.
Tim Fuller then joined him on the front row for the restart, and within a lap or two, had made the pass.
Fuller went on to claim his 50th career win at Can Am , with McCreadie having to settle for second.
Victory Lane celebrations were done just before 10-00 pm, the weather had turned chilly , so that was my cue to make an exit. A late night was not on my agenda , so I was on my way, and back home in Cornwall at midnight
In my absence Brennan Moore took the win in the DIRTCAR Sportsman Series , while Corey Valade concluded the night with a Thunder Car win.
Saturday the 25th, was game four of the Senators V Hurricanes play-off game. The Sens lost the first three games and needed to win this one to stay in.
They didn’t so that was the end of the story
Sunday was another lovely day, with the sun was shining for the season opener at my local Airborne Park Speedway.
Just like Can Am on Friday night, this was Airborne’s third attempt to get their opener into the books following weeks of wet weather.
As usual for the Plattsburgh run, I was joined by my buddy Don Simpson for the drive, and were at the track in good time for the mid day pit gate opening.
One of the first people we bumped into was Billy Cook. At 82 years old , he’s still racing and embarking on his 57th year on the track.
The headline event was the 40 lap Leon Gonyo Memorial for 358 Modifieds, plus Sportsman and the usual back up divisions of Rookie Sportsman, Renegades (Street Stocks) Crown Vics and Ministocks
Leon was one of Plattsburgh’s local heros who passed away a few years back.
Here’s an early shot of Leon in Victory Lane, taken on a visit to Airborne in 2005 .
Once promoter Mike Bruno had conveined the pre race drivers meeting , hot laps began.
There was a healthy turn out of 25 Modifieds.
Racing began at 4-00 pm and the Sportsman and Modifieds were first to take heat races.
The Crown Vics didn’t do any heats, they came straight out and did their feature before intermission.
Richy Turner was the winner
After intermission , the Sportsman were up first for their feature.
Shane Pecore took this one after passing early leader Travis Bruno
The main event then followed.
The 40 lap Leon Gonyo memorial race .
Early leader was Tim Fuller , and tonight became his turn to loose out by a late caution.
Top runners , Felix Roy, Mike Mahaney and Billy Dunn were right behind him when the field closed up for the restart.
Roy pounced at the drop of the green , soon followed by Dunn and Mahaney .
When the checkers fell, that’s how they finished
Victory Lane pictures were done by about 7-30 pm.
That was perfect for us. With the Modified and Sportsman races in the books, and only Renegades and Mini Stocks to run , it was time to head for home.
So with just a few remaining days left in April, I managed to see my first North East races of the year .
As May rapidly approaches, I’m looking forward to a change of scenery in the next few weeks with a trip to Europe.
SAD NEWS
Over the last few weeks I received three sad news messages regarding long time friends , that have passed away.
Maureen Kirby RI.P .
Maureen was my girlfriend back in the 1970’s .
Here she is at one of her Birthday celebrations
We were in a relationship for about five years before we went our separate ways.
During that time , we did a lot of ‘racing miles’ all over Europe from our homes in Bedfordshire , England .
We had a lot of fun times.
Her name back then ( before she later married) was Maureen Murphy, but friends affectionately called her ‘Murf’.
Here’s Maureen , with me, Trish Wilson (now Trish Meserve), and Nigel Harradine during one of our frequent visits to the now defunct, Baarlo Auto Speedway in the Netherlands
My brother Chris , who lives in Bedfordshire, and is still in contact with her family, passed the sad news on to me.
I must now mention Carole West R.I.P .
Carole was the wife of my friend Bill West #39.
Back in the 1980’s , he was one of our local Bedfordshire stock car drivers who lived in Luton.
At that time my racing career was at a temporary halt , so occasionally helped Bill out at the races . This was also around the time that I met, and married Pat (now my ex wife).
The whole gang of us would travel to the races in his converted bus , which acted as his race car transporter.
Carole would always be with us on these fun trips.
When Bill quit racing we would sill hang out socially at the races until I emigrated.
Diane Day , Carole’s niece messaged me with the sad news .
One of our road trips down to the Matchams Park Stadium , Ringwood, Hants in 1981
Carole standing far right next to Kim Herridge , Pat behind the car , Diane sitting in the middle on the nerf rail next to Carole’s son Andrew.
Last but not least.
Keith Dingwall R.I.P.
The racing community here in Eastern Ontario was saddened to hear of the passing of Keith ‘Chico’ Dingwall.
Soon after I emigrated from England to Canada in 1994, I got in involved in Dirt Modified racing .
Back then, one of the top drivers at my local tracks, Cornwall Motor Speedway , Brockville Ontario Speedway and the Frogtown Speedway (Now M.I.R) was Keith Dingwall # 96 from the Morrisburg , Ontario area.
When Chico retired from the sport he concentrated on nurturing the racing talents of his son Kyle.
Kyle went on to do great things with many feature wins to his credit.
Chico remained in the back ground and was familiar face at Kyle’s Pit stall .
My sympathies to Kyle and all the Dingwall Family