A Sweep for the Roy Family (16th April 2025 BLOG)
If Mother Nature had played her part, this report would of been a lot longer.
My original plans for this past weekend involved three events in three days. With snow still on the ground in Lafargeville, New York, the back to back DIRTCAR Series races at the Can Am Speedway scheduled for Friday and Saturday had to be called off.
According to the press release, the Friday night 358 Series race will now take place in the summer during the Pabst Shoot Out show. The SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES for Big Block Modifieds will be rescheduled , on a date to be confirmed.
So, that left me with just one of my plans in tact. Sunday was the season opener at the Airborne Park Speedway, Plattsburgh NY .
It was an afternoon show that started at 2-00 pm, for the Leon Gonyo Memorial.
Leon was a leading driver from the area who passed away a few years back . He was a fan favorite and came from nearby Chazy NY.
On one of my first visits to the Airborne Park Speedway , back in 2005, I remember him winning the feature.
I was lucky enough to meet him on a few occasions, when he was supporting the annual Mike Watts , Champlain Valley Motor Sports Show in Plattsburgh.
The afternoon start time meant an early departure from Cornwall. My ‘Tog’ buddy , Don Simpson parked his car at my place, and we took off in my Impala.
We arrived at the track at mid day in good time to socialize with friends. It was lovely to see the M70 Sportsman parked in the pits of my good friend Billy Cook.
The 81 year old was embarking on his 55th year of racing.
An amazing accomplishment
The weekend rainouts meant very few other events were taking place , and our regular gang of four ‘ Airborne Togs’ were joined by a few others . It was quite busy on turn one and two.
The program consisted of the usual 358 Modifieds, Sportsman , Renegades and Mini Stocks .
They were joined by the Crown Vics. Airborne are hoping to build up enough numbers to make them a weekly division.
As the name suggests , they are basically Ford Crown Victorias . I’ve seen them a few times lately on my travels to tracks down south .
The premier divisions had a great turn out of cars, with 33 Modifieds and about 40 or so Sportsman (I never counted) . The large number of Modifieds, was probably due to the Can Am cancelation on Friday night.
Matt Williamson was in attendance , as well as many Can Am regulars.
Young Jackson Gill was one.
Tim Fuller and Billy Dunn were there , as well as Jordon McCreadie.
It was a return to racing for Jordan , who’d taken time off to recover from an injury sustained last year.
There were a few other unexpected additions from Quebec too, including David Hebert.
He was driving a car for the Boissonnault/Lussier team, and is expected to be at the track racing for them weekly in 2025.
As for the Sportsman division, there were no big surprise additions to the program apart from a few long distance travelers from Quebec.
One that springs to mind was Pascal Payeur from Thetford Mines.
As usual in the Sportsman division, there was plenty of action.
The first of the days feature races, was for the Crown Vics.
This was won by Eric Friend.
After a bit of track prep, the Sportsman had their main event.
Bucko Branham and Nick Heywood made the early running .
Heywood soon passed Bucko and took command to dominate the race.
As Branham slipped back , Fire Swamp and Donovan Lussier moved up to challenge.
Heywood was uncatchable and that’s how they finished.
The First three
The Modifieds were up next for their feature.
Napierville, Quebec’s, Felix Roy # 91 had drawn pole with Jackson Gill # 60 along side. Roy quickly pulled ahead with Gill chasing him.
For the first part of the race they looked pretty equal .
There were a handful of restarts due to cautions, and each occasion the New Yorker would briefly pull in front , only to lose out to the Quebecer.
As the race wound down, Felix’s older brother Jeremy # 90 edged passed Gill.
With just a few laps to go we had the Roy brothers leading the pack . When the checkers fell , it was Felix and Jeremy followed by Jackson.
What a great weekend for the Roy family.
It was now passed 6-30 pm so Don and I chose to make our exit and forego the Renegade and Mini Stock features.
By 8-45 pm we were at the Twin Leaf Diner in Akwesasne having supper, before heading back over the bridge to Canada.
While I’d been at Airborne, the Ottawa Senators were having a matinee game against the Philadelphia Flyers, so I missed seeing them win that one.
On Tuesday night I was back behind my TV watching them again as they had an overtime loss to the Chicago Blackhawks. I wasn’t too worried as the ‘Sens’ have already secured a Stanley Cup Play Off spot.
It was a different story for my neighboring Montreal Canadiens. As they went into their final game of the season on Wednesday night, they still needed a solitary point to get in to the playoffs. I watched the game as they beat the Carolina Hurricanes to seal the deal.
They will pay Washington in the Play offs, while my ‘Sens’ will be taking part in the ‘Battle of Ontario’ with the Toronto Maple Leafs as their opponents.
That will please a lot of my Quebec friends. Here’s a pic I took of David Hebert’s hauler in the Merrittville pits back in April 2008.