RICK @ the RACES ( 26 to 30 May 2006 )

Fri 26 May           Autodrome Edelweiss (PQ)
Sat 27 May        Adirondack International Speedway (NY)
Sat 27 May       Frogtown International Speedway (NY)
Sun 28 May     Cornwall Motor Speedway (Ont)
Tues 30 May    Rolling Wheels Speedway Park (NY)

I was lucky and finished work early on Friday 26 May , giving me enough time to get to the races, and with rain still in the area, I was even luckier that Autodrome Edelweiss, my first choice of destination, wasn’t one of the tracks that was forced to cancel.

It was pretty much like de ja vu,  from the previous week, where I traveled through numerous rain storms, to find the brightest spot in the sky was hovering over the Val de Monts, where the track is located.

In previous years the Friday night racing at Edelweiss has clashed  with the Brockville Speedway, but with the latter, changing to Saturdays, it appears to have benefited both venues, with seventeen 358  DIRT Modifieds in attendance and about a dozen DIRT Pro Stocks.

I had my usual wander round the pits to chat with friends and at the Stephane Lafrance car , I found ‘Papi’With his Street Stock, was Edelweiss Promoter Serge Lagace

After, a break of four years Joel Doiron ( the racing OPP Officer and son of “the Flying Frenchman” Ovide) ) was back on track in the Eric Gauverau back up car. Joel, a former Cornwall Motor Speedway track champion,  showed he`d lost none of his talent and will be a welcome addition if this becomes a regular ride.

The feature, a 50 lap Victoria 200 qualifier rain-dated from 2nd May was won by current track champion, Pierre Dagenais with former DIRT ProStocks SUPER DIRT SERIES champion, Joey Ladouceur taking the flag in that division.

A couple of years ago I made an unsuccessful attempt to add the Adirondack International Speedway (New Bremen NY) to my “Trackchasing” totals, when on arrival, I found the races cancelled, apparently because of predicted bad weather. This past Saturday, with a scheduled afternoon start time (4-00pm) and the chance to see DIRT MOTORSPORTS new Hall of Fame inductee, “Barefoot” Bob McCreadie driving a Late Model on the asphalt, was a good enough reason to try again.

I arrived in good time to walk around the pits and to see plenty of Hot Laps but just as the lap trials got under way things came to an abrupt halt. The track Ambulance was called away to a serious accident leaving the speedway without the required medical cover. A hasty decision was made to have a “meet the drivers” session on the front stretch until a back-up ambulance arrived.

With time marching on, I was getting nervous as I had not planned on staying for the complete show,  as there was a Dirt Modified race I wanted to attend that evening at the Frogtown Speedway (NY) two hours away.

Just after 6-00pm, I had seen the first race (the four cylinder division) enough to be countable in the Trackchasing rules, so as the checkers dropped, I was outta there, heading for Hogansburg NY.

I got to Frogtown too late for the DIRT Mod heats but in time to see the final qualifiers for the Dirt Pro Stocks.

The big race of the night, the annual 50 lap Memorial Cup for the Modifieds was won by Dave Heaslip after being chased for a while by Dan Jalbert. Mitch Jock claimed the DIRT Pro Stocks feature.

On Sunday, I managed to find a bit of time to cut my grass ( it was looking like a jungle after all the rain we`d had ) before setting off to the Cornwall Motor Speedway, for my first day of work, as I`m now employed there.

On a warm night the large crowd were treated to over ninety cars that had assembled in the pits, which included 28 DIRT Modifieds.

The program consisted of two 25 lap Modified features, the first being won by Pat O`Brien, the second by Dan Jalbert, with the DIRT ProStocks event giving Joey Ladouceur his second visit of the weekend to victory lane.

Monday meant back to work, where I put in a fourteen and a half hour shift, before packing the car ready for the following nights excursion. I had arranged to be finished by lunchtime on Tuesday to give me enough time to make it to the evening World of Outlaws Sprint Car show at the Rolling Wheels Speedway Park , Elbridge NY.

Things worked out well, and I was down there walking around the pits and taking photos by around 5-00pm.

The big race was won by Series leader.  Donny Schatz of North Dakota with Chuck Hebing winning the Patriot Sprints Feature.

Totally exhausted, I decided to camp the night at the track, where I ended the evening chatting , eating peanuts and supping a couple of cold ones with Schatz`s father Danny, who was camping next to me in his motor-home . He`s a real down to earth nice guy, and we were discussing websites, etc … on his lap-top , we checked out my photos on www.raceproweekly.com   and www.ranlayracing.com

So, I did five race tracks in five days, I could have made it six in six if I`d done the Capital City Speedway , Ottawa , tonight (Wed) but, I had some catching up to do, cats to feed , typing this report, and numerous other things that needed to be done…