RICK @ the RACES (Back On Track) August 2006
Fri 4 Aug Autodrome Edelweiss Que
Sat 5 Aug Frogtown Speedway NY
Sun 6 Aug Cornwall Motor Speedway , Ont
Mon 7 Aug Merrittville Speedway Ont
Tues 8 Aug Ransomville Speedway, NY
Hello there , to family, friends and racing acquaintances.
You may recall that back on 18 June, I sent out the following message regarding my “RICK @ the RACES” reports.
<< “Just for fun, and after attending a few ice races this past winter, I put a few words together along with a photo or two, detailing my exploits and sent them out by e-mail to family, friends and racing acquaintances.
I named my report “RICK @ the RACES” and over the last few months, as the content has grown, so has the mailing list, and a couple of web sites have even columnised it.
With an increase in my spare time media work, I’ve decided to make this the ‘Final Episode’, (for a while at least), but if time permits , it may be revived later in the year.
Thanks for taking the time to read it” >>
Well, following a few days off work with the Flu, and some spare time on hand due to rain-outs, I thought I`d put another report together. But first, I must say thanks to all the folks that have contacted me, and said how much they missed the reports, and urged me to continue. ( Oh, and of course if anyone would rather not receive them, please don`t hesitate to let me know)
RICK @ the RACES ( Back On Track)
Since my last report back in June I’ve attended another twenty-four race meetings, so it`s going to be hard to try and choose which ones to mention.
Most of those, have been at my local tracks but I did take time-out for one of my road trips, for the ADVANCE AUTO PARTS SUPER DIRT SERIES race at the Merrittville Speedway (ONT) , which is about a seven hour drive and close to Niagara Falls.
My weekend started off on Friday 4 Aug with a trip to the Autodrome Edelweiss in Quebec, where Pierre Dagenais took the honors.
The Pro Stock Feature was won by Louie Jackson
The next day I was in across the bridge in the USA at the Frogtown Speedway NY where Jeff Sykes was the Modified Feature winner
While Joey Ladouceur was the Pro Stock winner
On Sunday I was at the Cornwall Motor Speedway, and nearer to home. There were two Modified Feature on this occasion , one was won by Stephane Lafrance and the other by Brian McDonald
The Pro Stock winner was Dave Bissonnette
After Sunday night at Cornwall, it was home to bed and an early start in the morning for the ‘Holiday Monday’ drive down to Niagara Falls.
Although it`s a long drive, I like to get down there once a year, and with the Big Block Modified tour scheduled for the 7th August, I just had to be there. For this one , I joined up with my media buddy Jim Clarke.
Alan “AJ Slideways” Johnson dominated the race from start to finish, but that didn’t mean it was a boring race, oh no ! , 
The great drives through the pack, for second and third places by local heroes Pete Bicknell and Ken Cosgrove were a joy to watch.
While I was at Merrittville, I had the pleasure of meeting up with Fransisco Pareira and his family again, who was competing in his “Black Widow Racing” Bicknell.
I first met Fransisco, who is originally from Portugal and a former Rally driver, at the 2005 SUPER DIRT WEEK at Syracuse. We got along OK, even if his Portugal team knocked out my England team in the Football World Cup ! (that’s soccer to North Americans)
When the racing was done at Merrittville I had the luxury of a motel close to the ‘Falls’ , before heading across the border the following day to the ‘Alex Friesen Summer Nationals’ at the Ransomville Speedway NY.
I have to say that Ransomville is one of my favorite tracks, ( I guess it has to be when it`s so close to Youngstown, NY ! ) and I always enjoy my visits there.
The result of the big race was a true fairy-tale event, with the young Stewart Friesen, taking the feature in an electrifying drive to win the family Trophy in honor of his late uncle.
Dan Spatorico # 5 took the Sportsman Feature
Also on the program were the DIRT Pro Stocks and it was great to see Dave Schultz back in victory lane again, who in the past , I’ve featured at least once, in my SHORT CIRCUIT MAGAZINE column.
This time , when the races were done , I opted for the luxury of my trusty tent ! , because usually Ransomville is a great place to camp . But not on this occasion, I`m afraid, parked in the middle of all us sensible campers, were a bunch of idiots that couldn’t handle their booze, and persisted in shouting and making a noise all night, spoiling what was a great night for everyone .
Brian Rogers won the Modified Feature at the Brockville Ontario Speedway, the following Saturday 
Bobby Herrington won in the Sportsman Division
The next day (Sun 14 Aug) at the Cornwall Motor Speedway, it was Kyle Dingwall in Victory Lane for the Modifieds
and Stephane Lebrun in the Pro Stock division
On the 19 Aug I was at the Brockville Ontario Speedway where Danny O’Brien took the Feature
and Justin Barger was the visiting ESS Sprint Car winner
As mentioned at the start of this report, the last time I updated , was on June 18 , when the last event covered , was the Cornwall Motor Speedway.
To recap , on where I’ve been since then, here is a brief summary
Fri 23rd JUNE AUTODROME EDELWEISS, QUE
Was won by Kyle Dingwall
Sat 25th JUNE CORNWALL MOTOR SPEEDWAY ,ONT
Chris Jones was the winner
Sat 1st JULY BROCKVILLE ONTARIO SPEEDWAY 
Brian McDonald was the winner
Sun 2nd JULY CORNWALL MOTOR SPEEDWAY, ONT
Was won by Kyle Dingwall
Sat 4th JULY BROCKVILLE SPEEDWAY ,ONT (SUPERDIRT SERIES) 
Provided a win for Alan Johnson
Sat 8th JULY FROGTOWN SPEEDWAY,NY
Carey Terrance was the winner
Sun 9th JULY CORNWALL MOTOR SPEEDWAY ,ONT (SUPER DIRT SERIES)
Dale Planck got his first SDS win
Mon 10th JULY AUTODROME DRUMMOND, QUE, (SUPER DIRT SERIES)
Brett Hearn won this one
Sat 15th JULY AUTODROME DRUMMOND , QUE (CDN DIRT SERIES)
Was won by David Hebert
Sun 16th JULY CORNWALL MOTOR SPEEDWAY, ONT
(picture not available at this time)
Life was a bit hectic for a few weeks. I had a busy time entertaining guests , when my long time friend, Lynn Edwards , friends and family, paid me a visit from England.
Fri 21st JULY AUTODROME EDELWEISS , QUE
Pierre Dagenais was the Winner
Sat 22nd JULY BROCKVILLE SPEEDWAY , ONT
(Picture not available at this time)
Sun 23rd JULY CORNWALL MOTOR SPEEDWAY, ONT
Laurent Ladouceur was the winner
Fri 28th JULY AUTODROME EDELWEISS , QUE (CDN DIRT SERIES)
Pierre Dagenais was the winner
Sat 29th JULY BROCKVILLE SPEEDWAY ,ONT (CDN DIRT SERIES) 
Was won by Danny O’Brien
Sun 30th JULY CORNWALL MOTOR SPEEDWAY (CDN DIRT
Feature was won by Brian McDonald and the CDS was won by David Hebert
As we head towards the final months of the racing season , there`s still plenty of action that I`m looking forward to.
There`s two Small block SDS races coming up at Cornwall and Brockville then next month on Sept 10th , (following Lebanon Valley the night before) I`m hoping to attend the first ever European Style (wheel to wheel) RallyCross. It`s planned to take place at the old Glad Rag Speedway close to Corinth NY.and is being organized by some members of the AMEC ice racing group. Up until now RallyCross in North America has been a totally different ball game to how the Europeans do it. ( Usually in Europe about 4 cars at a time, race wheel to wheel on a part, dirt, part asphalt track,as opposed to over here where one car races against the clock)
On the 23rd of September the Lucas Oils Clash for Cash at the Brighton Speedway is on my agenda, then on the 30th I`ll be heading to Quebec City for a history making Dirt Modified show…. Followed by SUPER DIRT WEEK at Syracuse.
So… if there`s another long break before the next “Rick @ the RACES” you`ll know why.