RICK @ the RACES (25 to 30 May)

25 May   Vieux Duluth, Cornwall, Ont

25 May    Capital City Speedway , Ottawa, Ont

28  May    Brockville Ontario Speedway,

29 May     Cornwall Motor Speedway, Ontario

30 May    Mohawk International Raceway, Hogansburg , NY

This weeks report begins on May 25 ,  it was warm and sunny and I was feeling good with the return of my Wednesday ‘off ‘  from work. For about five years, Wednesday had been my regular ‘mid week’ day off, until 2010 when a shift change was forced upon me. Tuesday became my ‘new’ day off , I was then required to work Wednesdays making it difficult to get to the Capital City Speedway in Ottawa before start time. As a result I missed a few nights there last year.

Following the previous weeks cancellation due to rain, this week had became their season opener.

Before heading off to Ottawa, I had another assignment to attend when I visited the Vieux Duluth , a local restaurant in my home city of Cornwall, Ontario. Two of my racing friends had their cars on display. The DIRT Modified of Joel Doiron and the Pro Stock of Joey Ladouceur were there as part of a fund raising drive for the ‘Racing Against Drugs’ campaign.

When I arrived Joel was there along with restaurant owner Yves Paradis. I took a few photos and had a quick chat with them before heading off to Ottawa.

I must admit, I always enjoy my Wednesday nights in the nations Capital and was looking forward to meeting up with the special friends I have there. In the past, it was not unusual for me to be the only one taking pictures, but for opening night I was  joined by Phil MacCallum, who joined the CCS last year, and long time, former Autodrome Edelweiss photographer Al Patrick. The opening night winners included,

Steve Munro ( Late Model) Kevin Foisy ( Legends) Todd Musker ( Thunder Cars) Casey Cavanagh ( Mini Stocks) and Malcolm McDonald ( 4 for Fun) .

I must also say congrats to Jenn May  a friend and fellow Ottawa Senators fan ! , on her very first Ministock win .There was also an enduro to end the evening, but with work the next day, I didn’t stay for that.

I did my regular work shift on Thursday and, of course Friday which always seems to be a late finish day ! The weather hadn’t been too good, and by 6-00 pm while heading back from Montreal to Cornwall ( I’m a transport driver on contract to the ‘worlds biggest retailer’) I ‘d already learned of the Mohawk International Raceway’s postponement to Monday night. ( This weekend was the Memorial Day Long Weekend in the USA) .

I knew that any chance of racing was out, so decided to stop on Hwy 401 at the Bainsville Tim Hortons/Burger King rest area for a bite to eat and a check of my e/mail. Imagine my surprise when I looked up from my lap top and spotted a beautiful lady looking my way.

It was NASCAR Canadian Tire Series racer Isabelle Tremblay who had recognized me from our www.rickattheraces.com / and Face Book messages we’d engaged in. (We’d talked about a future article and photo session) Isabelle from St Hippolyte , Quebec was with her brother and they were on their way to Mosport for the series opener , the next day. We had a brief chat before saying ‘bon chance’ and au revoir.

I was back at work again on Saturday morning, with a load to take to Drummondville, Quebec before finishing at about 2-30 pm for my regular trip to the Brockville Ontario Speedway.

With Mother Nature still teasing us, I must admit, I didn’t expect the BOS to be running. I’d looked at the possibilities of the Airborne Speedway at Plattsburgh NY or even Mosport as alternatives. By mid afternoon I heard the good news that the BOS was still a ‘GO’ so set off down Hwy 401.

As always a good night was in store with plenty of action for the fans.

After watching the Modified Feature I was thinking of renaming my report ” Rick at the WreckFest”  There were two big separate wrecks that extensively damaged a lot of cars.

In the first one, Kyle Dingwall rolled over and collected a a bunch of other cars. I have to feel sorry for Kyle, his care was totaled.

In the second wreck Adam Moore, Brian McDonald, John Mulder , Jeff Ciglich and Steve Bilow were involved.

There was so much attrition, that only seven cars completed the Feature.

Bobby Herrington was the one that survived the carnage to take the checkers.

Mike Mainse won the Sportsman Feature. Before moving on, I must say congrats to Tabatha Murphy on her Sportsman heat win.

Both Tabatha and Ralph , (her dad) have always been good supporters of ‘Rick at the Races’

On Sunday , race fans were in for a mammoth day of racing at the Cornwall Motor Speedway due to the rain problems from the previous week. It meant double Features in all divisions, one of which was the 100 Lap Canadian Nationals Modified Race. Mother Nature decided to be kind to us, so the action continued, pretty much  non stop apart from the short intermission.

The big race of the day was won by Stephane Lafrance with the other Mod race going to David Hebert. Chris Herbison and Shane Pecore took the Sportman races while Joey Ladouceur

and Rick Thompson were the Pro Stock winners . Kevin Fetterley and Joe Woods won in the Semi Pros while the two Ministock Features were both won by Ernie Cree. It was a long day with Final Feature of the night , for Semi Pro’s being completed after mid night.

I was back at work on Monday  never expecting to be finished in time for the rescheduled races at the Mohawk International Raceway…. but I was in for a pleasant surprise ! I was back at my terminal in Cornwall, before 6-00 pm and by ‘chasing around’ a bit, I was able to make a quick dash across the International Bridge to Hogansburg. Like the Cornwall Motor Speedway, the previous night, the MIR was playing ‘catch up’ from last weeks rain and had some ‘double features.  I got to the track as the first race was taking place.

This was for ProStocks and was won by Ricky Thompson.

Owen White took the first Bandit

and Sheldon Hoegwerf the Sportsman.

The nights second Bandit Feature was won by rookie driver Kyle Bouvier

while the 50 Lap Modified race went to Chris Raabe.

After the Mod Feature , with time marching on, and the need to be at work again the next morning,  I made an early exit, to end my busy three day spell of racing.