June | 2011 | Rick at the Races

RICK @ the RACES ( 25/26 June 2011)

25 June Brockville Ontario Speedway

26 June Cornwall Motor Speedway

This weeks report originally had the potential of me covering five events, but once again ‘Mother Nature’ had other ideas !

Last Wednesday , Todd Gow, promoter at the Capital City Speedway in Ottawa was forced to ‘pull the plug’ mid afternoon when wet weather arrived in our area. It was the start of four days of rain.

This meant that Thursday nights SUPER DIRT SERIES event at the Mohawk International Raceway (Hogansburg NY) also got scratched.

Regular readers will be aware, that work commitments often keep me away from racing on Friday’s, but this week was different ! Most of my work is based in Quebec, and this past Friday it was Jean Baptiste Day ( a public holiday in the ‘Belle Province’) , so I was given the day off. I was finally looking forward to an unhindered Friday night of racing…. or so I thought ! .

My choice of destination got instantly reduced when I noticed that ‘Mohawk’ and ‘Can Am'( Lafargeville .NY) were taking a day off from the schedule this week. Oh well, no problem, and I figured this would be a good opportunity to visit Autodrome Granby ( Quebec). That was my plan until lunchtime, when I learned via the Granby web site, that they too had succumbed to the rain.

Things still looked good at the Brewerton Speedway NY, so plan B was put into action, and I set off, south of the border down I81. With the weather still being a bit ‘iffy’ I decided it would be a good idea to get an update on the tracks status on route, so at about 4-00 pm I checked into the McDonalds at Adams NY ( just south of Watertown) to use their free Wi Fi. Just as I sat down to have my coffee, a Face Book posting by Brewerton ‘media man’ Dave Medler, came up “BREWERTON SPEEDWAY HAS RAINED OUT TONIGHT JUNE 24”.

Aint that typical ! The first Friday I get off work in ages, and I don’t get to see any racing. I consoled myself with a visit to one of my favorite Chinese Buffets in Ogdensburg NY before heading back home to Cornwall Ontario.

I had to go into work on Saturday morning and it was ‘persisting’ with rain all morning in Montreal. The Cornwall area also had some rain and I feared that the evenings races in Brockville, might fall victim. I even worked out an alternative plan, and ‘penciled in’ the paved Airborne Speedway at Plattsburgh NY. as plan B . ( paved tracks often have a better survival rate in wet weather, simply because they are easier to dry out).

As it happens, soon after finishing work around lunchtime, I got the news that Airborne had canceled. With no news , positive or negative from Brockville. I made a quick phone call to www.rickattheraces.com web master Craig Revelle, who was in the city that day attending the power boat regatta. The good news was, it was dry in Brockville and they hadn’t had any rain, so with this in mind I set off down Hwy 401. On arrival at the track, their were plenty of threatening dark clouds, but the place was as dry as bone, and my fingers were crossed it would stay that way.

As things turned out, we had a great night of racing where the show was turned round quickly to beat the threat of Mother Nature. Feature winners included, Derek Cryderman (Street Stocks) Jean Marc Larose (Ministock)

Dylan Evoy (Sportsman)

and Danny O’Brien ( Modifieds) . The show was over soon after 9-30 pm and I was back home before 11-00 pm.. Great Stuff ! Just what the doctor ordered !

It was raining again when I awoke on Sunday morning, but by lunch time the sun was shining and things looked good for the evenings races at the Cornwall Motor Speedway. I was there at about 3-00 pm as usual and chatted amongst the other early arrivals.

It was going to be a ‘Fun Night’, with kids under 18 years of age admitted free and plenty of added attractions. There was also a brand new catering facility called ‘Happy Days’ with lots of good stuff on the menu. It even has one of my favorites , Italian Poutine ! .

During the intermission, it was autograph time on the center, where fans could meet the drivers and get close to the cars., which was followed by a kids ‘Tire Race’.

If this wasn’t enough fun, the opening round of the ‘Speedway Idol’ competition was staged, where race fans get the chance to sing in front of the crowd. It was great stuff !