REPORT 16 July to 24 July 2016
For most of this web sites life, the reports have been weekly, but for various reasons over the years, the frequency has had to change. This has been evident over the past 12 months , due to my illness. (MYASTHENIA GRAVIS)
Recently , I have been doing them twice a month, but now, after feeling a bit better, and being able to get around a lot more, I feel it’s time to get back to weekly.
The last report ended at the Mohawk International Raceway on Friday 15 July , so this one will begin the day after ( Saturday 16 July)
So , around 4-30 pm on Saturday afternoon , I made the usual trip down the 401 to the Brockville Ontario Speedway. I had been tempted to go to the Fulton Speedway instead this particular week, as I knew it would be a long and late night at Brockville.
As well as having the Patriot Sprints on the program, it was also the ‘on track’ Autograph Night which always guarantees lots of ‘down time’. The kids and many other race fans love this, unlike the ‘grumpy old guys’ like me that prefer to get the show moving quickly , so I can get home earlier . With doubtful weather, I decided to stay local , and endure the predictable late finish.
As things turned out, there were not many delays and stoppages with the sprint cars,
and apart from the Autograph session everything moved along quickly.
During the Victory Lane presentations for Rookie Sportsman winner Derek Cryderman,
I felt a tap on my shoulder , and was surprised to see my TRACKCHASING friend Allen Brown.
Allen from Comstock Park, Michigan, was there with his wife Nancy adding to his TRACKCHASER totals, which number over 1200 tracks.
He is also noted , as being the former publisher of the ‘must have’ book for all traveling race fans, The National Speedway Directory. He sold the rights to Timothy Frost a few years ago.
The first of the major divisions to have their Feature race was the Modifieds, which was won in dominating fashion by my good friend Gage Morin.
It was great to be asked to join the team in the ‘crew shot’ , so my photographer friend Henry Hannewyk took the shot below.
The Sprint Car Feature followed, which was won by Jason Barney
Next up was the Sportsman Feature , which provided a win for Shane Pecore
By now, it was after 11-00 pm, so I made my exit and headed for home.
Sunday, was the turn of my local Cornwall Motor Speedway, to host the Patriot Sprints along with Quebecs Lightening Sprints . Two of the regular divisions , Mini Stocks and Pro Stocks were missing from the program to compensate.
For the first part of the evening I shot pictures from the VIP tower in the pits
The Patriot Sprint Car race, this time was dominated by Jared Zimbardi.
As for the two major DIRTCAR divisions on the program, Lance Willix got his second feature race in a row, 
While, it was a first time for me, seeing Steve Morris get a Sportsman win.
I must also mention , that it was good to see, my friend Greg Ezard , get a feature win in the Rookie Sportman
Following the weekend, the big talking point in dirt racing was the forthcoming mid week SUPER DIRT SERIES races coming up.
For most people the big excitement surrounded the tour calling in at Tony Stewart’s famous Eldora Speedway in Ohio. ( Tuesday 19 and Wednesday 20 July) , that was to be part of NASCAR’s Truck Racing Series.
I’ve never been turned on by ‘pick up truck’ racing , or the NASCAR ‘circus’ so this wasn’t such a big deal for me. Instead I was more interested in going to the races at the Sharon Speedway, Ohio that followed the next day (Thursday 21 July).
Many of my photographer friends traveled the extra miles to Eldora and endured the NASCAR ‘way of doing things’ so I have to thank my buddy Alex Bruce for these two Victory Lane shots.
Tim Fuller ( who won at my local Mohawk International Raceway the previous Friday) , took the honors on Tuesday , in a race that ended in the early hours of Wednesday.
and Matt Sheppard took the invitational race on the Wednesday. 
Like I said, I was more interested in going to the ‘regular’ SUPER DIRT SERIES event that was taking place at the Sharon Speedway, which also just happens to be about 4 hours nearer to home. Eldora is the other side of Ohio , and Sharon is the nearer side. It is actually located just over the State Line from Pennsylvania.
I had arranged to go with my buddy Ron Morin , in his big Lincoln Town Car.
We chose to split the journey up, by leaving our base in Cornwall Ont , on Wednesday night. We had the Red Carpet, Motel booked at Phelps , NY and we drove the remaining miles to Ohio , via NY and PA. the next day
Our Rodeway Motel in Ohio , was at Youngstown, located about a 20 minute drive from the speedway, so we checked in there before heading to the track.
Once at the track we were lucky to be able to get the Lincoln in the limited pits parking, and do some exploring.
One of the first people I saw was my photographer buddy, the aforementioned Alex.
He told me about Eldora , the two days before, and how the NASCAR rules, did not permit him wearing his shorts, and how he had to borrow a pair of long pants from another photographer.
With all the over zealous , “we’re the big guys” stuff I heard about, the event, from other photographers and fans, I’m glad I never went. I think if I ever go to Eldora it will have to be for one of their own shows.
There were plenty of my photographer friends at Sharon , and most of us were out on the middle for hot laps. It’s amazing to think , that you can travel hundreds of miles to an event and bump into so many people you know.
The track is owned by the Blaney racing family and Dave Blaney was using the 18B car from the Jimmy Phelps stable.
The track had plenty of good places on the middle to get pictures, but Alex and I settled for turn three and four.
Joining the SUPER DIRT SERIES Mods on the program were the Renegade Mods, (similar to IMCA Mods) 
Winner of their Feature , was NASCAR Cup Driver David Stremme.
The big race got under way and , and it became obvious, the bottom groove was the place to be, with very few drivers opting for the top. 
Jimmy Phelps got to the front , and led the freight train , to the flag, with Billy Decker coming home second and Ryan Watt was third.
Once it was over , Ron and I , returned to our motel in Youngstown.
The next morning , ( Friday 22 July) after a late start we got under way for the homeward bound journey.
First stop was at the Mercer Speedway , just over the state line in Pennsylvania. Neither of us had been there before, and we both wanted to take a look. 
There was no racing taking place of course, but we did find track bos, Frank Benic on site. Ron and Frank, got chatting and enjoyed discussing track preparation .
It was early afternoon by the time we left Mercer, and we had some way to go for our evening’s racing.
We had a few stops for eats , etc along the way and by 7-00 pm we were getting off the NY ThruWay at Syracuse. It was perfect timing, and by 7-25 pm we were parked up at the Brewerton Speedway.
We were in the gates and watching as the first race began.
I was soon out on the middle , with my photographer buddies, John Meloling, Chris Marks and Jeff Clemons.
The program consisted of Modifieds, Sportsman and the Mod Lites which provided the biggest scare of the night, when one flipped over and caught fire. Luckily the driver walked away unharmed,
The big race of the night, the feature for the Mods, was won by Mike Bowman, # 16 .
The racing was all over by 10-30pm and we were soon heading up I81 to Canada.
By 1-30 am we were back in Cornwall. There was a power outage at Rons place and we could see by the surrounding trees , there had been a storm. Lucky for me, my place still had power.
I later found out that the near by Mohawk International Raceway, had to cancel their Friday night races, when a big rain storm hit the track mid way through the night.
After a relaxing day around home on Saturday (23 July) , at about 5-00 pm I took off down Hwy 401 to my local Brockville Ontario Speedway.
With no Sprint Cars or Autograph Night, on the program, this weeks show went a lot quicker. The extra division to the line up was the Vintage Mods.
After taking the heat race pics on the middle, I joined my friend, Victory Lane hostess Taya Heldens in the media booth to watch the first batch of Features. 
First of the Features was for the Street Stocks and was won by my friend , Alex Gagnon,
Dylan Evoy won the (Sportsman)
and Matt Billings was the Modified winner. 
The Modified feature was over, by 10-30 pm so made my exit, and arriving back home in Cornwall , 11-45 pm.
I’m glad it wasn’t too late , as I wanted to be up before 8-00am on Sunday morning for the live TV broadcast of the Hungarian Grand Prix from Budapest.
It turned out to be a very uninteresting race with Lewis Hamilton leading from start to finish, after his Merecedes team mate and pole sitter Nico Rosberg got off to bad start. Rosberg got second while Daniel Ricardo in the Red Bull came third.
I lazed around the house for the rest of the day until about 6-00 pm when I took a drive to the Cornwall Motor Speedway.
Since my health problems, I’ve stepped down from my official Victory Lane duties, and no I’m longer on the staff, so it’s nice to get to the track a bit later. For the past ten years or so, I was there before 3-00 pm.
As additions to the program Speedsters and Slingshots from Quebec were paying a visit, so I knew it would be a ‘long night’.
I took heat race pictures once again, from the VIP tower in the pits and then spent some time in the control tower. 
For the Modified Feature I moved to the infield to watch the race.
This was dominated and won by Stephane Lafrance, who also took the checkers earlier in the night in ‘the Dash for Cash’
With time getting on, and another couple of nights racing ahead of me, I took off after the Modified Feature, which meant missing the Sportsman and Pro Stock race.
In my absence, Johnny Jackson won in the Sportsman, and my long time friend, Terry Ladouceur got his first ever Pro Stock win. 
Thanks to Sylvain Lauwers for the Victory Lane picture