Weekly Report (13 to 19 June 2017)

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Weekly Report (13 to 19 June 2017)

As mentioned in last weeks report, my long time racing buddy, Robin Shaw has been staying with me on a visit from the UK. On his ten day trip , his plan was to get to as many races as he could. Last week he attended races at the Oshweken Speedway, Ont, the Airborne Speedway NY, and the Cornwall Motor Speedway Ont.

This past week we managed to add more places to his agenda.

After a ‘day off’ from racing on Monday , doing the sight seeing thing in Ottawa,  our destination on Tuesday night (13 June) was another visit to my local Cornwall Speedway, but this time, the small track.

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The Dirt Demons were racing on the same program as the kids karts.

On Wednesday 14 June, we had road trip planned, and around lunch time we set off from Cornwall, in Robin’s Chevy Cruise rental car.

Our destination was the Albany-Saratoga Speedway at Malta, New York for additional show that had been added to their schedule. This mid week bonus had been added , to compensate for rain outs in previous weeks.

We had a nice drive down across the Adirondack Mountains and were booked into our motel, the Best Western at Saratoga Springs, by 4-00 pm.

We were at the track at about 5-00 pm,  where Robin and I , went our separate ways for the night. Robin found a spot in the grandstand on the exit of turn 4, while I joined my photographer buddies on the infield, by 1 and 2 after talking to friends in the pits.  

DSC_0074 (Medium) DSC_0013 (Medium)I chatted with Mike Maresca # 7, one on my local Mod drivers, and Robbie Speed who was there with his # 24 Pro Stock.

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Topping the bill, were the 358 Modifieds, where Mark Johnson took the honors.DSC_0292 (Medium)

The Sportsman Feature was won by Rocky Warner.

DSC_0071 (Medium)While the Pro Stock winner was Kim Duell.

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The motel was only a few miles from the track , so with the racing over we were soon, back there for the night.

Our original plan for Thursday (15 June) was to drive down to the Delaware Speedway at Delmar for a mid week Brett Deyo Short Track Super Series event.

After breakfast we decided against it.

It was quite a long drive, and would be even longer for the return trip on Friday if we were to make it back in good time for the Mohawk International Raceway that night.  I wasn’t feeling 100 % with the  MYASTHENIA GRAVIS symptoms affecting me a bit, so we decided on a less adventurous plan.

One place I’ve had on my ‘bucket list’ for many years, has been Bethel, NY, home of the world famous Woodstock Music festival that took place in 1969.

As an ageing rocker ( I don’t want to put I was hippy LOL)  and someone who is proud and privileged to have grown up during the best years of music, I know the importance of this momentous event.

I was still at school in England at this time and this unconventional out door musical phenomena was a landmark in musical history. I remember going to see one of the appearing bands, Canned Heat, at the Dunstable Civic Hall soon after they played Woodstock.  Oh great days of my youth !  

Anyway, Robin, who is a few years younger than me, was still around in those days and appreciates good music and the history,  so it was somewhere he wanted to see too.

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On arrival in Bethel, we first visited the museum, which was very good , and jogged my memory of some of the other great acts that appeared there, oh so long ago, Jimi Hendrix, Credence Clearwater Revival and the Who, to name a few.

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Just looking at the stuff on view brought back great memories of those great days of Peace and Love.

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After the wandering around the museum , we drove down the road , to the viewing point where the old stage was visible and the grassy banks where the hippys celebrated the music.

From the Woodstock site we took a relaxing drive to the small town of Liberty , for lunch before making the homeward bound journey through up state New York.

Before crossing back into Canada we met up with my friend Dawn Kampff for a late supper in Adams.

From Adams,  we traveled through some horrendous rainstorms back to Cornwall.

I had to go for a blood test at the local clinic ,  on Friday morning  (16 June) and then we readied ourselves for a nights racing at the Mohawk International Raceway.

The rain we had encountered on the way home from Brewerton had continued through the night, but had stopped by breakfast time.

With all the rain happening in the area we were well prepared, when following a brief lunchtime storm , we heard an on line announcement (at about 2-10 pm) from M.I.R saying the evenings racing had been cancelled.

Within minutes, we had thrown our stuff into the Chevy Cruse, and were heading south again. Everything looked good at the Brewerton Speedway NY, so set off in that direction for the three hour journey. We were  down there well before 6-00 pm and in good time for the 7-00 pm start.

Once again Robin and I went our separate ways, with him taking a place in the grandstands, while I joined the photographers on the middle.

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Topping the bill were the Big Block Modifieds with Sportsman, Mod Lites and 4 cylinders as back up.

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The big winner of the night was Ryan Bartlett.

With a big schedule ahead of us the next day, we both agreed to miss the final race of the night ( the Sportsman feature) and make our exit.

With a quick drive back up Interstate 81, we were back in Cornwall around 1-00 am.

On Saturday 17 June, we had two events to attend.

During the daytime, we had tickets for the first ever Red Bull Global Rally Cross to be held in Canada, that was taking place at the Aviation Museum in Ottawa.

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The gates opened at 11-00 and the racing was due to start at 11-40.

We got there before 11-00 and were able to get the first choice of grandstand seats. It’s been a while since I’ve seen Rally Cross and it was great to see some again.

North American events have gone a long way from ( what is believed to be) the first  European style  wheel to wheel event  this side of the ‘pond’ which took place at Corinth NY , way back in 2006.

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FLASHBACK to Corinth NY 2006  

I was a  little bit involved in that event taking place, and glad to see the North Americans have developed the sport this way. Prior to Corinth in 2006, the american idea of RallyCross was of a car going solo around a course against the clock … boring !  

The European style is far more entertaining and great for the spectators , which was evident in Ottawa.

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It was interesting to note that one of the competitors, was Steve Arpin #00  from Fort Francis, Ontario, who I’d met at the East Bay Speedway in Florida back in 2007.

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FLASHBACK to EAST BAY SPEEDWAY 2007

He was driving a Modified at the time , but has since gone onto NASCAR racing.

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We watched about five races until we’d seen all the cars in attendance before making our exit.

The Ottawa Rally Cross was TRACK # 228 on my TRACKCHASER totals

Our next event on the days schedule was the evening show at the Brockville Ontario Speedway.

We had plenty of time to get there, so had lunch in the Kanata Kelseys, after showing my guest the Canadian Tire Center , home of the Ottawa Senators.

From here we went via the defunct Capital City Speedway at Stittsville before heading to the B.O.S.

Once at the Speedway, Robin took a seat in the Grandstand while I went to my usual spot in the middle to take pictures .

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After the heat races were over, we met up again and joined Victory Lane hostess Taya Heldens up in the booth to watch the features. Winner of the Modified feature was Chris Herbison after fighting off a late challenge from Danny O’Brien.

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It was a great race and Robin, reckoned it was the best race of his Canadian Tour.

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Ryan Scott was The Sportsman winner.

We left after the Sportsman feature, and were back home in Cornwall at 11-00 pm.

Sunday 18 June, was to be the high light of Robins Canadian trip , and the final day of racing before returning to the UK. It was the biggest event of the year at the Cornwall Motor Speedway, with the appearance of World of Outlaws Late Model tour.

It was also Fathers Day and it was great for me to get an early morning video call from my daughter Carla, Alex and grand children Benji and Sophia.

The weather forecast was not good , but we were keeping our fingers crossed. It kept changing through out the day and all looked good until a small afternoon shower. It wasn’t bad enough to cause concern, but thunderstorms and a tornado warnings for early evening and later in the night were worrying.

After lunch at East Side Marios in the city we returned home to await the outcome. Sure enough, by mid afternoon, we heard the show had been cancelled. We then took the short drive over to the Speedway to chat with friends I knew would be there.

It was good to catch up with WoO Series Director Chris Dollack who we found chatting in an ‘almost’ empty pits with track owner Raymond Lavergne, Jay Thomas (track maintenance) Joel Doiron the CMS Race Director and announcer Timmy Baltz.  

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I say the pits were almost empty, because there was one remaining WoO race team still there at work.

By now it was nice and dry but we knew the bad stuff was on its way.

We returned to my place and waited for the bad weather to start . It was a bit later coming than expected, but by 9-45 pm the heavy rain had started.

It proved the cancellation was a good call. The rain would have stopped the racing in the middle of the program, and half a show, is no good for anyone.

Unfortunately Robin missed the big event he had hoped to see, but by Monday 19 June, on his return to the UK, he had managed to attend eight different tracks in ten days, which ain’t bad 

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