July | 2017 | Rick at the Races

WEEKLY REPORT (24 JULY to 31 JULY 2017)

This week, (Monday 24 July) got off to a very wet start with heavy rain falling in my home city of Cornwall , Ontario, and much of the north east.

This was supposed to be day one, of the Quebec swing of the SUPER DIRT SERIES.

Bad weather had been in the forecast , and plans had already been laid to make an early morning decision.

By the time I got out of bed at 8-30 on Monday morning, Autodrome Drummond’s , Quebec swing, opener had been postponed to the ‘rain-date’ of Wednesday 26 July. (two days later)

Autodrome Granby’s Tuesday show , the next day, would go on as scheduled. This meant a quick change of accommodation plans for many of us.

I had been offered a ride to both events by my buddy Ron Morin, who’d been given the use of the Cornwall Motor Speedway Pace Truck by promoter Raymond Lavergne.

We left Cornwall around 3-00 pm on Tuesday afternoon, bound for Granby.

After booking in to the Motel ‘Le Pins’ , we were at the track just after 5-00 pm . Ron parked the pace truck in the pits, which at Granby, are located in the middle.

It wasn’t long before I bumped into many of my friends.

Don Simpson and DIRTCAR official Kathy Caldwell

Granby is one of the most difficult tracks for racing photography , with the pits being in the middle with fencing and Jersey Barriers blocking much of the view.

You just have to do the best you can. It was a warm and sunny night and with an 11-00 pm curfew at Granby , the program moved along swiftly.

At the re-draw it was Tim Fuller who drew pole position.

As mentioned earlier , there’s not a lot of choice for getting action shots, so for the big race, I chose the gap in the wall on the entrance of turn one.

Matt Shepherd dominated this one, but was challenged towards the end by Pat Ward.

Brett Hearn followed Ward across the line to take third. Joining the Big Block Modifieds on the program, were the Sportsman and Pro Stocks.

Mathieu Pelletier won the Sportsman Feature,

Sylvain Lemire won the Pro Stock Feature.

With part one of the Quebec Swing , over, it was back to the motel for the night.

Next day (Wednesday 26 July) there was no rush to get to Drummondville, about 45 minutes away. A hearty late breakfast was had at the Relais Petit Truck Stop at St Helene de Bagot, before arriving in Drummondville around 2-00 pm.

A snooze in the Walmart parking lot was taken , before driving to the track about 3-00 pm. Already the pits were full of race cars and the parking lot was full of eager race fans.

It’s always a packed house when the SUPER DIRT SERIES comes to Drummond and this year was no exception.

After parking the Pace Truck in the pits for a while , Ron moved it onto the center and parked it next to the Autodrome Chaudier Pace Car . Like Granby , the night before, he would be taking it out on track, and joining the Big Blocks for the pre race parade lap.

As expected there were plenty of friends at Drummond, and on the center I met my good friend Josee Fortier, Mod Lite driver and race official from Granby.

Before the action began on the big track, the Slingshots had their heat races on the inner oval.

This was good for me, as I gained a new ‘track’ to my TRACKCHASER totals. The inner oval at Autodrome Drummond became track # 229 on my list.

When the action started on the big track , I positioned myself in my usual spot on turn three and four.

As normal, when the SUPER DIRT SERIES comes to Drummond, there are plenty of pretty girls on hand for the presentation and Victory Lane ceremonies.

They were at the re draw on the front stretch when Carey Terrance drew pole.

After a short intermission the racing continued.

The first feature was for the Lightening Sprints.

The big race was up next and proved to be a good one, as Matt Shepherd battled past local hero’s Steve Bernier and David Hebert to get the checkers.

So, it was a clean sweep in Quebec for Super Matt.

With the presentations over, I joined Ron in the Cornwall pace truck as we made our exit for home.

Thursday 27 July, I was at a doctors appointment in the morning, before spending the rest of the day relaxing.

At the weekend, I’d decided well in advance, that I was going to stay local, and attend my nearest tracks. The Mohawk International Raceway, and the Cornwall Motor Speedway are less than a 15 minute drive from my house, and the Brockville Ontario Speedway is about an hour away.

For the first time in many weeks, the weather forecast looked good all week end , so on Friday ( 28 July) I made the short drive to the M.I.R.

It was a regular program of 358 Modifieds, Sportsman , Rookie Sportsman, Mod Lites and Bandits.

It was a warm night as I sat on turn four, taking my pics with Don Simpson.

During one of the Modified heats, Carey Terrance gave the fans something to smile about, after he spun off in to the bush, and re-entered the race with a small tree still attached.

Tim Fuller has been the man to beat at the track this year, and the feature looked all set to go his way again.

That was until the last lap, when his car came to a halt with smoke bellowing from the engine. This handed the lead to Madison Mulder, who’d been chasing in second.

Madison crossed the line to get his career first win in the Modifieds.

The Sportsman race was won by Shane Pecore .

Jeff May took the checkers in the Mod Lite Feature.

That was it for the night and I was soon back home in Cornwall.

I had another relaxing day on Saturday (29 July) before heading down to Brockville at about 4-00 pm.

Just like the M.I.R, it was regular night of racing at the B.O.S , with no long delays expected.

As usual I was on the middle taking pictures for the heats, before moving to watch the Features with my friend, the Victory Lane hostess , Taya Heldens in one of the booths.

The headline features of the night , for the Modifieds and Sportsman , were won by Bobby Herrington and Dylan Evoy respectively .

As normal, I left the track before the final races, and was home before mid night.

I wasn’t out of bed early enough on Sunday morning ( 30 JULY) to watch the televised Hungarian Grand Prix, so missed out on seeing Sebastien Vettel get another win for Ferrari.

As mentioned earlier, this weekend I’d planned on taking things easy at my local tracks, so it wasn’t until late afternoon I crossed the town to the Cornwall Motor Speedway.

The weather was still hot and sunny and there was a full program of events on the schedule. There were double features for Modifieds and Sportsman, due to recent rain-outs, plus the Mod Lites and a 50 lap DIRTCAR tour race for the Pro Stocks.

Rob Yetman was up from Albany NY for this one. Rob, of course, is the boy friend of my good friend Chanty Lesage .

She and Rob had been at the Pro Stock series race at Autodrome Drummond the night before and took pictures for the Rick at the RACES gallery.

Another good friend of mine, Josee Fortier was paying a visit from Quebec in her Mod Lite.

I must admit, prior to the racing I thought the the schedule was a bit optimistic , but as things turned out , I was gladly proved wrong.

For the first time since I was diagnosed with MYASTHENIA GRAVIS, I remained out on the middle for most of the night. I placed my lawn chair and plenty of water supplies , behind Victory Lane, and joined the other photographers, Rejean Paquette, and Dan Mailhot.

First races of the night were the ‘rain-delayed’ Sportsman and Modified Features which were won by Thomas Cook and Brian McDonald.

The regular schedule of events then continued.

The first of the features , was for the Mod Lites , which was won by Jeff May, who I’d seen win at the M.I.R on Friday night.

The Pro Stock Series race was up next, and proved to be a very exciting race.

After a poor start Rob Yetman, dropped back from a fourth on the grid to about 9th. After getting sorted out, he began his charge through the pack and before long he was challenging CD Beauchamp for first place.

After a couple of late race cautions Rob got in front, and stayed there until the checkers.

When the friends and crew picture was taken, I decided to join them.

Next up, was the Modified Feature , where yet another of my friends drove to Victory Lane.

After a race long battle with Danny Johnson, Ron’s Grandson, Gage Morin took the checkers.

Once again Ron and I joined the crowd for the group photo.

The program had moved along swiftly with no major delays , and to my surprise the last race of the night, for the Sportsman was all over by 10-20 pm.