Weekly Report (27 June to 3 July 2017 )

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Weekly Report (27 June to 3 July 2017)

With no medical appointments scheduled for this week I was looking forward to what has become one of my favorite events on the annual dirt racing calendar.

Last year I attended ‘Brett Hearns’ BIG SHOW at the Albany -Saratoga Speedway in Malta NY for the first time.  The BIG SHOW is a SUPER DIRT SERIES event that Brett has annually put on at this track for the past 9 years.

Prior to last year,  the midweek stagings had always conflicted with my work commitments, but I’m pleased to say I’ve now been to the last two of them. This years event was scheduled for Tuesday 27 June and my plan was to take a relaxing two day road trip, and do another race on the way home.

I left home in Cornwall , Ontario mid morning and by lunch time I was in Plattsburgh NY. A stop at the Panera Bread eatery was made, where I had a tasty Mac and Cheese. From here I continued on for the second leg of the journey to the Malta area.

My first job was to book into the Hill Top Motel, just out side Saratoga, and from here, make the short drive to the track. I’d gone through a lot of rain while driving down, and as I arrived at the Speedway at about 4-00 pm , it was pouring down.

The dark clouds soon dispersed and as start time approached , the summer nights air,  had dried things up.

It wasn’t long before I was parked up inside the track along side my friend and fellow photographer Alex Bruce and his wife Helen, who had traveled from St Catherines, Ontario. I then bumped into my good friend Josee Fortier , a photographer and Mod Lite driver, who’d driven down with her friends from various parts of Quebec.

Jeremy McGaffin Photo
Jeremy McGaffin Photo

By now things were starting to brighten up as fans began converging from the shelter of their cars in the parking lot.

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I wandered around the vendors area to check out what was on offer.  I then bumped into another lady friend of mine, Morgan Davies who was selling Mad Max McLaughan T Shirts.

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I happened to say to Max, who was there with them, how nice the shirts are , but I’d need a XX something or other ,   and he kindly gave me one. (That’s not Max in the picture)

Once the racing got under way I joined the other ‘Togs’ on the middle. Joining the Big Block Modifieds on the program were the Sportsman, and there were plenty of them.

 

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One great thing they do at this event ( and last years) is no heat races for the Sportsman. They have timed hotlaps which determine the line ups of two feature races. This saves fans having to wait through endless heats and Consis of what basically is the ‘support act’ . I wish more of the SUPER DIRT SERIES events would do this, and not let things drag on, waiting for the big race to take place.

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The Big Block races were run as normal with heats and Consi. There were no major delays and the program went very swiftly.

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The 100 lap series race was a thriller, and I had to put my camera down for the last few laps to take it all in.

It was a four way battle with # 99 Larry Wight, Stewart Friesen # 44 , Matt Sheppard  # 9 and Tim McCreadie # 39.  Friesen was trading places with Wight for the lead with Sheppard and McCreadie in hot pursuit.  When Wight went too high and over the lip, he dropped out of contention, as the other three continued to battle.

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McCeadie was hugging the top line and edged to the front with Friesen on his tail using the mid groove . This is how it stayed with the result in doubt right to the checkers.

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The winner was Tim McCreadie, who due to his Late Model commitments is not a regular on the series.

FLASHBACK to 2011 at Charlotte
FLASHBACK to 2011 at Charlotte

According to historians, the last time he won an SDS race was at Charlotte in 2011, and I was there that day too.

Once the racing was over , I made the short drive back to my motel.

There was no rush to get to my next destination, so after a breakfast in Malta, at yet another Panera Bread location I was on the road again.

My  racing agenda for Wednesday 28 June was for the Can Am Speedway at Lafargeville close to the Canadian border.

To kill time before the races I’d arranged to meet my friend Dawn Kampff for a late lunch, in Adams NY, which is near to where she works.

I arrived at the Can Am Speedway around 4-30 pm and already the pits were filling up. There were two headline events taking place that night, the DirtCar Series race for Sportsman while the ESS Sprint Cars were on day one of their summer tour.

As usual it didn’t take me long to meet up with my fellow ‘Togs’ . Track photographer Rebecca Eisele, Don Simpson, John Meloling and Randy Mallett.

Don Simpson captures me relaxing in the sun set
Don Simpson captures me relaxing in the sun set
John Meloling gets my attention for this one.
John Meloling gets my attention for this one

I made my self comfortable in my lawn chair on turn three and four for the heat races,  before moving to one and two for the features .

After a lengthy intermission where the track went through extensive preparation, the features got under way.

The Sportsman were up first, and after just a few laps a rollover involving several other cars on the exit of turn four, caused a red flag.

On the restart, the track prep proved its worth, with multiple grooves for the guys to race on. Taylor Caprara dominated this one with no real challenges, up until a very late caution with just two laps to go. This closed the field up for the green, and Dave Marcuccillo managed to steal the lead on the race to the checkers.

By now it was after 11-00, so I chose to miss the Pro Stock and 4 cylinder feature, and make my exit. I consider Can Am as one of my local tracks, so it wasn’t long before I was home.

Thursday was spent relaxing as I looked forward to the coming CANADA DAY weekend of racing. Unfortunately the weather forecast was grim for the weekend, and Friday 30 June was a real wet one.

My regular port of call, the Mohawk International Raceway NY were forced to cancel for the third week running, and so was Autodrome Granby in Quebec.

The Brewerton Speedway NY also had plenty of rain, but were determined to get their big show of ESS Sprint Cars and Big Block modifieds in if possible.

After chatting to my buddy Don Simpson via Face Book, we both decided it was worth the risk, and agreed to join up for the trip down.

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We’d seen pictures of the flooded track on-line, and knew what to expect, and were even advised take a pair of boots ( or maybe a Kayak) . Promoter John Wight , along with his right hand man Cory Reed, and the team have a good reputation for getting  waterlogged tracks race-worthy, so  we had high hopes. Before reaching the track we pulled into the Central Square Walmart and both bought a good pair of rubber boots. On arrival the crews were busy trying to make a racing surface out of ‘swamp’. It was over an hour late in getting started, but at least we were going to see some racing.

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As usual most of central NY ‘Togs’ were there and it’s always good fun when us guys, get together.

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When the track had been dried and packed the gang waded out to the middle, to take our pics.

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Joining the headlining Big Block Mods and ESS Sprint Cars, were the Sportsman and Mod Lites. The track was by no means perfect, but at least the fans got some racing.  

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I take my hat off to the track prep team.  Although things were running late a short intermission was taken for more track prep. First feature was for the Mod Lites and it was good to see one of my former local Modified drivers, Jeff Sykes take the checkers.

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Jeff switched to the smaller division a year or two back. Next up were the Sprint cars which seemed to take ‘an eternity’ to get their feature over.

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What with flips and crashes requiring stoppages, the eventual winner was , veteran Chuck ‘the cobra’ Hebing. The Modifieds as expected, were much better ‘behaved’ and (correct me if I’m wrong) got their feature in, with only one caution.

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Winner was ‘Lightening Larry” Wight after overhauling early leader Tim Kerr.

By now it was past 1-00 am in the morning, so Don and I missed the Sportsman feature and headed  for home.

Lucky we were able to share the driving, one of us would snooze while the other drove.

Saturday 1 July was Canada Day, and I woke up in Cornwall to more pouring .

My plan for the day was the Brockville Ontario Speedway, but they made an early rain out call, as did the RPM Speedway in Quebec.

Once again it was John Wight’s Fulton Speedway in central NY that managed to salvage the day, I decided against another trip down to the area,  and instead I stayed in Cornwall watching the CANADA DAY celebrations on TV.

Sunday 2 July had a better weather forecast, and I had a big decision to make. Do I travel down to the Utica-Rome Speedway in NY for the Big Block SUPER DIRT SERIES or do I stay in my home town for a night at the Cornwall Motor Speedway.

After a lot of consideration , I decided to stay local. It had been a busy week of racing and I had some upcoming IVIG transfusions scheduled at the hospital for the beginning of the week. I figured the sensible thing to do, was to take the less strenuous option.

There was a lot of racing on the agenda  , as they played ‘catch up’ on the recent weeks of rain outs.

Top of bill was the 125 lap Canadian Nationals race for the Modifieds, plus big races for the other divisions. I arrived at the track to find the pits full and plenty of eager fans. There was a lot of mud and water in the pits, after all the recent rain, but the track was OK, and everyone was determined to see some action. The boots I bought on Friday night for the Brewerton races were brought into service again.

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As usual I shot the heat races from the pit tower before joining Ted , Chantel and Tyrek by the Tech shack.

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Once the Modified feature began, I moved to the middle to shoot from there.

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The big race of the night, the Canadian Nationals came up , following the intermission.

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The early leader was Luke Whitteker who was chased for most of the race by Chris Raabe.

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Danny Johnson and Steve Bernard were also in contention, but it was Raabe who charged to the front to get the checkers.

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My buddy Don Simpson got in the act too, He’s been a friend of the Raabe team for quite a while , and took the opportunity to be on the other end of the camera for a short moment.

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Second over the line was Luke Whitteker , followed by Steve Bernard.

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The Pro Stock 50 lapper was up next, and I returned to the Tech area to watch this one.

Time was getting on , and a bit of rain started sprinkling down. There were a lot of wrecks and by 11-30 pm the race was under caution once more.

I was tired, so that was my cue to leave. After my departure, I heard that George Renaud won the Pro Stock race and Tristan Draper got his second consecutive Sportsman victory.

Once I was back home, I also learned that Stewart Friesen had won the SUPER DIRT SERIES at Utica-Rome, his first series win of the year.

The coming week , my diary is full , with one thing or the other. IVIG transfusions on Tuesday and Wednesday, the SUPER DIRT SERIES at the Airborne Speedway on Thursday, and then another regular weekend  will be upon me..

 

 

 

 

 

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