Weekly Report (21 to 28 Aug 2017)

My week started on Monday (21 Aug)  with more blood tests at the clinic in Cornwall, before I could relax around the house for a few days.

This week the SUPER DIRT SERIES returned to Ontario Canada, with a mid week staging at the Ohsweken Speedway, near Brantford (Thursday 24 Aug) .  The last ( and only) time I’ve visited that track was back in 2005.

FLASH BACK to my visit in 2005.

The reason, I haven’t  been back , is the fact that it concentrates mainly on Sprint Car racing and rarely stages Modified shows.

With the Big Block Modifieds visiting for the SUPER DIRT SERIES it was a good enough reason for a long overdue return.

My buddy Ron Morin, had offered to drive me down there in his Lincoln, so I was all set.

We left Cornwall, Ontario at 9-00 am on Thursday morning and after a leisurely drive down we, were at the Comfort Inn in Brantford by 4.00 pm .  This was where the Dirt Car Officials, were staying and media man Clayton Johns, had kindly booked us in with them, at their special rate.

Around 5-00 pm, we took the short drive to the track located on the Six Nations Mohawk Reserve at Oshweken.

On arrival,  the first people we met were track manager , Clinton Jefferies and Mike Mallett of Dirt Track Digest. After chatting with more friends at the DirtCar Trailer,

I moved to the middle for some picture taking. Out there,  I met up with my buddy Dale Calnan , the track photographer.

I was told before I got there, that I’d notice the difference in the place, from my previous visit back in 2005, and, I sure did. There was a lot more banking and the grandstands were larger.

Sharing the bill with the SUPER DIRT CAR Modifieds were the Sprint Cars and Late Models.

After the intermission , the Sprint Cars had their Feature, which impressively went from green to checkers.

Unfortunately, the Late Model feature  was up next, and didn’t go the same way. It started to drizzle with rain, and with the amount of cautions and time wasting by these,  the track was lost to the wet conditions.  Had they of continued racing, like the sprints, it may of prevented the long  waiting time needed for track packing.

The SUPER DIRT SERIES , being the headline event, had been programmed as the final race, so it was a bit frustrating waiting around for the Late Models to do their thing.

I had time for a snooze .

Eventually at about 11-15 the race I’d come to see got under way.

In this one, Matt Shepherd continued his Series domination with this  making a  fifth consecutive win. He had to fend off a hard challenge by Chad Brachman # 3.

Following Matt and Chad over the line was Pat Ward.

By now it was mid night, so luckily for us, the motel was only a short drive away.

After downloading the Victory Lane pictures from my camera to the lap top, the night time action shots  got accidentally deleted. Sadly, the album in my gallery  have many great shots missing. I was not happy ! I’m hoping they can be retrieved from the memory card and up loaded later.

On Friday morning we had a slow ride back to Cornwall from Branford.

I was back in my house in good time for a rest , before making an evening trip across the International Bridge to my local Mohawk International Raceway , located just ten minutes away in Hogansburg ,New York.

It was just a regular night there, as I joined my buddy Don Simpson taking pics on turn three and four.

During the intermission I met up with my TRACKCHASER friend Roland Vanden Eynde, who was making a visit from his home in Belgium.

We had good chat until it was time for the racing to resume.

The Modified Feature was a great race  with a good dog fight between Chris Raabe and Tim Fuller.

Chris won this one.

The Sportsman race was won by Joel Hargrave, while Kevin Foster won in the Mod Lites.

Devin Willis got his first ever win in the Novice Sportsman, driving a Mike Maresca car.

The racing was all over nice and early and I was soon back home.

Saturday evening I took a drive down the 401 , to the Brockville Ontario Speedway, for another regular night of racing.

For one reason or another, the car numbers were down in Sportsman and Modifieds. There were only 12 Modifieds in the pits, which was the worst I’ve ever seen at Brockville.  

I took pics on turn one and two as usual until it was intermission, where once again I met up with Roland from Belgium.

I thought on the positive side that  the lack of cars might mean an early finish, but I’m afraid that didn’t happen.

The Vintage Modifieds and the Novice Sportsman , were the ‘naughty boys’ that delayed things with an abundance of cautions.

First of the Features was for the Vintage Mods , and was won by Wayne Riddell.

Next up was the Rookie Sportsman, which was won by Alex Gagnon.

The regular Sportsman were next and this was won by Johnathan Fergusson.

The Modified Feature provided Joe Banks with his second win of the year after running away from them all at the start, and keeping everyone else at bay.

By now it was 10-15, not as early as I’d hoped, but still not too late. I made my exit, missing the Mini Stocks and Street Stocks Feature.

Sunday (27 Aug)  was a dry and sunny day, that I spent relaxing at home, before heading across town around supper time to the Cornwall Motor Speedway. I woke up too late to see the Belgium Grand Prix on TV, which was won by Lewis Hamilton.

It was pretty much a regular show with the addition of  a rain-delayed Sportsman feature, and the visiting Vintage Mods.  

I took advantage of the early evening sunshine and took some action shots of the rain delayed feature which started the night off.

This was won by Tristan Draper.

Once this was in the books , the normal nights racing got under way.

I remained on the middle behind Victory Lane, and got comfortable in my camping chair .

Once the racing commenced , I left my chair to snap a few pics.

Among the Vintage Mods, was a lovely old Studebaker that caught my eye.

I really enjoy it when the Vintage Mods visit Cornwall.

Before intermission, the first feature , which was for the Mini Stocks took place , and was won by Mike Gaucher.

This was followed by the Vintage feature which was won by Paul Billings.

After intermission, the second batch of features took place.

The Modifieds were first and it turned out to be a thrilling race. Danny Johnson fought off challenges from both Gage Morin and Chris Raabe, before reaching the checkers.

It was good to see ‘the Doctor’ get a win. He’s been racing each week at both my local tracks this year and so far a win had eluded him.

He told me afterwards, this was only his second win of the year, the first being an early season victory at the Bridgeport Speedway, New Jersey.

The Pro Stocks and Sportsman followed,  and were won by C.D Beauchamp and David Rogers, respectively .

The racing was all done at around 10-00 pm , a nice early finish, just what I like.

While my Belgian Trackchasing friend Roland had been visiting North America, back in his homeland the F1 Grand Prix of Belgium was taking place at Spa, where Lewis Hamilton scored the win for Mercedes.

The coming week is full of medical appointments for me, Tuesday and Wednesday with doctors , and Thursday and Friday , I have transfusions at the hospital.