End of February 2018 Report

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End of February 2018 Report

After an enjoyable get away to the Albany area on Friday 9th /Saturday 10th I prepared myself for my monthly I.V.I.G transfusions at the Cornwall Hospital that were scheduled for the following week. 

In the meantime, many of my good friends would be heading to Florida for the DirtCar Nationals at the Volusia Speedway. The event was taking place during the week and my transfusions were scheduled right in the middle of them. I had the chance of joining my good friend Ron Morin for the trip, but sadly had to decline.

I had to follow the event on social media. Tuesdays opening night got rained out, and Wednesdays main race got postponed to Thursday because of fog. That meant two features that night, with Tyler Siri getting one and Tim McCreadie getting the other. Matt Sheppard took Friday nights race and on the Saturday, McCreadie got another win, to nail the series, Thanks to my good friend Alex Bruce for the picture.

PICTURE BY ALEX BRUCE
PICTURE BY ALEX BRUCE

Once the weekend arrived, I had just one event to look forward to and get me out of the house,

Once a year the Clarence Creek Lions Club put on a Winter Carnival  usually on the Sunday that the Daytona 500 takes place down in Florida.

They put on some seasonal car races in the snow ( or mud, that is often the case)

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Clarence Creek , Ontario is only about a 45 minute drive from my place in Cornwall, and I was there in good time for the mid-day start.

The first person I bumped into was Corey Gates, one of our local Mini Stocks drivers at the Cornwall Motor Speedway. This was an event for Enduro type cars, and he was there in a Chevy Cobalt. My good friend Terry Ladouceur, was also competing in a Toyota. Over the years, Terry has raced all sorts of classes in my area.

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There was a large number of cars in the pits, and after two hours of taking pictures , I was ready to head for home. By this time Corey and Terry were yet to race.

After stopping for a late lunch at a Diner in Bourget, I was home in time to watch the end of the Daytona 500 on TV. 

I’m glad I never decided to stay at home and watch all of it, because I would of fell asleep. Oh boy, I find NASCAR boring these days, what with the poor quality  of TV presentation, the commentaries  that makes me cringe, and the over saturation of commercial breaks,  They could learn a lot by taking notes about  how it should be done by watching  the team that televise the F1 Grand Prix series.

The last few laps are usually the most interesting, and when I started watching, Ryan Blaney was leading and looked all set for the win, That would of been nice, because he’s a driver I’ve seen in action on the dirt tracks, and actually saw him win a Guest Modified race at the Black Rock Speedway (Dundee NY) back in 2012. Ausin Dillon went on to Victory in the 500.

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As a matter of interest, Saturdays XFINITY race at Daytona was won by young Tyler Reddick who raced a World of Outlaw Late Model at my local Cornwall Motor Speedway in 2009.

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This  happened to be a ‘long weekend’ in Ontario, with Monday being a Stat holiday, for that quirky recent addition  to holidays, known as ‘Family Day’.

With most things closed down, I decided to cross the border into the USA and take a short drive to Malone.

I’d recently been having a conversation with someone about the old Speedway in the town, and wanted to check it out. After nearly 20 years since  closing down, the paved track, fencing , lighting poles ,grand stands and control tower were still there. 

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It’s located on route 11 north and located behind Bokies Diner . I took a few pictures before heading for home.

The following weekend on Saturday 24 Feb , I was invited to the surprise 70th Birthday Party of my buddy Ted Lesage at Chenoys Restaurant in Gatineau , Quebec. Ted is the DirtCar ‘Techman’ at my local Cornwall Motor Speedway, and the father of my good friend Chantel.

We were all assembled in the back room of the restaurant, when Ted arrived with his good lady, Jeannine. Everybody had kept quiet about it, and he was totally surprised.

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Among the crowd of around twenty, friends and family, were Sportsman driver Alex Gagnon, and Pro Stock drivers Rob Yetman and Stephane Lebrun. The food and service was excellent and we all had a good night.

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After saying my good buys, I was back home in Cornwall to watch some late night TV.

Usually at this time of the year I’m glued to the TV cheering on my favorite hockey team, the Ottawa Senators, but this year I’ve had nothing to cheer about. After a great run last season where they narrowly missed out on the Stanley Cup finals, this year has been a disaster.  I’m just a fan so don’t know the inside goings on, but  I don’t blame the players. I think the problem lies higher up. At the end of last season the team roster was one of the best in the NHL. A number of key players and fan favorites are no longer there .

Why make drastic changes ? As the old saying goes “If it aint broke ” etc etc etc.   

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Things have been going a bit better for my local team, the Cornwall Colts, and I went along on Tuesday 27 Feb to watch there game against Rockland.