Weekly Report (2 June 2019)

After last Mondays trip down to Weedsport for the Super DirtCar Series, Tuesday  (28 May) was spent taking it easy.  Wednesday and Thursday  were spent at the Cornwall Hospital, as I underwent my monthly I.V.I.G  transfusions.

Then it was ‘race day’ Friday again at my local Mohawk International Raceway. The weather still wasn’t very ‘summer like’, but at least there was no rain. I got over to Akwesasne early enough to have supper at the Twin Leaf Diner, before heading to the track.

I snoozed in the car for a while before heading inside the pits for my usual walk around.

 

I met up with Brent Kelsey and his wife , who were busy working on their # 30 Sportsman car.

Not far from the Kelsey’s I found Thomas Cook, giving Nolan Swamp a hand. Nolan has been absent from the tracks for a while, but he had ‘warned me’  (LOL) that he’d be back in action this year.

Nolan was the Sportsman driver that got me running at Brockville a few years back , in the incident where my car keys went flying out of my pocket.

The Eastern Ontario Vintage club were also on the program this week replacing the Mod Lites,  so I got a chance to see the beautiful new car from former Sportsman/Street Stocks driver Sheldon Hoogwerf # 27.

When the racing began, I took up my regular spot on the middle  by the exit of turn four.

Before the intermission,  the Bandits and Vintage features were run.

Bandit winner was Francis White.

Vintage winner was Steve Billings.

Before the remaining Features got under way, a moments silence was taken to respect a local hero.  US Military , World War Two, Native Code Talker,  Louis Levi Oakes, passed away at the age of  94 on May 28th .

The 30 lap Modified feature was up next where young Madison Mulder dominated all of the race, and then had to fight off a last bend challenge by Chris Raabe.

As they crossed the line, Mulder was ahead of Raabe by less than half a car length. Obviously the help and guidance from Dale Planck, that I mentioned in last weeks report has paid its dividends.

The Novice Sportsman event followed this and was won by Gavin Riddell.

The final race of the night was the Sportsman feature which needed  the red flags when a serious wreck happened on the back stretch, with about ten laps remaining. I only saw the end of it, but apparently Brent Kelsey’s car flipped over and  into the on coming traffic. 

Brent walked away, a bit bruised but Junior Delormier, one of the other drivers affected, needed assistance to get out of his car from the safety crew and hospital treatment.

The Safety crew at the M.I.R are some of the best you will find at any race track. The following day on social media, Junior informed friends, that he had broken his arm.

Hope You Have A Speedy Recovery buddy ! 

After the restart Shane Pecore made it two consecutive weeks of feature wins, as the ‘hired gun’ in the spare Cedric Gauvreau car.

On Saturday 1st June tog buddy Don Simpson and I traveled together to the Airborne Speedway at Plattsburgh NY, for a show that included three of the DirtCar divisions. Modifieds, Sportsman and Pro Stocks, that were joined by the domestic divisions of Super Stocks and Strictly Stocks.

We got there early and like normal , we were allowed to park in the pits. This is always a great bonus for us, having the car handy for all our camera stuff.

On my pit walk about , I had a chat with Derrick McGrew and his son Derrick Jr, who is only 11 years old and racing with the adults in the Sportsman division. He has recently been making a name for himself at his home tracks in the Albany area. Father Derrick has been racing on those tracks too, for a number of years.

With the Pro Stocks on this weeks program it was nice to see long distance traveler Bruno Cyr in attendance .

One of the great things about the Airborne track is the early start time and the efficient way they get through the nights racing without too many unnecessary  delays. Races on this occasion started at 6-00 pm, and there was only a short intermission  planned. 

Don and I were hoping for a nice early finish.

Once Hot Laps were done, the races began.

After the short intermission the first Feature was up, for the Super Stocks and was won by Zach Daniels.

First of the DirtCar features was for the Sportsman, and it was eleven year old Derrick McGrew Jr that dominated it.

Once he’d worked his way to the front, he had  a few challenges by the other contenders, but he kept his head a drove a great race to capture the checkers. His first Career DirtCar Sportsman win.

I’m glad I was there to witness it.

The Modifieds were on next and for much of the race it was the Moody Mile Motorsports team of Patrick Dupree and Jordon McCreadie, running one and two.

Jessey Mueller and Chris Raabe were homing in on them, and as the race went into the second half McCreadie was starting slip back. We then saw Mueller move up in to second and as the laps ran down he passed Dupree for the lead.

The finishing order at the flag was Mueller, Dupree, Raabe and McCreadie.

The Novice Sportsman were up next and this one was won by RJ Tressider.

The Final race of the night for Don and I, was the Pro Stock Feature , which saw Pierre Olivier Breault as the winner.

We got the early finish we were hoping for, as it was still  only 9-00 pm . We missed the remaining  Strictly Stock feature and made our exit.

It was nice for me to be back at my house before 11-30 pm.

The weather forecast for Sunday 2nd June was very grim and it was no surprise to hear the early morning cancellation at my local Cornwall Motor Speedway. It was raining when I woke up, and it continued until the mid afternoon.