Weekly Report (9th July 2019)

Weekly Report ( 9th July 2019)

After the long CANADA DAY Holiday, that came to an end for me at the Airborne Speedway, NY for Monday’s  Super DirtCar Series , I finally  got to relax on Tuesday (2 July) . 

On Wednesday, my racing schedule resumed with a short trip to my local Can Am Speedway, at Lafargeville NY.

They were running their annual Pabst Shoot Out, for the Modifieds and Sprint Cars as well as a DirtCar Series race for the Sportsman.

Anyone who knows me, will confirm, that I’m not a big fan of local Sprint Car Racing, but on this particular night , I  had good reason  to be there. 

Once again BriSCA F1 driver Ryan Harrison was over from England competing in the annual E.S.S  Summer tour of New York State.

He was over last year for the same tour, and I wanted to catch up with him, and his family once again. His father Murray raced BriSCA  F1 at around the same time as I did.

Paul Klager, the former top Mod Lite driver from Grimsby, Ontario was there helping them out.

I took most of my action pictures from inside of turn four.

The winner of the Sprint Car feature was young Paulie Colagiovanni who is the boyfriend of Aleesha  the daughter of my friend Becky Smoke

The Sportsman Feature that was run before the Sprints , turned out to be the best race of the night, where the first three cars of Kevin Root, Connor Cleveland and Kyle Inman all crossed the line side by side.

Root won by a fraction of a second.

The final race of the night was the Pabst Shoot Out for the Modifieds which was won by Can Am track expert Billy Dunn.

Thursday was a day  spent at home before raceday Friday came around.

The Mohawk International Raceway were staging their Independence Day Firework Special , with all the regular divisions and the Autograph Night which got postponed from last week.

Normally the Can Am Speedway runs on the same night as the MIR, but as they raced two days earlier, on the Wednesday , they took Friday off. This meant that extra Modifieds were  expected.

As it was a special night at the MIR ,  I wore my vintage Frogtown Speedway T shirt ( that still actually fits me).

As many people know, the MIR was formerly known as the Frogtown Speedway until the name change in 2008.

Once out on  the middle taking pictures , I was joined by Kyle Coryea, the Airborne Speedway ‘Tog’ and Don Simpson.

One of the notable Modified additions from Can Am was the Wednesday night winner, Billy Dunn.

He teamed up with his buddy , Tim Fuller to provide fans with some great side by side action as they dueled for the lead in the feature.

Fuller got the win, making it his first MIR victory of the year.

The Sportsman feature followed which provided Thomas Cook with his second consecutive MIR win.

I managed to capture the joy on his girlfriend Elizabeth and his Mum July’s faces  as they watched the Victory Lane presentations.

I didn’t stay for the Fireworks or remaining Bandit and Rookie Sportsman features, instead, I preferred to get home for an early night.

The next day was Saturday 6th July, and the day that the Brockville Ontario Speedway had chosen for their 50 year Anniversary celebrations. 

A big crowd was expected so I got there in plenty of time to park my car in the usual spot.

All the he regular divisions were on hand and  a lovely summers night as I sat in my usual spot, on the inside of turn one and two, to get my pictures.

Following a short intermission, a large gathering of drivers past and present took to the front stretch for a group photo.

Once all this was done, the first of the features took place.

This was for the Mini Stocks, and it was great to see my friend Marc Dagenais get the win.

Next up was, the Sportsman feature which was won by Cornwall’s Gab Cyr.

It was then time for the nights main event, the Modified feature, which was lead off on a four wide appreciation lap by a tribute car to the late Doug Carlyle, a former top racer.

Once the green flag fell it was Tim Fuller making the headlines again, with his second feature win, within 24 hours.

Even with all the pomp and ceremony of this special night, the Modified feature was over before 10-00 pm, which was just perfect, for my busy agenda. I made my exit and was home around 11-00 pm.

Summer had definitely arrived and Sunday was a scorcher.

My local Cornwall Motor Speedway were hosting the first round of the DirtCar Pro Stock Series and this promised to be a good one. I was looking forward to seeing many visiting drivers from south of the border.

I arrived at the track in the middle of the afternoon, and Brian Carter from Charlotte , North Carolina was already parked in the pits.

Brian is the CEO of The World Racing Group that control the World of Outlaws and DirtCar, but he also likes to get behind the wheel of his Pro Stock, once in a while.

 

He had his # 6 car parked next to my buddy Dave Bissonnette.

As well as Brian, there were a good number of visiting drivers from the Albany, NY area, including my good friend Rob Yetman.

Once I’d listened to the drivers meeting I took position in my usual spot for the heat races, on top of the pit tower.

The track  was dry and dusty, and needed more water, so thankfully this was rectified during intermission.

The 50 lapper for Pro Stocks was the headline event of the night, and was up next.

The man to beat right now in Pro Stocks, is C.d Beauchamp #88, and once he got into the lead, there was no stopping him.

The Sportsman race followed this , where Shane Pecore added to this years winning tally.

The Modified feature was the final race of the night . 

Early leader was Cory Wheeler but he  eventually got overhauled by Carey Terrance. 

Carey finally got the ‘monkey off his back’ making this his first feature win of 2019.

Racing was all over nice and early, and it wasn’t long before I was home.