Dirt Outlaw Apparel Fall Nationals Report (6 Oct 2020)
For more than ten years, the Fall Nationals at the Brockville Ontario Speedway have become a tradition , and this past weekend, was where I was at.
This years edition was sponsored by my good friends Ralph Murphy and Jo Ann Stephanie Cameron’s company DIRT OUTLAW APPAREL, and the event was taking place a week earlier than normal.
It’s usually the week after Super Dirt Week in Oswego , N.Y, but with COVID 19 causing it’s cancelation , they were able to be bring forward to the Fall Nationals to the 2/3 October.
I was there early for Fridays opener, and soon met up with my fellow ‘togs’, Don Simpson, John Lyng , Alex Bruce and Henry Hannewyk.
The program for the first night consisted of the ‘rain delayed’ features from the 5th Sept, and a regular nights racing for Vintage Mods, Street Stocks and Crate Sprints.
The big event for most of us was the ‘rain delayed’ Modified Feature.
Afternoon rain caused a late start, we knew it was going to be a long night, so there was plenty of time to chat.
I had my usual pit walk about and soon came across , Ralph and Joe
Ann who were busy setting up their DIRT OUTLAW selling station.
Ralphs, daughter, Tabatha who’d traveled up from Toronto was there to help out, along with Taya Heldens ( Luke Whitteker’s girlfriend).
Once the racing got under way, I took up my usual position on turn one and two, to begin snapping my pics.
First of the ‘rain delayed’ Features was for the Street Stocks which gave Todd Raabe another B.O.S win.
The next one was for the Vintage Mods, which was won by Josh Powers.
Then came the the Sprints, which gave former Modified pilot, Luke Stewart his first win in this division.
The Rookie Sportsman followed, and young Fire Swamp got another win. This youngster is set for bigger things, for sure.
Jessica Power got a popular win in the Sportsman. Her seond B.O.S win of the year.
For some reason, the ‘rain delayed’ Modified Feature didn’t follow the rest, and was programed after the ‘regular’ nights heat races, so we had to wait a bit longer for the ‘good stuff’ .
Things were running a bit late , due to the earlier rain, but at 12-30 am the 50 lapper got under way.
Luke Whitteker got the Victory after the early leader Matt Williamson had to pull off with engine issues.
It was now 1-15 am and there were still more races to go, so I made my exit .
I got back home in Cornwall before 3-00 am and slept until 11-00 am.
By 4-00 pm, I was rested, back at the B.O.S for day two of the Fall Nationals.
I had my pit wander, and after chatting with the Williamson Team, I learned they had to switch engines after the previous nights valve failure. They were now using one , from the Darren Peters Team.
Also while walking the pits, I noticed that Corey Wheeler was racing the Pierre Dagenais car.
Since the end of last year , former top driver , Dagenais has been loaning his car out to various drivers.
Before heading to the middle to take my pictures, I had a peek under the hood of the Steve Bernier car.
The program today had a lot of divisions to get in done, and unfortunately for the Modified fans, the big race of the day, the 96er would be the last race to run.
The 96er was a special race in the memory of the late Mike Lasalle who passed away a year ago. The # 96 was number associated with Mike’s team , so this race was for 96 laps.
Before we got round to the Modifieds , there was a full agenda of Sportsman, Crate Sprint Cars, Lightening Sprints, Street Stocks and Mini Stocks, so it was obvious we were in for another long night.
There was no escape LOL.
To add to the situation , we got the inevitable multiple red flag incidents in both the Sprint Car divisions, as they fell over and got wrecked.
Of course, once the carnage was cleared up, the damn things needed push starts to get going .
Oh how I love the Sprints LOL , yeah right !
The long delays they caused, meant Victory Lane celebrations for all the divisions had to wait until the end of the night.
It was around 2-00 am that the headline event, the 96 lapper for Modifieds got under way.
Mat Williamson and Mike Bowman battled for the lead in the early stages until David Hebert came into contention. He’d been gradually moving up, and after passing Bowman, he was soon on Williamsons tail. It sure made the last five laps interesting.
Maybe if there were a few more laps Hebert could of done it, but as the checkers fell, it was Matty there for another Victory.
Other winners of the night , then came to Victory Lane for there piece of the glory.
Johnathon Fergusson the Sportsman winner.
Adam Turner the Street Stocks winner.
James Clarke the Mini Stock winner.
The winners of the Crate Sprints and Lightening Sprints, failed to turn up, so it was now time for me to leave.
It was now 3-20 am on Sunday morning , by the time the presentation pictures were completed.
This turned out to be a new personal record for me !
About six or seven years ago, we had a late one at the Mohawk International Raceway, where I completed the Victory Lane pictures at 3-00 am. I never thought I’d beat that , but this weekend I did. My new record, now stands at 3-20 am in the morning.