August | 2021 | Rick at the Races

Another Win For Corey (23rd of August 2021 Blog)

As I mentioned in last weeks report, Monday the 16th of August was the day my Chev Impala came back in my hands after being off the road for three weeks with transmission issues.

Oh I must say, it’s great to have it back , it may be over ten years old but I love that car,

Tuesday the 17th of Aug was day one of my monthly ‘two day’ I.V.I.G infusions at the Cornwall Community Hospital. I’d planned on attending the Cornwall Kart Races that night , but the rain that fell for most of the day caused it to be postponed until Thursday.

I was back in hospital again on Wednesday morning, and on Thursday night I was at the re-scheduled Kart races,

Once again , rain came into play with a short shower just after intermission.

It didn’t last long and after a bit of track packing, the action continued.

All the races were in the books by 9-45 pm.

The next day , Friday the 20th of August, I was greeted in the morning with some bad news on social media .

The USA/CANADA land border is to remain closed for another month. I’m not really surprised ! Politicians both sides of the border have been messing us around with this issue since COVID first started .

Don’t they realize folks want to see their families ? It’s been nearly two years now, since I’ve seen my daughter or grandchildren. Not to mention , my Mother and close family in the UK , I’ve not seen them for almost three years.

Friday meant the usual trip up to Autodrome Granby for me and Don Simpson.

I’m trying to break the Impala in gently after having another transmission fitted , so this time we went in Don’s car.

He picked me up at about 2-00pm and after various traffic hold ups along the way, we arrived at the track around 5-00 pm .

On arrival the first people , I chatted to were , good friends Luke Whitteker and his girlfriend Taya Heldens.

Once again Luke was there in the Pierre Dagenais owned car.

It was an unbearably hot evening and lots of fluids were needed.

The program consisted of 358 Modifieds, Sportsman, Sport Compacts and Lightening Sprints.

The first feature , as usual , took place before the intermission and was for the Sport Compact division.

This was won by Jeremie Goyette # 67.

Good number that !

It was nice to catch my long time friend and Granby official Josee Poisson in the pits , taking a break.

First feature after the intermission was for the Sportsman.

This gave Steve Turcotte the win.

The Modifieds were up next and once again David Hebert , showed his class, by getting another well earned Victory.

He was followed over the line by Francois Bernier and Mario Clair.

The Final feature of the night was for the Lightening Sprints, and I’m pleased to say they got through it without a lot of stoppages.

The race was all over before 10-00 pm , with 358 Modified driver, Alex Therrien in Victory Lane.

He is the son of Clement, a veteran of the Modified division.

After such a scorching night, it was nice to be finished early, so Don and I spent a bit of time at the David Hebert hauler chatting and socializing.

Both of us have known the team for a long time, and Don was honored , when Dave gave him his nights trophy.

After a cold beer , it was then time to head back to Ontario.

Don dropped me off at my place at about 12-30 am.

Saturday , it was time to give the Impala it’s first long distance trip with the ‘new’ transmission. A trip to the Brockville Ontario Speedway seemed the perfect maiden voyage.

I picked Don up from Angelo’s Truck Stop on the 401 and we headed down to the track.

We got there at 5-00 pm and as we chatted with fellow ‘tog’ John Lyng and ‘Stock Car’ Steve Bilow beside the pit gate the skies got darker.

Five minutes after walking through the gates , the first drops of rain began to fall. We listened to Mike Kelly conduct the drivers meeting as the drops got heavier, so decided to head back to the car for shelter.

There were plenty of ‘track-packers’ in the pits that night if needed (we had a Sprint Car Tour race on the program) but the rain would not relent.

It became obvious to us, that racing wouldn’t be taking place anytime soon, so we made for the exit. We grabbed a coffee at the ‘Tims’ in town and waited there to see how long it would be, before the race haulers came following.

Sure enough, it was just a matter minutes before my guess had been confirmed.

Normally a Sunday morning for me is spent editing the racing pictures from the night before, but not on this occasion.

I was out of bed early, so decided on a short trip to the Morisburg Flea Market , to see what diecasts I could pick up.

It was my lucky day, I found two old Dinky Toys , that I hadn’t got, a Bentley S3 Convertable and a Triumph 1300. Also a lovely 1/43 scale ERTL Chevrolet Cab- Over garbage truck.

Bargain prices too .

I was back home before lunchtime and had plenty of time to relax with the AC cranked up, before venturing out for another hot evening of racing.

The Cornwall Motor Speedway had a program of Modifieds, Sportsman and Pro Stocks as well as the visiting Action Sprint Cars and the Lightening Sprints.

When I arrived , it felt like I was walking through the pits of Williams Grove ! Regular readers will know how much I love Sprint Cars ! ( I say with a sarcastic tongue) . It looked like I was in for an over-dose.

The Action Sprint Tour were scheduled to run at the B.O.S the night before , but as mentioned , Mother Nature put a stop to that.

One Sprint Car that caught my interest was the one driven by the nephew of dirt Modified driver Kayle Robidoux.

I took this shot of Marwan Robidoux during my pit walk-about.

These days I park my car on the middle behind the Victory Lane , so while waiting for the races to begin , I sat inside with the AC running . It was another scorcher of a day.

The first of the Features , which was for the Lightening Sprints was held before Intermission .

This was won by Stephane St-Laurent.

During the break I went across to the grandstand to meet up with my friends Kathy Caldwell and Chris Craft who were paying there first visit to the Cornwall track since before COVID.

They live in Bedford , Quebec, just a few miles from the Canada/USA border.

Kathy is like me , and hasn’t been able to see her grand children since the COVID border restrictions. She lives just a few miles away from them , but the harsh rules, won’t allow her to see them.

Once the track had been prepped , I was back out on the middle.

First up , were two consi’s, one for the Action Sprints and one for the Sportsman.

With these over , the Modifieds took to the track for their Feature.

Johnathan Fergusson made the early running but lost out after a caution that allowed Luke Whitteker to close the gap and grab the lead.

Luke looked all set for the win, but Corey Wheeler was on a charge, and within the final few laps, he’d made up enough ground to challenge for the lead, and edge past.

It was now two consecutive feature wins for Corey.

It was great to see Michelle Dufraine back helping in Victory Lane as hostess for the sponsors

Next up was the Action Sprint Cars for their 25 lap feature .

A big rollover on lap five caused the expected delay , but when racing resumed , it settled down to be a good race.

This was won by Jacob Dykstra

He had traveled up from Port Colborne , in the Niagara Region .

A thin field of Pro Stocks were next up for their feature.

Even with the small amount of cars , there was a good battle up front for the lead between Dave Seguin, Marc Lalonde, Jocelyn Roy and Stephane Lebrun, but Seguin kept them at bay, to claim another Victory for 2021.

The final feature of the night was for the Sportsman.