Weekly Blog (5th July 2022) The Canada Day Weekend

Weekly Blog. The Canada Day Weekend

With CANADA DAY falling on a Friday this year, my Holiday Weekend had a full schedule. 

My racing began on Wednesday 29th of June , when the Can Am Speedway had it’s annual Pabst Shootout. As well as the DirtCar 358 Modifieds and a Sportsman Dirt Car Series race, the program also included ESS Sprint Cars and Street Stocks.

I set off from Cornwall early in the afternoon as there was something else I wanted to do on my way. Last year I managed to catch Theodore Too, the real life cartoon tug boat,  as it made it’s way from Nova Scotia to Hamilton , Ontario.

Well he was back in my area, and was moored at Clayton NY, just a few miles from the Can Am Speedway.

I had to drop by and take a look , didn’t I ?

I also stopped off at Waddington Beach to watch the Wigeon head down stream .

The Can Am Speedway is just a 10 minute drive away from Clayton , so it wasn’t long before I was parked up at the track .

There was a good turn out of cars in every division , which included over 40 Sportsman. I was pleased to see that the Sportsman and Modifieds races were the first scheduled features of the evening.

As many people are  well aware, I’m not a big fan of Sprint Cars or Street Stocks for that matter, so with their features running last on the program,  it looked like a good  recipe for an early get away .

As usual , I took the heat race pictures from the inside of turn three.

There’d been some dark storm clouds circulating the area that somehow managed to miss us. Surrounding locations got hit and during the intermission some parts of the track lost power (the guest lodges and grandstands) . The speedway generators allowed racing to continue , until the outage was over.

I returned to the track on the inside of turn one for the Features.

The first one up, was the 40 Lap Sportsman Series race.

Local driver David Rogers  #44 dominated this one after an early battle with Jessica Power.

David has been having a good year so far , having won features at Airborne and the MIR in recent weeks.

The Modified Feature was a good one, with David Marcuccili making the early running with Billy Dunn challenging . Erick Rudolph wasn’t far behind, and as Dunn faded , he took over second place. It looked all set for a Marcuccilli win until about 10 laps to go , when Rudolph found away passed.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen Erick in Victory Lane. 

It was also nice to see my old friend Dale Planck out on the  front stretch as part of the winning crew.

The picture taking was done by 11-00 pm, and with the Sprint Car and Street Stocks features still yet to run, this was my cue to make an exit.

After a much needed coffee stop in Ogdensburg , I was back home , just after 1-00 am.

On Thursday 30th of June, the R.P.M Speedway in Quebec were having a mid week special. I’d thought about going, but with so much going on, I needed to slow down and take a break. So, I sat this one out.

CANADA DAY, was on Friday the 1st of July , and my local Mohawk International Raceway  in Hogansburg , New York had a big night scheduled.

I took a leisurely drive across the bridge just after lunch and had plenty of time to relax before the races. An early supper was had at the nearby Twin Leaf diner.

The nights program consisted of Modifieds, Sportsman, Rookie Sportsman, Pro Stocks, Mod Lites and Bandits.

With the Can Am Speedway taking a Friday night off this week, we had AJ Baker , returning to the M.I.R  to do the track prep . He did a great job , and we were in for a great nights racing.

There were plenty of cars in each division and the pits were packed.

On my pre race walk about I came across  Claudia Tarbell.

If I turn the clock back 14 years to 2008 , she was a regular visitor to the M.I.R Victory Lane .

She became the Bandit division champion that year and later went on to do Pro Stocks

Well , time certainly flys.

 I found her in the pits with her 13 year old daughter Macy,  who is just starting off as a rookie in the Bandits.

Good Luck Macy ! 

Once the racing got under way I set myself down in a lawn chair at my regular spot on the middle by turn four.

The first feature was for the Bandits, and was won by  Francis White

These were followed by the Mod Lites , which took us up to Intermission.  Tristin Dibble was the winner.

After the break,  the 358 Modifieds took to the track for their 40 lap Feature.

Chris Raabe got the early lead , but was passed by Mike Maresca with 20 laps to go.

Jordon McCreadie also managed to get passed Raabe and was on the tail of Maresca as they crossed the finish line.

It was great to see Mike Maresca back in Victory Lane and see his family at the M.I.R.  It’s always a pleasure to meet his father, Dr Micheal Maresca.

Next up was the Sportsman feature, which kept us photographers on our toes 🙂

This was a great race all the way to the checkers .

After an early challenge from Thomas Cook ,  Shane Pecore , dominated until Dale Gonyo came on the scene. As they crossed the line Pecore got the win over Gonyo  by about half a cars length .

It was yet another MIR win for Pecore.

The Pro Stocks feature followed, and once again it was Bruno Richard who was visiting Victory Lane.

To end the night , the Rookie Sportsman had their Feature .

After taking an early lead from Ty David, Josh Jock went on to take the win.

The night ended with the traditional CANADA Day /Independence Day Weekend Fire Works.

I was out of the gate before they got under way and was soon back home in Cornwall.

On Saturday I had the choice of Brockville , Airborne or Drummond. With so much going on , I chose the nearest one and set off for Brockville.

The Mods and Sportsman were scheduled for the first features, so things looked good for an early finish.

During my pit walk about , I spotted a stranger to the B.O.S, Cameron Black in the # 23X Modified .

I stopped for a chat, and found out it was his first time at the B.O.S .

He’s from Lafargeville, New York and is a former paved track racer at the Oswego Speedway. 

The program consisted of Modifieds , Sportsman , Rookie Sportsman , Sprint Cars and Mini Stocks.

The track was a bit dusty in the heats and needed some attention during the Intermission .

So instead of the Modifieds being the first feature, the Mini Stocks were brought forward to have theirs,

This was won by Skylar Ladouceur.

The Modifieds followed this and the race was dominated by Chris Herbison, taking his second consecutive win.

I was at Autodrome Granby the previous week when he won, so missed it.

Chris told me afterwards  in Victory Lane, he did it again, just for me 🙂

There’d  been few delays throughout the night and the Sportsman feature that followed was all over by 10-00 pm.

This turned out to be another win for Bobby Herrington.

I’d  seen what I came for, the Mods and Sportsman, so took advantage of how early it was, and made my exit.

The five Sprint Cars  and the Rookie Sportsman were doing their thing as I headed towards the Brockville Tim Hortons.

With a coffee to go, I was soon heading up the 401 to Cornwall,

I was out of bed Sunday morning to watch the live showing of the British Grand Prix from Silverstone. It was the usual excellent presentation by SKY TV  that includes a pre race build up to the green flag at 10-00 am. 

After living close to the Silverstone  Circuit for many years, it’s always a favorite of mine, and with all the recent big interest in F1  there was a sell out crowd.

The race turned out to be very exciting, following a red flag at the start due to a very scary crash.

Alfa Romeo driver Zhou Guanyu flipped completely over,  and slid upside down for a few hundred yards into the safety fence. It was one of the scariest crashes I’ve seen, 

Zhou was OK and walking about afterwards  owing his life to the ‘Halo’ roll bar that is now mandatory in the cars.

After the restart , Carlos Sainz of Spain , in his Ferrari went on to take a popular first ever GP win.

Sunday night as usual , I spent across town at the Cornwall Motor Speedway .

The show consisted of 358 Modifieds, Sportsman, Rookie Sportsman , Pro Stocks and Vintage Mods.

Car numbers were slightly down, but it had no adverse effect . This had a positive side, and meant we had few delays .

The heats went well and as normal, a feature or two were run before intermission.

The first feature  was for the Rookie Sportsman where Josh Jock got his second win of the weekend.

The Vintage were next and the two class winners were Jason Riddell and Pete Stapper.

After the break the Pro Stocks took to the track for their feature.

It’s very encouraging to see their ranks are increasing as this division regains its former glory.

Once again it was Bruno Richard in Victory Lane, making it three wins in a row this weekend.  Friday (M.I.R)  Saturday (Autodrome Drummond) and this one on Sunday night at Cornwall.

The Modifieds were next , where Chris Raabe held off the challenging Carey Terrance to take the win.

The final race of the night was the Sportsman feature.

With  such a class driver like Ryan Stabler starting at the front it was a forgone conclusion who the winner would be.

After a faultless drive , he was once again in Victory Lane.

All the picture taking was done by about 10-15, making for another very welcome early end to the night.

The Kart Track at Cornwall , got rained out on Tuesday , so this weeks blog ends here.