June | 2023 | Rick at the Races

‘Money’ Mat wins at Fulton (27th June 2023 Blog)

I’ll start this weeks Blog, on Tuesday the 20th of June.

This was the first day of my monthly , two days of I.V.I.G infusions at the Cornwall Hospital. I have to go there two consecutive mornings , once a month for my Myasthenia Gravis , condition.

After Tuesdays session, I returned home and started packing and getting the car ready for a road trip the next day. My plan was to head straight to the races, after Wednesdays appointment.

I was done by 11-30 am and drove straight to the Canadian/USA border in town.

My destination was the Fulton Speedway , New York, for a 358 DIRTCAR Series race.

I had a nice leisurely drive down there and booked a room at the Red Roof Inn, in Fulton, which is only about a couple of miles from the track. After dumping off my stuff in the room and relaxing for a bit, I was parked up at the track about 4-30 pm.

As well as 358’s there were DirtCar Sportsman on the program.

It was nice meeting up with my Central New York ‘tog’ buddies again.

Here’s me and John Meloling.

There was a great turn out of 58 smallblock Modifieds for this Series race, that included s few of my locals.

This was my first visit to Fulton since ‘pre-COVID’ days , and one of the main changes, affecting me was the designated safety sections for the photographers.

We now have areas surrounded by concrete barriers.

I chose to stay in the one on turn three and four , where I usually go.

After the heats and the various consis, the first feature was for the Sportsman.

Matt Janczuk was the winner of this one.

The main event, the 358 Modified DirtCar Series ended the night.

This turned out to be a good one.

Larry Wight was the early leader , but once Mat Williamson drew along side , we got treated to a few laps of trading places.

When the checkers fell, it was ‘Money’ Mat Williamson who got the victory.

Amy Holland had a great drive to take the third spot.

Once it was over , I was soon back at the hotel.

What a lovely view from my room ! LOL

There was no rush to leave in the morning , as I intended to head to another race that night.

The destination was my local Mohawk International Raceway NY for a rare Thursday night show. There was no point in returning back to Canada just for a couple of hours, so I’d might as well stay in the U.S .

I took a slow ride back to Massena and Hogansburg via the back roads and got to the track about 4-30 pm.

On arrival , I had a great photo op , as the Lebrun team , of Stephane , his daughter Natacha and son Alex lined their cars up and posed beside them.

Then as I entered the track I bumped into Carey Terrance and his son, (also named Carey) .

Oh Boy he has grown. I remember Junior, as a young kid , with his dad in Victory Lane.

FLASHBACK to 2008 with Carey and Carey Jnr

He’s now a successful Hockey Player and has been on the Erie Otters team.

He’s currently on the NHL Draft Pic , so his future looks very bright.

The nights program consisted of 358 Modifieds, Sportsman, Pro Stocks , and Rookie Sportsman.

With extra bucks on offer, and it being a Thursday instead of Friday, we had a few rare visitors.

Once the heats were done, the first feature was for the Pro Stocks

This gave Sid Harmer Jnr another win to add to his 2023 total.

Next up was the Modified Feature.

After a good battle at the front between Carey Terrance and Jordon McCreadie, it was ‘the invader’ McCreadie who got the win.

Don Simpson took this Picture of me with Jordan

I was present at the Evans Mills Speedway NY in 2013 when Jordan got his first Modified win.

Back then , I joined him in Victory Lane , and again for a win at the M.I.R in 2016 , so it was nice to keep the tradition going, and do it once again.

Up next, it was the Sportsman feature.

Once again it was Cedric Gauvreau taking the M.I.R, honors.

We ended the night with the feature for the Rookie Sportsman .

This gave Bob Laware the win.

The show was over by 11-30 pm and I was back home in Canada , about 15 minutes later.

The next day, (Friday 24th June), I was heading to Autodrome Granby, with my good friend Chanty.

A two day event was scheduled for Quebec’s Jean Baptiste Holiday Weekend. The weather for Saturdays show , didn’t look good so we only booked for one nights accommodation to play it safe.

We were staying at the Hotel Principle , which had a lot better view from my room , than the one I had in Fulton on Wednesday.

Once booked in, we were at the track by 5-00pm .

Once again, like our Drummond trip a few weeks previous, we based ourselves with our friends, at the Cedric Gauvreau team trailer.

It was here we met up with my buddy Don Simpson

On my pit ‘walk about’ , I bumped into Brandon Planck and Julide,

Brandon is the son of my friend and former racer , Dale Planck.

He operates the family business called DIG that specializes in shocks and set ups for race cars.

Once the race cars got on to the track , I took up one of my usual shooting spots on turn one and two, where I was joined by Sherilane Avard-Beaudry, one of the latest recruits to join the team of ‘togs’,

After I’d taken a few hot lap pictures I moved along to another of my favorite spots

Autodrome Granby Que , 23rd June 2023 Rick @ the Races

For the heat races , I moved to a place I hadn’t shot at for a while, on the exit of turn four.

First of the Features was for the Sport Compacts (Mini Stocks) .

The Sportsman race followed and provided yet another win for young William Racine.

The extended lap Pro Stock Feature was up next.

This seemed to go on for an ‘eternity’ but was eventually won by Marc Lalonde.

The race took so long to complete, that the Victory Lane celebrations were delayed to the end of the night.

During the wait to get this race in the books, we had a good excuse for another group photo of the ‘togs’.

Eventually with less than 30 minutes to go before the 11-00 pm curfew, the main event of the night, the Modified feature got under way.

Luckily , there were no major cautions, and the checkers fell for Felix Roy , at about one minute passed curfew.

That was a close call, and had things gone a bit different there would of been a lot of unhappy people around.

In my opinion it’s more important to get the main event in the books than the support divisions. If the designated laps are not reached after 30 minutes of racing, (for example, in the Pro Stocks or whatever) the checkers should fall , and the winner declared ) .

So, it was back to the hotel, and to await the morning and see what the weather was going to do.

As expected , I woke up to rain, and it wasn’t long before the cancellation notices started appearing on social media. I had a few back up plans in mind if day two at Granby was called off.

Sure enough Granby got cancelled, as well as my Plan B (Airborne Speedway) and Plan C (Brockville Ontario Speedway). So it was back home , for a Saturday night of no racing.

On Sunday the 25th of June, there were no Modifieds scheduled for the Cornwall Motor Speedway.

The ESS Sprint Car tour was paying a visit after an absence of 5 years.

It’s common knowledge I’m not a fan of Sprint Cars, but I only live a ten minute drive from the track and besides, the Sportsman and Pro Stocks were on the menu So why not ?

Also included on the program, were Mini Stocks, Street Stocks and Lightening Sprints.

There was a good turn out of cars in all divisions and the infield was packed and being used as a Street Stocks pits.

I must admit the Sprint cars were OK, and put on a pretty good show. I’ve been so used to seeing other sprint car groups in recent years, that it’s tarnished my opinion. The ESS sprints are probably the best you will see in our area.