ANOTHER BUSY WEEK IN THE SUNSHINE (1st June 2023)

ANOTHER BUSY WEEK IN THE SUNSHINE  (1st June Blog)

It was another eventful week in my area where we’ve been  experiencing a mini-heatwave .

This weeks  BLOG started on Friday the 26th of May, with my usual trip ‘across the bridge’ to the Mohawk International Raceway , Hogansburg, New York.

With no racing taking place at the nearby Can Am Speedway, we had a few surprise visitors,  as well as a some  non regulars.

One of these was Ryan Arbuthnot from Renfrew, Ont.

He was there with nice new blue livery on his car, as a tribute to his late grandfathers.

On my pit walk-about , I also took time out to photograph the two latest members of the Lebrun Racing Team from Gatineau , Quebec.

Long time Pro -Stock racer , Stephane Lebrun now has his son Alex and daughter Natasha, joining him on the track.

The program consisted of the usual domestic divisions , Modified, Sportsman, Pro Stock , Limited Sportsman, and Bandits.

The track was in great shape, and  after some good heat races the features commenced.

First up was for the Bandits and Francis White won this,

The Sportsman were up next and this gave Cedric Gauvreau another run-away win.

Next Feature was for the Modifieds

This turned out to be one of the best races I’ve seen for a long time, with a three car battle at the front. 

Chris Raabe kept Tim Fuller at bay , to take the checkers and Lance Willix who got third , also had a turn as leader in this epic battle.

The Pro Stocks Feature followed and it was Sid Harmer Jr who got the win.

The Limited Sportsman feature ended  the night and provided , young Dylan Moore with a win.

It was a nice early finish, just what I like, and was home before midnight.

The next morning,  once the M.I.R picture editing had been done, I took the T Bird to the Benson Centre in Cornwall for the ‘Coffee and Cars’  show.

The White Wall tires had been fitted, the day before, by Corey Wheeler and the team at Seaway GM.

On Saturday afternoon I joined up with my ‘Tog Buddy’ , Don Simpson for a trip to the Airborne Speedway , Plattsburg, NY .

There were one or two surprise entries in the Modified ranks, the brothers , Felix and Jeremie Roy from Napierville , Quebec. 

The Roy name is a familiar one at Airborne. Their father Martin, was a regular winner there, over ten years ago.

FLASHBACK to 2007

Actually, Napierville isn’t that far from Plattsburgh NY, it’s the first place of any size, once you cross the border at Lacolle into Canada.

The program consisted of Modifieds and Sportsman as the headline divisions, with the domestic divisions as support.

After the heat races, we had the usual short intermission and things looked all set for another early get away for us.

After the break, the Sportsman feature was up first and this turned out to be one of those frustrating  races. For some reason they just couldn’t settle down and we endured caution after caution ( I lost count and the race must have gone on for about 30mins. 

Finally we got a winner ! 

It was Mike Phinney.

The Modified feature was next , and this was a classic.

Mike Mahaney looked all set for Victory after being challenged by Felix Roy in the closing stages,  Roy made the move , got past him, and charged forward  to earn his first ever DirtCar Modified Feature win.

We were only there for the premier divisions , so once this was over we made our exit. 

The Sportsman delays made things run a bit later , but we were still back across the Canadian border at Cornwall by mid night.

Sunday, I was staying local again, with my usual evening visit to the Cornwall Motor Speedway. 

Before this I had a morning date behind the TV . It was the F1 Grand Prix from Monaco. This gave Max Verstappen another win.

The weather was still  hot and sunny at the speedway and with no extended lap races, and just the Vintage Stock Cars as  additions, we had high hopes the program would be completed before the 11-00 pm curfew.

We were in luck. Racing got under way at 6-30 and the heat races were all done soon after 7-30.

The first feature was for the Vintage and it was won by Jason Riddell . 

Next up was the Rookie Sportsman Feature

This was won by Matt Prunner .

The Mini Stocks Feature then followed.

Pierre Picard took the checkers.

The Modifieds were next and what a great race this was.

It looked all set for a Corey Wheeler win until Carey Terrance made a late race challenge to grab the checkers.

A win for Gabriel Cyr in the Sportsman feature concluded the night.

With no major delays , the program was all done , before 10-00 pm . Perfect !

Monday Night  (29th) was the Morrisburg Cruise in .

I joined the Cornwall Olde Car Club for a drive down Hwy 2 for this one. 

What a nice surprise , at the end of the show, my T Bird was awarded ‘Car of the Night’ .

Tuesday the 30th May, was the Cornwall Kart Track night.

So I went along to take some pics of the kids in action.

The next step up from the Karts are the Dirt Demons.

My good friend Lee Ladouceur’s son Liam was out in one for the first time and won the feature.

On Wednesday and Thursday I checked out the local car shows in Cornwall and Iroquois.

My personalized License plates arrived by Purolator on Thursday, and once registered I was ready to go.

I hated the ones they issued when I originally registered it.

 

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