THE HISTORIC FIRST EVER STSS RACE IN CANADA ( WEEKLY BLOG 27th JULY 2023)
This weeks report begins on Thursday the 20th of July.
I had a another long trip planned , and if all went well, it would be a run of four tracks in four days.
I left home in Cornwall about 10-00am bound for the Utica-Rome Speedway NY.
It’s a place I haven’t visited for a few years and when I heard , that promoter , Brett Deyo had one of his SHORT TRACK SUPER SERIES events taking place, known as the’ Richie Evans Remembered’ show, I thought I’d make the trip.
I got to Syracuse before 2-00 pm where I checked into the Red Roof Inn at the Carrier Circle. Red Roof is a hotel chain , I use a lot, and was pleased to find on my arrival, that I’d earned enough points for a free night. You can’t be that !
The hotel was a thirty-five minute drive to Vernon, where the Utica -Rome track is located.
I arrived in plenty of time to meet up with friends and relax.
I had a walk around the pits and watched a bit of tech
It was a real scorcher of a day so sat there eating an ice cream and listening to the pre-race entertainment.
My ‘Tog ‘buddy Alex Bruce informed me there was an autograph session for the drivers taking place , which included Ross Chastain. I hadn’t got a clue who he was, and thinking it must be some famous country singer, I never bothered attending .
I then got a bit curious who he was , so asked an official , and was informed that he’s a NASCAR CUP driver.
I have no interest in ‘big time’ NASCAR any more , and don’t follow it (or Country Music for that matter) , so that’s my excuse LOL
Apparently he’s the guy who made a name for himself recently by riding the wall at Martinsville.
He was at Utica-Rome that night guest driving, the Matt Sheppard back up car.
Following the pre race drivers meeting , I got a picture of him in the pits.
Once the racing got underway , I took up my position on turn 1 and two. There were plenty of other ‘Togs’ in attendance
As the anthems were performed, Quebec’s Steve Bernier paraded round the oval with the Canadian Flag , and Chastain did likewise , with the ‘Star Spangled’ banner.
The Sportsman division joined the Modifieds on the program, as well as Sling Shots on the inner – oval.
I had no prior knowledge of this so got an unexpected addition to my TRACKCHASING totals .
The Inner Oval at Utica-Rome Speedway became 252 tracks visited.
There were a lot of Sportsman and a lot of cautions
The big race, for the Richie Evans Remembered , was a 61 Lapper, 61 was Evans, old racing number.
This race was dominated and won by Matt Sheppard. Tim Fuller was his greatest threat , but didn’t have that ‘little bit extra’ to get past.
So it was another big win for Sheppard.
Ross Chastain , who’s family have a watermelon growing business was one of the first to congratulate him.
Following Sheppard and Fuller over the line was Mat Williamson, who took third place on the podium.
The Sportsman feature was next, and just like their heat races, they gave everyone a lot of unwanted cautions.
The winner was Matt Zanczuk
As you can see , the Victory Lane celebration picture was ruined by a video camera operator getting in the way. It’s happened to me twice lately and from what I hear from other seasoned photographers, it happens quite a lot when live coverage is going out to a few paying customers.
The video crews seem to think they have the right to hover in front of the Media Photographers and spoil their pictures. They must think it’s so important, and crucial to the coverage to walk in front of us and get footage of a driver taking his helmet off.
This is down right rudeness and not the courteous thing to do. They could quite easily stand at a distance and ‘zoom in’, if this is such an important part of the video.
Lets face it, the pictures , we regular photographers take, of a driver celebrating his roof top win are priceless and here for a lifetime to be enjoyed. How many people are going to look back, at 60 seconds footage just to see a driver taking off his helmet and rubbing sweat from his brow ?
I know I’m not the only photographer annoyed at this, and sure I’m speaking for the majority of experienced photographers.
OK I’ll now get off my ‘soap box’, but this had to be said .
So, with Victory Lane pics done , I made the short drive back to the Hotel.
My destination for Friday nights racing , the Brewerton Speedway, was only about 30 minutes away, so I had a lot of time to kill.
I did a bit of shopping , relaxed by the Oneida River then lazed around in the parking lot until the race haulers started arriving.
The weather was warm and sunny , which was a relief, as many other tracks had canceled due to rain .
Mohawk, Can Am, Granby, Malta and Accord were the ones I was aware of, so I guess we at Brewerton were the lucky ones.
It was a regular nights show of Big Block Mods, Sportsman, Mod-Lites and 4 cyls (MiniStocks).
I stood on turn 1 and two in the photographers compound with my buddy John Meloling.
Just like the night before, the Sportsman, couldn’t settle down and we had plenty of cautions .
The first of the feature races was for the Mod-Lites.
This too, took a while to complete, after a big wreck on the front stretch caused red flag conditions.
The winner was Kyle Demo.
Adam Roberts was the first to get the lead in the 35 lap Modified feature, but was eventually hunted down by Larry Wight.
Towards the end Jimmy Phelps got on Wights tale, but couldn’t make the pass.
The checkers went to Larry.
It was now 9-45 pm ( pretty late by Brewerton standards) so I decided to miss the Sportsman and 4 cyl feature and head for home.
I was back in Cornwall , at 1-00 am .
On Saturday 22nd of July I headed off to the Airborne Speedway at Plattsburgh with my buddy Don Simpson.
On arrival, it was nice to see , the return of a printed race day program , and happy to see my pictures on the cover and inside
It was a regular show with the 358 Modifieds taking center stage ,
The night began with the pre race drivers meeting conducted by Denis Moquin.
For the hot laps I shot on turn four
Autodrome Drummond had cancelled earlier in the day because of wet weather so we picked up a few extra cars.
Once again it was another night where the Sportsman division had a wreck-fest causing many cautions.
There were three, forty lap features on the program for the Modifieds, Sportsman and Renegades., and a 15 lapper for the Rookie Sportsman ( they call them Limited Sportsman) .
The Rookies were up first and ‘boy, oh boy’ it was painful to watch. Yes you’ve guessed, it had an abundance of cautions.
Dale Gonyo was the eventual winner.
The Modifieds, followed this.
Chris Raabe took the checkers in this one, after being chased towards the end by Mike Mahaney,.
Next up, was Sportsman.
This was won by Jamy Begor, who’s a good friend of mine and Don.
It was his race shop in Mooers Forks NY that we visited , just a few days before the USA/CANADA borders were closed when the world went crazy over COVID .
We just had to get this pic taken in Victory Lane .
It was now 10-45pm, and a bit late due to all the cautions so we made our exit, deciding to miss the Renegade and Street Stock features.
A later than normal finish meant getting home later.
It was my local Cornwall Motor Speedway on Sunday 23rd July and the program consisted of 358 Modifieds, Sportsman, Novice Sportsman, AST Sprint Cars and Mini Stocks.
Most people know how much I enjoy the Sprint Cars LOL (I say with sarcasm in my voice) but at least the Modifieds were on the program this week. The Sprints are prone to falling over, so I decided to take the heat race pics as well as my usual Hot Lap shots from the pit tower.
Sure enough one fell over on the first lap of the first heat, but it was the opposite end of the track to me so I didn’t catch it.
The heats went well and the first feature was for the Mini Stocks.
James Clarke won this one.
Next up, it was the the Sprint Car Feature.
My good friend Lee Ladouceur got the checkers in this one after passing Mathieu Bardier.
The 50 lap Race for the Cure Sportsman feature was next.
Apart from the cautions and red flag situations, it wasn’t a bad race, and nice to see Donovan Lussier get the win .
The headline event, for the 358 Modifieds was next .
Once Corey Wheeler got to the front, that’s where he stayed with no serious challengers to the flag.
Another Cornwall Victory for the Track Champion.
It’s become a sort of tradition, that when Corey gets a win, Don and I , have our picture taken at the front of the car, by one of his crew.
The last race of the night was for the Rookie Sportsman which finished just 5 minutes before the dreaded 11-00 pm curfew.
This was won by 14 years old Dylan Moore. Son of former Modified driver Adam, and brother of Sportsman driver, Brennan.
It was nice to see Robert Hill Jr , the speedways latest announcer come down for the interview.
I’ve known Robert since he was a race fan , over 15 years ago at the now defunct , Capital City Speedway in Ottawa.
That was it for the night, and I was home a bit later than usual.
Monday was a rest day but on Tuesday the 25th of July it was time for racing again.
Dominic Lussier the Autodrome Granby promoter was holding a history making event, with the first ever staging of a SHORT TRACK SUPER SERIES .
This series is the success story of former Area Auto Racing News columnist turned promoter , Brett Deyo.
From small beginnings , he’s built his travelling Modified Series into one of the highest rated travelling tours in the USA. Lussier was bringing the ‘Deyo Show’ to Canada with two back to back races.
Granby on Tuesday and at his smaller track Le RPM Speedway (at St Marcel de Richelieu , Que) on Wednesday the 26th. The events were given the title of ‘The Lumber Jack Swing’.
I only planned to be at Granby, as my daughter Carla , was making a whistle stop visit.
I wanted to be at the track early so I left home accordingly.
The pit gates opened at 4-00 so got there a few minutes beforehand.
There’s not too many good places to take pictures there, so I got my Camera and Tripod set up on the outside of the turn four exit.
I left it there and wandered the pits.
The rest of my equipment was stored with my good friends, at the Cedric Gauvreau Sportsman Team hauler.
I was lucky to catch Dominic Lussier and Brett Deyo together, so got a nice picture of them both.
That’s one for the history books.
I spotted Stewart Friesen so stopped to wish him Happy Birthday (he was celebrating his 40th that day.
I’ve known Stewart, for 20 years and have watched how his career has progressed.
I first met him in 2003 at the now defunct Autodrome Edelweiss in Cantley , Quebec.
He even had a Rick @ the Races sticker on a couple of his cars.
A bit further around the pits and I caught up with another old friend, Mat Williamson from St Cathrines Ontario.
He’s another guy I’ve watched climb the racing ladder.
The place was packed with fans, Here’s me, Dan Mailhot and Don Simpson with the full grandstands in the back ground.
Once the action began, I returned to my camera that was parked on the exit of turn 4.
Joining the STSS Mods , we had Sportsman and Sport Compacts (Mini Stocks)
Hot laps were first
The running order of the evening started with the Mini Stocks , and went Modifieds and Sportsman.
After The Mini-Stocks , the historic first ever STSS heat race in Canada got the green.
All three heat races went the distance without any hiccups,
The Sportsman then took there heat races.
The Mini Stock feature and Consis took place before the nights big event.
Once again, and in less than seven days , I saw Matt Sheppard dominate and win a Short Track Super Series race.
Matt became the winner of the first ever ‘Lumber Jack Swing’ and aptly the trophy was an axe.
Local hero, David Hebert tried hard to get by him, but just wasn’t up to it as the laps ran down . Michael Parent wasn’t far behind to claim third.
The Sportsman feature ended the night which which had to be cut short , as time reached the 11-00pm curfew.
This gave William Racine yet another win.
I was late getting home that night (early hours) and had a good ‘lie in’.
Once up and out of bed , I was back in the car and heading for down town Montreal.
Carla , my daughter who lives in North Carolina was visiting a friend for a few days and we’d arranged a get together.
I picked her up and we returned to my place in Cornwall where she was staying for one night only.
We had a nice father and daughter outing at a restaurant in the city , and then , the following morning , I drove her to Montreal Airport for her flight home. It’s what you’d call a flying visit.
The race I missed , part two of the LUMBER JACK SWING at RPM was won by Mat Williamson.