02 | September | 2023 | Rick at the Races

Blast at the Beach (Blog 1st Sept 2023)

Since last weeks BLOG , I’ve attended five more events, so with spare time limited, this weeks offering will concentrate mainly on the premier divisions.

It all started on Friday the 25th of August.

The midweek Thursday show at the Cornwall Motor Speedway the night before , got rained out, and with more wet weather in the forecast, Friday nights racing at the Mohawk International Raceway also looked doubtful .

It rained overnight, but stayed dry throughout the day, to give the green light for action.

I left it later than normal to get there, just in case there was a last minute shower.

The premier divisions taking part, were the 358 Modifieds, Sportsman and Pro Stocks. The latter had a Farnham Ales Series race, and 35 were parked in the pits. It was also Autograph Night for the fans.

The big race for the Pro Stocks took place after this, and it didn’t take long before a huge wreck occurred.

Two cars flipped and ended up with ‘all fours’ facing the sky.

Not a common thing in full fender racing.

After the stoppage Kevin Fetterly went on to get the win.

Next up, it was the Modified feature.

This gave Matt Woodruff of Bloomingdale, NY a win after holding off a late challenge from Chris Raabe.

It was nice to witness this, as Matt isn’t a regular winner. Actually, it was the first time I’ve seen him in Victory Lane.

The Sportsman Feature ended the night, and it was Dale Gonyo Jr who took this one.

The Autograph session and other delays for wrecks, caused the night to drag on, and it was now close to mid night.

Next day I was at the Brockville Ontario Speedway.

As stated earlier , I’ve had very little spare time to sit down and get this weeks BLOG done , so I’ll have to be brief.

The headline divisions were the 358 Modifieds , Sportsman and Pro Stocks.

Winner in the Modifieds was, surprise visitor, Mat Williamson.

The Sportsman Feature gave Bobby Herrington another B.O.S win , to add to his tally.

In the Pro Stock Feature, we saw Marc Lalonde in Victory Lane.

With all the racing happening on my agenda, time was important, so once I’d seen these features, I was on my way home.

It was another big day on Sunday, with the Canadian Nationals, taking place at my local Cornwall Motor Speedway.

Once again , I’ll only touch on the premier divisions.

The Modified Feature had a good field of cars and it turned out to be an exciting race.

Early leader was Mat Williamson, and it looked all set for him to take an easy win, until Felix Roy started moving through the field.

Roy caught up , and shot past Williamson, who tried in vein to keep up, and retake the lead. It didn’t happen.

Tim Fuller came third to complete the podium.

As for the Sportsman, it was that man again !

Once more it was William Racine in Victory Lane.

I’ve lost count how many wins he’s had this year, and we have a little joke going between me and him. I call him ‘Max’ because he’s always winning.

Once the evening was over , I headed home and got ready for the next little road trip.

Early on Monday morning Don Simpson , came to my place and joined me on a trip south.

On Tuesday the 29th of August , Brett Deyo was holding one of his Short Track Super Series shows, at the Georgetown Speedway in Delaware which was entitled ‘Blast at the Beach’ .

The Georgetown Speedway has been on my ‘Bucket List’ for a long time and with a quality event such as this taking place, it was a great opportunity to go there.

It was long drive , and by 7-30 pm we were booking into the Quality Inn , just a few minutes from the track.

After dumping our stuff off in the room we were quickly off to the nearest Texas Steak House for a good supper. I have to say the food there was excellent.

Tuesday, the next day , we had plenty of time to kill , so in the morning we went to check out the track.

We met up with promoter Brett Deyo , and had a good chat.

As the title of the big race suggests, we were near to the ocean , so decided to head for the nearest beach.

We were just going out of Georgetown, when I spotted an auto repair shop called Downs Automotive.

This got me thinking, could this be anything to do with the Delaware driver Steve Downs who I met on my last racing trip to this state, back in 2004 ?

We had to check it out, and my hunch was correct.

Steve recognized me straight away , from my ‘Brit’ accent and we have been long time friends on Face Book . I also had my Rick at the Races shirt on.

I first met Steve at the Super Dirt Series race at the Delaware International Speedway (Delmar) in 2004.

Back then he was Delaware Police Officer , and racing a Big Block Modified. I got talking with him and his wife Heather , who happened to be born in Cornwall, England. This became an interesting talking point, and good reason to chat.

He has since switched to racing 410 Sprint Cars and is a regular at the Williams Grove Speedway PA.

I was honest with him, and told him, I’m not the greatest fan of winged sprints. but lets face it, , the quality of Sprint Car racing down there is a lot better than what we get up in the north.

We chatted for quite a while, about all sorts of things (including possums) and toured his race shop.

One of his interests is animal rescue which all started when one day they stopped the race hauler beside the road, to pick up some orphaned possums.

He has a picture of a possum on his race car as well as the T shirt he gave me.

He then added some Rick at the Races stickers to the car.

After this very enjoyable excursion Don and I continued to Rehoboth Beach .

Time was getting on, so it was a quick 30 minute visit.

Race track announcer Tim Baltz recently , nick-named Don and I, the ‘ Odd Couple’ , after a past TV Series about two old men. So we had to get this pic taken , just for Tim.

It was then time to head back to the speedway for the nights races.

We soon met up with some of our ‘tog’ buddy friends, Steve Sabo and his dad.

My night started with a pit wander where I watched Brett conduct his pre race drivers meeting.

The program consisted of Modifieds Sportsman and the domestic Mini Stocks type division.

When I visit an new track , I’m never sure of where the best spot is to shoot pictures, so I tried various places.

In the end I settled on turn one and two.

The big race for the Modifieds was a 35 lapper.

Ryan Godown was the early leader, but on lap 18 Stewart Friesen got passed and stayed there to the checkers.

Godown stayed in second and Matt Sheppard got third .

Matt’s car had mechanical issues straight after the race, so he never made it for the podium picture.

The Sportsman feature ended the night .

This was won by, Spencertown , NY driver Dylan Madsen.

It was all over by about 10-15 , and it was time to head back to the nearby Quality Inn.

We left there about 9-00 am on Wednesday morning for the long drive back to Canada.

After taking time out to visit the USAF Aircraft Museum in Dover De, we were back in Cornwall about 9-00 pm that night.

Thursday (31st Aug) was spent relaxing before heading back over the bridge to the USA and the final points night at the Mohawk International Raceway.

Johnny Jackson won the Modified feature and Chris Raabe took the season Championship.