Cornwall Gets It In  Weekly Blog 25th October 2023

Once again, rain hampered the racing this past weekend.

The headline event scheduled in the North East was the annual Eastern States Weekend at Middletown , New York.

Another high profile event was the Dutch Hoag memorial weekend at the Outlaw Speedway (Dundee NY) , but more locally for me, the Cornwall Motor Speedway were planning to run their postponed Canadian Dirt Weekend, that got called off a few weeks ago.

As the weekend approached the forecasters predicted plenty of rain .

The two New York tracks were expected to get  it on Friday , whereas Cornwall were due to be affected on Saturday and Sunday.

Hastily the various managements had to make changes to their programmed events.

The Short Track Super Series was cancelled on Friday night at Middletown, as was the Friday’s show at Dundee.

On the other hand Cornwall cancelled their events for Saturday and Sunday , and concentrated on having one big show for the main divisions on Friday. (358 Modifieds, Sportsman, Pro Stocks and Mini Stocks).

This for me,  was a good decision, so that was my destination.

They had just a small window to salvage something of the weekend, so made the most of what they had .  Unfortunately some of the divisions, had to be omitted, but the new plan made sense ,  to put on what the majority of people wanted to see.

I knew the middle of the track would be packed solid as an extra pits so I got there early to make sure my car was parked behind Victory Lane.

Once settled ,  I then got up to my new vantage point to set things up.

When the parking lot improvements were made a few weeks ago, the top soil that was removed was piled at the corner of turn one.

I noticed this and  figured it might be a good shooting spot. 

I tried a few shots from up there on practice day, so was eager to see what I could get on a regular race day. 

This was my opportunity.

I used my new perch for Hot Laps , before it became to dark.

My camera flash wouldn’t have been powerful enough when the sun went down.

Once it got darker ,  I returned to the middle and resumed my usual shooting spots.

The center of the track was being used as an overflow pits as expected, for the Mini Stocks and was a bit crowded.

The big race for these guys was a 49 lapper for the Alex Charbonneau Memorial, and over forty cars turned up.

The first of the nights features , was the 125 lap, ten grand to win race for the Modifieds.

Early leader was Samuel Charland, and as Tim Fuller closed in , we had some close side by side racing.

Also in the mix and possible contenders , were Steve Bernier, Erick Rudolph,  Mario Clair and Ryan Arbuthnot.

As the laps wound down , Felix Roy joined the front runners , and when the checkers fell,  it was him in front of Fuller.

Erick Rudolph joined the podium with a third place .

Next up was the Sportsman Feature.

This gave Bobby Herrington another big win.

The Pro Stocks Feature followed this.

Veteran driver Denis Gauvreau dominated this from start to finish and it was great to see him back in Victory Lane.

Denis told me afterwards, it was in 2009 at the now defunct Autodrome Edelweiss where he got his last win.

The evening ended with the Alex Charbonneau Memorial race for the Mini Stocks.

This was won by Christopher Cordeau.

The show was over by mid night, and not long after, it began to rain.

Well timed !  and a good call by the CMS management.

In Cornwall, it rained all day on Saturday and most of Sunday too.\

Meanwhile in Dundee NY on Saturday, the Outlaw Speedway got their Hoag Memorial race in the books and Mike Maresca got the win there.

In Middletown NY  , they battled with the bad weather all weekend but managed to conclude their show. The Eastern States races were won by , Matt Sheppard in the 358’s and Mat Williamson in the Big Blocks. 

On Sunday afternoon , I set off from home, bound for North Carolina. More about that in my next Blog.

Before I left home , I learned the sad news, that one of my local racing friends had passed away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

R.I.P Eugene Tarbell 

Eugene was a long time racer from Akwesasne , the father of Claudia (a former driver) , and Grandfather to Macy who currently drives a Mini Stock.

This was very sad news as I know the family well, and always enjoy a chat with them on Friday nights.