A SUPER DIRTCAR Win for Yankowski (18th August 2024 BLOG)
My last BLOG ended on the 11th of August , with a second consecutive Sunday night rain out at the Cornwall Motor Speedway.
Sadly this one ends the same way , when on Sunday the 18th of August , the Cornwall Motor Speedway suffered a third Sunday ‘rain out ‘ .
As for the preceding week, I had a busy one .
On Monday , Tuesday and Wednesday DIRTCAR had the SUMMER FAST taking place at three tracks in Central New York . Brewerton, Land of Legends (Canandaigua) and the Fulton Speedways.
They all featured Super DirtCar races for the Big Block Modifieds.
I had two hospital appointments right in the middle of these, so Land of Legends was out of the question.
My plan was to do Brewerton ,then return home for hospital on Tuesday morning. After Wednesdays appointment, I would drive straight down to Fulton.
Monday was a lovely day and with the sun-roof open, I set off mid morning in the Impala for a leisurely drive to Brewerton.
After stopping for gas and a coffee in Watertown, I checked my Face Book messages and it was then, I spotted a post saying Brewerton had been cancelled. Apparently , it had rained in the morning , and DirtCar decided to ‘pull the plug’.
So, I continued with my joy ride in the sun , back towards home.
In between my two hospital appointments , I managed to get an oil change done on the Impala.
Tuesday night , I packed it with my stuff, so that once I was finished at Wednesday’s appointment, I was ready to go.
I was done by 11-45 , and was crossing the border at Cornwall , just after mid day.
I had pre-booked a room at the Royal Inn at Pamela NY , so checked in there , on route to Fulton.
I arrived at the track as the pit gates opened , but preferred to snooze in the car for a bit before entering.
There were plenty of cars in attendance , for both the Super DirtCar race and an accompanying Sportsman Series race.
Once settled on the middle I put up my lawn chair, in the usual spot on turn three and four.
It was nice to meet up with my fellow togs, Duane Van Gelder and Alex Bruce.
Since the dawn of digital cameras and the increasing popularity of social media, we regularly see ‘young bucks’ with cameras popping up everywhere, but we are the ‘seniors section’ who can still remember buying rolls of film for our pictures.
It’s a great spot to shoot pictures , and I never venture far from there.
With the large amount of cars in attendance it meant consi’s for both Modifieds and Sportsman.
This made the time drag on a bit, as you’d expect.
After the long day I was having , a nice early finish would of been ideal for me.
I think it was around 10-00 pm the big race took the green.
The first half was dominated by Tim Sears , until a mechanical issue ended his night.
From this point forward , peoples attention focused on those that had been closely following .
Chris Hile had looked good right from the start and had been shadowing Sears at the time of his demise, so it was him who took over the lead.
At one time , veteran Danny Johnson was challenging , and I’m sure many fans , were hoping for a fairy tale result.
It wasn’t to be, and as the ‘Doctor’ dropped back, it was Matt Sheppard , Stewart Friesen and Adam Pierson that looked likely candidates, while rookie youngster Alex Yankowski was in the middle of them all .
With just a few laps remaining Yankowski got passed Hile, and from then onwards there was no stopping him.
He charged on to take the checkers, and pick up a historic win.
Hile continued the chase to the line, with Pierson completing the podium.
By the time Victory Lane pics were done, it was almost 11-00 pm.
So with more than an hours drive back to my hotel , I had to miss the Sportsman Series feature.
In my absence , this was won by one of my local Can Am regulars, Gavin Eisele.
After a good nights sleep , and with no rush to get to my next destination, I left the Royal Inn at about 10-30am.
I was staying over in New York State , and heading straight to the Airborne Park Speedway , in Plattsburgh.
I didn’t realize it , until after the event, but this was exactly 20 years ago to the day (15th of August 2004) that I made my first visit to Airborne.
It was paved in those days and the late Tom Curley was the promoter.
The Modified winner that day , was my good friend Mike Perrotte.
As mentioned , there was no point in me going back home , so took a slow drive to Plattsburgh.
I had plenty of time on my hands so , once in the area , I took a look at the Lakeside district, and on to the small town of Peru, just a few miles south of the speedway.
An additional advertising tool was located at the end of Broderick Rd, that leads to the track
I was parked up in time for a snooze , before the pit gates opened.
Before the races races got under way , I had a long chat in the pits with my friend , Vermont driver Justin Stone .
We talked about the previous nights races at Fulton , that we’d both attended , as well as many other subjects. Justin is one of the regular touring guys on the Super DirtCar Series and the previous night hadn’t been a good one for him.
I had a ‘gut feeling’ that he was going to do well tonight, and said to him “maybe I’ll see you later in Victory Lane” .
The show had all the regular divisions Modifieds, Sportsman , Renegades and Mini Stocks.
Apart from the Ministocks , there were no heat races.
After hot laps , the main divisions went straight in to, a couple of feature races a piece .
The first was for the Modifieds.
Well. guess who the winner was ?
It was Justin , who I’d been talking to earlier , and my hunch was correct.
I just had to ‘photo bomb’ Victory Lane , for the memory.
Also , what a great way for me to celebrate 20 Years of visiting the track.
The first of the Sportsman features was up next.
Fire Smoke was the winner of this one.
The Renegade feature then followed .
Tylor Terry was the winner.
After the intermission the Modifieds took to the track for their second feature .
After a good battle with Mike Mahaney , it was Felix Roy who took the checkers.
The second Sportsman feature then followed.
Winner of this one was young Evan Roberts
With only the second Renegade feature and some Mini Stocks races left to run , I made my exit and was back home in Cornwall by 11-45 pm.
I just want to reassure everyone that I’m feeling perfectly alright . L.O.L
I made the choice on Friday the 16th , to take a rare ‘night off’ from the races.
After an exhausting few weeks , I’d been neglecting the ‘old lady’ and chores around the house. I needed time to regroup . and get ready for some VIP visitors I’m expecting next week.
As for the ‘old lady’ , I took my 45 year old ‘bird’ out for a cruise around town that night. It’s car cruise night in Cornwall on Fridays.
Saturdays plan was to attend my local Mohawk International Raceway , but that event got cancelled due to wet weather, as did my other local track, the Brockville Ontario Speedway.
So I had another night at home.
Sundays forecast wasn’t good either, and I woke up to find out , that the Cornwall Motor Speedway had cancelled too.
The rain had stopped by mid afternoon so it was cruise time again.
The Volksfest Ontario event, that was taking part in Lamoureaux Park managed to survive the wet weather
Finally , I end this BLOG on a sad note.
R.I.P Scott Bloomquist
All of us in the Dirt Racing fraternity are in mourning , after learning on Friday, that Scott Bloomquist the Late Model Legend had passed away .
According to news reports. he lost his life in a small aircraft crash on his family property in Tennessee .
I’ve seen him race several times at major events over the years.
The first time I saw him in action was at the Rolling Wheels Raceway NY in 2005 , and more recently at the Dirt Track World Finals in Charlotte NC .
R.I.P Scott Bloomquist