admin | Rick at the Races

RICK @ the RACES ( 10 -16 June 2009)

12 June Autodrome Granby ( Quebec)

13 June Capital City Speedway , (Ottawa, Ont)

14 June Cornwall Motor Speedway, (Ont)

Phew ! the last seven days have been somewhat hectic for yours truly and things on my agenda don’t show any sign of slowing up.

Last Wednesday, it was time to take Mum and Dad back to Montreal Airport for their return flight to the UK. ( They’d been visiting me on a short vacation). That same evening, a practice session had been arranged at the Mohawk International Raceway at Hogansburg NY, so I made plans to go there after Montreal.

Now, for anyone who is unaware, Hogansburg is located just across the St Lawrence Seaway Bridge from Cornwall, Ontario, and for over two weeks now, the border crossing has been closed. The issue has been caused by a Canadian government decision to arm the border guards. This particular frontier happens to be on Mohawk land and the natives are not happy about armed guards being stationed there. After Mohawk protests, the powers that be decided to close the Canadian customs point. As I prepare this report the government have still not acted to solve the situation, while local businesses both sides of the border are suffering.

With the bridge being closed , from Montreal , I used the Dundee / Fort Covington ( via Vallyfield , Quebec) crossing to enter New York State. Once I was on US soil I met up with my buddy Mike Watts (MIR track photographer) who informed me that the nights practice had been canceled due to wet grounds. So it turned out to be a wasted journey and in order to get back to Long Sault (Ont) another one hour detour by the way of the Ogdensburg/Johnstown border crossing had to be made.

It was then back to work until Friday, where a 4-00pm finish allowed me to go racing. My original intention, if done early was to visit the MIR, but with all the bridge closure B/S that I experienced in the week, I decided to go elsewhere.

I basically had three other choices, Autodrome Edelweiss, Autodrome Granby or the Can Am Speedway at Lafagreville NY.

There were no Modifieds running at Edelweiss due to an ESS Sprint Car show, so that narrowed it down to two. I’ve been to Can Am plenty of times , so Granby, Quebec became my destination. On Fridays, I always have my camera gear and spare clothes in the car, in readiness for an early finish, so was able to head straight there. On arrival I found a pits full of 358 Dirt Modifieds ( 27 ) and Sportsman, the sun was shining and it was a great night for racing.

It was good to catch up with my good friend Stephane Lafrance, who has been ‘hired gun’ at Granby on Friday nights in the # 2 Castrol sponsored car.

David Hebert took the checkers in the Modified feature.

When you’ve been watching oval racing for over forty years like I have, it’s rare to see something different but I did just that at Granby. An event added to the program was a special MIRA charity race ( Guide Dogs for the blind) which consisted of blind and partially sighted drivers .

They drove small 4 cylinder compact cars and were accompanied by a co-pilot to give directions. The crash helmet of each driver was covered over with duck tape , I was told, so the partially sighted wouldn’t have an advantage. Over 30 cars took to the track for this years ten lap ‘DEFI VISION’ fund raiser. The speeds were understandably slow but there were lots of fender benders and collisions to keep the crowd amused. It was a great joy to see the beams of happiness on the drivers faces after their thrilling ordeal. It gave a lot of enjoyment to a lot of people. Winners were Benoit Pellerin (driver) and Fabien Fontaine (co-pilot)

Although Dirt racing is my preference, I like to take in a few big paved events each year. I wasn’t very impressed with the NASCAR CANADIAN TIRE SERIES race that I witnessed at Autodrome St Eustache a few weeks back ( 250 laps are just too much ) , but the ACT Series continues to ‘deliver the goods’ and give entertaining racing.

This past Saturday, after attending a mandatory safety meeting at work, followed by an appointment with a real estate guy to put an offer on a new home, I was at the Capital City Speedway, in Ottawa by mid afternoon for the Toromont Cat 100.

This was part of the CASTROL ACT Late Model Tour.

Over 30 cars competed and with a sensible 100 laps it made for some good racing.

One other thing that I like about the ACT Series is they are not over anxious to throw out the yellow caution flag. If a car spins out and it’s not in a dangerous position, they carry on, until either it rejoins the race or the situation requires it.

Local man Sean Kennedy # 14 took the honors, with Patrick Laperle # 91 ( St Denis, Quebec) second and long distance traveler Jonnathan Urlin # 4 ( London , Ontario) in third. It was the best race I’ve ever seen at the Capital City Speedway.

The regular CCS divisions supported the program with some excellent racing.

On Sunday , at last Mother Nature was kind to the Cornwall Motor Speedway (Ont) after two consecutive weeks of rain outs. There was plenty of action in all the divisions.

The headline division on this regular race night were the 358 Dirt Modifieds and it was Alain Boisvert # 73 of Dorval (Que) who fought off Joel Doiron # 40 ( Alexandria , Ont) and Perry Francis # 55 ( Akwesasne NY ) to take the checkers.