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CAN AM, Cornwall, and Granby (18 to 21 Aug 2007)

08212007nRICK @ the RACES (18/19/21 Aug)

Sat 18 Aug       Can Am Speedway (SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES)

Sun 19  Aug       Cornwall Motor Speedway

Tues 21 Aug      Autodrome Granby (358 SUPER DIRT SERIES)

I had to work late on Friday, so all hopes of getting way early to go the racing at Edelweiss were lost.

When finished work in Cornwall at around 7-00 pm it was raining and by the time I got home and checked my e-mail, I’d already had a message from Martin Belanger,  the Edelweiss press officer, saying that the races had been called off due to wet weather. It’s never a good thing for me to miss out on racing, but if I look on the bright side, I made a few bucks extra, by working late, and saved a few more by escaping a wasted journey.

On Saturday I was back on the trail of the SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES with a visit to the Can Am Speedway at Lafargeville NY.

Instead of the normal 100 lap Feature, the event was split into two 50 lap races. I personally don’t like this idea, because at the end of the night you end up with two winners. I think it’s far better to have just one ‘big race’ and one ‘big winner’.

08212007c 08212007d

While I was making my pre-race tour of the pits I bumped into Alan Brown of Comstock Park, Michigan. I’ve known Alan for few years now as an internet friend,  through our mutual hobby of TRACKCHASING , but this was the first time we’d met, face to face.

He`s one of the select few TRACKCHASER’s that have visited over 1000 different tracks and is the publisher of the NATIONAL SPEEDWAY DIRECTORY, the ‘must have’ reference book for anyone interested in broadening their racing activities. www.speedwaysonline.com08212007a 08212007bI introduced him to Doug Elkins, a personality around the North Eastern tracks, who’s responsible for www.dougsdirtdiary.com  Doug pulled out his bulging wallet and bought a copy.

Not only is Alan a TRACKCHASER, but he’s also a knowledgeable historian and I was surprised to learn how much he knew about UK stock car racing .

He was familiar with many of my old haunts, Coventry Stadium, Sheffield Stadium, the Brands Hatch Circuit, and he even knew who Stuart Smith and Frankie Wainman are !

Very commendable , I doubt if there are many North American race fans who would be able to answer that. We spent most of the evening chatting.

Top in time trials was Tim Fuller, who went on to take a virtually unchallenged win in the first of the two Series races. 08212007eThe only real competition came from Billy Dunn who moved up, and even managed to edge past for a brief stage just before half way.08212007fThe second of the two features , provided a long overdue Series win for Steve Paine, who fought of a late challenge from Billy Decker.08212007g

There was an earlier than normal start to Sundays racing at the Cornwall Motor Speedway in order to get in the marathon session of racing that was programmed .

Following last week’s disruption by rain, it meant double features for every division except Rookie Experts and the visiting ESS Sprint Cars.

A large crowd assembled to witness this great feast of action. While walking in the pits, I chatted to Kayle Robidoux who was driving his Sprint Car and asked him if he’d brought along his Modified too.

He told me that with the forthcoming 100 lapper at Autodrome Drummond for the 358 SUPER DIRT SERIES coming up the following night, he would only be using his Sprint. I’m glad Kayle reminded me, because with so much going on, the two back to back SDS races at Drummond and Granby had slipped my mind

The postponed Modified feature provided a first ever Cornwall win for Lance Willix from Theresa NY, who really looked impressive. 08212007i

In the regular nights feature Pierre Dagenais chalked up another Cornwall victory.

08212007kThe Sprint car feature was won by Jeff Van Dussen with Quebecs Alain Bergeron taking the ‘Dash for Cash’. 08212007hMaking a guest appearance behind the mike for the sprints was Adam Ross ( of www.dirttrackdigest.com fame) , who’d dropped in on his way home from his announcing duties at Trois Riviers for the NASCAR CANADIAN TIRE SERIES.

The headline event of the night was for DIRT ProStox with the 50 lap finale of the Mowhawk Race Parts Series. The race, and the Series was won by PJ Peters of Akwesasne.08212007j

After Kayle had reminded me about the 358 SDS races at Drummond and Granby, I had to figure out if I could attend them or not.

After taking into account,  my recent midweek visits to Drummond where the 100 lappers have started late, I decided to give Monday’s races a miss. They put on a great show at Drummond with fireworks, loud music and sirens, but starting a big midweek race at around 10-45 pm doesn’t work good for me. Brett Hearn won this one in my absence.

An early finish at work on Tuesday enabled me to drive the two hours up to Granby. This is the track where I saw my first ever SUPER DIRT CAR Series race back in 1997 and if I remember correctly , Steve Paine was the winner that night.

One of the first drivers I bumped into was my buddy, Fransisco Perera, who has to be the only Portuguese driver in the world of DIRT Modified racing.08212007l I first met Fransisco at one of the lively parties at the Infield Bar, Syracuse during SUPER DIRT WEEK a few years back, and we always have a good chat when we meet up. He’d been at Drummond the night before and told me he was going to follow all of the 2007 tour. Fransisco of Etobicoke (Toronto) also let me know that, in the next year or so when his daughter finishes school he intends to return to the Lisbon area of Portugal . He’s bought some land and his intentions are to going back in to olive farming.

I also bumped into another person I know in the pits, “Racing Russ” of Port Jervis , New Jersey. Russ , is a well-known character around the North Eastern Dirt tracks and is easily recognized by the bundle of papers he always carries under his arm.08212007m He doesn’t own a computer, and the paperwork he carries is massive file of racing facts and figures. You could ask him a question about who won this or that, and I’m sure he’d come up with the answer. He’s a great lover of the French Canadian delicacy of ‘poutine’ and when he’s up in Canada, he buys up plenty.

For the benefit of my UK readers, ‘Poutine’ is … Chips ( french fries) covered in cheese curds and hot gravy. I hear you all gagging !  ,  but really it’s delicious !

I watched the 100 lap feature with Russ, high up in the Granby stands and it turned out to be a classic race.

The first leader was Vermont’s Vince Quenville, but he pulled off after only four laps to give the lead to Mario Clair. Clair then lost the lead to Real Lafrance who in turn lost it to Kayle Robidoux. In the meantime, Brett Hearn was delayed while pitting for tires and Danny Johnson pulled off when his engine went up in smoke.

Pete Bicknell looked good but could not make any progress against the Quebec express train of Robidoux and Alain Boisvert. Robidoux held the lead from lap 15 until 80 when Boisvert edged past. For the last 20 laps there were four quebec drivers at the front and it could have been anyones race, as Robidoux and Boisvert were joined by Yan Bussiere and David Hebert.

By lap 88 Robidoux was back in the lead, which is where he stayed until the checkers. It was a truly great race and as you can imagine the partisan crowd were going wild, as they witnessed what I believe was the first ever 358 SUPERDIRT SERIES win by a Quebecer. It was great to see Kayle in victory lane, especially as it was him that reminded me to be there.. I was one of the first to shake his hands and congratulate him.08212007n