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Edelweiss, Lebanon Valley and Cornwall (10 to 12 Aug 2007)

094_94 (Medium)RICK @ the RACES ( 10/11/12 AUG 2007)

Fri Aug 10         Autodrome Edelweiss (Que)

Sat Aug 11        Lebanon Valley Speedway (NY)

Sun Aug 12       Cornwall Motor Speedway (Ont)

After two hectic weeks cram packed with racing, it was nice to take it a little easier this weekend by attending just three venues.

Friday, found me at my regular haunt up in the Gatineau Mountains, north of Ottawa for a regular night at Autodrome Edelweiss.

On arrival, I wandered the pits as normal, and the first thing that caught my eye was the World of Outlaws style Late Model of Peter Mantha.001_1 (Medium) Late Models are not one of the normal divisions here but the former, local Dirt Modified driver had brought it a long to show the fans and do a few hot laps.08122007b

The Modified feature got off to a really lively start !   003_3 (Medium) For a couple of laps Laurent Ladouceur and Dave Heaslip were engaged in a great side by side duel . Things were going OK until Eric Gauvreau decided to join the party . He tried the inside of Heaslip making it three wide, which just didn’t work !  as there wasn’t enough room !

As a result he rode the rough stuff, colliding with Heaslip and losing a wheel,  which bounced high into the mountains ( so if you ever see a moose wearing a Hoosier on his rack, you’ll  know the story ! )  .

This incident put Gauvreau and Heaslip out of contention, leaving Ladouceur the task of chasing his youngest son, Lee, who’d been leading for most of the race.

Father closed in on son with one lap to go and made the pass as they crossed the line, making  a great Victory Lane celebration for both of them.08122007c Just to complete the Ladouceur family domination, Joey the eldest son won the DIRT PROSTOCKS Feature.011_11 (Medium)

Saturday morning I met up with Jim Clarke, announcer at the Kawartha Speedway (Ont) and also a fellow media man who had traveled up from Belleville (Ont) .

I left my car at the Cornwall Motor Speedway and jumped into his for the trip down to the Lebanon Valley Speedway NY ( located between Albany NY and the Massachusetts State line)  for a round of the SUPERDIRT CAR SERIES.

I have to say, Lebanon Valley is one of my favorite Dirt tracks, and I love the place. My first visit there, was a few years back when NASCAR driver Tony Stewart was guest driving a Mod.

FLASHBACK to 2002 and Tony Stewart is interviewed at the 'Valley'
FLASHBACK to 2002 and Tony Stewart is interviewed at the ‘Valley’

I remember it well.. he was taken out by a back marker and as you might guess, wasn’t a happy man.

We got down there soon after 4-30pm , in good time for the nights racing and as usual a walk around the pits was my first port of call. The first person I bumped into was Mike Petrucci, the man behind the RACE PRO WEEKLY website .

Mike and Jim
Mike and Jim

He joined our pit tour , and introduced us to Heather O’Dell, who’s part of the LV management team who was their helping out Dirt official, Gary Spaid. 08122007e (Medium)

Mike from Connecticut is regular at the ‘Valley’ where his brother races a DIRT Sportsman. We were also joined for our walk about by my buddy Roger Aubin. 08122007d

For some reason a few of the major players on the SDS tour were missing and were racing elsewhere, namely Frank Cozze, Vic Coffey, Alan Johnson, Justin Haers and Matt Shepherd.

After the heat races , I went for another wander, and came across a group of lovely ladies, being judged for some kind of beauty competition, I’m not sure what it was about, but couldn’t resist taking some pics.046_46 (Medium) 084_84 (Medium)I then went up into the grandstand for a while, to chat with another friend. Dennis Back.045_45 (Medium)There was a great view up there.044_44 (Medium)

The absence of some of the top guys,  was made up ,  by the top locals such as Andy Bachetti, Kenny Tremont and Wayne Jelley. 032_32 (Medium)026_26 (Medium) 068_68 (Medium) 035_35 (Medium)

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Paul Gilardi # 87 was really impressive, holding his own against Billy Decker for a number of laps until he wrecked . As the two of them approached back markers Gilardi’s front left tire came into contact with Decker’s right rear , which catapulted him into the wall and out of the race. Mean while Brett Hearn who drew pole position scored a flag to flag Victory.093_93 (Medium)Joining Brett in Victory Lane were Jimmy Phelps and Billy Decker.098_98 (Medium)The Pro Stock winner was Jason Casey.079_79 (Medium)

Jim and I had met up with our friends Roger and Lisa Aubin, while we were there, and in preference to my usual overnight camping, we all booked into a motel in Albany.

On Sunday morning we were back on the road early , as I needed to be at the Cornwall Motor Speedway in good time for the evening show.

The sun was shining for most of the day, and that’s how it was when the racing got under way.

All the heats for, Rookies, Semi Pro’s , ProStox and Modifieds went by without a problem.

A Pro Stock heat win for my friend Gilles Godard
A Pro Stock heat win for my friend Gilles Godard

The first of the Features was for the Rookie Experts, and just as Mark Usereau took the checkers, the heavens opened and it poured with rain .

Once more a large black cloud had targeted the track, forcing a premature ending to the night. It’s double features next week.