RICK @ the RACES (3-10 JULY 2007)

Tues 3 July     Rolling Wheels NY . SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES

Sat 7 July      Frogtown Int Speedway NY

Sun  8 July    Cornwall Motor Speedway Ont SUPER DIRT CAR SERIES

Tues 10 July   Brockville Ont Speedway Ont SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES

This time last year, I took a break from doing these RICK @ the RACES reports when the media work that I do increased as the racing season got busier.

During July and August there are so many events to attend, it’s difficult to find the time to sit behind the computer and get something put  down.

My “Retro” reports which started as a winter project , have suffered, and I’m getting a bit behind. I’m still hoping to get these weekly reports out if possible but they may come out later than normal.

If things had gone to plan this week,  I would of had six tracks to report on, but work commitments and ‘Mother Nature’ put a stop to that.

On Tuesday July 3, I took a day off work and traveled down to the Rolling Wheels Speedway at Elbridge NY for a staging of the SUPER DIRT CAR SERIES.

The weather was kind and it was a nice comfortable night to watch the program which consisted of Big Block DIRT Modifieds, Mod Lites, Sprint Cars and Antique Stock Cars.

The top billing Mods had two 50 lap feature races which were won by Brett Hearn and Gary Tomkins respectively. I found these races OK, but not the most exciting SDS races I’ve ever seen. For me the best racing of the night came from the Antique Stock Cars, with eventual winner, Shirley Morden and Gordy Woods providing side by side action for most of the race.

On Friday, (July 6) , the Ransomville SDS race ( 6 hour drive) was out of the question, as I had to work, so my plan was to attend Thunder Alley (Evans Mills NY) for a ‘big bucks’ Dirt Mod show which was only two hours from home.

It rained all day where I was working in Montreal and the forecast for most of the North east was much the same. Therefore when asked to work later than normal, and to grab a few extra bucks, I willing obliged. As I expected, Thunder Alley got ‘rained out’, but was surprised to find out later, Autodrome Edelweiss ( which was my second choice) survived.

With bad weather predicted for most of the weekend, I opted to do a Saturday morning work shift and try for my local Frogtown Int Speedway NY in the evening.

The headlining event of the night was a Mowhawk Racing Parts series race for DIRT ProStox but also included 358 Mods and the other divisions.

Everything was going fine, Joey Ladouceur won the ProStox Feature, and the Mods came out for theirs. Just one lap into it , the rain started, and within minutes the night was over..

Another night bites the dust, but at least we saw a good ProStox feature where second placed, Giles Godard made Ladouceur work hard for his victory.

It rained for most of the night, and things didn’t look good for Sundays SUPER DIRTCAR Series race at the nearby Cornwall Motor Speedway. I got there early and sure enough, with the wet grounds and pits and more rain in the forecast, the plug was pulled.

This was the start of the Canadian section of the SDS tour, and Autodrome Drummond was scheduled for Monday night. The wet weather continued, and as you might have guessed the Drummond fixture went the same way as Cornwall.

Thankfully for all the disappointed race fans negotiations between both tracks and DIRTCAR officials took place to reschedule the races for another double-header on Sun 22 & Mon 23 July . This is great news and what makes it an even better is boost , will be the Airborne Speedway (Plattsburg NY) the following day (Tues 24 July)

On that day the DIRT Mods are due to make an appearance at the Mike Perotte promoted paved track. With so many of the top US race teams in the area for the Cornwall/Drummond races, and Airborne being conveniently on the way home, it should ensure a good field of cars.

With both Cornwall and Drummond postponed from the three consecutive Canadian SDS races, all hopes were on Tuesdays (July 10) show at the Brockville Ontario Speedway. The weather forecast looked good and an early finish from work enabled me to be there nice and early, to see what turned out to be a classic race.

Local hero Pat O’Brien upset the ‘form card’ by coming home first in front Tim Fuller , Billy Decker and the rest of the sports elite. O’Brien from nearby Kingston (Ont) in his 730 Truckstop/ Gypsum Logistics backed Bicknell had been challenging Fuller, pole-sitter and leader, for most of the 100 lap race. As the two of them came up on lower placed cars, Frank Cozze fought hard not to be lapped, Pat tried to get passed on one side while Tim took the other. It was a gamble for both them, but it was the local man who got lucky, passing them both and charging ahead on the remaining eleven laps to take the checkers in front of an ecstatic partisan crowd.