RICK @ the RACES      22/23/24/ June 2007

Fri June 22        Autodrome Granby, Que

Sat June 23       Maxville Fairgrounds, Ont

Sun June 24     Cornwall Motor Speedway, Ont

Just for a change of scenery, I chose Autodrome Granby for this weeks Friday night racing. I finished work in Cornwall around 3-00pm and thought I’d take a leisurely drive to the track I don’t get to very often.

I’d forgotten it was the start of the “Jean Baptiste” weekend , a big public holiday for Quebecers, so the traffic coming out of Montreal was busier than normal.

Even so, I still got there in plenty of time. There was a good turnout of cars, which included about twenty Mods, about the same for DIRT SPORTSMAN and plenty from the Streetstocks Divisions. I met up with track photographer Sylvain Buisson and spent most of the night with him taking photos from the center. Rain had been mentioned in the forecast and sure enough, a brief shower occurred during the second Modified heat. After a short break of about fifteen minutes, racing was resumed and by the time Yan Bussiere won the 358 Modified Feature it was getting dusty ! Fans were also treated to ‘sneek preview’ of three World of Outlaw Late Models, getting some Canadian track time, prior to their Series race at Autodrome Drummond the following night.
My original plans for Saturday were to visit, the Genesee Speedway NY, (which would have been a new track for me) for their staging of the LUCAS OILS Modified Series.

I later found out that in my home town of Maxville, Ontario,  a ‘Figure Eight’ race was going to be held that night, as an opener for the Demo Derby at the annual Fair.

According to “TRACKCHASER” rules these are countable races, even though I personally don’t normally attend this kind of event. I then had the dilemma of whether to ‘grab’ a new track ( albeit ‘junk racing’) within walking distance of my house, or go to a quality event of my liking some five hours away . The decision was made easy for me, when the company I work for, called for a safety meeting on that day. It was mandatory for me to attend, so Maxville Fairgounds became my destination.

Back in the 1970’s , I was racing BriSCA F1 and F2 stockcars in the UK and had yet to move to Canada, but at that time Maxville Fairgrounds had a speedway.

Since after living in the town, I’ve learned a little more about the track. Apparently it was run by a guy called Pat Hutt, who also promoted at the old Fort Covington NY track. From what I understand racing ceased after a couple of serious accidents. In present times, part of the old track is now used for the annual Highland Games, which is supposedly the largest Scottish gathering in North America.

This was the first time in all my years of racing , I’ve been able to walk from home to a race track. I was there early and met up with long distance TRACKCHASER’s , Guy and Pam Smith from Effort, (in the Pocono area) of Pennsylvania, Rick Schneider of Bay Shore NY and PJ Hollerbrand of Webster NY. The race we had all come to see was a pretty tame affair consisting of three 4 cylinder cars competing on a small Figure Eight course enclosed by concrete blocks. It was a lot different to the chaotic thirty-plus ‘Figure 8 Banger Races’ I witnessed at the Brafield Stadium , Northamptonshire (UK) in the 1960’s.

Regardless of it’s mediocre nature, the Maxville Fairgrounds ‘Figure Eight’, was enough to be ‘countable’ and we all came away with new track added to our lists. Winner of this ‘historic’ event was Kyle Weeger from Morrisburg Ont.

MAXVILLE FAIRGROUNDS FIGURE 8 became my track # 165

On Sunday I was back to the Cornwall Motor Speedway (Ont) where another packed house witnessed a regular show of 358 DIRT Modifieds, DIRT ProStox , Semi Pro’s and Rookies. Making his debut this season in the Rookies, is Gage Morin, promotor Ron’s grandson, and already he has showed great ability, by winning his heat.  Like Autodrome Granby, on Friday night, we had a short shower of rain, during the intermission, but caused no delay to the racing. The Modified Feature was won by Pierre Dagenais after wresting the lead from Lee Ladouceur just before the half way point. Current points leader, Danny Johnson had to be content with tenth spot after being forced to make a pit stop following a ‘coming together’ with Mark Hitchcock. The best two races of the night were the DIRT ProStox and Semi Pro features which were both decided on the finish line. With the ProStox it was a three car race to the flag, with Joey Ladouceur getting the better of Gilles Godard and Ghislain Valade when it mattered. In the Semi Pro’s, Derek Cryderman and Stuart Mullen raced the complete final lap, side by side, Cryderman on the top groove, Mullin on the bottom, but as they went for the flag it was the high rider who took the honors, by half the length of his hood ( bonnet for my UK readers). There’s been great racing and good crowds at Cornwall this year, and no doubt everyone is looking forward to the “BIG ONE” on July 8 when the ADVANCE AUTO PARTS , SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES for Big Block Modifieds comes to town.