RICK @ the RACES (10 to 13 Jan 2010)

10 Jan     St Guillaume Que   Ice Racing

13 Jan   Capital City Speedway ‘info meeting’ , Nepean , Ont

My original intentions for last weekend were to attend the season opener at the Beauharnois ice racing track in Quebec, but conditions caused a postponement . Instead, I decided to travel further north to St Guillaume on Sunday 10 Jan for their first event of the year. Unlike, Beauharnois where they race on the frozen water of the St Lawrence, St Guillaume is a normal land based speedway covered in ice. It is located south west of Drummondville, and I usually try to get there once a year.

I arrived early and it was really cold ( I’m guessing it was at least minus 20) so until the races got started I sat in the warmth of my car. I passed the time chatting to Lisa Lamarche, one of the track officials I met last year.

The first race car to catch my eye was a rare Peugeot # 28 and was told by Lisa that it belonged to track boss Jean Noel Julien, who she later introduced me to.

There were about 40 cars in attendance, making up 4 divisions. Once the racing got under way I stationed my self in the center on one of the photographer platforms to snap some of the action. After an hour of standing out in the frigid conditions my fingers and toes were starting to go numb, so after seeing the first set of heats, I made my exit.

Normally my weekly report would end here, but this week I have purposely delayed the release, to cover a meeting I attended in Ottawa on Wednesday 13 Jan.

Since Arnie Malcolm’s departure as the promoter at the Capital City Speedway, it has left many race fans and drivers wondering what the future held for the track. I attended this meeting to find out the scoop. It was held at the business premises of the Drummond family who own the track.

Freezing rain and treacherous road conditions didn’t prevent a good turnout of race drivers and other interested parties turning up at the Wednesday night gathering in Nepean. The meeting was opened by Russell Drummond who announced that for 2010 his family would be running the track and had appointed Jeremy Coulter as the marketing manager. This would be the arrangements for the first year, with Jeremy taking over in 2011.

Before passing it over to Jeremy to take the floor and answer questions, Russell told the assembly of his intentions. Their aim is to concentrate on the weekly divisions and build on this asset. Race nights would revert back to the traditional Wednesday’s only, without any deviations for Fridays or Saturdays. The track will be be repaved with new asphalt in the Spring , but the ACT Late Model Series would be missing from this years schedule.

Everything I heard, sounded good and things look positive for the coming season.