RICK @ the RACES ( 11 to 16 Aug 2009)

11 Aug         Penn Cann Speedway , Susquehanna, PA

14  Aug        Mohawk Int Raceway, Hogansburg , NY

15  Aug         Brockville Ontario Speedway

16  Aug  Cornwall Motor Speedway (Ont)

This weeks report starts on Tuesday Aug 11 when I joined my friend Erin Joyce for a trip down to the Penn Cann Speedway in Pennsylvania.

Erin lives in Quebec, near to the Autodrome Edelweiss, so we’d arranged to meet up at the 730 Truck Stop at Cardinal (Ont) on Hwy 401. After parking my car in the overnight section we headed south via the Johnstown/Ogdensburg border crossing in her immaculate white 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer. The long drive down, gave me a chance to catch up on her latest racing exploits.

After a couple of years competing in the Legend division at Ottawa’s Capital City Speedway followed by a brief spell in a Dirt Sportsman ,

she’s recently embarked on a career in Sprint Cars with the Southern Ontario Sprints.

On Saturday (8 Aug) she had her second race at the Brighton Speedway (Ont) and was able to give me an insight into how things went. Unfortunately a spin out into the infamous creek, caused an engine miss fire which persisted throughout the night. The problem is thought to have come from a damaged fuel-cel following the spin. She hopes to have it fully sorted for her next appearance.

After stopping off at Tully’s in North Syracuse for lunch we arrived down at the Penn Can Speedway around 4-0opm for this special midweek ROC Dirt Modified Series event. 

This was a new track for both of us and we had plenty of time to explore and shoot the breeze with other racing folk.

We had a good chat to another early arrival, SPORTSMAN driver Johnny Scarborough from , Bomoseen ,Vermont. He recalled the days he was a regular visitor to my local Cornwall Motor Speedway long before I moved to Canada.  It was his first time visit to Penn Can too.

It wasn’t long before we met up with two of my photographer buddies, Jay Fish from Baldwinsville NY and Jim Young of Easton , PA. Also another media buddy of mine Doug Elkins of www.dougsdirtdiary.com  was in the pits doing interviews.

With this being a midweek event, there were many familiar faces from the SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES taking part, Brett Hearn was there in his own car where as Jimmy Phelps, Danny Johnson and Matt Shepherd were in loaned cars. The ROC modifieds differ slightly to the DIRTCAR variety by running with sail panels.

It was also good to see Niagara on the Lake , Ontario driver Stewart Friesen in action again. These days he does most of his racing in NY and PA.

Hearn looked good in the first half of the 75 lap big event but following a return to the pits it put him at the back of the field. Local experts Mike Colsten, Jeff Rudalavage and Mike Gular then took control giving race fans a great three way battle up at the front. As they all started the final lap Gular looked like he’d got it in the bag, until he ran out of gas.

At the same time, Rudalavage who’d been running third managed to edge past Colsten for the remaining run up to the checkers. It was great racing !

With a long journey ahead of us, we didn’t stay for the SPORTSMAN feature, the evenings final event , and instead we were soon heading back up Interstate 81 in Erin’s  ‘not so white’, dust covered Mitsubishi . After a couple of quick coffee stops and an encounter with a Canada Customs officer with severe ‘attitude’ problems we were back at the 730 Truck Stop by 3-00am. I don’t think he was impressed when he opened the trunk and got his hands covered in  race track dust !

THE PENN CAN SPEEDWAY was # 177 on my TRACKCHASING Totals

My racing plans for Wednesday were ruined by the poor customer service offered by my sympatico internet provider. As you are aware I’ve recently relocated from Long Sault to Cornwall (Ont) and this was the day I’d arranged for the internet technician to come and set up my hi-speed service. I was not given a definite time , just told he would arrive some time between 8-00am in the morning and 5-00pm in the afternoon.

Wow ! Isn’t that great , a communications company can’t even ‘communicate’ with their own staff to give customers a better ‘time’ window. Don’t you just hate that kind of treatment ? It meant I couldn’t leave the house until he arrived. Eventually at about 4-30pm I received a phone call from the technician saying he was running late and wouldn’t get to me until after 5-00pm. Once he did get to me, it was almost 7-00pm before he’d finished the installation, and by then it was too late to get to Ottawa’s Capital City Speedway.

A  7-00pm  finish at work on Friday meant a quick dash across the border to the Mohawk Int Raceway at Hogansburg NY. On arrival , the place was packed and I had to park my car some distance from the gate.

There was a full program of regular divisions plus the visiting ESS Sprint Cars.

One of the first people I bumped into was my TRACKCHASING friend Alan Brown from Comstock Park , Michigan. Alan is the publisher of the National Speedway Directory, the ‘must have’ book for anyone interested in visiting different race tracks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is updated every year and I was able to pick up my 2009 edition from the man himself.
I took photos from the center for the first part of the evening then settled in the grandstand to watch the Features.

Steve Poirier won the ESS Sprint race and Carey Terrance took the Modified checkers.

After a long day at work followed by the dash to the races I was quite tired so decided to miss the Pro Stock Feature, which was won by Louie Jackson.

The next day, I was off to the regular Saturday night show at the Brockville Ontario Speedway. As a special attraction  the touring ONTARIO DIRT LATE MODELS based in the south west of the province were paying a visit. These are organized by a lady called Debbie Brush who I had the pleasure of meeting two years ago at the Motor Sports Expo in Toronto. At the time we discussed the idea of her guys touring the tracks in my area and this weekend her dream came true. On Friday night (14 Aug) they were at the Autodrome Edelweiss in Quebec, Saturday at Brockville and Sunday at the Cornwall Motor Speedway.

At Brockville Mike Knight took the Late Model honors,

Danny O’Brien the Modified and Chris Herbison the SPORTSMAN.

While I was at Brockville, I met up with fellow media guy, Picton , Ontario’s, Dale Calnan of www.imagefactor.ca . He had been at the Brighton Speedway the previous week and agreed to forward me the photo used , regarding Penn Cann of Erin Joyce in action. .

I was also able to catch up with Tabatha Murphy for a chat. She is the DIRT SPORTSMAN driver that runs with www.rickattheraces.com on the side.

Also in action at the B.O.S were the Vintage Mods

After three weeks of rain Mother Nature provided Cornwall Motor Speedway  fans with a blisteringly hot day for Sunday’s final night of the ODLM tour.

This time it was Greg Oakes who took the Late Model checkers, his second of the weekend, after a victorious opening night drive at Edelweiss.

As well as the domestic divisions of Rookie’s and Semi Pro’s the regular headliners of 358 Dirt Modifieds and Pro Stocks were on the bill. I’m pleased to say that during the Modified heats we got to see Dave Heaslip take a long awaited win. It’s been a while, as the car he’s had for the last couple of years just hasn’t ‘delivered the goods’ and this was the first time I’ve seen him take win with it.

Two other good friends were in Victory Lane later that night, Joel Doiron won the Modified Feature and Joey Ladouceur the Pro Stocks.