RICK @ the RACES   (7/8 August 2009)

7 Aug                Mohawk Int Raceway (Hogansburg NY)

8 Aug                Capital City Speedway (Ottawa Ont)

This weeks report is shorter than normal as Mother Nature once more cut short my planned agenda. More wet weather on Sunday caused the Cornwall Motor Speedways LUCAS OIL CANADIAN DIRT SERIES race that was postponed from last week to be re-scheduled yet again. It will now take place on August 30.

This Friday night I decided to stay local and my destination was the Mohawk International Raceway , just a five minute drive from the Canadian / USA border at Cornwall, where there was a good turn out of 358 DIRT Modifieds as well as Pro Stocks.

In the Modified division it was Carey Terrance who took the checkers where as in the Pro Stocks there was a first time win for Harvey Arquette Jr .

There were no big NASCAR ‘Sprint Cup’ names in attendance this week !

On Saturday, instead of my usual diet of DIRT racing I attended the LUCAS OIL SPORTSMAN CUP race at the paved Capital City Speedway in Ottawa. Wednesday night is the normal race night for the CCS but on a handful of occasions each year they have ‘Saturday Specials’

I must admit, that with my personal preference being for DIRT racing, I know very little about these SPORTSMAN CUP Late Models. Their title is a bit of confusing too, as most of people I know associate the term of SPORTSMAN with a low budget DIRT MODIFIED.

Well I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised, they put on a great show in front of a large crowd ( the best I’ve seen at the CCS for a long time)

They were very quick, handled well and were obviously talented drivers who made the two 50 lap main events a pleasure to watch . These guys, like the ACT Series cars definitely earn more points in my books when compared to the over-rated and more publicized NASCAR CANADIAN TIRE SERIES. I find them more entertaining.

Both 50 Lap features were dominated by the father and son, Steve and Matt Roblee of Dorchester, Ontario. Father Steve # 20 took the first one with son Matt # 27 taking the second. The other divisions put on a good show too, and it was great to see long time tryer, Kyle Baker get a win in the mini stocks class.

As mentioned at the start of the report , my Sunday night racing was canceled once more when the Cornwall Motor Speedway lost yet another race night to rain.