RICK @ THE RACES (28/29 Mar 2009)
Sat 28 Mar       Frontenac Mall Car Show, Kingston, On

Sat 28 Mar      Brockville Ontario Speedway Banquet & Awards
My original plans for the final weekend in March (28/29) was to attend the ADVANCE AUTO PARTS SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES at the Hagerstown Speedway , Maryland on Saturday and the Big Diamond Speedway ( Minersville) Pennsylvania on Sunday.

For a number of reasons around midweek, I changed my mind, and decided against the ten hour trip… and I’m glad I did !  Yet again the big Hagerstown event succumbed to wet weather, along with the big Diamond show the next day.

In the past I’ve made four attempts at seeing that race, and I’ve only been lucky once. ( on my first visit in 2002, when Gary Tomkins won). Shame, because Hagerstown is a superb track.

I decided to stay local and on Saturday 28, attended two events.

In the afternoon I visited the Frontenac Mall Race Car Show in Kingston, Ontario.

Around 30 cars packed the shopping mall, located in the west of the city, where there was plenty to see. Both local Speedways, Brighton and Brockville were well represented as well as display of dragsters and street rods .

I met up with 358 Modified driver Todd Stewart and current Sportsman SUPER DIRT SERIES champion Chris Raabe who’s cars were on display.

Both gave me news about there forthcoming racing season.

Causing much interest were the two 358 Mods of the O’Brien brothers. Danny’s # 7 Global Warranty backed car and kid brother Tim’s new ride in the # 88 Jim’s Performance Plus.

After the Mall Show I left Kingston and got back on HWY 401 in the direction of Brockville.

It was the Brockville Ontario Speedway’s annual banquet and award night at CJ’s ( a function hall). I was there to capture the champions and their trophy’s .

They were, Bob Botting (Vintage) Josh Kane (Rookie) Steve Billings (Street Stock) Chris Raabe (Sportsman) Danny O’Brien (358 Modified).

Sunday was once again spent at home, watching the NASCAR SPRINT CUP race on TV. Jimmie Johnson # 48 took the honors at Martinsville , Virginia after nudging past long time leader Denny Hamlyn #11 in the closing stages.

Meanwhile, in Australia congrats to Jensen Button, on winning the Australian Grand Prix. According to the TV report, it was the 200th F1 Grand Prix win by a British driver.

OTHER STUFF

Recently we’ve had three more additions to the www.rickattheraces.com guest book all from the UK. First came from my long-time friend Lynn Longden from Hampshire. She’s no stranger to the race tracks, as teenagers she joined me on visits to the Coventry and Brafield tracks and as recently as 2007 accompanied me to SUPER DIRT WEEK. Next entry came from Martin Budgell in Milton Keynes. Martin and I both attended the Millvale School in Dunstable and when I started racing helped out in the pits on many occasions. Finally, the wonders of the internet have put me back in touch with another old friend. John Penny from Yeovil in Somerset was another of the ‘super fans’ that followed the sport of stock car racing all over the UK during the 1970’s. John told me that his record was in 1975 when he managed to attend 96 race meetings.