RICK @ the RACES (15/16/17 JUNE 2007)

Fri 15 Jun .         Autodrome Edelweiss, Cantley, Quebec

Sat 16 Jun .        Sanair (Racing Circuit) , St Pie, Quebec,

Sat 16 Jun .      Frogtown International Speedway, Hogansburg, NY

Sun 17 Jun .      Cornwall Motor Speedway, Ont

Once again my weekend started with a trip to the Autodrome Edelweiss, and this time I avoided filling up at the gas station where I had problems with the previous week ! ( see RICK @ the RACES report 8/9/10 June).

There are three ‘do-able’ tracks for me on Friday nights, but Edelweiss is the nearest, so it’s usually my first choice. There are always plenty of friends there. This week we had double feature races, due to a rain postponement from June 1. It was a warm night and with a quick ‘turn round’ of events everything was over before the curfew. Joining me and regular photographer , Al Patrick , taking pictures was Isabelle Nault, girl friend of media guy Martin Belanger.

The features became a family affair, with the Gouvreau brothers, Eric and Denis winning the postponed Mod/ProStocks races and the Ladouceurs, (father Laurent and son Joey) , getting the other two.

It was an early start on Saturday, as I planned on visiting two different events.

Although, I don’t consider myself a serious “TRACKCHASER’, I still like to add new tracks to my ‘portfolio’ when ever I can, and the Sanair racing complex at St Pie in Quebec was my destination.

The facility is used for various types of racing, including Drags, Stock Cars and Circuit racing. There is also a Tri-Oval located on the opposite side of the road. On this particular occasion it was circuit racing I was there to see, ( or the Road Course as my North American friends would call it). The tracks configuration was made up of the drag strip and connecting stretches to the oval. The main event was for the ‘Coupe Toyota Pirelli’ ( the Pirelli Cup for Toyota Echo’s) with Touring Cars, GT’s and ‘German Challenge’ also on the program.

I arrived at 1-00pm , in time to see three races for the latter. By 3-00pm it was time to move on, and head to my next track, the Frogtown International Speedway, at Hogansburg NY for the evening show of DIRT Modifieds.

Sanair was number # 164 on my ‘TRACKCHASIN’ totals.

I had an interesting drive from St Pie to Frogtown, as it was a route I’d never taken before. From Montreal I went via Valleyfield then followed the South shore of the St Lawrence Seaway to Fort Covington where I crossed over into the USA.

This is a small frontier point, and after the ‘usual’ questions the border guard found it hard to grasp why someone from Ontario should want to travel from one racing event in Quebec to another in New York.

Once at Frogtown, I met up with my photographer, buddy Mike Watts who was busy ‘snapping’ on the infield. He decided on shooting from the front stretch, while I favored the first bend.

There was a good field of over twenty DIRT Modifieds with nearly as many Pro Stocks.

There were no major challengers for Kyle Jacobs in the Modified Feature where he scored a run a way victory and it was Clayton Benedict who took the Pro Stocks event.

It’s quite normal for Frogtown to put on a very quick show, and this night was no exception. The Pro Stox Feature was completed soon after 10-00pm , so I was out of the gates, and back home in Canada before 11-00pm.

The rest of my evening was spent, removing the dust from my system, .. supping a cold one ( or two) on my deck.

I was at the Cornwall Motor Speedway (Ont) early Sunday evening. It’s one of the few tracks that I visit regularly that always attracts good crowds, and on nights like this, when the Sprint Cars are in town the place becomes packed. The ESS Sprint group joined the regular divisions of DIRT Modifieds, ProStocks and Semi-Pro’s, with the ‘Rookies’ getting a ‘night off’. Brian McDonald, one of Cornwall’s local drivers did some ‘double duty’ by racing a Sprint and his 358 DIRT Mod. Following his sixth place in the Sprint Feature ( won by Jeff Van Dussen), McDonald jumped straight into his Mod, to take on ‘the Doctor’ . Yep, that’s right, Danny ‘the Doctor’ Johnson from Rochester NY was back at Cornwall again to grab his second consecutive feature. Early leader Lee Ladouceur put up a good fight, as did second placed McDonald, but as the laps diminished , Johnson became uncatchable.

The DIRT PRO STOCKS feature race was one of the best of the night, with the lead changing a couple of times on the final lap. The two way dog-fight ended with Louie Jackson crossing the line half a car length from Joey Ladouceur. Another slick presentation ensured a quick turn around, with the full program completed nicely before 11-00pm.