RICK @ the RACES   9/11/12 May 2007

Wed 9 May   Capital City Speedway (Stittsville, Ont)

Fri 11  May  Autodrome Edelweiss (Cantley, Que)

Sat 12 May  Frogtown Int Speedway (Hogansburg NY)

After last weeks marathon “Tri-State” tour to Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York, I decided to stay local for my latest piece of the action and in fact , that’s the way it will probably be for most of the summer months.

This Wednesday the paved Capital City Speedway at Stittsville, near to Ottawa had it’s opener, with the DIRT sanctioned Autodrome Edelweiss, located up in the Gatineau Mountains, across the Ottawa River (in Cantley, Quebec) having theirs on Friday.

Capital City had a good turn out of cars, which included Late Models, Thunder Cars, Mini Stocks, Legends, and ‘4 for fun’. Although the Late Models were the headlining division, for me the Thunder Cars ( 8 cylinder Stock Cars) were the stars of the show, with some great door handle to door handle racing, with Greg Ogilvie # 7 taking the Feature. The Mini Stocks were also entertaining, and a bonus for me was ‘Dentman’ Dave Watchorn # 97 , a driver I know winning the opening heat.

Edelweiss, the other track in the Ottawa area, had 358 DIRT Modifieds topping the bill, for a 50 lap Victoria 200 qualifier with DIRT PROSTOCKS, as well four and eight Cyl Street Stocks as back up classes. The first half of the Feature went along quite nicely without too much trouble, but after the first caution at around lap 22 things went a little wild. At first there were delays because some drivers were disputing there grid positions, continuing along in the wrong spots. Once the starter was happy and let them go, more cautions followed, as wreck after wreck occurred. After the final ‘yellow’ which came with one lap to go, it was Dave Heaslip # 84 at the front who took the checkers. The late finish and the ‘curfew’ that exists brought the evening to a premature end at 11-00pm.

On Saturday I made the short journey to the Frogtown International Speedway, just across the St Lawrence Seaway bridge at Hogansburg NY.

As I pulled into the parking lot and got out of my car, I was greeted by “Heh Rick ! ”. I looked around and it was Mike Knappenberger, one of my ‘TRACKCHASIN” buddies from Reading, Pennsylvania.

He was on a ‘TRACKCHASIN’ tour picking up a few tracks he’d not yet visited. He’d been to Thunder Alley NY on Friday, and following Frogtown was heading to Thunder Road , Vermont on Sunday, then on to the Stafford Speedway in Connecticut on Monday.

Prior to this trip he was lying in 26th position in World ‘TRACKCHASIN’ rankings with 357 tracks visited. After chatting to Mike, I wandered around the pits and was surprised to see Jessica Zemken, in attendance driving the # 1 Troyer. She wasn’t the only sprint car pilot, out in a 358 modified, as she was joined by Bubby Kerrick in Brian McDonalds spare car. The track was in pretty good shape, if not a bit dusty, and it was Carey Tarrence who won the feature. As well as the usual support divisions, the Mods were joined by the DIRT PRO-STOCKS where Louie Jackson took the checkers. The two headlining features were over nice and early ( soon after 9-00pm) , enabling me to be home in time to see the last period ( and two overtime sessions) of the Ottawa Senators Vs Buffalo Sabres, Stanley Cup NHL playoff game. The ‘SENS’ won 4-3 …… GO SENS GO !

Apologies to all my NY racing friends from the Syracuse/Rochester and Buffalo area that might think otherwise !