RICK @ the RACES 27th & 29th April 2007

Fri 27 April  THUNDER ALLEY SPEED PARK (Evans Mills NY)

Sun 29 April  CAYUGA COUNTY FAIR SPEEDWAY  (Weedsport NY)

With rain forecast for most of the weekend, my racing prospects looked gloomy, with only Sunday’s weather looking good . I rarely get off work early on Fridays so I had ruled that out, and penciled in the Can Am Speedway at Lafargeville NY as a slight chance for Saturday, and the opener at the paved Autodrome St Eustache as my target for Sunday.

Strangely enough, I finished work early at (4-15pm) on Friday, and with a drier day than predicted in the Cornwall (Ont) area, I phoned the Thunder Alley speedway to see if it was still running. The answer was positive, so I thought it was worth a chance.

After a detour back to my place in Maxville, for a quick wash. and to get rid of some work stuff , that I didn’t want border hassles with, I was on my way. Not before making another phone call to my buddy and fellow media guy, Jim Clarke who was also on his way there. He confirmed that it was still dry and things looked OK, so it was foot to the boards, and my Chevy was on it’s way there. No problems at the border, and I even had time to grab a ‘steak sub’ in Gouvenor NY.

After supper, I carried on towards Evans Mills, and within a few minutes the rain started, getting heavier as I went. I arrived at the Speedway at 7-30 pm , and as I pulled up beside Jim’s car , the announcement was made to cancel.

Before making the ‘U’ turn and going home I took a walk around the pits, where some class acts were assembled, including Billy Decker, Pat O’Brien, Justin Haers, Pat Ward, and Danny Johnson. Before heading for home, I chatted with Doug Elkins (of www.dougsdirtdiary.com) and later with one of our local guys Billy ‘the Mohawk Express” Cook.

Thunder Alley became my second ‘rain out of 2007, my first being the second night of the Florida tour at the Volusia Speedway in February.

The rain continued, and Saturdays racing at Can Am became an early causality. Salvation came in the form of the NHL Stanley Cup Play-offs, and that evening I was glued to the ‘box’ watching the Ottawa Senators and New Jersey Devils game. Unfortunately for me, my team ‘the SENS’, lost in the second period of overtime.

STOP PRESS (Mon 30th April) The Sens beat the Devils, 2-0 tonight, and now lead the series 2 games to one.

I awoke on Sunday, intending to play it safe, stay near to home, and go to St Eustache, which is just over an hours drive away. As I looked out of my window it was pouring with rain, so phoned the track hot-line to see if it was still on. The bi-lingual recorded message, gave me a the negative .

Now what do I do ? , I don’t want a complete weekend with out racing!

After checking the on-line weather forecast for Weedsport NY ( Cayuga County Fair Speedway) and finding a big ‘sunshine’ symbol, I made another quick phone call to get a bit of re-assurance.

By 11-30 am I was heading south towards Syracuse . The nearer I got , the warmer it got, and by the time I was cruising down I 90 the sun roof was open. As I pulled off at the Weedsport exit, perfectly on cue, “Help Me Rhonda” by the Beach Boys came on the radio, to make it really feel like summer.

The headlining division were the Big Block Dirt Modifieds with DIRT SPORTSMAN , Street Stox, and Mini Sprints as back up’s. During my pre-race walk around the pits, I met Dale Planck and his son Steve, who is making his racing debut this year in a SPORTSMAN.

I also chatted with Perry Francis # 55 , one of our local Cornwall area drivers who, like me , was surprised how different the weather was at Weedsport to what it was back home.

Once racing began, I joined the other photographers on the middle It turned out to be a nice afternoon for taking picturesThere were no major delays and it wasn’t long before feature time.

Once again , Danny Johnson, showed everyone, he’s the one to beat, by taking his second CCFS feature of 2007. The SPORTSMAN feature race was taken by Jeremy Pitcher, the Street Stox by Dave Mannise and Don Harvey Jnr took the Mini Sprint event. The evening ended with a 4 Cylinder enduro race, but by then I was back on I 90 and heading for home.