RICK @ the RACES (24 and 31 MARCH 2007)

24th Mar. Cornwall Motor Speedway .Ont,  2007 Banquet

31st Mar. Auto Racing Show, Civic Center, Plattsburgh. NY

March always seams to be a ‘no-go’ month for racing in my part of the North East, with the thaw ending most of the ice racing , and the ground too damp for most kinds of regular racing.

Conditions in March would be ideal for some weekly Euro-Style Rally Cross events, it just needs an enterprising promoter to get things going.

I guess the good thing about this quiet period, is the time available for annual shows and banquets. Over the last week or so, I’ve attended one of each.

On Saturday Mar 24 it was the Cornwall Motor Speedway’s (Ont) annual banquet and awards night at the Ramada Hotel in the city, where the track champions of the various classes were honored.

Before the evening banquet, I attended an afternoon VIP metting in one of the hotel suites

Pierre Robidoux ( Rookie), Ghislain Valade ( Semi Pro) Clayton Benedict (DIRT PRO STOX) and Kyle Dingwall (358 DIRT MODIFIED). Also present were speedway promotors Ron Morin (Cornwall Motor Speedway), Paul Kirkland (Brockville Ontario Speedway) , Serge Legace (Autodrome Edelweiss) and Francis Potvin (Autodrome Drummond) who were there to see Autodrome Granby, boss, Bob Gatien receive the 2007 Sheldon Legue Merit Award. Guest of Honor was Adam Ross of the www.dirttrackdigest.com

This weekend (Sat Mar 31) I drove over to the Civic Center in Plattsburgh NY where my buddy Mike Watts was putting on an auto racing show.

There were race cars representing all the popular divisions in the area, which included, dragsters, sprints, Late Models and of course DIRT (and pavement) Modifieds.

The Late Models were from the Adirondack Speedway NY and the Thunder Road Speedway in Vermont. One of the cars on display belonged to Jean Paul Cyr who represented the USA in the 2005 BriSCA F1 stock car World Final at Brafield (Northampton) in the UK. Back then I visited Thunder Road for a photo shoot for my SHORT CIRCUIT MAGAZINE column, and to meet Jean prior to his trip. It was a shame he wasn’t at the show while I was there, but I chatted with his crew chief who told me that Jean really enjoyed the British experience.

One of the major events coming to the Champlain Valley this summer is the visit of the big block DIRT MODIFIED’s for a special mini-series on asphalt .

Plattsburgh’s own track , the Airborne Speedway will be holding a round on July 24, and another will take place at the Oswego Speedway in August. I try to visit Airborne a couple of times a year, as they put on some of the best paved racing in the North East ( I’m probably biased, as they regularly run dirt modifieds ! )

The Plattsburgh show was well attended by both exhibitors and race fans, and was a great way to whet my appetite for the coming season.