BUDDIES BLOGS
Border Patrol – A weekly Look At Racing from both sides of the 1000 Islands
Craig Revelle – August 3, 2009
As
the racing season enters into its final quarter, the track point championships
are up for grabs and this time of the season, its not always about winning, its
more about being consistent and not losing valuable points to those in
contention for the prestigious championship trophies at the season ending awards
banquets. In some classes, the
battle for the coveted track championship is all but over, but in most cases,
they are just starting to heat up.
Friday night, at the Can Am
Motorsports Park in Lafargeville, New York, the Big Block/Small Block Modifieds,
Sportsman, IMCA Modifieds, Late Models, Street Stocks, Pure Stocks, and Thunder
cars were all in action. In the Big
Block/Small Block Division, Billy Dunn, and Lance Willix both are well in
control of their respective track titles, while the Sportsman battle is the most
exciting of them all as Matt Hulsizer, Chris Raabe, and Matt Billings were all
separated by just four points heading into last weekend, while Brandon Sweet
sits only 25 points back of the leader.
When the Big Block/Small Block
Modifieds took to the track on Friday night, it was Justin Haers putting on a
clinic, finishing over a straightaway ahead of second place Scott Parliament.
Billy Dunn continued to stretch his point lead as he crossed the finish
line in third. Chris Higgins and
Jason Potter rounded out the top five.
In the Sportsman class, Wolfe
Island, Ontario racer Rod McDonald led the field to the green flag, and
continued to set the pace past the half way point of the 25 lap event.
McDonald, who was searching for his first career win in just his second
year of racing did an admirable job driving, but couldn’t hold off late race
surges from eventual race winner Matt Billings and second place Matt Hulsizer.
Tom Conklin, Chris Raabe and Brandon Sweet were the top five finishers.
McDonald slipped back to 7th.
Dale Caswell won both the Crate
Late Model and IMCA Modified features. Sid
harmer Sr. won the Street Stock feature, Steve Gilmore won the Pure Stock event,
and Nolan Swamp was the Thunder car winner.
Dale Jewett was the winner of the make up IMCA Modified feature from 2
weeks ago.
Saturday night, the Brockville
Ontario Speedway was blessed with an outstanding day for racing.
Danny Obrien, of Kingston, Ontario has been the guy to beat all year, and
has once again put a firm handle on the Brockville Speedway track championship.
Danny once again proved that he is virtually unbeatable at Brockville as
he came from the back to the front to capture the 100-lap Lucas Oil Series event
this past weekend. Danny has now won 6 feature events in just 8 starts at
Brockville this season. It wasn’t
easy for Obrien, as he had to battle Series leader David Hebert, and Mario Clair
for the victory. Hebert went on to
finish second, Kayle Robidoux was third followed by Tim Obrien and Kyle
Dingwall.
The Street Stock feature event
ended in frustration for 2008 champion Steve Billings.
While leading, Billings was punted by eventual winner Nicholas Gauvreau,
and was greeted with several jeers as he emerged from his racecar in victory
lane. Derek Cryderman was second,
Bill Code was third, Darrick Eaton was fourth, and Stephane Bussiere was fifth.
Billings continues to lead the championship battle now by 22 points over
Bill Code.
The 4cylinder “Rookie”
feature was up next and it was Ron Day of Lyndhurst, Ontario picking up his
first ever feature win. Lansdowne’s
Steve Barber finished second, Nolan Swamp, Glenn Miller and Brandon Henderson
completed the top five. Gerry Oszczakiewicz
continues to lead the point standings by 62 points over Steve Barber.
The
Mod Lite division made its first ever appearance to the Brockville Ontario
Speedway, and it was Paul Klager, from St. Catherines who put his 1000cc-powered
car in victory lane. Shawn Sliter
was second, Adam Murphy was third, Joshua Sliter was fourth, and Andy Tallman
finished fifth.
The
Sportsman cars had the weekend off at Brockville, as they were participating in
the Lucas Oil series event at the Brighton Speedway.
Matt Billings was the winner, Sammy Reakes IV, was second and Randy Earl
was third.
In
other racing action around the region, on Friday night, several of the Small
Block Modifieds traveled to the Niagara Falls area, on the New York side, and
raced at the Ransomville Speedway. Danny
Obrien drove to a solid 7th place finish, while Bobby Herrington
finished 20th. Todd
Stewart also made the trip, but was involved in a wild flip during his
qualifying event, and was unable to compete.
On
Saturday night, at the Thunder Alley Speed Park in Evans Mills, Chris Raabe
picked up the win. Mike Trapp was
second, Rick McCready was third, Brandon Hagan fourth, and Christine Martin was
fifth. Taylor Caprara picked up his
first ever Street Stock win, Tony Buffa was the IMCA Modified winner, and Joe
Garafalo was the Mod Lite winner. Dave
Rogers was the pure stock winner, and Dan Way picked up the Thunder Car victory.
Sunday
evening, Cornwall Motor Speedway was set to host the final round of the Lucas
Oil Canadian DIRT Challenge series. Heavy
rains all morning forced the track to cancel, and has been rescheduled for this
coming Sunday, August 9th. The
Big Block Modified Super DIRTcar Series event that was postponed back in July
has announced their make up date, which will be Sunday August 23, 2009.
Elsewhere
on Sunday, Chris Raabe made his pavement racing debut at the Flamboro Speedway,
near Hamilton, Ontario. Racing in
the Ontario Sportsman Series twin 50 lap features, Raabe started the first
feature from the 13th position and finished 5th. In the second 50-lap event, Raabe started 19th,
and drove to a 9th place finish.
It was a very impressive start for Raabe and the 01 team.
Next
weekend, Can Am Motorsports Park will host a SUNY Canton series event for the
Sportsman and Street Stocks, as well as a regular show of Modifieds, Pure
Stocks, Late Models and Thunder Cars.
Saturday
night, the Brockville Speedway will host double features in all classes, due to
the rainout from July 25th. The
Sportsman will also top the schedule with a 40 lap Lucas Oil Series race.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Border Patrol – A weekly Look At Racing from both sides of the 1000 Islands - August 3, 2009
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