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BUDDIES BLOGS

Border Patrol – A weekly Look At Racing from both sides of the 1000 Islands

Craig Revelle – May 2, 2010

After a successful opening night, Chapman’s Can Am Motorsports Park was back in action for another regular show this past Friday night, consisting of Modifieds, Sportsman, IMCA Modifieds, Crate Late Models, Street Stocks and the 2010 debut of the Thunder car division.

The Modified feature was a fantastic battle of Big Block versus Small Block, and while the Big Block came out on top with veteran driver Steve Paine picking up the win, the efforts of young Luke Whitteker in his Small Block were surely noted by all competitors as Whitteker was able to keep pace with the more powerful Big Block cars throughout the entire race. Paine picked up the win in the 30 lap main event, with Billy Dunn second for the second consecutive week, Lance Willix was third, Stewart Friesen fourth and Tom Sears, Jr. rounded out the front five positions. Whitteker was the highest finishing Small Block driver in sixth place.

“This track is so fast,” said Paine after emerging from his car in victory lane. “Sometimes it feels like your driving on the thruway at high speeds, it’s just fast. It was a great speedway surface and we were lucky that lap traffic held up Billy (Dunn) because he was coming after me. I seemed to work better on the bottom and Billy was on top, there was two grooves and both were fast.”

The Sportsman division, which in the past has created some of the best racing on any given night, did not disappoint this weekend, with Tim Sears picking up the win. Sears drove a flawless race in the closing laps to take the win over a hard charging Chris Raabe, who blasted through the field from the 19^th starting position and fell just a little short at the finish. Raabe was second, Matt Hulsizer, Jamie Platt and Shane Pecore completed the top five. Lansdowne’s Steve Barber finished 12^th, and Josh Kane of Mallorytown finished 20^th in his debut in the Sportsman division.

Phil Walker rebounded from his opening night woes in the Street Stock division to pick up the win. Sid Harmer Sr., track owner Tiger Chapman, Eli Gilbert and Russ Marsden followed Walker across the finish line. Gananoque area racers Roger Levesque and Mark Grier finished 12^th and 13^th respectively.

Brandon Kidd won the feature in the Crate Late Model Division, this time upstaging his car owner, and last week’s winner Lee Gill. Gill finished second, Greg Belyea was third.

Kingston, Ontario racer Ryan Scott posted his second consecutive victory in the IMCA Modified division. Scott started at the back of the field and took the lead with just a few laps remaining to pick up the win. Chris Thurston was second, followed by Dale Jewett in third.

Thunder Cars were the final event of the evening at Chapman’s Can Am Motorsports Park and Zak Petrie picked up the win. Petrie crossed the line ahead of Larry Teft and last year’s points champion Rob Martin.

Can Am will be back in action next weekend with a regular show of Modifieds, Sportsman, Crate Late Models, IMCA Modifieds, Street Stocks and Pure Stocks. Crate Late Model competitor Greg Belyea of Excel Tower Services will bump up the weekly purse this weekend, and that will see the winner of the ever growing Crate Late Model class take home a $1000 pay day. Racing starts at Can Am at 7:15PM on Friday nights, and Military members get in free on regular $10 admission nights.

Brockville Speedway also gets their first taste of on track action in 2010, as they host their annual test and tune practice day for local competitors on Saturday. Grandstand admission is free to the public for anyone that wants to watch the pre-season practice session. The season begins at the BOS next Saturday night, May 15^th with a full show of Modifieds, Sportsman, Street Stocks, and the 4cylinder “rookie” division. Race time will be 7:00PM, and grandstand admission is just $12.

Cornwall Speedway remains closed for just a couple more weeks, as they prepare for their opening night on Sunday, May 16^th. Modifieds will compete in twin 25 lap features, and will be joined on the schedule by the Sportsman division, making their return to Cornwall Motor Speedway. Pro Stocks, Semi Pro and Mini Stocks are all on the schedule for opening night. Race time at Cornwall has now changed to 6PM and opening night grandstand admission is $15.

I hope you have enjoyed my weekly column. Any comments or suggestions can be sent to crevelle@ripnet.com or check out my new website, www.finishlinewebdesign.ca.

Photo Attachment: Luke Whitteker in Victory Lane at Can Am Motorsports Park. (Rebecca Eisele Photo)

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