They say April showers bring May Flowers, but nobody mentioned it bringing frigid temperatures, and snow to some areas of Ontario and Northern New York Sate.

For area racing enthusiasts, this past weekend was one of those weekends where the weather just would not co-operate at all.  In fact, Mother Nature even took her occasional dislike for our sport to another level, when SNOW canceled the Victoria 200 at the Utica Rome Speedway, in Vernon, New York.  It was Mother’s Day in all, but she could have been just a little more kind to our racing family.

Friday began with Sunny skies, giving racers plenty of optimism, despite a gloomy evening forecast, but as fans and drivers began to converge at Chapman’s Can Am Motorsports Park, so did the rain clouds, forcing track officials to cancel the evening’s events, just after the pre race practice session.

A good field of Modifieds, Sportsman, Crate Late Models, IMCA Modifieds, Street Stocks and Pure Stocks filled the pit area, and as the cars circled the track fans kept one eye on the fast moving cars, and another on the fast moving clouds that seemed to darken at every glance.  As the rain intensified, track General Manager Chip Burdick was forced to cancel.

A familiar face was at Chapman’s Can Am Motorsports Park on Friday night, and that was Stephane Lafrance in his immaculate home built Modified.  The day and age of home built Modifieds have all but come and gone, but Stephane Lafrance is one of the few remaining innovators of the sport, where most cars are mass produced by one of several manufacturers in the Northeast.

Both Mohawk Speedway and Brewerton Speedway did manage to beat the rain on Friday night for the most part.  Dale Planck captured the first of two scheduled features for the Modifieds.  Chris Raabe continues his domination of the Sportsman division with another win, in his first ever start at Mohawk Raceway.  Rain started to fall as the second Modified feature took to the track, and will be made up this coming Friday night, in addition to their regular program.   Matt Sheppard won at the Brewerton Speedway.

With the rainout at Can Am on Friday evening, I began to look towards Saturday, and the practice session scheduled at the Brockville Ontario Speedway.  Again, with the rain from Friday evening, topped off with more rain on Saturday, It didn’t take long to realize that Saturday’s plans were going to be canceled as well.

I spent the evening on Saturday watching the NASCAR race on TV.  As much as I am a fan of NASCAR, I must admit that the popularity and interest in it has seriously declined in the past several years.  In my opinion, it all started with the “Chase for Cup” gimmick, as they strayed away from how a true champion used to be crowned.  Denny Hamlin was the winner, backing up his performance in the Nationwide Series race the night previous.

Sunday was a big day for many area drivers and fans, as the annual Victoria 200 at Utica Rome Speedway was set to take place.  Unfortunately, as mentioned earlier, was postponed due to an overnight snow storm and very cold temperatures forecasted for the remainder of the day.  The race will be postponed until Sunday, May 31^st.

Next weekend is one of my favorite weekends of the entire racing season.  First up will be a regular show at Chapman’s Can Am Motorsports Park on Friday night, May 14^th, featuring a full show of Modifieds, Sportsman, Crate Late Models, IMCA Modifieds, Street Stocks, Pure Stocks and Thunder cars. It is also the season opening weekend for both the Brockville Ontario Speedway and the Cornwall Motor Speedway.

Brockville gets underway on Saturday night with a regular show of Modifieds, Sportsman, Street Stocks, and the ever-popular 4cylinder “rookie” division.  Race time at the BOS is 7PM, and general admission is just $12.

Sunday is the season opening classic at the Cornwall Motor Speedway, with twin 25 lap features for the Modifieds.  Also on the schedule will be the return of the Sportsman division, as well as a full show of Pro Stocks, Semi-Pro and Mini Stocks.  Cornwall Speedway has a new start time for the 2010 season, with racing action beginning at 6PM.  General admission for Sunday night is $15.

Hopefully Mother Nature will be a little nicer to us next weekend, so all of our area tracks will get their racing programs in without any problems. 

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.