BUDDIES BLOGS
Border Patrol – A weekly Look At Racing from both sides of the 1000 Islands
Craig Revelle – September 7, 2009
It
was a busy weekend of racing, as all of the local racetracks crowned champions
in most of their classes. Friday
night, I traveled to Can Am Motorsports Park, Saturday night I was at the
Brockville Ontario Speedway, and Sunday I made the trip to Cornwall Speedway for
their 358 Modified Super DIRTcar Series event.
Friday night was a fantastic
day, with sunny skies, and no threat of rain.
In fact, the entire weekend was expected to be rain free, a blessing to
area tracks that have had to fight Mother Nature all season long.
Modifieds, Sportsman, IMCA Modifieds, Street Stocks and Late Models were
all on the schedule for the evening, including double features for the Late
Models to make up for their rained out feature from last week.
In the Modified feature event,
Justin Haers continued his incredible run throughout the second half of the
season, picking up the victory. 2009
Modified Point Champion Billy Dunn finished the race in second place, while
Chris Higgins, Jason Potter and Tim O’Brien rounded out the top five
positions. Lance Willix picked up the Small Block Modified Track
Championship.
The Sportsman championship came
right down to the final night, with Chris Raabe and Matt Billings separated by
just 8 points entering the evening. At
the finish, it was Raabe in winner’s circle, capturing his second track
championship of the season. Billy
Eisele finished second, Kevin Gamble was third, Luke Whitteker was fourth, and
Matt Billings managed a fifth place finish.
Dave Mannise won the Street
Stock feature, with Russ Marsden, Keith Doxtater, Ron Wadforth, and Sid Harmer
Sr. rounding out the top five spots. Trenton,
Ontario racer Wadforth is the 2009 Can Am Motorsports Park Street Stock
Champion.
The IMCA feature was won by
long time Can Am veteran Dale Jewett. Jewett
out dueled Rick Duskas, Mike Cousins, Jake Rabetoy, and Ryan Scott.
Mike Cousins won the IMCA Modified Championship at Can Am.
Brandon Kidd took the checkered
flag in both Late Model features, while Andy Howard picked up the track
championship.
Saturday night at the
Brockville Ontario Speedway, track champions were honored in all divisions at
the conclusion of the night. Before
the championships could be awarded, there was still some unfinished business
left on the track in the Sportsman and Rookie classes, as just 4 points
separated the top two in both classes heading into the night.
The first feature of the night
was the 4cylinder rookie class. Lansdowne,
Ontario racer Steve Barber was making his final start in the “rookie” class,
and was hoping to hang on to his 4 point lead over Chris Bakker.
Barber did manage to win the championship, but not after a couple of
tense moments with Bakker on the final lap that just about ruined Barber’s
championship bid. JP Laberge took home the win. Daniel Laforte, Pernie Banks, Josh Kirkland and Barber
rounded out the top five.
The Modifieds were up next, and
it was one of the most exciting events of the season at Brockville.
Todd Stewart held off several late race challenges from DIRTcar superstar
Danny Johnson, who was making a rare start at Brockville, as well as 2009
Modified Champion Danny O’Brien. Johnson
ended the 30 lap event in second, with O’Brien third, Gage Morin fourth, and
Tim O’Brien in fifth.
The Sportsman feature was
another division that had a champion to be determined.
Heading into the feature event, Matt Billings had just an eight point
lead over Randy Gaudet with just 25 laps to determine the season long champion.
Gaudet, who announced his retirement from racing at the conclusion of the
night was looking to end his racing career at the BOS with a championship, but
it was 16-year-old Matt Billings that took home the championship.
Dave Wilgosh won the race, his first ever in a DIRTcar Sportsman. Luke Whitteker, who is also looking for his first win,
finished second. Matt Billings
secured his championship with a third place finish, Randy Earl was fourth and
Chris Herbison was fifth.
Steve Billings just needed to
start the Street Stock feature to be declared champion for the second season in
row. Kevin Fetterly Jr. picked up the win, but it was an on track
skirmish between Nicholas Gauvreau and Brock Cullen that had track officials
scurrying to separate the two drivers. Emotions
run high in this sport, and Saturday night, it got the best of a pair of multi
time winners in 2009. Gauvreau’s
evening started off poorly as it was, when his car rolled over in the heat race,
but his team made repairs and got the car ready for the feature.
Behind Fetterly at the finish were Steve Billings, Bill Code, Peter Raabe
and Danny Mocibob.
Wayne Riddell won the Vintage
feature at Brockville. While the
points are still undecided at this time, the Vintage cars will be back in action
this weekend for the final time of the season.
At Cornwall on Sunday, a
100-lap event for the Mr. DIRTcar Small Block Modified championship was center
stage, as well as a 50 lap Pro Stock race.
In the Modifieds, Carey Terrance picked up the win, holding of a late
race charge from Dale Planck, who started the 100-lap race from the last
starting position. 34 cars took the
green flag, a record number of cars to start a feature at Cornwall.
Remarkably, the first 34 laps were run caution free.
At the end of the 100 laps, Terrance scored the win over Planck, with
David Hebert, Danny O’Brien and Tim O’Brien rounding out the top five.
Joey Ladouceur picked up the Pro Stock victory.
This coming weekend, on Friday
night, I will be making my first trip of the season to the Mohawk International
Raceway in Hogansburgh, New York. Mohawk
Raceway, formerly known as Frogtown Speedway undergone major renovations over
the off-season, and has become a premiere facility in the DIRT racing community.
Mohawk will be hosting the Small Block Super DIRTcar Series.
On Saturday night, the Small Block series will then travel to the
Brockville Ontario Speedway for their 100-lap event.
Brockville Speedway announced a
major schedule change for the October 17th event.
Previously, the schedule had shown the Sprint Cars, as well as a Street
Stock Invitational event. Over the
past week, Brockville track officials announced that the October 17th
event will now take place over two days, and the Mr. DIRTcar Sportsman, Mr.
DIRTcar Pro Stock, and Mr. DIRTcar Small Block events will all take place over
the October 17th and 18th weekend.
The full schedule will be announced at a later date.
For more information, visit www.brockvillespeedway.com
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