9 July Capital City Speedway (Ottawa)
10 July Brockville Ontario Speedway
12 July ICAR Circuit (Mirabel)
12 July Autodrome Drummond
Four Out Of Six
If things had gone to plan, I would have been covering six events in this report, but Mother Nature and work commitments knocked it down to four.
On Wednesday (9 July) I was at the Capital City Speedway (Ottawa) once more for a regular weekly show. The normal program consists of 4 for Fun ( the starter division), Mini Stocks ( the next step up) and the Thunder Cars ( the budget 8 cylinder class) , with Legends and Late Models as the headline divisions. Sean Kennedy # 14 claimed his second win of the season in the Late Models, while Kevin Foisy # 55 continued his unbeaten run in the Legends..
The next night ( Thursday 10 July), I'd arranged for an early finish at work to be at the Brockville Ontario Speedway for the opener of the 'Great Canadian Tour' of the Advance Auto Parts SUPER DIRT SERIES.
36 Big Block DIRT Modifieds were in attendance to do battle for this prestigious event.
In the pre-race time trials Dale Planck # 77x recorded the fastest time, while the 100 lapper was won by Billy Decker # 91.
On Friday, my plans to attend the second leg of the Great Canadian Tour were thwarted when I was required to work late. I never managed to make it to Autodrome Granby (Quebec) to see Sussex, New Jersey's Brett Hearn take the honors.
Saturday's agenda involved visiting two tracks, one of which would be a 'new track' for me.
After moving to Canada from the UK in 1994, my first trip 'back home' was in 1996. I flew out of Mirabel Airport near to Montreal bound for London. It was a really nice airport and not too busy. For some reason the 'powers that be' decided that Montreal's Dorval Airport ( now renamed Trudeau) should be the city's principal passenger terminal so Mirabel became redundant. A real bad move, in my opinion, but it has had one good result. After a major downsizing, where it now concentrates on air freight, part of the site has become a racing circuit. This weekend, The Grand Prix De Mirabel, was the opener for wheel to wheel competition and I went along to see the historic event. The cars, ranging from sedans, classic sports cars and open wheelers each had did 20 minute races. The events got under way soon after 1-00pm , so I stayed for three races before heading off to my evening destination.
The ICAR Circuit at Mirabel (Quebec) was # 171 on my TRACKCHASING totals
I left Mirabel around 3-00pm and arrived at the Autodrome Drummond soon after 5-00pm. This was the third round of the 'Great Canadian Tour' for the SUPER DIRT SERIES. It had been a scorching hot day and the evening was the same. Fast timer was Steve Paine # 7x . Dale Planck # 77x took the checkers in the big one after fending off a late challenge by Billy Decker # 91.
I drove through some light rain on the way home and it got heavier the nearer I got. It was raining quite hard when I went to bed and it was doing likewise when I woke. Things did not look good for Sundays final race of the tour at The Cornwall Motor Speedway. With rain still coming down after lunch the inevitable cancellation was made. The race has now been postponed until Sunday August 17 following the previous nights SUPER DIRT SERIES event at the Can Am Speedway ( Lafargeville NY)
PIC 1 SEAN KENNEDY in his LATE MODEL at the CAPITAL CITY SPEEDWAY
PIC 2 LEGENDS in actionat the CAPITAL
CITY SPEEDWAY
PIC 3 BILLY DECKER wins the SDS race at the BROCKVILLE ONTARIO SPEEDWAY
PIC 4 MODIFIED action athe BOS
PIC 5 Action at MIRABEL
PIC 6 Action at MIRABEL
PIC 7 Action at MIRABEL
PIC 8 DALE PLANCK wins the SDS race at AUTODROME DRUMMOND
PIC 9 It's always a fun night at AUTODROME DRUMMOND
PIC
RACES ATTENDED IN 2008
1 JAN 19 ARENA ESSEX (Thurrock UK)
2 JAN 27 LAC MORIN (Que)
3 JAN 27 ST EULALIE (Que)
4 FEB 16 KAHNAWAKE (Que)
5 FEB 17 CLARENCE CREEK (Ont)
6 FEB 24 BERTRAND FABI CIRCUIT . Sherbrooke, (Que)
7 FEB 24 BEAUHARNOIS , (Que)
8 MAR 21 WILLIAMS GROVE SPEEDWAY (PA)
9 MAR 22 LINCOLN SPEEDWAY (PA)
10 APR 19 CAN AM SPEEDWAY,Lafargeville, (NY)
11 APR 20 CAYUGA COUNTY FAIR SPEEDWAY,Weedsport, (NY)
12 APR 26 MERRITTVILLE SPEEDWAY (Ont) 358 SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES
13 APR 27 HUMBERSTONE SPEEDWAY, Port Colborne (Ont)
14 MAY 3 MOHAWK INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY , Hogansburg (NY)
15 MAY 9 CAPITAL CITY SPEEDWAY , OTTAWA (Ont)
16 MAY 10 MOHAWK INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY , Hogansburg (NY)
17 MAY 17 BROCKVILLE ONTARIO SPEEDWAY, (Ont)
18 MAY 18 CORNWALL MOTOR SPEEDWAY (Ont)
19 MAY 24 MOHAWK INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY , Hogansburg (NY)
20 MAY 25 CORNWALL MOTOR SPEEDWAY (Ont)
21 MAY 29 CORNWALL MOTOR SPEEDWAY (Ont) KART TRACK
22 MAY 30 AUTODROME EDELWEISS , Cantley, (Que)
23 MAY 31 BROCKVILLE ONTARIO SPEEDWAY, (Ont)
JUN 1 AUTODROME ST EUSTACHE, (Que) RAINED OUT
24 JUN 6 AUTODROME EDELWEISS Cantley, (Que)
25 JUN 7 FULTON SPEEDWAY (NY) SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES
26 JUN 8 CORNWALL MOTOR SPEEDWAY (Ont)
27 JUN 11 CAPITAL CITY SPEEDWAY , Ottawa, (Ont)
28 JUN 21 BROCKVILLE ONTARIO SPEEDWAY (Ont)
29 JUN 22 CORNWALL MOTOR SPEEDWAY (Ont) WORLD OF OUTLAWS LATE MODELS
30 JUN 28 CAPITAL CITY SPEEDWAY, Ottawa (Ont) RAINED OUT
31 JUN 28 MOHAWK INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY, Hogansburg, (NY)
32 JUN 29 CORNWALL MOTOR SPEEDWAY (Ont)
33 JUL 3 CAPITAL CITY SPEEDWAY Ottawa, (Ont)
34 JUL 5 BROCKVILLE ONTARIO SPEEDWAY (Ont)
35 JUL 6 CORNWALL MOTOR SPEEDWAY (Ont)
36 JUL 9 CAPITAL CITY SPEEDWAY ,Ottawa (Ont)
37 JUL 10 BROCKVILLE ONTARIO SPEEDWAY (Ont) SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES
38 JUL 12 ICAR CIRCUIT, Mirabel, (Que)
39 JUL 12 AUTODROME DRUMMOND (Que)
JUL 13 CORNWALL MOTOR SPEEDWAY,(Ont) RAINED OUT SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES
My RICK @ the RACES (RETRO) reports are a little different, as they are an ongoing account of my times spent at the races through the years. Some time in the future, once they have been tidied up and edited, I may look into getting them published. I still have a long way to go before I'm up to the present day, but in the meantime, please contact me for consent before before using ( websites or publications) Thanks Rick
If you do not wish to receive any more RICK @ the RACES reports please let me know.
If you missed any RICK @ the RACES (Reports or RETRO) and would like past editions, please let me know, as I have them 'saved'.
Finaly, I would like to mention SHORT CIRCUIT MAGAZINE, generaly excepted as Europes leading oval racing publication, which I`ve had the honour of contributing to, for the past few years. My SHORT TRACK AMERICA feature which appears most months . www.shortcircuitmag.com
Items from "RICK @ the RACES" occaisonaly appear in the "news" section of ROGERS UK OVAL PAGES www.ukovalracing.info/
which is one of the original and best sources of information on the UK oval scene.
"RICK @ the RACES" also appear occasionally on www.raceproweekly.com, one of the leading websites devoted to North American DIRT racing .
My photo's can be seen in the following
INSIDE TRACK NEWS ... "THE" magazine for Canadian autosport www.insidetracknews.com
AREA AUTO RACING NEWS ( New Jersey, USA) A long established weekly autoracing newspaper www.aarn.com
GATER NEWS (Syracuse NY) , A weekly newspaper that concentrates on NE DIRT racing www.gaternews.com
RACEPROWEEKLY ... a weekly website concentrating on NE DIRT racing www.raceproweekly.com
DIRT TRACK DIGEST.. A great DIRT RACING site covering all divisions www.dirttrackdigest.com
SOUTH JERSEY DIRT RACING ... A great DIRT racing Website based in New Jersey .
DOUGS DIRT DIARY... A website with concentrating on audio interviews www.dougsdirtdiary.com
QUEBEC DIRT... A French language website devoted to DIRT racing www.quebecdirt.com
www.jessicazemken.com DIRT RACINGS TOP FEMALE RACER
UK STOCK CAR RACING 60's and 70's ... A great website , devoted to the Golden Age of UK Stock Car Racing ( 60`s and 70`s) that is excelantly maintained by David Kipling in Vancouver.BC www.oldstox.com
A great data base compiled by Paul Broderick of BriSCA F1 drivers and their cars through the years. www.briscaf1stoxpics.co.uk/
PETES STOCK CAR PAGES The History of F1 Stock Car Racing in the South of England
www.petermarsh.freeuk.com/stockcar/
'BACK TO THE EIGHTIES' A site dedicated to top 70's and 80's Dutch driver Friedhelm Welters
RANLAY RACING ... A website hosted by Randy Lewis, the worlds # 1 TrackChaser ( my ice racing photos are in the guest section) www.ranlayracing .com
TRACKCHASER... The official website of the 'TRACKCHASERS" . My current track list totals can be seen here. go to TRACKCHASER's then you'll find me under 'others' ... click on RICK YOUNG . www.trackchaser.net.
