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WEB SITE UPDATE
Once again Craig has been busy adding more stuff to the web site. As well as the weekly report, we've added more photos to each of the sections. There's a new batch of 'Pretty Faces' , and some photos of my Ford Thunderbird powered BriSCA F1 from 1989 under the 'Ricks Cars' tab. In 'Ricks Favorites” we've added some of my photos from the Irwindale Speedway in California and the Virginia Motor Speedway. On Monday (11 Aug) I was contacted by www.racetimeradio.com who wanted to do an interview about the site, as did Doug Elkins of www.dougsdirtdiary the next day. Links to these interviews have been added.
New names in the Guest Book include
Amy , a Brockville Ontario Speedway fan
'Papi' friend/crew member of the 115 Lafrance 358 DIRT Mod Team
Sylvain, friend and ESS SPRINT CAR official
David, an unknown reader
Martin from the UK, stock car friend from the 70's / 80's
Brian 'Motormouth' , friend and Canadian track announcer
Erin , friend and Legend car race driver. ( check out 'Pretty Faces')
thanks folks !
Now on to the Weekly Report
13 AUG CAPITAL CITY SPEEDWAY
16 AUG CAN AM SPEEDWAY
17 AUG
CORNWALL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
Following last Saturdays big TOROMONT CAT 100 lap ACT race, the Late Models took a night off from Capital City Speedway this past Wednesday (Aug 13) , giving the other divisions a chance to take the limelight. I arrived late afternoon and to my amazement found an unfamiliar 'yellow thing' high in the sky above the track. After weeks of rainy weather, the sun was shining at last and the program went unhindered in front a good crowd for the Snap On tools sponsored event.
Highlight of the night for me was seeing 'DentMan' Dave Watchorn win the MiniStock feature. I've been acquainted with Dave for a number of years, since I did a magazine article about him and his love of Toyotas.
It was great see him take the checkers, and to be present in Victory Lane to do the shots.
A busy day at work on Friday meant that I missed a planned visit to Autodrome Granby so I was confined to my home that night.
On Saturday (Aug16) I traveled down to the Can Am Speedway at Lafargeville NY for the staging of the ADVANCE AUTOPARTS SUPER DIRT SERIES. At about 3-30 pm in the afternoon as I crossed the border at Ogdensburg, there was one heck of a thunder storm, with rain coming down in buckets. I followed the storm down to Theresa NY (20 minutes away from the track) where to my pleasure the rain ceased.
I arrived at Can Am to find it dry, which was how it stayed for the rest of the evening. It seams like Lady Luck was taking care of me that night ! Once inside, I met up with my friend Rebbeca Eiselle who is the track photographer. We always seam to have a good laugh when we're 'snapping' together .
I also chatted with Doug Elkins who interviewed me at the start of the week. His web site has been going for a couple of years now, and has proved to be very successful, so any tips and advice he could give were gratefully accepted. www.dougsdirtdiary.com
The
100 lap Feature for Big Block Modifieds provided an unexpected winner with
Clifton Springs New Yorker , Gary Tomkins. He won the Series a few years
back when driving the Pilsbury sponsored car for the Elaine James team, but
in recent times his victories have been scarce.
On Sunday (Aug 17) the Series moved across the border to the Cornwall Motor Speedway in Ontario. Cornwall is my local track , so I spent the morning at home relaxing... that was, until the phone rang !
I've had my house on the market for the past three months and it was my real estate guy calling, to say my house had been sold. He said he'd be at my place in about 15 minutes to give me some 'paperwork'. If things go to plan, I will have to be out by the end of September, just one week after I return from my trip to the UK for the BriSCA F1 World Final. At the moment I have nothing lined up for a new home,so will probably be renting temporarily. There's a good chance that my reports will be missing for a short time.
Following my unexpected visitor, I set off for the Irving Truck Stop in Cornwall. Craig , my web master, is a truck driver, like me, and had been delivering in Montreal Sunday morning. He didn't want to park his rig at the Speedway, so we'd arranged for me to pick him up.
We arrived at the Speedway mid afternoon to find the place already filling up. When there's a big race at Cornwall it's always packed. There were also many 'visiting' photographers that I know from the 'Series'. It was good to see my Scottish buddy Alex Bruce and his wife Helen from their home in the Niagara Region, and making his first ever visit to Cornwall was Mike Petrucci from Connecticut. Mike runs the Race Pro Weekly website that I've contributed to for some time. I also chatted to Jessica Zemken who was driving one of John Lazore's cars with the # 19Z. She told me she'd raced it the night before at the Mohawk International Raceway.
The sun was shining and at last Mother Nature was giving us a break. The show which had Rookies, Pro Stocks and Sprint Cars as the support acts, moved along swiftly with no major delays. I had feared a late finish, but even the Sprint Cars behaved themselves and ran their 25 lap feature without anyone 'falling over'.
I must mention one person who almost fell over ! , that was my buddy Alex. At the start of the race one of the Sprint Cars 'got it all wrong' and spun round on the grass . Instead of returning straight to the track, the driver chose to race across the infield scattering the photographers. I didn't realize Alex could run so fast !
Steve Poirier won the Sprint Car Feature, Jean-Marc Larose won the Rookie race and Joey Ladouceur took the Pro Stock event.
In the SUPER DIRT SERIES race it was Dale Planck who made the early running with Billy Decker in hot pursuit , but like the previous night, Gary Tomkins was looking good as he worked his way through the pack. On lap 62 Tomkins managed to edge past Planck and stayed there unchallenged to the checkers. Gary looks like he's back on form, so I'm sure it wont be too long before I see him in Victory Lane again.
Finaly, before I go, I must mention a message I just recieved from another good freind of mine in Vancouver BC. David Kipling a former BriSCA F1 and F2 fan, now living in Canada, runs the www.oldstox.com website. He recently traveled down to the Skagit Speedway in Washington State with his daughter to see some Sprint Car Racing and sent me some of his pics. One is included in my photo section.
PIC 1 Dave Watchorn in the Capital City Speedway Victory Lane
PIC 2 Rick and Rebecca at the Can Am Speedway
PIC 3 Pre Race display for the National Anthems at Can Am Speedway
PIC 4 Gary Tomkins # 84 chases Shawn Donath # 87 at the Cam Am Speedway
PIC 5 Gary Tomkins in the Can Am Speedway Victory Lane
PIC 6 Jessica Zemken poses by the # 19Z car at the Cornwall Motor Speedway
PIC 7 SUPER DIRT SERIES Race Director Cory Reed with fast timer Dale Planck at Cornwall
PIC 8 Jean-Marc Larose celebrates his Rookie win at Cornwall with his girl friend
PIC 9 Steve Poirier wins the ESS feature at the Cornwall Motor Speedway
PIC 10 Second lap crash in the Cornwall SDS race between Steve Paine # 7 and Frankie Caprara # 1FX
PIC 11 Gary Tomkins wins the Cornwall SDS race
PIC 12 First three in the Cornwall SDS race , Decker 2nd , winner Tomkins and 3rd Phelps
PIC 13 Joey Ladouceur wins the Mohawk Racing Parts Series race at Cornwall
PIC 14 One of David Kiplings shots of Sprint Car Racing at the Skagit Speedway ( Washington State)
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
40 JUL 16 CAPITAL CITY SPEEDWAY,Ottawa (Ont)
41 JUL 18 BRIGHTON SPEEDWAY (Ont)
42 JUL 19 AUTODROME DRUMMOND (Que)
JUL 20 CORNWALL MOTOR SPEEDWAY (Ont) RAINED OUT
JUL 23 CAPITAL CITY SPEEDWAY,Ottawa, (Ont) RAINED OUT
JUL 26 MOWHAWK INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY, Hogansburg (NY) RAINED OUT
43 JUL 27 CORNWALL MOTOR SPEEDWAY (Ont)
44 JUL 30 CAPITAL CITY SPEEDWAY, Ottawa, (Ont)
45 JUL 31 MOHAWK INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY, Hogansburg NY (LUCAS OILS CDS)
46 AUG 1 AUTODROME EDELWEISS, Cantley (Que) (LUCAS OILS CDS)
47 AUG 2 BROCKVILLE ONTARIO SPEEDWAY (Ont) (LUCAS OILS CDS POSTPONED)
48 AUG 3 CORNWALL MOTOR SPEEDWAY (Ont) (LUCAS OILS CDS)
49 AUG 6 AIRBORNE SPEEDWAY PARK , Plattsburg ( NY)
50 AUG 9 CAPITAL CITY SPEEDWAY, Ottawa, (Ont) (ACT SERIES RACE)
AUG 10 CORNWALL MOTOR SPEEDWAY (Ont) RAINED OUT
51 AUG 13 CAPITAL CITY SPEEDWAY , Ottawa , (Ont)
52 AUG 16 CAN AM SPEEDWAY, Lafargeville, (NY) SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES
53 AUG 17 CORNWALL MOTOR SPEEDWAY (Ont) SUPER DIRT CAR 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
