RICK @ the RACES
.....THE FINAL EPISODE (14 to 18 June 2006)
Just for fun, after attending a few ice races this past winter, I
put a few words together along with a photo or two, detailing my
exploits and sent them to family, friends and racing aquaintences.
I named my report "RICK @ the RACES" and over the
last few months, as the content has grown, so has the mailing
list, and a couple of web sites have even started to columnise it.
With an increase in my media work, and spare time becoming more
scarce, I`ve decided to make this the "Final Episode"
(for a while at least), but if things change, I may revive it
later in the year. Thanks for taking the time to read it
RICK @ the RACES
(JUNE ROAD TRIP)
LERNERVILLE SPEEDWAY
(PA) 14th June
SUSQUEHANNA SPEEDWAY
(PA) 15th June
BREWERTON SPEEDWAY
(NY) 16th June
BROCKVILLE SPEEDWAY
(ONT) 17th June
CORNWALL SPEEDWAY
(ONT) 18th June
One of the things I
enjoy most is to visit different tracks and meet new people, so a
few times a year, I like to take off on a road-trip. On most
occasions, I travel by myself, but for my latest excursion, I was
accompanied by a buddy of mine, Roger Aubin, a race fan, who`s
been part of the DIRT racing fraternity for many years. ( His wife
Marie, is the sister of DIRT "Hall of Famer" Marcel
"the hammer" Lafrance`s wife, and of course, 358
Modified driver Stephane Lafrance is his nephew.)
We set off from
Maxville, Ontario at 5-45 am on Wednesday morning, destined for
the Lernerville Speedway where the SUPER DIRT SERIES for Big
Block Modifieds was making the first of two mid week stops in
Pennsylvania. We got to the track, located at Sarver , just north
of Pittsburg at 4-00pm, and as fans and drivers were already
starting to arrive, we quickly selected a good camping spot.
Lernerville is a very tidy facility and the racing was impressive
too, with the Late Model feature going to David Hess Jnr and the
100 lap SUPER DIRT race going to Billy Decker
The next day the SUPER
DIRT SERIES moved on, and so did we , to the Susqehanna Speedway (Newberrytown)
, about a three and a half hours drive to the east, where we
arrived mid afternoon. This time, sharing the programme with the
Big Block Modifieds we had a top class Sprint Car feature,
rain-delayed from the previous week, Street Stox, Vintage Stox,
plus a "School Bus Race" ! I`ve been a regular race fan
for over 40 years, and in my time , I`ve seen plenty of novelty
races, but this was one of the best ( if not THE BEST) There were
about a dozen taking part, and the guys and gals (a lady won it)
really got stuck in to some fierce and fast racing, which resulted
in three roll-overs and one catching fire... thrilling stuff ! .
The Sprint car feature provided a win for Micheal Carber holding
off some strong challenges from "Fast' Freddy Rahmer, Lance
Dewease and Greg Hodnett. The SUPER DIRT SERIES race was led for
most of the way by Dale Planck, but a determined Jimmy Horton
managed to edge past with a few laps to go, giving the veteran a
long awaited return to the SUPER DIRT SERIES Victory Lane.
On Friday morning , it
was time to leave PA , and head towards Canada, but not before
making two more stops, the first being at Binghampton NY where we
dropped in on another buddy of mine, Don Shelley. Don, an ex-New
York fireman, is the owner of "FireMod", a
street-legal Modified he uses to promote fire safety awareness. He
was in the proccess of getting it ready for a parade he was doing
the next day.
Next stop, after
Binghampton was the Brewerton Speedway NY , to take in the action
of a regular Friday night show, of DIRT Mods, Mod-Lites, IMCA Mods
and the 4 cylinder Street Stox. While walking around the pits I
spotted a beautiful looking Saab lined up for the 4 cylinder
heats, which just happened to belong to Claude Hutchings, of the
AMEC ice racing group. I`d seen Claude race his Modified ice racer
at Lake Algonquin, this past winter, and since then , we`ve been
in touch via the internet. Tonight, his son Claude Jnr, was at the
wheel of their dirt car. The DIRT Modified feature , which
included many SUPER DIRT SERIES top runners from the previous two
nights, was won by Matt Shepherd.
After Brewerton, it
was time to drive back to Maxville, arriving home around 2-00 in
the morning, it was time to catch up on some rest, before the
evenings racing at the Brockville Speedway (Ont). About 20
Modifieds were there and the highlight of the night was a last lap
charge from Danny O`Brien to snatch the lead from Brian McDonald
in the feature. Also worthy of note were the two feature wins of
Bob Ray in the Street Stox and promotor Paul Kirklands son, Brad,
winning his first DIRT Sportsman feature.
It was home again
after Brockville for a bit more sleep before setting off to the
Cornwall Motor Speedway (Ont), the first time in a couple of weeks
, after bad weather caused cancelations to the last two shows. It
was a scorching hot night with the ESS Sprint cars joining the
Modifieds, ProStox and Semi-Pros for a great night of quality
racing. Former Modified driver Steve Poirier took the Sprint car
feature with Carey Tarrence claiming his first Cornwall Modified
victory after being chased constantly by Dave Heaslip.
So , after visiting,
five tracks in five days , it was time to return to work on
Monday for a rest ! ! !
photo #1
Relaxing with a beer
at Lernerville
photo # 2
Don Shelley takes his
street legal FIREMOD for a ride around Binghampton (note the
lights, windshield wipers, mirrors)
photo # 3
Claude Hutchings JNR
lines up at Brewerton in his Saab
RACES ATTENDED THIS YEAR
1st JAN
BROCKVILLE SPEEDWAY ONT (ICE ENDURO)
8th JAN
ST GUILLAUME QUE (ICE RACING)
22nd JAN STE GENEVIEVE DE
BATISCAN QUE (ICE RACING)
29th JAN MERCIER
QUE (ICE RACING)
11th FEB LAC
CAYAMANT ,MANIWAKI QUE (ICE RACING)
12th FEB BERTRAND
FABI CIRCUIT ,SHERBROOKE QUE (ANDROS TROPHY)
19th FEB LAC LE
MIRAGE, VICTORIAVILLE QUE, (ICE RACING)
19th FEB STE
EULALIE , QUE, (ICE RACING)
26th FEB
BEAUHARNOIS ,QUE (ICE RACING)
26th FEB ST SULPICE
, QUE (ICE RACING)
4th MAR
MINDEN FAIRGROUNDS ONT (ICE RACING)
5th MAR
LAKE ALGONQUIN,WELLS NY. (ICE RACING)
9th APRIL CAYUGA
COUNTY FAIRSPEEDWAY,WEEDSPORT NY
15th APRIL FULTON
SPEEDWAY, NY
29th APRIL CAN AM
SPEEDWAY, LAFARGEVILLE, NY
6th MAY
FULTON SPEEDWAY, NY
7th MAY
ROLLING WHEELS SPEEDWAY PARK , ELBRIDGE , NY (SUPER DIRT
SERIES)
10th MAY CAPITAL CITY
SPEEDWAY , OTTAWA ,ONT
13th MAY BROCKVILLE
SPEEDWAY .ONT
17th MAY CAPITAL CITY
SPEEDWAY ,OTTAWA, ONT
19th MAY THUNDER
ALLEY SPEEDPARK , EVANS MILLS, NY
26th MAY
AUTODROME EDELWEISS, CANTLEY, QUE
27th MAY
ADIRONDACK INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY ,NEW BREMEN , NY
27th MAY
FROGTOWN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY, HOGANSBURG , NY
28th MAY
CORNWALL MOTOR SPEEDWAY, ONT
30th MAY
ROLLING WHEELS RACEWAY PARK, ELBRIDGE , NY (WORLD OF OUTLAWS
SPRINTS)
2nd JUNE
AUTODROME EDELWEISS,QUE
4th JUNE
AUGUSTA MOTORSPORTS PARK, ONT
10th JUNE
BROCKVILLE SPEEDWAY ONT
11th JUNE
CIRCUIT MONT-TREMBLANT. QUE
14th JUNE
LERNERVILLE SPEEDWAY, PA (SUPER DIRT SERIES)
15th JUNE
SUSQUEHANNA SPEEDWAY, PA (SUPER DIRT SERIES)
16th JUNE
BREWERTON SPEEDWAY , NY
17th JUNE
BROCKVILLE SPEEDWAY, ONT
18th JUNE
CORNWALL SPEEDWAY, ONT
