Rick Young's 'Rick at the Races' - May 24-25, 2008

24 May 2008 . Mohawk International Raceway , NY 
and
25 May 2008. Cornwall Motor Speedway, Ont.

PHOTOS
PIC 1    Tim Fuller winner at the MIR

PIC 2    Tim Fuller must have told MIR announcer Jamie Davis a really good joke !

PIC 3    Tim Fuller # 19X  in action at the MIR

PIC 4    Bob Rays # 70 Bandit at the MIR

PIC 5    Denis Gauverau # 72 in action at the MIR

PIC 6  Pro Stock Feature winner Denis Gauverau # 72 at the MIR

PIC 7   Cary Terrance # 66 with his son in the Cornwall Motor Speedway Victory Lane

PIC 8  Mark Hitchcock # 95 in the Cornwall Motor Speedway Victory Lane

PIC 9   Gage Morin # 16 in action at the Cornwall Motor Speedway

PIC 10  Modified action at Cornwall

PIC 11 Modified action at Cornwall

PIC 12  Joey Ladouceur # 92 in the Cornwall Motor Speedway Victory Lane

PIC 13  Giles Godard # 27 in the Cornwall Motor Speedway Victory Lane

Once again a late finish at work kept me away from the race tracks on Friday night, so I'm still to make my first visit of the year to Autodrome Edelweiss . Maybe Next Week !

After last weeks Victoria Day holiday in Canada, this week it was the turn of the USA for the Memorial Day weekend. On Saturday I went along to the Mohawk International Raceway at Hogansburg, New York for the 50 lap Memorial Cup for 358 Dirt Modifieds. As well as $2000 to win for the feature, it was also a Syracuse Qualifier.

Joining the regular weekly racers, were , World Of Outlaws Late Model star, Tim Fuller # 19x in the second John Lazore # 19 car and Dale Planck # 66x in the spare Carey Terrance # 66 car. During my pit 'walk about' I had a good chat with Dale's wife Leslie. She told me about the families busy racing life now that both of their sons are racing.

The opening laps of the feature gave race fans a rare sight when the first four positions , were made up of a brace of two near-identical cars, when the black and silver '66' cars of Planck and Tarrance were first and third, with the green '19' cars of Fuller and Lazore in second and fourth. It was quite a remarkable sight watching them dominate the first three quarters of the race. By the time the checkers fell, both # 66 cars were out of the race and parked in the pits ( I assume, with mechanical problems) , giving the win to Fuller.

It was De ja vu in the Pro Stocks and Bandit divisions with Gatineau Quebec's Denis Gauvreau # 72 and Akwesasne's Claudia Tarbell # 7D, respectively, getting their second consecutive 2008 wins. An additional driver to the Bandit roster this year is the returning Bob Ray. I first got to know Bob a few years ago when he helped out with the Canadian Race Tour for UK driver Malcolm Foskett that I was involved in. He loaned his car to Malcolm to race at the Capital City Speedway ,Ottawa (then known as the Ottodrome)

On Sunday morning I made a trip to the MontreaI Airport to drop off my Mum and Dad. They'd been visiting from the UK, and it was time for their return flight back to Gatwick.  From Montreal I drove to the Cornwall Motor Speedway, Ont, for a feast of racing entertainment. As a result of the previous weeks rain postponement there were seven feature races on the agenda.

This week the sun was shining and it was great to see the yellow # 16 Modified of Gage Morin back in the pits following his scary crash one week ago.

Following the Rookie heats the first of the rain delayed features took place . First it was the Semi Pro's, followed by the Modifieds and ProStocks. Mark Hitchcock# 95 took the Modified feature with one of my buddies Giles Godard #27 getting the Pro Stocks win. Giles works at my local GM dealer in Cornwall where my high mileage Chevy is maintained.

Once the make up races were over, it was time to get on with the regular nights show. Carey Terrance # 66 got the Modified feature with Joey Ladouceur # 92 taking the checkers in the Pro Stocks.

There were no major delays and the slick presentation, got the 'mega' program over well before 10-30pm.

Before ending this report, I must mention another event that took place this week end , and as a 'Brit' it makes me feel proud. There's no doubt about it that the premier league for auto racing in the World are the F1 Grand Prix races . This past weekend it was the Monaco Grand Prix and taking the win was the UK's Lewis Hamilton in his McLaren/Mercedes.

He now leads the drivers points over Finland's Kimi Rakkonen . It's great to see a 'Brit' at the top again.

If you are going to win a Grand Prix, Monaco has got to be be the place to do it. It is a circuit with so much history.

When my lottery numbers come up, one of my wishes would be to follow the Grand Prix circuit around the world for a year , and I know that Monaco would be one of the high lights. Until then , I'll just cherish the moment back in August 1991 when I drove around part of the circuit. Yes, you read that correct, While on vacation that year in the South of France , I spent a day sight seeing in Monaco where I managed to drive my Vauxhall Cavalier around the famous Casino Corner.