By Craig Revelle – June 18, 2012 – After a couple weekends of unstable weather playing havoc with my racing plans, this weekend was the contrary with a phenomenal week of racing. My racing adventures for the week started with an excursion to the south with a rare visit to Penn Can Speedway for their $10000 to win “Clash at the Can” event. On Friday night, it was back to the usual visit to Mohawk International Raceway in Hogansburg, New York and on to Brockville Speedway on Saturday and Cornwall Speedway on Sunday night.
I had only been to Penn Can Speedway on one other occasion, and that was as I was passing through, and really didn’t stay the entire night. Penn Can is a great little track, and promoter Brett Deyo had put together and excellent show with 60 Modified on hand. I really enjoyed my visit to the track and look forward to my next visit. The track offers a rather unique layout, with very tight, moderately banked corners that provided lots of excitement throughout the evening. In the end, it was Danny Johnson taking home the win over Pennsylvania/New Jersey regulars Ryan Godown and Jeff Strunk. Legendary driver Billy Pauch finished fourth with Ryan Watt rounding out the top five. The Street Stocks had a fantastic battle throughout the race, with Rich Green and Earl Zimmer battling side by side for the final laps. Zimmer spun on the final lap, allowing Green to cruise to the win in the 25 lap main event.
On Friday night I returned to Mohawk International Raceway. After two weeks of rainouts, it was nice to get back to the track under sunny skies. The 25 lap Modified feature went green to checkered without incident, and 2011 champion and Rookie of the Year Chris Raabe moved from his 14th place starting spot to take the win after a great battle amongst the top five. Dale Planck started even further back in the field and moved into second in the closing laps and finished in the runner up position. Roy Tarbell finished third, Billy Dunn was fourth driving the Laurent Ladouceur backup car, while Perry Francis rounded out the top five. Dylan Evoy captured the 35 lap Frenchie’s “Drive One” Sportsman Series over Gilles Godard, Brandon Hagan, Dana Aikins and Mike Arquiett. PJ Peters won the Pro Stock main event, Dean Pronovost was the Mod Lite winner, and Matthew Aubin won the Bandit feature in a race that was called after just six laps due to a nasty flip in turn three and four.
The next stop on my weekend schedule was Brockville Speedway. The 30 lap Modified feature came down to a ten lap duel between two of the best as Dale Planck and Lee Gill battled lapped traffic in the closing laps and put on an exciting race to the finish. Planck gained the lead as they worked around the slower traffic, and then lost it in similar fashion. With three laps to go, Planck made the race winning pass, and became the first repeat winner after six events in the Modified division at Brockville. The Sportsman main event was exciting as well, with Jessica Power taking the win in the 25 lap race. Power, who is rapidly becoming a fan favorite at Brockville held off 2011 champion and current points leader Chris Herbison to take the win. Dylan Evoy finished third, Doug O’Blenis was fourth and Bruce Makinson had a strong run in fifth. Steve Kearney won his first ever Street Stock feature, Quincy Roberts picked up his second win in a row in the Rookie division and Jason Powers was the Vintage Modified feature winner.
Like most Sunday’s, I traveled to Cornwall Speedway for their events. Carey Terrance dominated the 30 lap Modified feature. Laurent Ladouceur finished second, Dale Planck was third, Joel Doiron charged back from an earlier incident to finish fourth with Bobby Herrington coming in fifth. Ryan Arbuthnot capture his first career Sportsman victory. He used the outside lane to pass Cory Winters for the win. Winters was second, Dan Jalbert was third followed by Corey Wheeler and Chris Herbison. Dion Oakes won the Pro Stock feature, Andrew Giroux was the Semi Pro winner and Matthew Aubin picked up his second feature win of the weekend in the Mini Stock class.
This coming week will be one of the busiest weeks of the summer. It all begins at Can Am Motorsports Park on Wednesday night for their SUNY Canton Shootout, 45 lap, $3000 to win event for the Modifieds, with a $500 bonus to the top Small Block. Sportsman and Thunder Cars are also on the schedule. Racing action will continue on Thursday at Mohawk International Raceway hosts the 358 Modified DIRTcar Series, plus a Mohawk Racing Parts Series race for the Pro Stocks and a regular show for Sportsman, Mod Lite and Bandits. Friday night’s plans are still up in the air, but tentatively, I hope to get to Autodrome Granby for the World of Outlaw Late Models or Brewerton Speedway. On Saturday I will be at Brockville, and then back to Cornwall on Sunday for their own World of Outlaw Late Model Series event.
If you cant make it to the track, you can always follow along at home with my live raceday reports from the track, follow Finish Line Web Design on twitter @finishlineweb17, Facebook at facebook.com/finishlineweb17 or at my website, finishlinewebdesign.ca.
I look forward to seeing everyone at the track in just another week. I hope you continue to enjoy my weekly column, as always, any comments or suggestions can be sent to crevelle@ripnet.com.
