By Craig Revelle – June 25, 2012 – The official start to the summer of 2012 got underway with another busy schedule of racing. On Wednesday night, Chapman’s Can Am Motorsports Park hosted their second SUNY Canton Shootout event of the season with the Modifieds, Sportsman, Pro Stocks/Street Stocks and Thunder Cars on the schedule with extra laps and extra payout then their regular events. On Thursday night, I was at Mohawk International Raceway as they hosted the DIRTcar 358 Modified Series, along with a Mohawk Racing Parts Pro Stock Series race and a regular show for Sportsman, Mod Lites and Bandits. After a rare Friday night off, I was back at Brockville Speedway on Saturday night, and Cornwall Speedway on Sunday for the return of the World of Outlaw Late Models.
On Wednesday night at Can Am, it was a fantastic day for racing as a full field of cars were on hand for the SUNY Canton Shootout. The 45 lap Modified race was a great one, as Matt Sheppard and Mike Mahaney dueled it out to the finish. Sheppard crossed the line first ahead of Mahaney, Billy Dunn, Tim Fuller and Justin Haers. After the race was concluded, it was later discovered that Sheppard and Fuller failed post race inspection after not meeting the minimum weight requirement, and Mahaney was declared the winner, despite a tire that had been wrongly approved by a tech official earlier in the night. The controversial issue was resolved by declaring Mahaney and Dunn as co-winners of the event, each receiving $3000 for the winners share. After tech had been completed, Mahaney-Dunn, Haers, Robbie Bellinger and Larry Wight were the top five. Josh VanBrocklin won the Sportsman race over Dale Caswell and Brandon Hagan. Sid Harmer Sr. won the Pro/Street Stock event while JR Durham was the Thunder Stock winner.
The action shifted to Mohawk International Raceway on Thursday night as the 358 Modified Mr. DIRTcar Series made their first of two visits to the Hogansburg, New York facility. Attrition was high in the 75 lap event but Billy Dunn was able to capture his first series win over Dale Planck, Erik Rudolph, Carey Terrance and Tommy Flannigan. Terrance led the race early, but had to make a pit stop and resumed at the rear of the field to finish fourth. Dylan Evoy continues to set the pace in the Sportsman division at Mohawk Raceway with another impressive win. Brent Kelsey, Jessica Power, Wyatt Mullin and Neal Provost rounded out the top five. Ghislain Valade was the Pro Stock winner, Bryan Green took home the Mod Lite win while Mathieu Aubin won the Bandit feature for the second week in a row.
After a rare Friday night off, I was back at Brockville Speedway on Saturday night for their regular racing program. Kyle Dingwall won his first Modified feature at the BOS in a few years, with a dominating performance. Dingwall’s teammate and friend Luke Whitteker finished second over Brian McDonald, Lee Gill and Tim O’Brien. After winning his first career Sportsman win last week at Cornwall, it didn’t take Ryan Arbuthnot long to get his second, winning the 25 lap Sportsman main event at Brockville. Defending champion Chris Herbison was second, Bruce Makinson finished third, Ryan Poole was fourth and Jessica Power rounded out the top five. Joe McNichols won the Rookie feature and Nicholas Gauvreau won the Street Stock main event.
The much-anticipated return of the World of Outlaw Late Models to Cornwall Speedway was up next for Sunday night, along with the Modifieds, Pro Stocks, Semi Pro and Mini Stocks. Although the forecast called for showers late in the evening, I was hopeful that the track would be able to get the show in. It is one of the biggest events of the year, and an event that most fans in the area wouldn’t want to miss. The day started out nice, and after arriving at the track early, and enjoying the anticipation of the night’s events it wasn’t long before the dark clouds began to surround the Speedway, and as the temperatures dropped and the winds picked up it was soon evident that we were going to be lucky to see any racing at all. Sure enough, after a steady rain for more then an hour, track officials were forced to cancel. With the World of Outlaw Late Models not returning to this area, a makeup date is not anticipated, which is disappointing to everyone involved.
This coming week I will be back at Mohawk International Raceway on Friday night, Brockville Speedway on Saturday and Cornwall Motor Speedway on Sunday. After two weeks of special events on Wednesday evenings, I will also be able to return to the Brockville Speedway Kart night on Wednesday.
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.
