|
Border Patrol – A weekly look at racing from both sides of the 1000 Islands.
September 28, 2008
Craig Revelle
This weekend, with the Brockville Ontario Speedway on a brief hiatus, the travel destination of choice for the Brockville racers was the Brighton Speedway, just west of Trenton, Ontario. This was the 3rd annual Applefest Shootout, and many of the regular Brockville racers tried to tame the small dirt track.
Brighton is similar in size to the Brockville track, but the corners have almost no banking at all, as opposed to the steep banking of the BOS. This makes it challenging for the visiting drivers to get their cars dialed in for the night’s events.
With a persistent rain off and on all evening on Friday, the show moved along rather quickly, and the first main event of the night was the LUCAS OIL Sportsman All-Star event, featuring the best cars from the East series vs. the best cars from the West series.
The East dominated this race, as the “Teenage Tornado” Chris Raabe took the checkered flag. Raabe continued his spectacular season picking up his 22nd win, in only 42 starts.
In the 35 lap main event, Raabe had the fastest car once again, but bad luck hit the teenage superstar, as another car spun, and collected the Raabe car, causing heavy damage to the rear of the car. With the East winning the all-star classic, the west took the checkered flag in the regular event. James Michael Friesen, of Niagara Falls, Ontario seen the checkered flag waive on lap 28 of the scheduled 35 lapper, as rain put an end to the nights events.
On Saturday night, the 358 modifieds were the main attraction, and once again, many of the Brockville cars made the trip west to Brighton. The Obrien brothers, Tim and Danny, Todd Stewart, Jason Riddell and Adam Moore were amongst the BOS regulars. Other notable drivers were Pete Bicknell, who is the owner of Bicknell Racing Products, and the Merritville Speedway, and veteran racer Pete Costco also made the trip.
With rain once again the talk of the night, the events were hurried along to get the show done before the imminent rain took control. First up was the All Star Shootout, placing the top 3 in points from the East and West that made the trip, as well as the top 3 in each heat race. Pete Bicknell was the race winner, with Danny Obrien a strong second.
Next up were the comp4 class, wich is the equivalent to Brockville’s 4cylinder rookie class. Lansdowne racers Steve Barber and Frank Mitchell made the trip, and both showed the Brighton locals that the Brockville cars were the faster of the bunch. Unfortunately, bad luck hit both drivers, as Barber had to pit with a flat tire, and Mitchell had to pit with no tire, as his right rear tire broke away, and traveled out of the speedway.
The 358 modified main event was next up, and as a light drizzle began to fall. Bicknell, who already had a win to his credit this evening in his brand new 2009 Bicknell chassis, was the favorite to win, and he didn’t let down, as he piloted his machine to the lead early. A steady rain started to fall towards the half way point of the scheduled 50 lap event, and on lap 32 the checkered flag was given to Bicknell. Tim Obrien was second, and veteran racer Todd Stewart was fifth. Danny Obrien was forced pit side just before the final caution, and did not finish.
In other action around the racing scene, on Friday night at Rolling Wheels Raceway, Mother Nature made a return trip to victory lane, as she washed out the nights action for the 358 modifieds.
On Saturday night, the Big Block modifieds took to the track for their Advanced Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series 200 lap event. The Sportsman and Pro Stocks were also on the card for their Mr. DIRTcar Super Dirt Series events.
The Sportsman race was one by Port Colborne, Ontario driver Greg Panunte. Chris Raabe finished second, to increase his series point lead to 60 points. Sammy Reakes was third, followed by Marcus Dinkins and Eric Giguere.
The Pro Stocks were next and veteran racer Pete Stefanski picked up the win, Denis Gauvreau was second, Ricky Thompson, Dion Oakes, and Joey Ladouceur rounded out the top five.
The Oshweken Speedway, near Hamilton, Ontario, hosted the annual Canadian Sprint Car Supernationals this past weekend, and Wayne Johnson was the winner, Dustin Daggett, Bryan Howland, Dale Blaney, and Chuck Hebing rounded out the top five. Joyceville, Ontario racer Rick Wilson is scored as 15th place, but not before a violent flip earlier in the weekend, sent Wilson to a backup car.
The Big Block modifieds were up next, and the race was run until lap 128 when the skies opened up. Alan Johnson was declared the winner, and picked up $10000 for his efforts. Following Johnson was Matt Sheppard, Steve Paine, Jimmy Phelps and Gary Tomkins.
Next up will be the annual Schneider Brothers Victoria 200 in Fulton, NY. This coming Friday evening will be sportsman Mr. DIRTcar series, Pro Stock Mr. DIRTcar series as well as the pure stocks. Then, on Saturday afternoon, will the Victoria 200.
The Brockville Ontario Speedway returns to action on Saturday October 18th, as the Empire Super Sprints, Patriot Sprints, and the Southern Ontario Sprints return to the BOS, along with sportsman, and street stocks. This event will start at 2:00pm
|
|
