Rick Young's 'Rick at the Races' 2008 Review... Part 1

2008 SEASON REVIEW     (Part One)

WISHING EVERYONE A HAPPY AND PROSPOROUS NEW YEAR!

PIC 1      SUPERSTOX action at ARENA ESSEX (Thurrock, UK)

PIC 2    TRACKCHASERS at CLARENCE CREEK (Ont) .. L to R . Randy Lewis ( Calif),Yours Truly (Ont), Carol Lewis (Calif), Will White (Pa) Guy Smith (Pa), PJ Hollebrand (NY) Mike Knappenburger (Pa) Paul Weisel (Pa)

PIC 3    Action at the  BERTRAND FABI CIRCUIT, SHERBROOKE , QUE

PIC 4    KASEY KAHNE at the WILLIAMS GROVE SPEEDWAY (Pa)

PIC  5   Action at the CAYUGA COUNTY FAIR SPEEDWAY, WEEDSPORT (NY)

PIC 6   Action at the MERRITTVILLE SPEEDWAY (Ont)

PIC 7   Action at the HUMBERSTONE SPEEDWAY, PORT COLBORNE (Ont)

PIC 8   Action at the CAPITAL CITY SPEEDWAY,OTTAWA (Ont)

PIC 9   Rain stops the action at the AUTODROME ST EUSTACHE (Que)

PIC 10  JESSICA ZEMKEN wins at the BROCKVILLE ONTARIO SPEEDWAY

PIC 11  'KID ROCKET' JOSH RICHARDS before his win at the CORNWALL MOTOR SPEEDWAY (Ont)

PIC  12  WoO LATE MODEL Victory Lane celebrations at the CORNWALL MOTOR SPEEDWAY

As 2008 comes to an end , it's time to reflect on the year that's just passed. Last January I had no idea how eventful 2008 would be for me. This fall, after living in Maxville, Ontario since 1996, I sold my house and moved to Long Sault nearer to my work in Cornwall (my regular 'day job' is based in the city, and I'm also part of the media team at the Cornwall Motor Speedway).

The relocation kept me busy but I still managed to attend 75 racing events , including two trips back to the UK. Somehow I still found time to launch the www.rickattheraces.com web-site, as well as taking on additional media commitments at the Capital City Speedway (Ottawa). It definitely was an eventful year!

Things started early (Jan 19) when I attended the Arena Essex track in England. It was my Dad's eightieth birthday on Jan 16 so my brother Chris, and sister Anne, secretly arranged for a flight back to the UK, so I could make a surprise appearance at the celebrations. I was only over there for a few days but managed a trip down to 'Arena' located East of London , near to the Dartford Tunnel (that goes under the River Thames).

Once back in Canada, I attended ice racing events during January and February at Mont Carmel, St Eulalie, Kahnawake, Sherbrooke and Beauharnois in Quebec as well as gaining my first 'new track' of the year, at Clarence Creek in Ontario. At Clarence Creek I met up with many of my TRACKCHASING friends who'd traveled far and wide to claim the new track

My Easter weekend (21/22 March) was spent at the Williams Grove and Lincoln Speedways in Pennsylvania. The original plan was to be at the 'Grove' for Sprint Cars on Good Friday and then at Hagerstown (Maryland) on Saturday for the ADVANCE AUTO PARTS SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES for Big Block Mods. This didn't materialize as once again Hagerstown canceled due to predicted bad weather. I have now made four attempts to see racing at this track and I've only been lucky once.

It's a ten hour drive to get there, so it's got to be my unluckiest track for 'long distance' rain-outs. Thankfully, like on one of my previous visits, the Lincoln Speedway ( about 50 miles away) were in no haste to cancel. Once again they saved many long distance race fans from a wasted trip. The highlight of the Sprint Car racing witnessed at the 'Grove' and Lincoln was the appearance of NASCAR SPRINT CUP driver Kasey Kahne in the spare Joey Saldana car ( owned by Kahne).

In April I had two racing weekends away from home. I went to the Can Am Speedway at Lafargeville NY  on April 19 , where I slept overnight before moving on to the Cayuga County Fair Speedway at Weedsport NY the next day.

The following week (April 26 ) I was down in the Niagara Falls region where I attended the Merrittville Speedway (Ont), opener of the 358 SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES. This was won by Dale Planck .The next day (April 27) I gained my second 'new track' of the year when I payed a first time visit to the nearby Humberstone Speedway at Port Colborne Ont.

In May, my local tracks had their season openers, so I took a break from the long distance treks for a while. I have five tracks which I consider my 'locals'. They are the Cornwall, Brockville and Capital City Speedways in Ontario, the Autodrome Edelweiss in Quebec and the Mohawk International Raceway just across International Bridge in Hogansburg NY.

Another track that's not far away from me which I rarely visit is the Autodrome St Eustache, just north of Montreal. On June 1 the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series was taking place there so I decided to go along. Unfortunately, like so many other big races in 2008 it got rained off.

In between dodging wet weather at my local tracks I made a trip to the Fulton Speedway NY  on June 7 for the ADVANCE AUTO PARTS SUPERDIRT CAR SERIES , which was won by Billy Decker.

During May and June, Jessica Zemken was making a name for herself at my local tracks with three feature wins. Driving the 358 Modified # 96z of Mike and Lori Lasalle she picked up two wins at Brockville and one at Edelweiss. 

Mother Nature was kind to us on Jun 22 when the Cornwall Motor Speedway held one of Canada's biggest dirt racing shows of the year. The Triple Crown was an event which headlined the WORLD OF OUTLAW Late Models and had a support program of ESS SPRINT CARS and 358 DIRTCAR Modifieds. It was held on a lovely sunny day in front of a massive crowd who saw 'Kid Rocket' Josh Richards take the big win.

PART TWO (July To December) to follow...

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