Border Patrol – A weekly look at racing from both sides of the 1000 Islands

Craig Revelle – April 24, 2011

With the 2011 racing now two weeks old, it is certain that Mother Nature just isn’t willing to co-operate as Chapman’s Can Am Motorsports Park suffered their second rainout in a row.  This coming weekend they will try once again, in hopes that third time is a charm.  The Empire Super Sprints will headline opening night at Can Am, and a large car count is expected, as it will also be the first race of the year for the Sprints.

With rain coming down early Saturday morning, my hopes to see any racing at all were dwindling.  A much better forecast for later in the day gave me some hope that the skies would clear in time to go racing at Can Am.  They track waited until noon hour, before making the decision to cancel.  The track was just under to match water, and with teams and fans traveling long distances to attend, the decision was made to call the race.

With Can Am rained out, “Plan B” was laid out, as I traveled to Merrittville Speedway for their season opener.  The rain ended there very early in the morning, and their program went on as scheduled.  Triple 60 lap features were on the agenda with the 358 Modifieds, Sportsman and Hoosier Stocks all competing in 60 lap features.  I must thank Matt and Dean Billings and the Billings Motorsports team for allowing me to tag along on the trip.  Matt was making his first ever start at Merrittville in preparation for the DIRTcar tour race next month.

31 Small Block Modifieds signed into the pit area on Saturday night, including Billings, and local veteran racer Danny O’Brien.  27 Sportsman cars were also on hand making for a great night of racing at the Merrittville Speedway.  This was my first visit to the track as well, and was very impressed with the quality of racing, and I look forward to going back again, hopefully in just a few weeks for the DIRTcar 358 Modified series race during the long weekend in May.

When the 60 lap race started for the 358 Modifieds I was particularly interested in watching Pete Bicknell, a long time veteran at Merrittville Speedway, and also the track owner.  I was also keeping an eye our local drivers, Matt Billings and Danny O’Brien.  Billings struggled early in time trials, but got better each time he got out on the track.  He got caught up in a lap 3 crash, but had very minimal damage and returned to the field.  O’Brien on the other hand was fast from the start, he was fast in time trials, qualified in his heat, and started sixth in the feature.  However, on that lap 3 restart Billings and O’Brien were side by side as Billings regrouped from the on track incident and O’Brien made a quick pit stop for chassis adjustments.  Bicknell challenged early and often for the lead, and it appeared it was his race to lose.

Just before halfway, Bicknell spun out entering turn three after contact with Mat Williamson.  Bicknell restarted from the back, while Williamson cruised to victory.  Mike Bowman finished second, Danny O’Brien drove a great race coming from the back on lap 3 to finish third.  Chad Brachmann was fourth and Travis Braun was fifth.  Billings had climbed to 12th at one point before falling back to 15th at the end.  When he came back to the pits, he had a tire going soft, and a broken right rear shock, which explains why the handling went away in the closing laps.

I very much enjoyed my first visit to Merrittville Speedway, and I look forward to my next visit.  Hopefully though, we can get the season started this weekend at Can Am, as they host the Empire Super Sprints, plus 358 Modifieds, Sportsman, Late Models, a Pro Stock/Street Stock Challenge and Thunder Cars.

Caprara’s Thunder Alley Speed Park will also open up this Saturday night, as will Canandaigua Speedway.  Cayuga County and Utica Rome will open up on Sunday, May 1st.  Brockville and Cornwall Speedway open on May 14th and 15th respectively, while Mohawk International Raceway’s season opener is set for Friday, May 20th.

I hope you continue to enjoy my weekly column, as always, any comments or suggestions can be sent to crevelle@ripnet.com.  Please feel free to check out my website, www.finishlinewebdesign.ca. If you would like a website for your race team or small business, send me a message and I will get back to you.