Joey Ladouceur - Rick Young Photo
Cornwall, ONT — May 23, 2010 – By Tom Skibinski, DIRTcar Racing Northeast PR Director
*Rick Young Photo
The Hoosier Tire-VP Racing Fuels Mr. DIRTcar Pro Stock Championship Series event at Cornwall Motor Speedway was moved ahead three months in the schedule this year. That only gave two-time defending track champion Joey Ladouceur an earlier start on his bid for a second overall division title in DIRTcar Racing Northeast’s top full-fender traveling show.
Second-generation standout Ladouceur forged the sixth and final lead change on lap 34 of the headline ‘Minute Auto Wash 50’ en route to capturing his second straight tour race Sunday at Cornwall, worth $1,000 and an automatic starting berth at Syracuse during the Super DIRT Week Pro Stock Championship in October.
“Its not getting any easier, the boys really gave me all I could handle tonight,” said Ladouceur, 34, after making sure the 2010 Mr. DIRTcar Pro Stock Championship Series began just the way it ended last season. The Alexandria, Ont. favorite scored a decisive victory on home soil at Brockville Ontario Speedway in the October ’09 Series finale, although he hopes that the final point standings are just a little different this time around.
Rallying to take second-place ¾ of a straightaway behind Ladouceur at the stripe was four-time defending Mr. DIRTcar Champion Pete Stefanski, Louie Jackson and Corey Wheeler. Ricky Thompson rounded out the original top-five yet was stripped of his fifth-place points and earnings following post-race inspection that uncovered a rev limiter chip infraction.
“For a while it was Louie, then for a while it was Dave (Bissonnette). It was just good, hard racing. The track was decent tonight, better than it was last week, and hopefully it continues to get better,” remarked Ladouceur, who settled for runner-up honors last season behind Stefanski on the final Mr. DIRTcar points chart despite posting a tour-high total of five feature wins.
While Ladouceur led the entire distance in last autumn’s 50-lap finale at Brockville, he wasn’t quite as dominant in the spring lid-lifter despite leading 33 of the 50 circuits to kick off the 16th season of Pro Stock Series competition. Top touring regulars Jackson and Bissonnette had plans of their own on a warm Sunday evening at the racy quarter-miler.
Pole-sitter Ladouceur out-dragged front row partner David Papineau and opened up a sizable advantage over Jackson just five laps in, looking just as confident as he did a year ago when leading all 50 to score a convincing win at Cornwall. The first of eight yellow flags flew on lap eight, and it was just what Jackson needed as he took to the high side past the leader on the ensuing restart.
Ladouceur quickly retaliated and ducked the Coffrage 20-20 no. 92 Minimax Express/Cadillac STS/Stinger X entry back under for the lead on lap 13, but Jackson gathered up his Adams Marina no. 18 Keegan Smoke Shop/Chevrolet Monte Carlo/Black Widow mount and regained the point one lap later. While Ladouceur and Jackson continued to swap the top spot, veteran Bissonnette steered his way to the front, finally reeling in the leaders just shy of the halfway mark.
And just as Steve Johnston looped his ride between the third and fourth turns, Bissonnette salvaged his first lead while the field completed lap 24 under caution. At the midway point, Bissonnette and Ladouceur continued to head the pack while Jackson, Eastern New Yorker Buddy Hencke and Stefanski filled out the front-five.
A seventh yellow for the second consecutive spin by Papineau on lap 29 prompted the remaining restarts to begin single-file, with the leaders still able to pull away back under green. Ladouceur took advantage of Bissonnette getting boxed in behind the lapped car of Dion Oakes and blasted high to grab his fourth lead of the night.
Bissonnette was not yet done, charging under Ladouceur with 10 to go but coming up just short as the lapped car of Ryan Stabler spun directly in his path as the leaders rounded turn one. Ladouceur quickly slid high to avoid the incident yet the ‘Bulldog’ wasn’t as fortunate, making contact with Stabler to force him pitside and out of contention for the remaining circuits.
After starting 28th on the 30-car grid, Thompson was solidly in the top-five and trying to pressure runner-up Jackson on the last lap 41 restart. Wasting little time as the final laps clicked off, Stefanski skirted under both Jackson and Thompson to pick up valuable points in quest of an unprecedented fifth championship trophy.
“It was close for so long, Dave finally got caught up with that lapped car when it spun, don’t know if I could’ve got back by without switching lanes again,” said Ladouceur, following his 14th career Series triumph, which puts him into third-place all alone behind only Stefanski (23) and Jipp Ortz (17). “Dave really showed some muscle there, I had no choice but to go back to the outside when he met up with traffic. Don’t know if I could’ve held him off if I got off the bottom, he was plenty fast and is gonna be tough to beat (here) this year.”
The 2010 Mr. DIRTcar Pro Stock Series resumes next month when autodromes Granby and Drummond host a big back-to-back doubleheader for the Northeast’s top traveling teams on June 25-26. Ladouceur dominated the special in Drummondville last summer while Granby officials anxiously await the first ever tour stop at their spacious half-miler.
SKIDMARKS
Cornwall car count was up a trio of cars from last year with an even 30 Pro Stock entries —including 15 of the top-18 in the final 2009 Series point standings—signed in for the Sunday stock car showdown. The event was moved ahead exactly three months from last year’s Aug. 23 date as track owner Ron Morin remarked, “I wanted something really big to go along with the Canadian Nationals 100-lapper for Modifieds. A Pro Stock series show early in the year was a perfect fit” ….. Top-4 finishers from each of the three qualifying heats went into the customary pre-race redraw, and the numbers 1& 2 were waiting for the final two drivers Papineau and Ladouceur … Cornwall is one of the few member facilities scheduled to host all four Mr. DIRTcar champ trails in 2010. Sportsman Modifieds are up next on June 13, the Big-Block Modified Super DIRTcar Series come to town July 11 and 358-Modifieds are on the docket over Labor Day Weekend, Sept. 5 …Overhead blaring on a local radio station after arriving at the track was Sunday’s temperature ranging from a daytime high of 26 and evening low of 14. No jacket was required on this occasion, however, as those degrees were provided using the celcius scale, with 79 and 57 the U.S. conversion in fahrenheit, which was certainly more comfortable for the capacity crowd on hand for the Victoria Day Weekend special.
Mr. DIRTcar Pro Stock Championship Series Race #1 – Cornwall Motor Speedway, May 23, 2010 ‘Minute Auto Wash 50’ Event Summary
Feature
FIN ST CAR# DRIVER / HOMETOWN
1 1 92 Joey Ladouceur/Alexandria,ONT($1,000)
2 12 2 Pete Stefanski/Wheatfield,NY
3 4 18 Louie Jackson/Akwesasne,NY
4 17 47s Corey Wheeler/Cornwall,ONT
*5 28 1r Ricky Thompson/Hogansburg,NY
6 21 116s Carl “Chip” Smith Jr./Durham,NY
7 10 10 Buddy Hencke/Sand Lake,NY
8 7 115 Stephane Lemire/Drummondville,QUE
9 19 7 Rob Yetman/Castleton,NY
10 18 05 Jocelyn Roy/St-Helene,QUE
11 5 99 Ghislain Valade/N.Lancaster,ONT
12 30 8m Marc Lalonde/L’Orignal,ONT
13 8 73 P.J. Peters/Akwesasne,QUE
14 11 47 Dave Bissonnette/Apple Hill,ONT
15 14 17 Rod Tarbell/Akwesasne,NY
16 16 15 Guy Viens/St-Hubert,QUE®
17 27 73L Normand Lemire/Drummondville,QUE
18 2 188 David Papineau/Akwesasne,NY
19 13 33 Bruno Cyr/St.Liboire,QUE
20 22 7jr Harvey Arquette/Akwesasne,NY
21 26 6 Stephane Lebrun/Gatineau,QUE
22 20 28 Marco Lalonde/Valleyfield,QUE
23 9 55 George Renaud/Green Valey,ONT
24 25 7e Ryan Stabler/Cornwall,ONT
25 23 48 Dion Oakes/Akwesasne,NY
26 6 73d Michel Desjardins/Hawkesbury,ONT
27 15 88 Allen Peters/Westville,NY
28 3 27 Gilles Godard/Summerstown,ONT
29 24 ba98 Steve Johnston/Ingelside,ONT
30 29 14 Chris Tremblay/Long Sault,ONT
*Lost points & money for illegal rev limiter chip found in post-race inspection.
LAP LEADERS: Ladouceur (1-7), Jackson (8-12), Ladouceur (13), Jackson (14-15), Ladouceur (16-23), Bissonnette (24-33), Ladouceur (34-50).
CAUTIONS: 8 (lap 8, lap 18, lap 21, lap 24, lap 25, lap 28, lap 29, lap 41).
HEAT WINNERS: Renaud, Desjardins, Godard.
SYRACUSE QUALIFIER: Joey Ladouceur.
HALFWAY LEADER: Dave Bissonnette.
CARS ENTERED: 30.
NEXT EVENTS: Autodrome Granby – June 25 & Autodrome Drummond – June 26, 2010.
QUALIFYING
Heat Races (8 laps, all transfer to feature; top 4 redraw)
#1: Renaud, Jackson, Stefanski, Hencke, Cyr, Viens, Yetman, Arquette, Stabler, Thompson.
#2: Desjardins, Valade, S.Lemire, Papineau, Tarbell, Wheeler, Marco Lalonde, Oakes, Lebrun, Tremblay (DNS).
#3: Godard, Bissonnette, PJ Peters, Ladouceur, A.Peters, Roy, Smith, Johnston, N.Lemire, Marc Lalonde.
Mr. DIRTcar Pro Stock Championship Series Point Standings (May 23)
Rank No. Driver Total Diff Wins Top-5 Top-10 Starts
1 92 Joey Ladouceur 100 0 1 1 1 1
2 2 Pete Stefanski 95 -5 0 1 1 1
3 18 Louie Jackson 90 -10 0 1 1 1
4 47s Corey Wheeler 85 -15 0 1 1 1
5 116s Carl Smith Jr. 76 -24 0 0 1 1
6 10 Buddy Hencke 72 -28 0 0 1 1
7 115 Stephane Lemire 68 -32 0 0 1 1
8 7 Rob Yetman 65 -35 0 0 1 1
9 05 Jocelyn Roy 62 -38 0 0 1 1
10 99 Ghislain Valade 60 -40 0 0 0 1
11 8m Marc Lalonde 58 -42 0 0 0 1
12 73 P.J. Peters 56 -44 0 0 0 1
13 47 Dave Bissonnette 54 -46 0 0 0 1
14 17 Rod Tarbell 52 -48 0 0 0 1
15 15 Guy Viens 50 -50 0 0 0 1
16 73L Normand Lemire 48 -52 0 0 0 1
17 188 David Papineau 46 -54 0 0 0 1
18 33 Bruno Cyr 45 -55 0 0 0 1
19 7jr. Harvey Arquette 44 -56 0 0 0 1
20 6 Stephane Lebrun 43 -57 0 0 0 1
21 28 Marco Lalonde 42 -58 0 0 0 1
22 55 George Renaud1 41 -59 0 0 0 1
23 7e Ryan Stabler 40 -60 0 0 0 1
24 48 Dion Oakes 40 -60 0 0 0 1
25 73d Michel Desjardins 40 -60 0 0 0 1
26 88 Allen Peters 40 -60 0 0 0 1
27 27 Gilles Godard 40 -60 0 0 0 1
28 ba98 Steve Johnston 40 -60 0 0 0 1
29 14 Chris Tremblay 40 -60 0 0 0 1
30 1r Ricky Thompson 10 -90 0 0 0 0
DIRTcar Pro Stock Entries – May 23 (30)
CAR# DRIVER / HOMETOWN TEAM (Sponsor / Make-Model / Chassis)
05 Jocelyn Roy/St-Helene,QUE Remorcage 05-Lettrage Lucy/Chevrolet Monte Carlo/CRT
1r Ricky Thompson/Hogansburg,NY Brass Horse Grill-Fatty Cats-S&L Construct./Chevy Monte Carlo/Cannizzaro
2 Pete Stefanski/Wheatfield,NY Sunrise Racing-San Ter Sewing-PJ NFB Auto Sales/Chevy Monte Carlo/JACR
6 Stephane Lebrun/Gatineau,QUE Patio Vidal Restaurant-United Auto Parts(UAP)/Pontiac Grand Prix/Wild Thing
7 Rob Yetman/Castleton,NY Lazzaro’s Auto Body-Madsen Overhead Door/Pontiac Grand Prix/JACR
7e Ryan Stabler/Cornwall,ONT RSI Industrial Supply-C&D Trucking/Chevrolet Monte Carlo/CSC
7jr Harvey Arquette/Akwesasne,NY A&L Enterprise-Brass Horse Grill/Chevrolet Monte Carlo/Cannizzaro
8m Marc Lalonde/L’Orignal,ONT Peladeau Services-Lucas Oil/Chevrolet Monte CarloLalonde
10 Buddy Hencke/Sand Lake,NY Stinger X/Chevrolet Monte Carlo/Stinger X
14 Chris Tremblay/Long Sault,ONT R&C Automotive-McPhee Racing/Chevrolet Monte Carlo/Stinger
15 Guy Viens/St-Hubert,QUE® David Viens & Sons General Mechanical/Chevrolet Impala SS/Stinger
17 Rod Tarbell/Akwesasne,NY Akwesasne Gas-Log Cabin Smoke Shop/Chevrolet Impala SS/Cannizzaro
18 Louie Jackson/Akwesasne,NY Adams Marina-Keegan Smoke Shop/Chevrolet Monte Carlo/Black Widow
27 Gilles Godard/Summerstown,ONT OK Tire-Therrien Garage-Seaway G.M./Chevrolet Monte Carlo/Stinger X
28 Marco Lalonde/Valleyfield,QUE Rejean Leboeuf Const.-Manius Orthopedic Center/Pontiac Grand Prix/Lalonde
33 Bruno Cyr/St.Liboire,QUE Concept Syma-Remorquage Longueuil/Chevrolet Impala/Stinger
47 Dave Bissonnette/Apple Hill,ONT Totem Pole Novelties-Sweet Dreams/Chevrolet Monte Carlo/Cannizzaro
47s Corey Wheeler/Cornwall,ONT Valade Backhoe-RSI Industrial-PM Promot./Chevy Monte Carlo SS/Cannizzaro
48 Dion Oakes/Akwesasne,NY Oakes Racing-Noah King Family-Akwesasne Gas/Chevolet Impala/Cannizzaro
55 George Renaud/Green Valey,ONT Paul’s Auto Body-G.R. Trucking/Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS/Cannizzaro
73 P.J. Peters/Akwesasne,QUE Sunrise Racing-Hair Secrets Salon/Chevrolet Impala/JACR
73d Michel Desjardins/Hawkesbury,ONT Lalonde Forming-www.Lefaivre-Ferry.com/Chevy Camaro/Black Widow
73m Normand Lemire/Drummondville,QUE V.R. Drummond-Michel Auto/Toyota Camry/Black Widow
88 Allen Peters/Westville,NY Sunrise Racing-PJ NFB Auto Sales/Chevrolet Monte Carlo/Cannizzaro
92 Joey Ladouceur/Alexandria,ONT Coffrage 20-20-Minimax Express/Cadillac STS/Stinger X
ba98 Steve Johnston/Ingelside,ONT Swamp’s Performance-Bub’s Auto/Chevrolet Monte Carlo/Stinger
99 Ghislain Valade/N.Lancaster,ONT Gerry Prieur Garage-Glengarry Tire/Chevolet Monte Carlo SS/Cannizzaro
115 Stephane Lemire/Drummondville,QUE Michel Auto-Peinture Prefontaine/Toyota Camry/Stinger X
116s Carl “Chip” Smith Jr./Durham,NY Hannay Reels-Sunny Hill Resort-American Trim/Pontiac G-Prix/Cannizzaro
188 David Papineau/Akwesasne,NY D&D Construction-Action Race Parts/Chevrolet Monte Carlo/Cannizzaro
UPCOMING EVENTS
In one more month traveling teams return to competition in the 2010 Mr. DIRTcar Pro Stock Series, with autodromes Granby and Drummond hosting rounds two and three in the 10-race tour. In its first year featuring weekly Pro Stock racing, Granby leads off on Friday, June 25 with a 40-lapper followed by Drummond’s 50-lap main even on Saturday, June 26.
2010 Mr. DIRTcar Pro Stock Championship Series Schedule
*All events subject to change.
DAY-DATE TRACK WINNER/LOCATION
Sun-May 23 Cornwall Motor Speedway Joey Ladouceur
Fri-Jun 25 Autodrome Granby Granby,QUE
Sat-Jun 26 Autodrome Drummond Drummondville,QUE
Sat-Aug 21 Mohawk International Raceway Akwesasne,NY
Sat-Sep 11 Lebanon Valley Speedway West Lebanon,NY
Sun-Sep 12 Glen Ridge Motorsports Park Fultonville,NY
Sat-Sep 18 Canandaigua Speedway Canandaigua,NY
Sat-Sep 25 Rolling Wheels Raceway Park Elbridge,NY
Sun-Oct 10 New York State Fairgrounds Syracuse,NY
Sun-Oct 17 Brockville Ontario Speedway Brockville,ONT
DIRTcar Racing Northeast main office is located in Weedsport, New York on the Cayuga County Fairgrounds, home of DIRTcar All-Star Weekend in July. DIRTcar Northeast’s crown jewel event —Super DIRT Week at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse runs annually in October featuring Hoosier Tire-VP Racing Fuels Mr. DIRTcar Championship Series events for Big-Block Modified, 358-Modified, Sportsman and Pro Stock divisions. Ticket and schedule information is available by contacting the Weedsport office (315/834-6606) during the day or logging into www.allstar100weekend.com and www.superdirtweekonline.com anytime.
The Big-Block Super DIRTcar Series is brought to fans across the Northeast by several sponsors and partners, including series sponsors Hoosier Racing Tire www.hoosiertire.com and VP Racing Fuels www.vpracingfuels.com. Promotional partners include the University of Northwestern Ohio www.unoh.com and Chizmark & Larson Insurance www.chizmarklarson.com, and contingency sponsors are Bicknell Racing Products www.bicknellracingproducts.com, Bilstein Shocks www.bilstein.com, KSE Racing Products www.kse-racing.com, Motorsports Safety Systems www.motorsportssafetysystems.com, MSD Ignition www.msdignition.com, Penske Shocks, www.penskeshocks.com, Racing Electronics www.racingelectronics.com, Vicci Racing Apparel www.vicci.com and Wrisco Industries www.wrisco.com.
