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Kevin Kovac
CORNWALL, Ontario (June 16) - Cornwall Motor Speedway owner Ron Morin has long dreamed of hosting the World of Outlaws Late Model Series at his spic-and-span track.
That day will finally come this Sunday night (June 22) when the far-reaching tour visits the high-banked, quarter-mile oval for a 50-lap, $10,000-to-win event that completes an unprecedented three-race Canadian swing for the Outlaws.
"I can't wait to see the Outlaw boys at Cornwall," said an obviously jazzed Morin, who has built the Ontario facility into a spectacularly successful DIRTcar Racing-sanctioned Sunday-night operation over the past quarter-century. "I know how exciting Late Models are, so I've always talked about having a Late Model race. It finally worked out where we could get a World of Outlaws date and we jumped at it."
A big fan of all dirt-track racing who often attends dirt Late Model events during his track's off-season, Morin also knows how to put on a show that fans want to see. That's the case with Sunday's First Americans IGA Triple Crown of Racing, a race fans' delight that joins the headlining WoO LMS program with companion events for the Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprints tour and Cornwall's weekly DIRTcar 358-Modifieds.
The tripleheader is a true event, one of the biggest short-track extravaganzas that will be run anywhere in Canada this season. Morin has posted a purse of over $80,000 for the night's action, topped by the $50,000 total payout that the WoO LMS competitors will chase.
"I figured, 'Let's just go all out,'" Morin said when asked what prompted him to schedule such a gargantuan, don't-dare-miss-it program. "The World of Outlaws Late Models, ESS and the 358-Modifieds have never been run together on the same night, so it's something to get everyone talking."
With a record-breaking crowd expected, Morin and his staff have arranged extra bleachers and increased parking to handle the throng. The shuttle service that Cornwall boasts to ferry fans from the farthest reaches of the parking lots to the front gate will even be enhanced to make the night's experience more convenient.
Several drivers who have become prominent followers of the WoO LMS will be very familiar to Cornwall's fans, including 2007 tour Rookie of the Year Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., who is chasing the entire WoO LMS this season; 2006 WoO LMS champion Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y.; and '08 Rookie of the Year contenders Danny Johnson of Phelps, N.Y., and Vic Coffey of Leicester, N.Y.
Fuller, McCreadie and Johnson have all won DIRTcar Modified events at Cornwall. McCreadie, in fact, registered the first major event victory of his career at Cornwall when he captured a 358-Modified Super DIRTcar Series 100 in 1996 - one reason why he's a big fan of the track.
"I've always liked Cornwall," said McCreadie, who will make his first Cornwall appearance in several seasons when he takes to the track in his Sweeteners Plus No. 39. "It's tight, but it's usually haul-ass, and if you're good you go to the front."
Fuller, meanwhile, has another reason to look forward to Cornwall's show: the track is just a short drive across the St. Lawrence River from Hogansburg, N.Y., where his valued sponsor, John Lazore, happens to reside.
Cornwall's talented WoO LMS field will feature nearly a half-dozen drivers with DIRTcar Modified rootes, including Billy Decker of Unadilla, N.Y., who has been victorious in Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series action at Cornwall; 2008 WoO LMS Rookie of the Year contender Joe Isabell of Pennellville, N.Y.; 1992 DIRTcar big-block Modified Rookie of the Year Ricky Elliott of Seaford, Del., whose Joe Beyea-owned dirt Late Model is wrenched by well-known DIRTcar Modified crew chief Randy Kisacky; Sean Beardsley of Central Square, N.Y.; and Peter Mantha Jr. of Gatineau, Que.
Fuller is part of a fulltime WoO LMS traveling roster led by defending champion Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., who last year became the first winner of a tour event in Canada when he was triumphant at Quebec's Autodrome Drummond.
Other WoO LMS stars headed to Cornwall for the first time are Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., who through 12 events is tied for the tour points lead with Francis; Chub Frank, the Pennsy veteran known as 'Chubzilla'; 20-year-old sensation Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va.; Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., who will drive a car owned by NASCAR Sprint Cup star Clint Bowyer; Rick Eckert of York, Pa.; Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga.; Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga.; and John Blankenship of Williamson, W.Va.
The field will be boosted by several top dirt Late Model drivers from the Northeast, including Jeremy Miller of Gettysburg, Pa., who won his first-ever WoO LMS event in April at Virginia Motor Speedway; Dan Stone of Thompson, Pa., an upset WoO LMS victor last year at Tri-City Speedway in Franklin, Pa.; Rick 'Boom' Briggs of Bear Lake, Pa.; Bob Close of Eldred, Pa.; and Greg Oakes of Franklinville, N.Y.
WoO LMS time trials are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday.
General admission (in Canadian currency) to the three-star show is $45 for adults; $25 for students 13-17, senior citizens 65-and-over and children 5-12; and free for kids 4-and-under.
For more information visit www.cornwallspeedway.com or call 613-938-3945.
The Cornwall event is part of the seven-race WoO LMS 'Great Northern Tour,' which barnstorms across the Northeast through the end of the month. The swing begins at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway on June 17 and also includes stops on June 19 at Ohsweken (Ont.) Speedway; June 21 at Quebec's Autodrome Drummond; June 24 at Canandaigua (N.Y.) Speedway; June 25 at Big Diamond Raceway in Minersville, Pa.; and June 27-28 at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa. (the $40,000-to-win Firecracker 100).
Additional info on the WoO LMS is available by logging on to www.worldofoutlaws.com.
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