AUGUST 2005 NEWS ARCHIVE

27th August 2005

Paris Roars Again!

No rain this week! Not enough anyways to doubt that the Friday night Paris Speedway action would take place.

That said, even with the weather co-operating, there was still a disappointing rider turnout. With thankfully just enough riders to put on a good show in all three divisions, the fans went away happy, having seen some great competitive racing.

Division 3 was dominated by our very own Michael Small. After a lack-lustre start to the season by his own very high standards, he has shown in the latter part, total commitment to his racing and superb control of his GM machine.

He now desperately needs some D2 action as with all due respect to his D3 rivals he has outgrown this rank. That said, veteran "Tiger" Tom Marriott leapt from the gate ahead of Michael in one heat and held the lead for over a lap before he succumbed to the Small pressure! With Michael's 15th Birthday in February next year, he will be able for the first time to get his "unrestricted" licence allowing him to make that step to D2.

With good racing behind him between Peter Fornal, Ryan Broda and "Tiger" Tom, the division was well worthy of the applause and cheering from the larger than usual Friday night crowd.

Division 2 had probably the most competitive and exciting racing on the night. The now expected weekly battle between Corrine Franic and Doug Beaumont did not disappoint, with Beaumont just edging out Corrine on the night. With Mark Priebe, Bart Moskala and a welcome visit to the Paris track by Welland enthusiast Chris Houtby making up the rest of the D2 line-up, racing was competitive and exciting throughout.

Division 1 received a gret boost with the re-appearance of long track specialist Rob Dixon. Rob has found his niche over the last couple of seasons on the larger circuits here in Canada, but on hearing the news that the Paris track had been in excellent shape for the past few weeks he was tempted back. And it was great to see him take the Consolation final win ahead of John Perry with a struggling #21 Phil Small trailing in third. Rob has pledged to take part in next weekends action also (see below for details), while I sincerely hope that the after effects of a recent eye injury and subsequent Tetanus jab will be a long forgotten memory by then!

The D1 main event saw Aaron Hesmer, his cousin Gary "The Hit Man" Hesmer, Nick "The Flying Frenchman" Fafard and Langton's Joe Heye line up at the tapes. With Aaron taking the win he is now in a good position to challenge for the all time season high points record held by our Canadian representitive in UK racing, Kyle Legault.

All in all, a good evening, with good track surface conditions, if not a touch deeper than we have been used to over the past couple of events.

Many thanks once again to everyone that puts in a great deal of hard work every week to allow our speedway racing to continue to be the success it is.

There should be no worries about the rider or spectator turnout for next weekend's action. It's Labour Day Weekend and most of us know that means the annual Paris Fair. With that comes the usual double header of speedway racing. No racing Friday night but Saturday at 4:00pm sees the D2 and D3 Championships, and Sunday at 6:00pm will be the Paris Track Championships with 16 Division 1 level riders competing for the title.

As part of the sensational and ever growing Paris Fair schedule, this event usually sees our largest spectator turnout of the season, and we are thankful to the Paris Agricultural Society for their support and financial assistance to the Speedway Racing during this weekend.

See you all next Saturday!

Phil #21 & Michael #2

Fired Up & Ready for Action. Picture courtesy of John Franic

19th August 2005

Paris Night Cancelled

Unfortunately, the regular Friday night meeting at Paris Speedway had to be called off late yesterday afternoon due to excessive water on the track.

The threat of rain had held off most of the day with only a couple of light drizzles dampening the ground. However, mid afternoon a couple of vicious thumderstorms rolled through the area. Couple that with tornado watches in effect and the threat of more electrical storm cells imminent and the call was made at about 4:00pm to abandon any hope of racing.

A terrible anticlimax following last weekends highs but rest assured, everyone will be that much keener to get things on one week from now!

See you all next weekend.

Phil #21 & Michael #2.

14th August 2005

Paris "Speedwayfest"!

This past weekend saw the most incredible "festival of speedway" I have ever witnessed in Canada!

With the regular Friday night racing at Paris this weekend sponsored by Symes Catering, followed by a rare Saturday nights action, The 3rd Annual Dean Bencsics Memorial Meeting, promoted by Speedy Race Promotions, there was more than enough action to satisfy even the most fanatical speedway enthusiast.

In all fairness, and sadly, the Friday night paled into insignificance as many riders chose to take a rest from the incredible humidity and save both their own bodies and equipment for the Saturday. With only twelve riders signing in for the night's action, a hectic race program which totalled only sixteen heats had everyone home in bed early.

Perhaps the most interesting story of the evening was the arrival at the Paris track for the first time in at least four years of veteran Wisconsin based rider Greg Comstock. Tempeted by the introduction for the first time this year of a bone fidi Veterans class to the Saturday night's Dean Bencsic's Memorial Meeting, he and wife Cindy made the long drive to Paris, Ontario. Greg could not resist the chance of two meetings in as many days, so he was to sign in at Division 1 level for the Friday night's action as a warm-up to the Saturday's events.

Unfortunately, his evening was to last no longer than a couple of very promising looking practice laps and half a turn in his first heat race. And even more unfortunate, it was yours truly whom with he tangled! All four riders were entering turn one in our first race of the night with Greg just behind me. All of a sudden I felt my back wheel hit real hard causing me to part company ungracefully with my GM machine in turn two. I suffered no more than a couple of bruises but unfortunately the incident had caused Greg to go over the high side, landing very heavily on his head. The resulting dazed feeling was enough to sideline him for the rest of the evening, a very experienced descision by Mr. Comstock supported by the St. John's Ambulance crew and CMA referee Kevin Robillard alike.

With only four Division 1 riders remaining I was able to continue and gain my place in the main event for the second week in succession. Aaron Hesmer once again ran out victor on the night. I'll leave it to the CSRA website (quick link at the end of this update) to fill you in on the rest of the night's details as the remainder of this week's update deservedly should be spent on the Saturday's action

The 3rd Annual Dean Bencsics Memorial Meeting goes down in my mind as the most incredible night of speedway at Paris for the four years I have been attending racing at this venue.

Promoted by newly formed "Speedy Race Promotions" led by fan favourite and close former friend of Dean himself, "Big" John Perry, this was a "Speedway Fest" to remember.

With this event being included as one of the rounds of the East Coast Speedway Series, a good number of American riders were tempted to cross the border and support the Paris action.

This being said, a total of 31 riders forming four classes (the usual three divisions and the new Veterans class for riders over 40 years of age) were organized into a race program promising an amazing 41 heats of heart stopping speedway action!

By far the largest crowd ever seen at Paris circled almost both turns and packed the home straightaway to watch the rider introduction at 6:00 pm. Shortly after, the gates went up on the first heat, a Division 3 heat race including Team Small Racing's very own Michael Small. Riding his GM laydown smoothly and with newfound agression and confidence Michael went on to win this heat, and indeed all his heat races and the D3 final on the night proving the dominant force in the beginner's Division. Paris local and rookie Sean Trendelle pushed hard all evening but just could not match the speed and consistency of Michael.

Division 2 was once again to be a battle between our own Corrine Franic and Doug Beaumont. This battle has been raging from week to week all season and once again they were not to dissapoint. Throw into the mix an ever improving Mark Priebe and visitor from the US, fifteen year old female Kaitlin Davis, and the D2 action was nothing short of sensational! Doug Beaumont eventually picked up the win.

As a side note, one of the many awards to be given at the end of the night was "best crash" award. The aformentioned Miss Davis was well worthy of the honours as in her first heat after just leaving the start tapes she picked up traction in turn one and the bike reared which caused her to grab even more throttle. Her Jawa "missile" took her at full speed into the Paris boards not disimilar to veteran Paul Martin's episode a few weeks earlier. The bike demolished the fence and Kaitlin flew at least thirty feet through the air, completely clearing the secondary catch fence and landing in a heap just missing a fans parked pick up truck.

Amazingly and with God's will, after treatment from the medical team she was able to walk back to the pits unaided and continue her night's racing. Unbelievable!

Division 1's racing was exceptional. With injured Canadian National Champion Nick "The Flying Frenchman" Fafard just managing to straddle a bike, along with all the regular Paris D1 attendees and a good number of American visitors the stage was set for GP like quality racing. Amazingly, it was the injured Fafard who eventually came out tops, quite incredible considering he could barely walk after his last week's Paris crash. Again, I'm going to direct you to the CSRA site for more detailed results and reports as I aslo wish to spend a little time talking about the Vets class and another piece of Speedway nostalgia, the Weslake challenge.

As previously mentioned, Greg Comstock made the incredible journey from Wisconsin, lured by the inclusion of the Veterans class. Veterans speedway is something Greg himself has been striving long and hard to get established in North America, but it is a thankless and difficult task. I have taken the liberty of adding his "Veteran Speedway" website to my links page so please take a moment to check this out when you have time.

This Saturday was proof there most certainly is a place for veterans speedway and all who signed up for this division had a ball. The quality of the racing easily matched any of the other divisions with Greg himself eventually coming out victor over crowd favourite and event organizer "Big" John Perry. It was good to see Greg had fully recovered from his previous evening's "bang on the head"! Both Mosquera brothers Phil and Bob from Michigan also joined in the party along with our very own "Tiger" Tom Marriott.

Finally, a long time dream of mine came to fruition as twice in the evening four Weslake machines took to the start line at Paris Speedway. This surely will go down in history as with these machines at least 25 years old and increasing in rarity it is quite a feat. In the first heat of the "Weslake Challenge" myself, Nick Fafard, Michael Small and Tom Marriott took part. Out of the first turn leading the charge was our own D3 rider Michael Small, sandwiched between myself and Fafard. Unfortunately, Michael's machine let him down and he was unable to finish the race. Fafard and I went on to give the fans something to cheer about, crossing the line in a dead heat, with Tom Marriott coming in third.

The second heat saw all the riders except me change. Aaron DeVeau, the incredible Kaitlin Davis and D3 rider Peter Fornal drew to the start tapes. I led the charge and finished ahead of the others, with Davis finishing second and Fornal third. This time it was to be DeVeau who suffered the mechanical gremlins and failed to finish. I would personally like to thank everyone who played a part in making this happen and I would like to take this opportunity to ask anyone who may have photographs or video footage of this historical event to get in touch with me.

While I'm in "thank you" mode, so many people desrve credit for this weekend's events. Firstly, Dave and Carol Havill. Dave has the track in probably it's best shape for two years and the last couple of weeks in particular have been amazing. Secondly, thanks to Symes Catering, sponsors of the Friday night meeting. Apologies the meeting was not as big as we would have liked but your continued support is fantastic and much appreciated (just like your food)! Thirdly, a huge thanks to the organizers and promotors of the Dean Bencsics Memorial Meeting, Speedy Race Promotions, in particular John Perry but also to Shawn and Melissa Morisson and every one of their huge team of helpers. I'm sure Dean would have been proud of your efforts and I hope his family and friends found the evening a worthy tribute.

The hundreds of fans who showed also deserve a thanks and on a personal note I would like to thank Greg and Cindy Comstock. I pitted next to them both eveings. It was a pleasure to meet you both and I enjoyed spending time together. Thanks for you support and help with the heat! I hope we meet again soon.

A special thanks must go out from Team Small Racing to our 2005 sponsors Just In Time Shop Supplies and NBL Consultant Services and extra sponsorship for this weekend came from "Grandma and Grandad Small" over the pond in the UK. Lastly, a general but heartfelt thanks to all the riders who showed from near and far alike to unite in the common cause, to race SPEEDWAY!!!!

As mentioned above, for David Hensby's details of this weekend's action, please visit the CSRA's webpage and don't forget to click their "Results" page once you are there for Ducan Luke's official results and race reports! CSRA WEBSITE LINK.

Oh yes, and dont forget Greg Comstock's Veteran Speedway Website link added to my "Links Page"

See you all next Friday night!

Phil #21 & Michael #2

6th August 2005

Team Small Delivers!

What a superb feast of entertainment Paris Speedway was last night, Friday 5th August.

With the Paris track back to it's very best thanks to the very hard work of Dave Havill, coupled with perfect weather, racing was fantastic all night.

As the title of this week's update suggests, it was the best night of the year so far for Team Small Racing.

With both Michael and I more focussed than we have been all season, we got to the Paris track determined to give it our all. We felt it was about time we gave our sponsors and fans something to cheer about and knowing that the racing surface was going to be in the best shape of the season thus far, this was the night we were to turn things around and really start to push!

Division 3 saw Michael unbeaten in all but one of his heats when a freak mechanical breakdown robbbed him of a maximum on the night. His left foot somehow got caught on the HT lead and pulled the spark plug cap off mid turn. Apart from this unfortunate incident, he looked his usual smooth self, but perhaps for the first time this season, really fast also.

It must be mentioned at this point that newcomer and the dominant force in Division 3 so far this season, Sean Trendell made the choice to move up to Division 2 for the first time last night. This may have opened the way for Michael's success, but with Michael's much improved focus and gating, who knows?

Veteran Graham Wale, Peter Fornal and Greg Sim were the other three D3 finalists on the night, with perhaps Greg Sim noticeably improving the most on his previous performances.

Michael Small. Picture courtesy of John Franic

Division 2 was shaping up to be the usual close contest we have come to enjoy this season between female racer Corrine Franic and London's Doug Beaumont. Indeed, it started off this way until Corrine, in one of her heats picked up too much traction coming out of turn two. She spectacularly saved what was to be a horrendous high side crash, but could not control the subsequent "tank slapper" which took her really hard into the back straightaway boards.

The St. John's ambulance was brought onto the track and for a good few minutes there was little movement from Corrine. Fortunately, there were no broken bones, but I bet she'll have one heck of a headache this morning! The resultant concussion sustained, ruled her out of any further competition on the night. Everyone was glad to see this inspirational young rider able to walk back to the pits and she deserves a great deal of respect for the effort she puts into her racing.

With Corrine out of the mix, Doug Beaumont lifted the D2 honours with his best competition coming from veteran Michigan rider Mark Engel. Great to see Mark back at Paris on a more frequent basis than the last couple of seasons.

As previously mentioned, Sean Trendell moved up to D2 for the first time. He showed some good speed, but needs more seat time to gain more consistent control of his Godden machine. Although entertaining, his style is also heart in mouth stuff! Sean will be quick once he gets some experience under his belt.

Now to Division 1's action. With newly crowned Canadian National Champion Nick "The Flying Frenchman" Fafard, Aaron and Gary Hesmer and Joe Heye being the only really quick D1 riders to sign in for the nights competition, there was always a chance that with a bit of luck, one of us "lesser" D1 riders could just possibly make the main event.

Any one of us other four, "Big" John Perry, Shawn Morrisson, Aaron "The Ace" DeVeau or Myself all stood our best chance so afr this year of making it. With Aaron DeVeau reliant on borrowed machinery for the night it wasn't to be for him. He withdrew half way through the night's racing, as even the very best sportmanship and camerardery from a number of Paris regulars could not supply him consistently with a compatible machine.

Big John rode hard all night, as did Morrisson, but with extra fire in the belly, a little luck and a fantastic short circuit Weslake machine between my legs, I made my first ever Division 1 final. Three second places and one third in my heat races was enough to clinch the fourth and last main event place, just ahead of the luckless Joe Heye who had fallen in our first heat of the night.

With Aaron Hesmer, Gary Hesmer and Nick Fafard lining up alonside me at the tapes for the final, it was a daunting task but to be honest I knew I would be happy with fourth.

More luck was to come my way three laps into the race. I came out of turn two chasing Gary "The Hit Man" Hesmer hard for third place when all of a sudden I saw Nick Fafard and his bike laying in two seperate heaps on the back straightaway!

Nick had caught the same "grippy" spot that had caught Corinne Franic out earlier in the night, reared and slammed into the boards very hard. Once again the St. John's ambulance's sevices were called upon, but Nick, a true Speedway racer in every sense of the word refused treatment from them, preferring instead to put his "dislocated" shoulder back into place himself!

As the leader of the race had already passed the "last lap" flag, the race was called and the final positions stood as 1. Aaron Hesmer, 2. Gary Hesmer and 3. Philip Small!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, you'll have to excuse me, 'cause I'm still smiling!

Michael with proud Father, prior to the D3 final. Picture courtesy of John Franic

As mentioned previously, last night was a great night of racing with the largest spectator turnout of the season so far. Don't forget next weekend is the first "double header" of the year at the Paris track. The usual Friday night's racing will be sponsored by "Symes Catering", our regular "Chip Wagon", and Saturday 13th August is the annual "Dean Bencsics Memorial Meeting", promoted by Speedy Race Promotions.

Michael and I would like to take this opportunity to give a long overdue thanks to our 2005 season sponsors, NBL Consultant Services and JIT Shop Supplies, without who's support we would not be able to be as competitive as we were this week.

Hope to see you all both Friday and Saturday night next weekend!

Phil #21 & Michael #2