Shannonville Motorsport Park  reached out to the club to see if there would be any volunteer interest to help run the races over the course of the June 4-5th.  And interest there was so it’s a great big thank you to Rob, Brent, Mike, Mary, Wayne and Ed.  The weather was fantastic and so was the close racing by our members in attendance. The run groups were smaller than usual as there was a Regional Race at Calabogie but that didn’t deter from the excitement on track.

I wasn’t able to make it to the track on Saturday but our very own Pat Cyr had a heated battle for his first win of the weekend in the GT2 class and went on to win again in the first race on Sunday morning and finished a close second in the final race of the day. Pat put on a stellar performance and the excited announcer couldn’t keep his eyes off the pair of duelling BMW’s as they raced bumper to bumper all weekend – Well done Pat.

Danny Corrcoran’s success in his late model 2008 Impala was also noteworthy as Dan managed three third place finishes in the GT1 category followed closely by Mark Busscher who placed 4th in two races in his 2013 Camaro. Mark had to come from the back of the field after losing a bolt in the shifter during race 2 and DNFing but was awarded the Hard Charger award in the final race making up 15 places to retain his steady 4th place finish.

Our club doctor at large was also in attendance with his new 92 Van Diemen Formula Ford. Unfortunately for Chris he was plagued with mechanical gremlins all weekend and wasn’t able to complete any of the 3 races. Having raced myself in the Toyo 1600 series for 4 years I know exactly how frustrating that can be but it’s a testament to his enthusiasm to keep on trying. Chasing electrical faults and loose bolts is part of the deal with these older cars but they remain competitive and a blast to drive- so “chin up” Chris as my English dad used to say.

The Toyo series put on an excellent show as American newcomer William Ferguson won both races on Sunday in a very tight contest with Britain West’s Jake Cowden. It was Willaim’s first race weekend in one of Brian Graham’s beautiful Pipers but that didn’t stop the young 17 year old from beating many seasoned 1600 drivers. Keep an eye out for him as he makes his way up the ladder. I personally complimented him on a job well done as Shannonville is a very difficult track to master in such a short time.