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FATHER AND SON DUO OF LADOUCEUR CLAIM EDELWEISS CHECKERS








By: Andre Audette





It was Canada day Friday and the father and son duo of Laurent and Joey Ladouceur had only one thing in mind and that was to celebrate right in the middle of the winner’s circle at Edelweiss Speedway.



A leg of the Mr Radiator series was up for grabs in the Pro Stock and Joey Ladouceur showed the fans of what he was made of by capturing his second feature win this season in what one can call a perfect performance. The Alexandria driver took over at the drop of the green flag overcoming no less than a dozen of restarts and many challenges from Clayton Benedict along the 50 lapper. Benedict had been at Ladouceur’s rear bumper from lap10 but Ladouceur did not want to let go the lead surviving a late charge by Benedict in the dying moments of the feature. Benedict finally ended second after a great effort while George Renaud ended third. Roch Aubin was fourth and Marc Therrien in fifth rounded out the fast five. Therrien and Ladouceur won the qualifying heats. ‘’ I love extra distance races; I usually have a lot of success in these features. It was a real battle with Clayton here tonight and it’s nice to start this series with a win.’’ said a very happy Ladouceur in the post race interview from the winner’s enclosure.



Papa Ladouceur sure watched his son’s performance because he did what looked like a carbon copy in the modifieds. Laurent ‘’Laser’’ Ladouceur put to his advantage the fact that he inherited the pole and drove his way to victory lane in a fast paced feature which saw the whole 30 laps under green. Kyle Jacob ended second while Pierre ‘’The Snake’’ Dagenais completed the podium. Peter Mantha of Hull and the pride and joy Smiths Falls Dave ‘’The Slip’’ Heaslip were fourth an fifth respectively. The veteran Heaslip also got the best of everybody in the qualifying preliminary.



Edelweiss Speedway also played host to the Wild Thing series in the Semi Pros and newcomer Dion Oakes took top honours by taking the measure of Bruno Richard ending second and of Ghislain Valade settling for third best. Yan Robertson was fourth while Richard Brady rounded out the top five. Bruno Richard and Bryan Rochon both won a leg of the qualifying preliminaries.



Wakefield’s Ryan Foley won the checkered flag over Martin Jacques in the four cylinders. Erin Joyce also from Wakefield, the only female driver in this category was third. Also taking home bragging rights were Nico Leblanc of Gatineau in fourth and Gabriel Mercier rounded out the fast five. Foley and Michel Hamelin were the qualifying heats winners.



Next program of exciting races at Edelweiss Speedway is set for this coming Friday night July 8 where a full and regular program including an Enduro for 8 cylinders is on the slate. The third leg of the Fondations BRL series for modifieds is also scheduled. The green flag drops at 7:45





Pro Stock 50 laps : Joey Ladouceur, Clayton Benedict, George Renaud, Roch Aubin, Marc Therrien, Stephane Lebrun, Dominic Gauvreau, Alain Coursol, Daniel Leduc, Eric Varin, Steve Johnson, Nicolas Vaillant, Ricki Thompson.



Modifieds 30 laps: Laurent Ladouceur, Kyle Jacob, Pierre Dagenais, Peter Mantha, Dave Heaslip, Philippe Landry, Pat Cashman, Jeff Ciglich.



Semi Pros 25 laps: Dion Oakes, Bruno Richard, Ghislain Valade, Yan Robertson, Richard Brady, Serge Lagace, Jeff Welsh, Charles Galipeau, Gilles Lessard, Bryan Rochon, John Bedard, Nicolas Gauvreau, Kurtis McPhee.



4 Cylinders 12 laps: Ryan Foley, Martin Jacques, Erin Joyce, Nico Leblanc, Gabriel Mercier, Charles Morin, Michel Hamelin, Martin Bernard, Danny Matte, Mathieu Aubin, Patrick Lafrenière.