LADOUCEUR, THERRIEN, LAGACE AND JACQUES IN VICTORY LANE AT EDELWEISS
By; Andre Audette
It was St-Jean Baptiste night and many Quebec flags were floating on race cars Friday night at Edelweiss where many faithful were gathered and certainly got their money’s worth.
Laurent Ladouceur took top honour in the Modifieds 358 by registering his second win of the season. The Alexandria driver who stood second on the starting grid didn’t waste time on the gas pedal and soon found himself on top of the field controlling the fast paced 30 lap feature which saw only two cautions. Pierre ‘’The Snake’’ Dagenais gave Ladouceur a run for his money in the first half of the feature by staying very close to his rear bumper and both veterans were wheel to wheel and hub to hub for a while until Dagenais gave way to Kyle Jacob in the second half of the race. Ladouceur had only one thing in mind and that was to drive into win lane.
Smiths Falls Dave Heaslip and Peter Mantha of Hull made up the remainder of the fast five. ‘’We forget the past and we concentrate on the future.’’ Said Ladouceur in the post race interview from the winner’s enclosure and to underline the work of his pit crew he added: ‘’they had to make some adjustments and ended up with a winning car. It’s good news for Tuesday in the 100 lapper here at Edelweiss.’’ Ladouceur and Dagenais were the qualifying heat winners.
It was a photo finish in the Pro Stock when Marc Therrien survived a late challenge from Stephane Lebrun in the dying moments of the second leg of the Capital Tire 20 lap feature. Lebrun was the pacesetter for the first eleven laps but had to retire to pit lane resulting from a flat tire and when he came back on track he found Therrien battling with Dominic Gauvreau for the lead.
The Alexandria driver finally took command at lap 16 and he never looked back to capture his second triumph of the season. Gauvreau kept pace completing the podium while Nicolas Vaillant and Daniel Leduc rounded out the top five. Lebrun won the qualifying heat.
Serge Lagace won his second feature race in a row in the Semi Pros by taking the measure of his closest rival Bruno Richard ending second and Richard Brady settling for third best. Denis Coderre and Charles Galipeau were fourth and fifth respectively. Bruno Richard and Bryan Rochon were the qualifying heat winners.
Martin Jacques captured his second checkered flag of the season leaving behind him Michel Hamelin in second spot and Danny Larose to complete the podium. Wakefield’s Ryan Foley and Carl Soucy of Gatineau made up the remainder of the top five. Larose and Pat Legault took the checkered in the qualifying preliminaries.
Edelweiss Speedway returns to action this coming Turesday night where we will be playing host to the Babe Design Canadian Confrontation, a 100 lapper Syracuse qualifier for modifieds 358 plus a complete and regular program without the Enduro feature. The green flag drops at 7:45.
Modifieds 30 laps: Laurent Ladouceur, Kyle Jacob, Pierre Dagenais, Dave Heaslip, Peter Mantha, Billy Cook, Pat Cashman, Philippe Landry, Jeff Ciglich, Skip MacKenzie.
Pro Stock 20 laps: Marc Thérrien, Stéphane Lebrun, Dominic Gauvreau, Nicolas Vaillant, Daniel Leduc, Éric Varin, Ron Morin, Claude Rochon.
Semi Pros 15 laps : Serge Lagacé, Bruno Richard, Richard Brady, Denis Coderre, Charles Galipeau, Michel Vincent, John Bédard, Martin Laroche, Gilles Lessard, Nicolas Gauvreau, Yan Robertson, Bryan Rochon.
4 cylinders 12 laps : Martin Jacques. Michel Hamelin, Danny Larose, Ryan Foley, Carl Soucy, Erin Joyce, Nico Leblanc, Martin Bernard, Danny Matt, Pietro Bellai, Pat Legault, Kevin McLelland, Charles Morin, Marc Charbonneau, Maxime Jetté, Gabriel Mercier.