LAURENT LADOUCEUR SCORES MODIFIED WIN IN A NAIL BITER AT EDLEWEISS SPEEDWAY
It was a nail biting finish between Laurent Ladouceur and Pierre Dagenais at Edelweiss Speedway Friday night and these two drivers sent a message to the Edelweiss faithful that they really mean business this season.
Ladouceur finally registered his first win of this young season after crossing the finish line in front of Dagenais but not before the two aggressive drivers exchanged the lead of the 24-car field a few times during the first leg of the exciting Lafrance Performance 30 lapper. Kingston’s Mark Hitchcock completed the podium while last week’s winning driver Brian McDonald ended fourth. Last year rookie of the year, Akwasasne’s Perry Francis rounded out the fast five. ‘’It was quite a race between Pierre and me tonight. I really thought he had me for a while but I said it’s not over yet and I have to give a last effort.’’ said the Alexandria driver from the winners circle. Ladouceur, Dagenais and sophomore Eric Gauvreau claimed checkered flags in the qualifiers. Newcomer Tammy Jalbert, the only female driver in the modifieds pleased her numerous fans by finishing third in a qualifying heat.
Stephane Lebrun claimed his first checkered flag of the season by easily wining the Late Model Pro Stock category over Michel Dupuis from Aylmer and over Alexandria’s Marc Therrien. Lebrun was on the GO pedal very early at the drop of the green flag overcoming a seventh spot at the starting line resulting of an early retirement to pit lane in the heat race. Todd Rabee and Claude Rochon rounded out the top five. Therrien and Cornwall Speedway promoter Ron Morin previously won the qualifying heats.
The eight cylinders was won by Claude Laurin holding off a late-charging last year champion Dominic Gauvreau who ended second and Dave Renaud who got third money for his effort. Also taking home bragging rights this weekend were Serge Lagace and Richard Brady finishing fourth and fifth respectively. Laurin and last week’s winner John Holmes were the qualifying heat winners.
Gatineau’s Carl Soucy made it two in a row by taking the four cylinder feature. Last week’s winning driver who knows his way around in this class went along a Friday night cruise blowing past his competitors and taking a healthy point lead in the championship race. Martin Jacques ended second and Jacky St-Arnaud completed the podium while Nico Leblanc and Ryan Foley were fourth and fifth respectively. Soucy and St-Arnaud both won the preliminaries.
After two weeks of action at Edelweiss Speedway, Laurent Ladouceur, Stéphane Lebrun, Jonathan Holmes and Carl Soucy lead their respective division.
Next program of exciting races at Edelweiss Speedway, this coming Friday night May 28 where a regular and full program is on the slate featuring the first leg of the Capital Tire Pro Stock for Late Models. The green flag drops at 7:45.