STEVE POIRIER VISIT EDELWEISS SPEEDWAY WIN LANE IN DIRT CHALLENGE
Edelweiss Speedway played host to the first leg of the Canadian Dirt Challenge Monday night and Steve Poirier won the checkered flag before a large contingent of fans from Granby and Drummondville present for the occasion.
The young driver from St-Mathieu de Beloeil finally got the best of veteran Pierre ‘’The Snake’’ Dagenais who gave him a ride for his money. Poirier took the lead from the veteran at lap 45 and set a torrid pace through out the remaining 55 laps in a fast paced feature that only saw half a dozen caution flags. Defending champion at Edelweiss Speedway, Laurent ‘’Laser’’ Ladouceur completed the podium while Martin Roy of Napierville and Pointe Claire’s Alain Boisvert rounded out the fast five. Local drivers were in the limelight in the Challenge, besides finishing a close second in the feature, Pierre Dagenais won a leg of the qualifiers and he also won the time trials with a 14.060 score. Sophomore Lee Ladouceur of Maxville also won a leg of the qualifiers and scored the second best time in the trials with a score of 14.281.
Other locals that had good outings are Dave ‘’The Slip’’ Heaslip with a seventh place at the finish stripe while Brian ‘’Slim’’ McDonald and Eric Gauvreau were ninth and twelfth respectively. The second leg of the Challenge will now be transported at Granby Speedway on July 15 and Cornwall Motor Speedway will be hosting the third and final leg on July 20. Fans can already count on a large local car count in both remaining ends of the Challenge while most of the locals have already confirmed their presence which is the case with Pierre Dagenais who already said so in the post race interview Monday night.
A full regular program was slated Monday night and fans saw action in all classes and it sure was the case in the Late Model Pro Stock which saw Dave ‘’Bulldog’’ Bissonnette win his third checkered flag of the season. The Cornwall driver finished ahead of Alexandria’s Marc Therrien who was runner up and Denis Gauvreau who completed the podium. Alain Coursol of Mont-Laurier was fourth while Tom Jock jr. rounded out the fast five. Therrien, Gauvreau and Joel Hearns each won a qualifying heat.
In the eight cylinders, Jonathan Holmes won the feature over his closest rivals Pembroke’s Glen McKenney and Serge Lagacé in second and third spot respectively. McKenney and defending champion Dominic Gauvreau who had to retire to the pits after losing a wheel in the feature, won the qualifiers.
Carl Soucy of Gatineau won his fourth checkered flag of the season and his second in three days in the four cylinders disposing of Erin Joyce as runner up and Martin Jacques who ended third. Soucy and Patrice Legault were winners in the qualifying heats.
Action resumes Friday night July 4th at Edelweiss Speedway with a regular full program on the slate and the 250 first patrons to cross the front gate will be granted an Edelweiss Speedway T-Shirt. The green flag drops at 7:45 sharp.