AllStar Race Trucks/USA vs. Super Trucks of Canada
Battle At the Border (1st round), the AllStar Race Truck Series took the challenge with The SuperTrucks of Canada at Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, NY this past Saturday. The race “Battle At the Border”, which brought together drivers, teams and series officials working as one under the SuperTruck sanction as 21 trucks were present for this exceptional program. There were 16 competitive drivers of the Quebec series, along with 5 competitive drivers from the USA series in attendance to compete.
Martin Daviau, the STC announcer, had a full house crowd, standing and cheering at the time of the presentation NASCAR Intro style of the drivers. Along with the ARTS and STC Officials, NASCAR Hall of Fame Inductee, Jean-Paul Cabana of Sanair was also present on the podium in the handshakes to all twenty drivers as they were introduced and walked across the podium. The drivers were buckled in by crew members, and the famous words of racing was shouted by all the fans in English and French, “Gentlemen Start Your Engines”.
Twenty trucks took the green flag of the fifty-lap race. Dany Gagnon #23 of St-Jean-Chrysosthome took the lead at the start of the race. Jimmy Cormier #95 passed and took over the lead from Gagnon on lap 9 and survived the first restart before Michael Lavoie #38 chased him down after the second restart. At the halfway mark, Cormier, Gagnon, Alain Nadeau #43, Lavoie and Michel Dussault #27 held positions 1-5. Cormier had led for 40 laps. Michael Lavoie of Chicoutimi, in his first truck race, swept past Jimmy Cormier of Princeville, Quebec with five laps to go in 50-lap event. Michael Lavoie took the checked flag, Dany Gagnon of St-Jean-Chrysosthome took second place, Alain Nadeau of Victoriaville took third place finishes for the Battle At the Border race. At the post-race inspection, Lavoie was disqualified due to an illegal engine part and Cormier was awarded the win.
Andy Lindeman of Poestenkill, NY was the 1st USA AllStar Truck winner, John St. Germain of West Sand Lake, NY placed second, and Derek Chriss of Averill Park, NY placed 3rd in the USA Point standing. All three USA drivers were honored and presented on the podium with Canadian Trophies 1st,2nd,and 3rd place finishes, along with 3 different sponsorship photo sessions taken.
Airborne promoter Mike Perrotte states, “I am very impressed by the quality of your racing and the professionalism and the discipline of your drivers and your officials. You project a great series and the results will be certainly with the height of your ambitions. I repeat, I am very impressed, with both the Canadian and USA series. We are in a hurry already to re-examine you here for the racing program in 2010”. Martin Daviau, the STC announcer, carried out several interviews at different times of the evening with drivers, fans and American organizers, all are unanimous. The Super Truck Series impressed Americans at Airborne Speedway and this memorable race is the first stage towards a future that will be very interesting for the members and the fans of the series. Thank you from our teams for your excellent support since this is our first season, we are very proud to be here.
There are some tests planned for the near future between the two series. As soon as all of the details are worked out we will update the website with this information..
Results: Jimmy Cormier, Dany Gagnon, Alain Nadeau, Michel Dussault, Jessy Labbé, Steve Lavigne, Andy Lindeman, Yannick Mathieu, Francois Adam, Fernand McClean, Michel Robert, Alexandre Jeannotte, John St.Germain, Derek Chriss, Brandon Warren, Guy Hénault, Alex Labbé, Philippe Jeanotte, Jean-Pierre Labelle, and Mickael Lavoie, disqualified.
The next race for the AllStar Race Truck Series will be another double-header weekend at Twin State Speedway on Friday, August 21st and at Monadnock Speedway the next night (Saturday), August 22nd.
Sources: Lorraine Pard/ARTS