On a very cool and windy night in Paris, all the riders and fans celebrated the work that Dave Havill has put in from the conception of Paris Speedway till it's present day.
A special program was complied covering Dave's work and dedication of the success of the Paris facility since Dave bought it to us all! The night was set to honor Dave, and this the riders did in top form! Racing began a little later than usual due to some late technical checks, but the wait was worth it!
Birthday boy - 11 year old Braden Vallee came out in the first heat to a warm birthday welcome from the crowd. The P50, P65 and a P85 all put on a fabulous show. The racing was intense and close in each group. Sadly for Braden his birthday win was not to be as Matthew Sehl grabbed the checkered flag in the P65's, and Tyler Thompson grabbed the P50 checkered from a battling Mike Fisher. The speedway guys also had a new face this night, Braden's Dad, Todd climbed aboard a machine for the first time and did amazing! Todd even lead one race for 2 laps until Mark Engel passed him on the back straight.
Todd did have a few tumbles that caused him to be stuck under the bike, but he got back up and started again! He even made the D2 final for the night, which is unbelievable! Great Job Todd, and welcome to the world of Canadian Speedway! Terry Rideout and Mark Engel continued their battles from last week. In one race Terry was pushing so hard he actually hit Mark's back wheel and rode up the back of Mark's bike, leaving Terry to crash heavily on corner 3. Up and OK, Terry restarted on the 10 yard penalty line and came through the pack to win the heat! The Final event for the Division 2 guys was all Rideout, he took the gate ahead of Mark Engel, Peter Fornal and Todd Vallee and never looked back!
It was great to see the return of Bob Mosquera again to the Paris track and we thank both Mark Engel and Bob for taking the time to come up to Canada from the USA. Division 1 continued to provide some cracking racing. With the absence of both Gary Hesmer and Jeff Orosz, the boys got ready for some battles of their own. We were happy to see the return of Chris Hesmer after his mechanical nightmares, and the consistent return of the 'Ace' Aaron DeVeau. 'Hotdog' Freddie Legault was again present to give the young boys a run for their money too! The Division 1 heats began with two race in the same heat! Joe Heye took a great leap at the start and battled to keep an ever threatening Aaron Hesmer behind him and behind them Marc Gauthier had his own problems with Fred Legault pushing him really a hard - amazingly on lap 3 both Aaron and Fred passed on the back straight to take their respective positions - great race!
Their next heat saw a coming together of Joe Heye and Chris Hesmer, which left Chris on his back on turn 1. The restart with Joe 10 yd's back was all Aaron Hesmer, leaving his Brother Chris to chase him hard. The final heat of the Division 1 guys was close and hard, hard enough that Joe Heye went down just pushing too much under Aaron Hesmer. The restart was all Hesmer, he rode hard and well to grab the checkered flag. Finishing the night doing his customary donuts on the front straight before getting his trophy from Emily Hensby. A great night of racing, which was a great way to celebrate Dave Havill!
The yearly end of summer event at the Paris Fair always includes our speedway racing. This year a single event on Sunday September 2nd 2007 at 6:00pm - This event will be a big money earner if we can get a minimum of 12 Division 1 riders, the prize money will be $2500.00 CDN,
So please a message to all riders please confirm your attendance ASAP! If the Division 1 ridership is below this, the prize money reduces to $1500.00 cdn.
