VIDEO GALLERY: Weekend of Sept. 4-6, 2009

The MotorMag took in a lot of racing over the past weekend, and we figured we might as well share some of the long-lost videos with you.

The first is of a NEMA Midget qualifying heat at Twin State Speedway in Claremont, N.H. on Friday. Nokie Fornoro (#4) makes quick work of it, taking the early lead, while Adam Cantor (#7NY) and Russ Stoehr (#45) slice through the field.

The second video is of the opening laps of the Renegade feature at Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, N.Y. on Saturday night, with a twilight sunscape in Turn 3 and a full moon over Turn 1. Rob Gordon (#H20) went on to take the win after a lengthy side-by-side battle with Lance Rabtoy (#11), eventually holding off point leader Nick Heywood (#29), Kevin Boutin (#25), and Rabtoy for his second-straight victory.

The third video is of the 50-lap Tiger Sportsman feature at Thunder Road in Barre on Sunday afternoon. Scott Coburn (#1) takes the lead from Chris Lacey (#35) and eventually scored the win, while rookie Steve "Mudflap" Quenneville (#88) and Josh Demers (#10) go for a spin on the backstretch.

(Videos by Justin St. Louis/VMM)

Roy Beats Dupree for Trombley 100 Win, Championship

Roy is first Canadian to win track title since 1971

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. -- Martin Roy's car owner, Jean-Claude Fortin, issued some unsolicited advice to Airborne Speedway champion Patrick Dupree at the 2008 awards banquet: Enjoy your reign as king now, because 2009 will belong to us. After a win on opening day in May, Roy backed up Fortin's claim, saying, "It's my year." On Saturday night, both men were proven correct.

Roy dominated the second half of the Charlie Trombley Memorial 100-lap championship finale for the headline Modified division on Saturday night at the Plattsburgh, N.Y. track, holding off Dupree for the win and the championship, unofficially, by 14 points.

Roy started 13th on the 30-car field and quickly worked his way through traffic, passing Dupree for eighth place on lap 2. Roy reaching third place by passing Chris Cayea on lap 10, then moved under Cameron Grady to take second away on lap 24. Pierre Berthiaume led the first 46 laps from the pole position, but his car shut down following a restart, allowing Roy to slip by and inherit the lead. Dupree, who started 11th, used a tire-saving strategy for the first half of the race, content to ride in the back half of the top-five while racing with Andy Heywood and Mike Bruno before taking second place form Heywood on the 57th lap.

After a restart on lap 65, Dupree turned the wick up a bit, running Roy down in lapped traffic. However, a red flag for a nasty crash on lap 79 involving Heywood, George Foley, and Michel Viens effectively put a stop to Dupree's charge. Roy was faster than Dupree immediately following each late-race restart, while Dupree was much faster after about three laps of green flag racing (Dupree turned a 16.007-second lap -- the fastest lap of the year in any feature race, on lap 94, three laps after a restart), but late cautions kept Dupree stuck behind Roy.

The victory was Roy's seventh of the year in 15 events -- jus shy of 47% of the races run -- and solidified him as the champion, unofficially, by 14 points over Dupree, who won three times. During the season, the pair finished within one position of each other on eight occasions; on four of those nights, Roy beat Dupree for a victory, and twice Dupree beat Roy to win.

"I'm very happy. The competition is very hard at this place and it's very special for me to win in the U.S.A.," said Roy, with help from interpreter Steve Morin. Roy, of Napierville, Qué., is the first Canadian driver since Denis Giroux in 1971 to win a headline division championship at Airborne.

Dupree was extremely frustrated with his runner-up finish in the race -- although not necessarily the championship -- and placed the blame on himself. "I was thinking I was going to save tires [for the longer distance race], but I should have went right for the front. I was a much faster car. I gave that one away. Maybe not the championship, but tonight's race I gave away, like a (expletive) moron. Yup, just gave it away, watched [Roy] drive right by. Oh well, thought we had to save the tires, but they were fine."

The Saranac Lake, N.Y. racer thought that less caution periods could have helped his chances to pass Roy at the end of the race. "Yeah, I'd say at that point a longer green flag run would have helped us because I would have got him, but he's got a lot of motor in his starts and everything. He's got so much freaking motor, it pulls pretty good on the starts, it takes three or four laps to get back settled in, and the freaking caution comes out. If we had some green flag I would have got him, but it was my fault letting him go in the first place, he went right to the front."

Roy was appreciative of his season-long title fight with Dupree, which remained clean and respectful throughout the year. "It was very tight, very tight. Every race, it's like it's me and Patrick finish before [one another], finish after, finish before, finish after, and [it happened again] tonight. I was very, very nervous. In my life, I've lost three championships at the last [race]. In 2007 at this place, at Granby in '07, and Granby in '06. At Granby in '06 we ran at the rear in the feature, and we got in a wreck in '07 while leading the feature. That could have given us enough points to win the championship, so we were nervous about [something similar tonight]. You always think about the bad times instead of the good times, like when we won in '05 at Drummond. But tonight nothing bad happened. It's a happy time."

Dupree liked the idea of a close point battle, but felt as though Roy's team was better overall. "You know, it was close, but we were nowhere near as good as those guys," he said. "I mean, we had a little bit of bad luck, but we didn't 'get it' nearly as much as they did as far as the setups. We worked at it a lot, but with the new [progressively banked track surface constructed in April] we were struggling a little bit more. It was pretty good, like, tonight was probably the best it's been, but the track is so weird, it loosens up now [at night]. The later it goes, the looser the track seems to get, and everyone's got to deal with the same thing."

Behind Roy and Dupree on the track, Castleton racer Bruno finished third. Leon Gonyo of Chazy, N.Y. finished fourth, with Richard Tisseur of Chateauguay, Qué. fifth. Matt Woodruff, Cayea, Mike Reyell, Jason Durgan, and Mike Phinney completed the unofficial top ten.

Robin Wood of Plattsburgh posted his sixth Sportsman feature win of the season in a rough 25-lap event. Bucko Branham was the runner-up, with Travis Bruno inheriting third place after apparent finisher Tylor Terry faield post-race inspection. Jamy Begor and Jim Bushey completed the unofficial top five. Rob Gordon of Milton won the 25-lap Renegade feature over point leader Nick Heywood, Kevin Boutin, Lance Rabtoy, and Randy LaDue. Randy Martin of Keeseville, N.Y. won the Mini-Modified feature, and Bill Joyal of AuSable Forks, N.Y. was the Bomber winner.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS -- Charlie Trombley Memorial Night presented by Cold Spring Granite and Bimbo Bakeries
Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, N.Y.
Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009

Pos.-Driver-Hometown

Ernie's Discount Tools Modified (100 laps)
1. Martin Roy, Napierville, Qué.
2. Patrick Dupree, Saranac Lake, N.Y.
3. Mike Bruno, Castleton
4. Leon Gonyo, Chazy, N.Y.
5. Richard Tisseur, Chateauguay, Qué.
6. Matt Woodruff, Bloomingdale, N.Y.
7. Chris Cayea, Mooers, N.Y.
8. Mike Reyell, West Chazy, N.Y.
9. Jason Durgan, Morrisonville, N.Y.
10. Mike Phinney, Keeseville, N.Y.

J&S Steel Sportsman (25 laps)
1. Robin Wood, Plattsburgh, N.Y.
2. Bucko Branham, Plattsburgh, N.Y.
3. Travis Bruno, Plattsburgh, N.Y.
4. Jamy Begor, Mooers, N.Y.
5. Jim Bushey, Mooers Forks, N.Y.

Versatile Trailer Sales Renegade (25 laps)
1. Rob Gordon, Milton
2. Nick Heywood, Plattsburgh, N.Y.
3. Kevin Boutin, Jr., Swanton
4. Lance Rabtoy, Fairfax
5. Randy LaDue, West Chazy, N.Y.

Keeseville NAPA Mini-Modified (15 laps)
1. Randy Martin, Keeseville, N.Y.
2. Billy Thwaits, Clintonville, N.Y.
3. Justin Doner, Keeseville, N.Y.
4. Rick Doner, AuSable Forks, N.Y.
5. Dustin Duvall, Keeseville, N.Y.

Monster Energy Bomber (15 laps)
1. Bill Joyal, AuSable Forks, N.Y.
2. Jayson Blondo, Champlain, N.Y.
3. Chad Collins, Morrisonville, N.Y.
4. Josh LeClaire, Plattsburgh, N.Y.
5. Curtis Seymour, Jr., Plattsburgh, N.Y.

Roy Capitalizes at Airborne, Takes Point Lead

Dupree recovers for fifth place

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. -- Martin Roy did exactly what he needed to do on Saturday night at Airborne Speedway: Win.

The Napierville, Qué. driver, who entered the Aird Dorrance/Monster Energy/Taylor Rental event in a tie atop the Modified point standings with defending track champion Patrick Dupree, posted his sixth victory of the season, taking advantage of some troubles suffered by his title rival.

Dupree was involved in minor incident in his qualifying heat race to begin the evening, breaking a tie rod end on his car's steering. Having finished outside the top-four in the heat, Dupree was unable to use his handicapped starting position in the feature race and was forced to start 32nd on the 33-car grid for the 40-lap main event. Roy, however, won his heat and was given his handicapped spot in 11th place.

The results for the evening were almost set into place at that point.

Roy took the lead on a lap 15 restart, passing Richard Tisseur for the top spot. The caution flag had previously come out after Pierre Berthiaume crashed himself out of the lead while attempting to put Chris Cayea and Neal Provost a lap down. Dupree, meanwhile, had to fight his way through heavy traffic, running almost exclusively two- and three-wide through the field. He ran as high as fourth place on the final lap, but was passed just before the finish line by Mike Bruno.

Roy's win, combined with Dupree's fifth-place run -- his first finish not on the podium since May 30 -- gives Roy a 12-point advantage, unofficially, 658-646, with two point-counting races remaining.

Roy knows the championship battle is far from over.

"No, no, no," he said. "The winner (will be decided) on the last lap of the last race. It's very tight with me and Patrick Dupree."

Dupree took his misfortune in stride. "Throughout the whole race I probably melted the right-front and the right-rear (tires) off," said the Saranac Lake, N.Y. driver "That last lap when the 22 (Bruno) got by me, I figured I'd try to get one more spot and I drove in really hard but those guys checked up. I tried to check up but it just dropped the nose and pushed the car right up. So that was a bonehead, last-ditch attempt at a move, but I think it was the only spot I lost all day. We only lost 12 points, I think, so it wasn't a terrible night. I was a little mad at myself for that last lap and doing something stupid, but all in all it worked out pretty good."

Roy had a run to the front similar to Durpee's on July 11. "I had my bad night a couple of (weeks) ago. I had the pole (for a restart) and had a flat tire. I started 30th with three laps to go and I finished (11th). It's the game."

Tisseur, of Chateauguay, Qué. held on for the runner-up finish, with Chazy, N.Y. driver Leon Gonyo in third place. Bruno, of Castleton, was fourth ahead of Dupree. The top-ten was completed by Andy Heywood, Mike Reyell, Bryant Trim, Matt Woodruff, and Mike Wells. NASCAR driver Kenny Schrader finished 16th, one lap down, with an ill-handling car.

Bucko Branham of Plattsburgh, N.Y. took his third Sportsman victory of the year after passing leader Chris Reeves with four laps remaining. Branham worked his way under second-place runner Rick Frenyea on lap 16, then dueled door-to-door with Reeves for three laps before taking over. Reeves of Plattsburgh, finished second with Saranac, N.Y.'s Frenyea third, Bill Sawyer of Milton fourth, and Shawn Duquette or Morrisonville, N.Y. fifth.

Robin Wood entered the night with a 10-point lead over Branham, but suffered a flat tire late in the race and finished 18th, several laps off the pace. Branham now leads Wood, his nephew, by 19 points, unofficially, 588-569, with foru Sportsman championship events remaining.

Rob Gordon of Milton took the lead from West Chazy, N.Y. driver Randy LaDue with a lap-and-a-half remaining in the 25-lap Renegade feature, and held on for his first win of the season. LaDue finished second, with Swanton's Dave Rabtoy third. Rabtoy led the majority of the race before surrendering to LaDue on lap 19. Josh Terry and Nick Heywood completed the top five.

Billy Thwaits of Clintonville, N.Y. took his fourth Mini-Modified win of the year over Randy Martin and Rick Doner. Josh LeClaire of Plattsbugrh notched his second Bomber win of the year, with Josh LaPorte second and Jayson Blondo third.

Billy VanInwegen, Jr. of Sparrow Bush, N.Y. won a special 20-lap event for the SpeedSTR Midgets. VanInwegen took the lead from Paul Lotier on lap 16 and held on for the win. Carl Labonte passed Lotier for second place two laps later.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS -- Aird Dorrance/Monster Energy/Taylor Rental Night
Airborne Speedway, Plattsburgh, N.Y.
Saturday, August 22, 2009

Pos.-Driver-Hometown

Ernie's Discount Tools Modified (40 laps)
1. Martin Roy, Napierville, Qué.
2. Ricahrd Tisseur, Chateauguay, Qué.
3. Leon Gonyo, Chazy, N.Y.
4. Mike Bruno, Castleton
5. Patrick Dupree, Saranac Lake, N.Y.
6. Andy Heywood, Morrisonville, N.Y.
7. Mike Reyell, West Chazy, N.Y.
8. Bryant Trim, Morrisonville, N.Y.
9. Matt Woodruff, Bloomingdale, N.Y.
10. Mike Wells, West Chazy, N.Y.

J&S Steel Sportsman (25 laps)
1. Bucko Branham, Plattsburgh, N.Y.
2. Chris Reeves, Plattsburgh, N.Y.
3. Rick Frenyea, Saranac, N.Y.
4. Bill Sawyer, Milton
5. Shawn Duquette, Morrisonville, N.Y.
6. Tylor Terry, Morrisonville, N.Y.
7. Howard Stoner, Altona, N.Y.
8. Jamy Begor, Mooers, N.Y.
9. Toby Ebersole, Peru, N.Y.
10. Travis Bruno, Plattsburgh, N.Y.

Versatile Trailer Sales Renegade (25 laps)
1. Rob Gordon, Milton
2. Randy LaDue, West Chazy, N.Y.
3. Dave Rabtoy, Swanton
4. Josh Terry, Morrisonville, N.Y.
5. Nick Heywood, Plattsburgh, N.Y.

Keeseville NAPA Mini-Modified (20 laps)
1. Billy Thwaits, Clintonville, N.Y.
2. Randy Martin, Keeseville, N.Y.
3. Rick Doner, AuSable Forks, N.Y.
4. Justin Doner, Keeseville, N.Y.
5. Dustin Duvall, Keeseville, N.Y.

Monster Energy Bomber (20 laps)
1. Josh LeClaire, Plattsburgh, N.Y.
2. Josh LaPorte, Peru, N.Y.
3. Jayson Blondo, Champlain, N.Y.
4. Curtis Seymour, Jr., Plattsburgh, N.Y.
5. Curtis LaGrave, Jr., Plattsburgh, N.Y.

SpeedSTR Midget (20 laps)
1. Billy VanInwegen, Jr., Sparrow Bush, N.Y.
2. Carl Labonte, Dummondville, Qué.
3. Paul Lotier, Jr., Lebanon, Penn.
4. Patrick Vigneault, Trois Rivières, Qué.
5. Richie Tobias, Jr., Hershey, Penn.

(PHOTO: Martin Roy of Napierville, Qué. sttod in Airborne Speedway victory lane for the sixth time in 2009 after winning Saturday's 40-lap Modified event. Photo by Justin St. Louis/VMM)