8/26/2023
Laird Raceway
Last Chance to See Local Stock Car Racing This Year!
Sadly we got rained out on Friday night, the first day of racing for the Mike Parson's Memorial Weekend. Weather was fine up until about 5:30 pm, just before qualifying, when a thunderstorm rolled through with heavy rain falling for close to an hour. It cleared up quickly and we still had some hope, but it was determined that even if we could dry the track, the infield, especially corner 3 & 4 had puddles. Cars taking the corner low would splash water up onto the track. The pits too, were unworkable, with lots of puddles and some mud; cars coming onto the track would have wet and dirty tires.
The good news though is that the weather forecasts for the Saturday night Mike Parson's Memorial are great! It will be a great show to end our season at Laird. The weekend is sponsored by Ledcor Group, and by Service Rentals and Sales.
On Friday night the pits were jam packed with cars. Back for their second year attempt to win the $10,000 prize for first place in the 73 Lap Mike Parsons Memorial race are #51 Ethan Courneyea, #17 Brandon Passer, and #73 Mike Miller. All are from Southern Ontario. Also running in the Service Rentals and Sales Super Late Model division will be previous season champ Roddy Bolduc in the #61 car, Roddy will be driving Dustin Jackson's backup car. Roddy will be driving double duty, also running in the #79 Modified.
There were a couple new drivers out in the Factory Four division as well. Welcome #02 Dylan Couturier, and his brother #86 Dustin Couturier.
Missing in the pits were #08 Dan and #80 Brad Bibeau, running in the Factory Stock Division. The brothers are reportedly down racing in Michigan for the weekend. Going into the Saturday night race, Brad is at the top of the points standings in the division. In his absence, there are three drivers that could potentially unseat him from top place; those being #12Y Owen Brown - 26 points back, #88 Rob Wagner - 31 points back, and #12O Anthony Mannarino -33 points back. On any given race night where we have qualifying, 2 heats and a feature drivers can be awarded up to 43 points (up to 3 points for qualifying, 10 points for each heat, and 20 points for the feature). The winner in both the Factory Stock and Modified divisions will receive $750 for this night so competition will be stiff in both divisions.
Come on out and check out some great local stock car racing action. This is your last chance to do so this season! Don't miss it. Racing starts at 7:00 pm. Grandstand gates will open at 3 pm for fans to check out the cars running hotlaps in preparation for the night's racing.
Article Credit: Tom Stephenson
Submitted By: Tom Stephenson
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