From Ohsweken Speedway
Ohsweken, ON — With much of the area suffering from one of the coolest and wettest springs in history, Ohsweken Speedway officials have been forced to cancel not only this Friday, May 6th practice session but also the second practice night scheduled for Friday, May 13th.
“We have our backs to the wall” exclaimed Ohsweken Promoter Glenn Styres in making the call. “We just have not had any luck with the weather this spring. It just seems to be drying up so we can get at some of the renovation work and the sky’s open up for another day or two and set us back another week. Right now we haven’t even been able to get near the track to turn it in and prepare it for racing. It is just too wet all over the grounds to move” Styres concluded.
A new driveway has been cut into the back row of the pit area which will help navigate in case of bad weather in the future however that work is still being held up from completion due to the wet grounds. “The laneway project as it sits right now effectively eliminates 50 percent of our available pit area and access to our warm up track which is used extensively to run the program” stated Director of Racing Operations Ken Pelkie. “Completion of this project and proper track preparation is extremely critical to determination of our opening night of racing. Right now it is targeted for May 20 but Mother Nature has got to take some pity on us and help us out a bit. Right now we need about four or five warm days free of rain in order to get this work done” Pelkie concluded.
Styres also confirmed that the equipment is on standby and ready to work 24 hours a day when the situation presents itself to get at it. Other projects underway include adjusting grandstand seating including relocation of some stands as well as establishment of a spectator viewing area in the confines of the Pit Area. Along with some work to change elevation of the turn one area to eliminate a chronic wet area that “ruts up” and rework of the back stretch retaining wall, none of these projects should hold up opening night but may have to be incorporated throughout the season.
“We are in a regrettable situation” stated Styres “however we are going to do this right so we don’t create a dangerous situation. When we open it will be when we are confident that problems will not be created caused by us rushing the job – we just have to be patient. In the mean time we wanted everyone to know well in advance that we would not be hosting the two practice sessions so they can make other plans with their race teams and families. We hope to see everyone on May 20th”.
Meanwhile, advanced Reserved ticketing sales continues for our three major events in 2011.
July 26th Tony Stewart will be at Ohsweken Speedway to take on the home town CORR/Pak Sprints in a special mid week point show. Adults will be admitted to this event for $20 while Students 13 through 17 and seniors over 65 and older are $15. Kids 12 and under will be admitted for $5. All seats will be reserved. There are still lots of tickets available for this event.
Tickets for the 4th Annual “SIX NATIONS SHOWDOWN” featuring the World of Outlaws on July 27th and the 7th Annual Canadian Sprint Car Nationals September 16th and 17th also remain on sale. Plenty of great seats remain for each of these events and can be obtained by calling 1-888-720-7223.
Tickets for all three of these shows are on sale on a first come, first served basis. They will remain on sale Mondays through Thursdays at 1-888-720-7223 from 9:00 AM until 6:00 PM until one week before each race date.
If you have difficulty getting through on the line, please email Cheryl at pelkiekj@ebtech.net leaving your name, phone number(s) and a time when you can be reached and you will be called back as soon as possible.