Lajoie Takes DirtCar Sportsman North Win At Airborne; Bernier Wins Leon Gonyo Memorial
News Director 
Column By: MIKE WARREN / RPW – PLATTSBURGH, NY – Since the calendar turned from the month of September, there have many great battles in the sportsman division on the DIRTcar tour…no matter the region. Sunday afternoon at the Airborne Park Speedway may just have been the race of the year.
Using the normal re-draw format, it didn’t take long for the 33 of Alex Lajoie to get to the front of the field, just as he was for the majority of his qualifying event. However, the show was from spot number 13. Bucko Branham in the 20 car found a lane on the outside and started to pick them off one-by-one before moving into the runner-up position behind Lajoie.
The lead would soon change, as Lajoie made a mistake on the outside, going over the berm in turn one. After Branham took advantage, he started to pull away for a good 15 laps.
Lajoie started to close in once again. With just a few laps to go, in heavy lap traffic, Branham would make the same mistake in turn 4, handing the lead back to Lajoie.
Branham was on Lajoie’s back bumper coming to the white flag, and had the lead going into turn number three. But as the old adage in racing says, ‘you pick a lane in lap traffic sometimes, and hope it’s the right one.’ Branham went high, Lajoie low, and the 33 car found its way into victory lane after a battle of wills through 50 laps.
“That was incredible to race clean with Branham,” Lajoie said in victory lane. “This is my first win outside of Quebec.”
Branham said in victory lane after finishing second that he screwed the race up himself by overshooting the berm. It was still a great run for both drivers.
The Leon Gonyo Memorial 358-Modified feature was also on the card. Mike Perrotte took the race lead on an early re-start, which coincidentally, had the 25 of Steve Bernier involved in the caution.
Bernier would put his car up on the outside lane and find his way to lead. With just about 10 laps to go, he was able to get by the veteran campaigner from Plattsburgh.
Bernier had to move quickly to get his car to the race track as he had a hard wreck on Saturday night at Autodrome Drummond. He made it to the track after the hot-lap session, and proved it was a good call to be there as he picked up his second win in the month of September.
A few other divisions were also in action at the speedway. Brent Jarvis picked up his 11th win of the 2017 season, en route to a championship in the Renegade division. Rolland Guay also nabbed a championship in the strictly stock division. This young racer is just in high school and also racing cross-country this fall.
Notes:
The show kicked off with a memorial to Leon Gonyo instead of the usual post-parade. Leon’s family was also given a banner from the speedway.
Every driver had to deal with different track conditions than they are used to. The heat led to a very dry, slick surface.
David Schilling, and his 1-800-Got-Junk #20, made his first trip up to the speedway in racing trim.
This was the third race of the weekend for the DIRTcar North Region Sportsman series, as they raced at LeRPM on Friday, and Autodrome Drummond on Saturday.
