By: TIM BALTZ – HOGANSBURG, NY – Mother Nature has made her mark on the Mohawk International Raceway in recent memory and this past Friday she proved to be a factor washing out the 29th running of the Memorial Cup for the Twin Leaf Convenience 358 Modifieds.
This coming Friday MIR will be back in action and Mother Nature will have to find something else to ruin this weekend as a full show will take place including the Memorial Cup event. Along with the first leg of the MIR 358 Modified Series the Crossroads Tobacco Sportsman, Green’s Performance Mod Lites, Novice Sportsman and Bandits will take to the speedway for some great racing action.
The history of the Memorial Cup dates back to 1990 when the late Roger Lalonde and 2 time race winner Barry Poitras of Kingston took what was then a twin 20 lap event. 28 years later this 50 lap contest has seen 19 different driver go to victory lane with Dave Heaslip notching an impressive 5 Memorial Cup wins, the most all time.
Tim Fuller the 2017 track champion is the odds on favorites to win his 2nd Memorial Cup having won the event back in 2008, one of 7 former track champions to win the event. Drivers like Brian McDonald, Corey Wheeler, Lee Ladouceur, newest Modified winner Jeremy LaSalle and a host of others will be looking to etch their name on that trophy for the very first time while former champion Chris Raabe is looking to win his 2nd title since a dominant performance in the 2011 edition.
All racing action is slated to get underway this coming Friday night with Smoker’s Warehouse on hand as the title sponsor. For more information on everything at the speedway check us out on Facebook and Twitter, or simply log on to mohawkintlraceway.com