Paris action heats up!

With the remnants of Hurricane Dennis passing through the Paris area on Thursday night, it nearly put a damper (literally) on last night's racing . Upon arrival at the track mid-morning, "Tiger" Tom and Alex were greeted with a real mess, large sitting puddles were on all corners and the back straight had some serious problems also. "Tiger" spent 2 hours removing water and attempting to clear this rain soaked mess. Mid afternoon the rest of the CSRA crew arrived and frantically assisted Tom's work and removed even more water. The 40 degree heat was working to draw the water but sometimes too much! Joe Hesmer, Duncan Luke, Phil Small and Alex worked to grade the track, shovel dry material in and make a bad thing into a good racing surface. Even with some late watering, the track held up and wasn't too dusty all night.The night was opened slightly late due to some late arrivals, but the smaller than usual rider turnout gave the crowd a really good show.The racing was once again superb, with some great battles that went on throughout the night. Corrine Franic and Doug Beaumont once again went head to head, and every race proved to be a crowd pleaser, great battling with Corrine taking the successful checkered flag in the Div 2 final! Division 3 saw a smooth Michael Small use the smooth and grippy outside line to power around a fast and confident looking Graham Wale and Peter Fornal. Graham all night had reflexes of a lion, he beat everyone out of the gate every heat and even in the final. Great to see that the veteran can still show the young ones that clutch control and reaction does make a difference! Michael raised the flag once again in the final to continue his lead in the CSRA point race! Division 1 saw an unfortunate retirement during the night. The "Hitman" Gary Hesmer was trying so hard in his first 2 heats that he broke his frame and was reduced to watching the racing from the pits. Gary is having the worst possible luck this year with his bike, let's hope that he can get the thing working well for him and so the crowd can enjoy his great style! The Div 1 racing was superb, "Jumping" Jeff Orosz is looking hotter at Paris every visit, he is finding his line and putting on an excellent show. Joe Heye once again spent the night battling out his plan and had a real piece of bad luck when leading a race, he hit a wet spot on turn 3 and locked up, stopping dead in his tracks, amazing to see his control! John Perry also had some lightening starts and did a great job in keeping the "Flying" French Man Nick Fafard behind him in one heat until he became victim to the inside wet spots! John went down twice this night, but being the sportsman he is, got up and made the race complete.The Final was a great highlight, with #12 Aaron Hesmer looking to stretch his points lead. Out of the gate he flew ahead of Jeff Orosz, Nick Fafard and Joe Heye, and this he held to take the well deserved checkered flag. The race, behind him was intense with the action being fast and furious, with Jeff, Joe and Nick all battling it out, they did a great job to add to the show! Thank guys!