The Samson Racing Team: Guy
Montminy, Jason LaVallee, George Samson,
Mike Gifford, Gaston Ferland, Howard Gifford, Alexander
LaVallee
The season is nearly over in the Eastern Pro
Tour of Super Competition Motorsports, and a racing dynasty may get
to crown another champion. He rides with a team that unites many of
the strongest names in oval racing.
Alexander LaVallee leads the pack in the Semi-Pro Sprint 440 and
USSA Sprint Mod 440 Classes. He's in second place for Semi-Pro
Champ. IN the last weekend of February he raced Pro Champ for the
first time and finished third. It was a taste of a different class,
but it's not a goal. "It's my last year in the racing world and the
only thing I want is to be the champion in my class, Sprint 440,"
said the 22-year-old. "I just have one person who is hard to beat:
Jason Schmidt, with a Hooper sled."
The other top competitors have fallen away due to severe
injuries."One of those won't race any more for the rest of his life
because he's paralyzed." That's Kenny Young of Hooper racing team.
He broke his back in February when he flew into hay bales that were
stiff from ice. Another competitor broke his elbow and left
LaVallee with an open field, but he's also giving up racing because his body is worn out.
"I did too much," he said, explaining that the discs of his back
are wearing down.
It's a dangerous sport, he said, but a
thrilling one, and one that he's glad to excel at. Winning is in
his blood and he grew up around tracks and snowmobiles. His father,
Real LaVallee, raced on snowmobile drags and also motorcycles, cars
and boats. "It's my dad who makes my engine," LaVallee explained.
"We have a dyno and he works on my engine all the time."
Mechanical and pit support will become his own role after this
season, when he'll find a new job within the Samson Racing team. "I
will help my brother. My brother will continue to race," he said,
and Jason LaVallee will be looking to add more championship
trophies to his collection. He started racing in 1999 and won the
Vintage 800 Open at the famous Eagle River, Wis., track in 1999 and
2000.
He raced there this year, too, but during Derby Weekend he broke
his front steering spindles and ended up just testing his machine
and the course in preparation for next year. "I was very
impressed with the area, very impressed with Eagle River and the
track," Jason said."When we come back we will make the adjustments
necessary for the machine to make sure I am in the top three or top
five top 5 for the rest of the year."
One week earlier during Vintage Weekend at Eagle River he won the
800 Vintage Class.
During Derby Weekend Alexander won the Semi Pro Sprint 440 and
teammate Guy Montminy took second place in IFS 440X. But mechanical
troubles hit the team hard that weekend. Alexander's steering
spindles broke twice and he went into the hay bales. "I did donuts
and the machine flipped," he said. Teammate Howard Gifford was
riding a brand new chassis, and Team Owner George Samson said it
took them too long to realize he was a better fit for last year's
chassis."In Eagle River Howard never even qualified for the final.
The new Hooper chassis was so hard to drive for his riding style
so, okay, we made a switch back to last year's chassis. And on last
year's chassis he's as fast as he ever was," Samson said.
"With his vintage machine, he's flying with that. The IFS 440
there, he won it in Eagle River, and the IFS 440X class."
The dean of their racing team that weekend
was Gaston Ferland, the racing legend who pushed along the next
generation of racers and led the leaders to the starting line for
the world championship race. Alex LaVallee said it was the first
time he'd traveled with Ferland and he was glad for the chance to
get to know the racing giant.
When Alex steps off the team, Samson said he'll be replaced by one
of four top drivers he's currently talking with. "Since John Hooper
won't be racing next year, we are talking with Aaron Fellows. We
are talking with Larry Day. And Craig House and another. We have
four possible candidates who could run our champs next year."
The selection of replacement candidates is like the roster of
competition: both get whittled down by injury. Samson has
straightforward advice to racers who want to stay healthy."The
biggest tip is to drive with your head. Accidents do happen,
but sometimes a guy will overdrive his ability, try to overdrive the
ability of the machine. Try to stick the nose of his machine
someplace where it wouldn't fit and bang, a crash happens.
We don't need a show, we just need you to finish where where you're
going to finish. Keep yourself in one piece and keep your machine
in one piece. If we don't get them today, we'll get them tomorrow.
When it's something mechanical you're just along for the ride, but
if you know if there's three guys in front of you, you can't go in
the middle of them all.
What happened with Kenny
Young in Vacourt, he drove in way too hard," he said. Plus, the
recent rain had left the hay bales hard and dangerous. "But nobody
went out there and said, hey, it rained, replace the bales, plow
the track. Let's do something. So it's our fault as much as drivers
as it is the organizers."
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