Coffey Time at Brockville
BROCKVILLE-It was Coffey time in victory lane on Friday night at Brockville Ontario Speedway. Leicester NY’s Vic Coffey captured his first ever Super DIRT series event taking the Jack May Pontiac 100.
46 358 Modifieds showed up to compete in the event with 31 making the field. Brockville’s Stephane LaFrance and Alan Johnson of Phelps NY brought them down to take the green flag. As Johnson jumped out to the early lead Coffey was quickly working his way forward from his 10th starting spot.
A flurry of caution flags caused numerous restarts and Coffey took advantage of one to grab the lead for the first time on lap 12. Coffey and Steve Paine of Waterloo NY began an epic battle for 5 laps around lap 40, they were swapping the lead, grooves and running side by side but Coffey would not give up the top spot. Meanwhile Danny Johnson of Rochester NY who made a pit stop on lap 20 for new rubber worked his way through the field to the second spot on lap 49.
Everyone was expecting the Super DIRT points leader to have lots in reserve to get by his Sweetner’s Plus teammate. It was not to be as Coffey was able to pull away every time including the last restart with 5 laps to go. Johnson settled for second with Paine in third. Canadians Pete Bicknell of St. Catherines and Pat O Brien of Kingston rounded out the top 5. The top Brockville regular was Dale Planck of Homer NY who put in a solid 6th place performance.
The Consi for the Modifieds featured a horrifying accident as Constantia NY’s Jason Barney was involved in a wild flip down the back straightaway. Barney vaulted up into the air after catching a wheel and rolled several times almost destroying his Bicknell chassis. However, the young pilot walked away under his own power shaken but otherwise okay.
Randy Earl of Brockville has been the money man in the Pro Stock division. He picked up win number 9 taking the $500 to win 25 lap event. Todd Fletcher of Renfrew led the first 20 laps before a flat tire. Earl took over from that point for the victory. Bill Eisele of Watertown was second with Fletcher coming back through the field for third. Earl Simmons of Gouverneur NY took the lead with 3 laps remaining and won the $200 to win Novice feature. It was heartbreak for Dave Austin of Hardington who had led the first 17 laps before losing a tire going down the back straight. Steve Johnson of Cornwall held off a fast closing Todd Raabe of Pembroke for third.
Modifieds 100 laps 1. Vic Coffey Leicester NY 2. Danny Johnson Rochester NY 3. Steve Paine Waterloo NY 4. Pete Bicknell St. Catherines 5. Pat O Brien Kingston 6. Dale Planck Homer NY 7. Todd Burley Spencerport NY 8. Alan Johnson Phelps NY 9. Tim McCreadie Watertown NY 10. Pierre Dagenais Gatineau QC 11. Billy Wilcox Watertown NY 12. Ryan Baye Constantia NY 13. Dan Miller St. Catherines 14. Chico Dingwall Brockville 15. Billy Cook Hogansburg NY 16. Mike Ward Genoa NY 17. Leon Gonyo Chazy NY 18. Chris Herbison Brockville 19. Kyle Jacobs Hogansburg NY 20. Kevin Fetterly Messena NY 21. Bill Mullin Iroquois 22. Bill Gill Plessis NY 23. Alex Hoag Bath NY 24. Doug Fuller Edwards NY 25. Todd Stewart Kingston 26. Graham Gorman Embrun 27. Stephane LaFrance Brockville 28. Rich Hall Athens 29. Lee Gill LaFargeville NY 30. Gus Schmidt Liverpool NY 31. Jeff Sykes Edwards NY
Pro Stock 25 laps 1. Randy Earl Brockville 2. Bill Eisele Watertown NY 3. Todd Fletcher Renfrew 4. Gilles Godard Bowmanville 5. Bryan Rogers Kingston
Novice 20 laps 1. Earl Simmons Gouvueneur NY 2. Steve Johnston Cornwall 3. Todd Raabe Pembroke 4. Roger Bushey Ogdensburg NY 5. Barry Baker Portland.