Results for Sat. May 11th
The Can Am Motorsports Park in LaFargeville, NY opened up for the 28th season on Saturday night with long-time sponsor Eagle Beverage as the night’s sponsor. There were some familiar faces in victory lane as well as new faces. Pat Ward, the big block veteran from Genoa, NY, won the 40 laps Syracuse Qualifier for the DIRT 358 mods. Local Sportsman driver Jim Vock won the feature for the second year in a row on opening night. The long-time veteran Dave Mannise won in Pure Stocks, while Paul Calhoun won his first ever IMCA mod feature.
Twenty-eight cars took the green flag from Starter Steve Rickett in the 358 race. Young gun Frankie “Flatfoot” Caprara put his Mopar powered Teo out front at the get go. It only took two laps for the first yellow to fly as the Hometown Hammer, Lee Gill, clipped a track tire and then spun to the infield in the Channel 7 news Bicknell. While Caprara and defending track champ Billy Wilcox were battling tooth and nail up front, Pat Ward was the car on the move. Wilcox then took over the lead on the 12th lap after several laps of side by side racing with Caprara. At the halfway point, the field was comprised of Wilcox, Ward, Caprara, Jason Barney, Bill Gill, Danny O’Brien, Steve Hulsizer, Gus Schmidt, John Ramsey and Todd Stewart. Racin Jason Barney then took over third spot as Caprara fell back to fifth. Ward then took over the lead for good on the 26th lap and went on to capture the win in his Enders powered Teo Pro Car followed by Jason Barney with a strong second, Bill Gill third, Steve Hulsizer fourth and Flatfoot Caprara fifth.
Next out for their feature came the Sportsman, and there was a full field of 27 that started the feature. Pole sitter, Kyle Wilson, had to pull his car into the pits on the pace lap with problems and became a DNS. On the green, Jim Vock, who started on the outside pole and then moved to the pole, grabbed the early lead. Vock won the opening night Sportsman feature last year and liked it so much he thought he would do it again this year, and that’s exactly what he did. He lead from pole to pole in the 20 lap feature run to nail down the win over Anthony Fiorentino with a strong second place finish followed by Matt Butler, Clayton Brewer and Scott MacCue.
The popular Pure Stock class came out for their 15 lap main, and it was George Sanford and newcomer Chuck Cushman racing for the lead. Former track promoter Bob Thurston, Jr. in the 37 car looped his car in turn two on the fourth lap bringing out a caution. When racing resume, it was Cushman in the lead until the 12th lap when defending track champ Dave Mannise made his move to wrestle the lead away from Cushman and then go on for another Pure Stock feature win. Cushman came in a solid second followed by the ever consistent Scott Castor, Jeff Shannon and Phil Desormeau making up the top five.
The last feature of the night was the IMCA mod feature, and it was a very satisfying win going to Paul Calhoun as he claimed his first IMCA feature ever holding off track champion Larry Bezner with Jake Rabetoy home third, Rob Keller in fourth and young Watertown star Billy Dunn completing the top five.
The racing action continues this Saturday night with Real Rock radio 100.7, Fast Lube of Watertown, Burrville Power and Widrick Electric co-sponsoring the night of racing on the fast half-mile oval. Steve Rickett will wave the green flag promptly at seven p.m. For further information, the track phone is 315-659-4431, or you may log on the track website at www.can-amspeedway.com for all the latest results, news and other information about the track. Hope to see you all on Saturday night. There is always plenty of free parking on the grounds. Kids 8 and under are always admitted free accompanied by an adult.
358 Mods: PAT WARD, Jason Barney, Bill Gill, Steve Hulsizer, Frankie Caprara, Gus Schmidt, Danny O’Brien, John Ramsey, Jeff Sykes, Mike Prentice, Scott Parliament, Larry Welling, Billy Wilcox, George McIntyre, Roger Phelps, Laurent Ladouceur, Billy Cook, Jeff Kotary, Mike Ward, Delbert Lagrow, Pierre Dagenais, Ben Tucker, Bob Bennett, Todd Stewart, Brian McDonald, Ryan Bartlett, Dave Surace, Lee Gill. DNS: Mike Adderley
Sportsman: JIM VOCK, Anthony Fiorentino, Matt Butler, Clayton Brewer, Scott MacCue, Adam Moore, Lance Willix, Todd Van Tassel, Ryan Phelps, Andy Howard, Jason Potter, Bill Plooy, Jordan Bennett, Mike Amell, Tim Van Brocklin, Steve Rookey, Doug Matthews, Kyle Dingwall, Rick Paige, Jack Meeks, Bill Eisele, Jeff Stevenson, Rob Galloway, Craig Collier, Tim Alton, Jeff Hunter. DNS: Kyle Wilson
IMCA Mods: PAUL CALHOUN, Larry Bezner, Jake Rabetoy, Rob Keller, Billy Dunn, Bill Anderson, Brian Copp, Chris Taylor, John Dumas, Jeff Bannister, Hunter Grimes, Erv Miller, Jerry Fobare, John Mason. DNS: Neal Edgar & Don Hilts
Pure Stocks: DAVE MANNISE, Chuck Cushman, Scott Castor, Jeff Shannon, Phil Desormeau, David Pope, Rick Trexler, Jason Gilmore, Travis Andrews, Mike Cousins, Darius Gamel, Kim Mallette, Dustin Mason, Rob Simmons, Charles Duffany, George Sanford, Ed Rogers, Ken Hamm, Bob Thurston, Jr., Steve Gilmore, Scott Webb, Les Sanford, Mark Barker, Carl Robbins. DNS: Kevin Duffany & Pete Cross