Lee Gill, Jack Meeks, Paul Calhoun and Mark Webb win at Can Am

LaFargeville, NY: A beautiful and warm summer evening brought out a large crowd to the Can Am Motorsports Park, and once again they were treated to some great racing as Lee Gill won his first 358 feature of the year, rookie Jack Meeks won his first ever Sportsman main, veterans Paul Calhoun in IMCA and Mark Webb in Pure Stock also won their respective classes on Creekside Furniture and Cingular Wireless and Route 37 Building Supply night.

Eighteen IMCA modifieds took the green flag from Starter Steve Rickett at the start of their 15-lap feature. Chris Taylor sped off with the early lead, but the car on the move was the 21 of Rob Keller. Keller worked himself up to second place, but pulled out of line and slowed on the backstretch then took off again losing many spots. Taylor was then trying to fend off three-time winner Paul Calhoun with Rick Reed, Billy Dunn and Jeff Bannister in hot pursuit. At the halfway point, the lead pack consisted of Taylor, Calhoun, Reed, Dunn, Bannister, Bill Anderson, Brian Copp, Keller and Erv Miller. Calhoun made his move on the 11th lap as the veteran driver from Clayton, NY took the lead. Keller was once again making his way to the front, but his race came to a disappointing end when he suffered a flat right front late on the last lap. Calhoun went on for his fourth win of the season with Taylor coming home a strong second with young Billy Dunn third, Reed an impressive fourth and Bannister rounding out the top five.

The very competitive Sportsman division was next to play in the dirt as 23 of them answered the green flag. Bill Eisele raced out to the early lead with Rob Gallloway’s Ford power in second with rookie Jack Meeks third. Meeks then raced into the lead with Scott Webb following with Eisele now third and a fast closing Matt Butler in fourth. Butler came into the race tied for the lead in points with Jim Vock and wanted to come out with the point lead. Another young gun, Ryan Phelps, was also making his presence known. The rookie Meeks was able to hold onto the lead at the halfway point with Butler now in second and Phelps in third. The second half of the race went green and the third generation driver from Evans Mills was able to nail down his first-ever feature win holding off Matt Butler, Jim Vock, Andy Howard and another rookie, Mike Teachout. Meeks and Teachout have been impressive young drivers making the veterans sit up and take notice now every week.

It was time for the mighty mods to come out for their 30-lap feature. With the Dealmaker Auto Group Back To Back Challenge bonus won by Jason Barney last week, it was time to start off where it did at the start of the 01 season at $500. Barney would have a tough row to hoe, as he would start 18th in the 23-car field. Pole cars Mike Prentice and Bob Bennett lead the early laps, but it was the Mopar-powered Manheim Auction Teo Pro Car of Frankie “Flatfoot” Caprara that was flying to the front. Caprara worked his way from his 8th starting spot to second in the early laps, and on the 6th lap took the lead from Prentice and set sail. By the 7th go round, Racin Jason Barney had worked his way to the 12th spot, but he had a long way to go. Another car was also on the move, that being the Bicknell of Lee Gill. The Hometown Hammer was struggled a bit at Can Am this season and wanted to get a win to get his program back on track. With Caprara now being the only car ahead of him, Gill moved around him on the 11th lap to take over the lead. At the halfway point, the leaders were Gill, Caprara, Danny O’Brien, Pat Ward, Billy Wilcox, Steve Hulsizer, Larry Welling, Willy Decker, Barney and Bill Gill. Bill Gill has had his share of bad luck this season, and it would hit him once again this week as he brought out a caution on lap 18 with a flat. He got it changed and had to fall in at the rear of the pack. By the 20th lap, Barney had brought his Teo up to 8th place, but it was still Gill, O’Brien, Ward, Wilcox and Caprara making up the top five. The last ten laps went caution free, and it was Gill winning his first feature at Can Am this season and becoming the sixth different winner overall, trailed across the line by the Pocket Rocket, Pat Ward, Frankie Caprara and Billy Wilcox.

The last feature of the night was the always exciting Pure Stock 15 lapper. Twenty-three cars started the feature. Mark Webb raced out to the early lead with Ken Hamm and George Sanford in tow. A lap five accident in turn two between Hamm and Mark Barker brought out a caution. Webb’s hood was missing a hood pin, and even though he was the race leader, he decided to duck into the pits and get the hood pin put on thus relegating him to the rear of the field. That enabled the always-consistent Scott Castor to inherit the lead with Kevin Duffany, Brian Holder and Dave Mannise looking for the lead. At the halfway point, the leaders were Castor, Duffany, Mannise, Holder, Travis Andrews and Dana Aikins. In the late stages of the race, it was Webb making his way to the front once again. He managed the near impossible as he overtook Castor and complete a last to first drive. Castor had to settle for second with Mannise third, Carl Burdick fourth and Dana Aikins fifth.

Can Am’s new lap counter was in operation for the first time and will be a great addition as it shows the top five positions, the lap, and when qualifying is on the lap speeds. With it hooked up to the transponder system, it makes Can Am one of only a couple tracks with this technology

358 Mods: LEE GILL, Danny O’Brien, Frankie Caprara, Pat Ward, Billy Wilcox, Steve Hulsizer, Willy Decker, Jason Barney, Larry Welling, Todd Stewart, Roger Phelps, Bill Gill, John Ramsey, Wayne Side, Dale Eggleston, Steve Roberts, Bob Bennett, Mike Ward, David Orr, Dave Surace, Ryan Bartlett, Mike Prentice, Gus Schmidt. DNS: Scott Parliament, Dave Bartlett..

Sportsman: JACK MEEKS, Matt Butler, Jim Vock, Andy Howard, Mike Teachout, Anthony Fiorentino, Bill Eisele, Jason Potter, Adam Moore, Tim Van Brocklin, Rick Amo, Kyle Dingwall, Steve Rookey, Rob Galloway, Scott Webb, Jeff Stevenson, Jordan Bennett, Richard Paige, Ryan Phelps, Lance Willix, Mike Amell, Scott MacCue, Clayton Brewer, Fran Briant.

IMCA Mods: PAUL CALHOUN, Chris Taylor, Billy Dunn, Rick Reed, Jeff Bannister, Bill Anderson, Erv Miller, Neal Edgar, Rick Dusckas, Ken Klinkowsky, Hunter Grimes, Brian Copp, Jeff Shannon, Lance LaLonde, Rob Keller, Dan Hilts, John Mason, Larry Bezner. DNS: Bob Thurston, Jr.

Pure Stocks: MARK WEBB, Scott Castor, Dave Mannise, Carl Burdick, Dana Aikins, Rob Simmons, Brian Holder, Dave Pope, Don Scales, Kim Mallette, Kevin Duffany, Travis Andrews, Mike Cousins, Pete Cross, Charles Duffany, Billy Gardner, Sr., Justin Mason, Ken Hamm, Mark Barker, George Sanford, Darius Gamel. DNS: Dave Snyder, Butch Simmons.