GILL, HOWARD, TAYLOR AND POPE WIN FEATURES
LaFargeville, NY ... It was Castle Hi-Tech night at the Can Am Motorsports Park on Saturday night. Another track champion was crowned, that being Dave Mannise, who successfully defended his Pure Stock title. The weather was once again sunny and warm and brought out a large crowd to view the racing activities.
The DIRT 358 mod feature started 26 cars. As Starter Steve Rickett gave the field the green flag, they raced around the wide, fast, smooth half-mile oval and as they completed the first lap there was a three-wide race for the lead across the start-finish line as Dale Eggleston, David Orr and Todd Stewart raced into turn one. The ever-impressive 358 rookie, Mike Adderley, was on the move and grabbed the lead on the fourth lap around, but it was Billy Wilcox, using his Wilcox groove up on top, that saw him rim ride from 13th to fourth in no time. Also on the move was the Stadium International Teo of Jason Barney who took the lead on lap eight with Wilcox now already in second place with Lee Gill also heading to the front in his Channel 7 News Bicknell. Wilcox rode the top into the lead on lap 11, and as the crossed flags were displayed at lap 15, the leaders were Wilcox, Gill, Barney, Adderley, Roger Phelps, Jeff Sykes, Stewart, Bill Gill and Larry Welling. As the race neared the two-thirds mark, traffic came into play. Gill was taking the low road and on the 21st lap went under Wilcox for the lead. There was a caution on the 25th lap when Delbert Lagrow stopped in turn one, meaning a five-lap shootout for the lead pack. With the green back out, Gill was able to put some distance between himself and Wilcox and went on to record his third win of the season, and second win in two nights having one at Brockville Friday night. Wilcox came home second, Adderley passed Barney for third and the veteran Phelps completed the top five.
The Sportsman feature also saw a strong 26-car field start their 20-lap feature. Two Can Am veterans, Tim Van Brocklin and Lance Willix III, lead the field to the green and Willix took a quick lead. On the third lap, former feature winner Clayton Brewer III slowed and moved slowly down the backstretch trying to limp into the pits. Just as he neared pit road, third place running Scott MacCue, running high, didn’t know the 33 was slowing down and seeing him at the last minute put his car sideways and slid into Brewer bringing out a yellow. When the green was put back out, it was again Willix in front of Van Brocklin with Jason Potter now in third with Andy Howard fourth and Jim Vock fifth. At the halfway point of the race, Willix was leading Van Brocklin, Potter, Howard, Vock, Jessica Zemken, Anthony Fiorentino, Mike Teachout and 2002 track champ Matt Butler. Andy Howard had won the last two weeks and was making his way to the front. On the 12th lap, he raced into the lead and never looked back over the final eight laps as he won his third in a row with Van Brocklin a solid second after two disastrous weeks, Willix third, Butler to fourth and rookie Mike Teachout fifth.
The 2002 track title was on the line in the 15-lap Pure Stock main event. Dave Mannise was leading with Scott Castor holding a mathematical chance, albeit a very slim one, at wrestling the title away. A strong 24-car field took the green flag and it was Ken Hamm putting his car out front of George Sanford in the early laps of the race, which then saw Dave Pope, Mark Barker and Castor joining the lead pack. Pope, from the Taberg-Rome area, has had a strong late-season showing and assumed the lead from Sanford on the 7th lap, but the Mannise Logging #8 was also heading to the front and took the lead from Pope on the 11th lap. The final four laps saw some of the finest and most exciting side by side clean racing all season long as the two cars battled it out for the lead and the win. When the checkers came out, it was Pope and Mannise in a virtual photo finish with Pope just edging out Mannise by inches. Sanford came home third with Travis Andrews and Scott Castor rounded out the top five. The second-place finish was enough, however, for Mannise to capture the track title for 2002.
The IMCA feature was a non-points race because of the Nationals in Boone, Iowa, and 15 cars answered the call for the race. A lap 2 accident in turn one knocked out a couple cars right away, but when racing got under the green again it was Chris Taylor, fresh off a win a week ago and apparently liking victory lane, out in front of Brian Copp, Jeff Bannister, Bobby Thurston and Larry Bezner. Taylor lead at the halfway point and never wavered the rest of the way enroute to his second win of the season with Bezner, Thurston, Paul Calhoun and Copp making up the top five finishers.
The Midstate Vintage Stockcar Club was also in competition this evening, and the winner of the 50’s class was Jeff Ackerman, while Jim Chase won the cars of the 60’s class and John McNamee once again won the cars of the 70’s division. Another good show and as announcer Jeff Barrett said, “A trip down memory lane.” Good job, drivers.
The finale race night at Can Am will be this Saturday night as Stadium International and Gilco Trucking present the Second Annual Battle at the Border featuring a 100 lap DIRT 358 Super DIRT Series race, a 40-lap Sportsman race paying $1,000 to win, a 20-lap IMCA mod race paying $500 to win, and a 20-lap Pure Stock race paying $500 to win. There should be great car counts in all four divisions. Gates will open at four, time trials will go off at six, and heat racing will begin at seven p.m. sharp.
358 Mods: (30 laps) LEE GILL, Billy Wilcox, Mike Adderley, Jason Barney, Roger Phelps, Jeff Sykes, Bill Gill, Todd Stewart, Larry Welling, Scott Parliament, Billy Cook, Dale Eggleston, Jeff Kotary, Wayne Side, Sandy Roberts, Bob Bennett, Rob Galloway, David Orr, Rick Amo, Jeff Marshall, Dave Surace, Greg Monica, Brian McDonald, Delbert Lagrow, Bill Bourquin, Ray Zemken
Sportsman: (20 laps) ANDREW HOWARD, Tim Van Brocklin, Lance Willix III, Matt Butler, Mike Teachout, Anthony Fiorentino, Jack Meeks, Jessica Zemken, Jim Vock, Scott MacCue, Rick Paige, Cole Dingwall, Paul Benz, Jason Potter, Bill Eisele, Jr., Kyle Dingwall, Terry Knobloch, Todd Van Tassel, Jeff Stevenson, Sammy Reakes IV, Rob Winters, Jordan Bennett, Larry Lamb, Clayton Brewer III, Craig Collier, Rick McCreadie DNQ: Scott Webb
IMCA mods: (15 laps) CHRIS TAYLOR, Larry Bezner, Bob Thurston, Jr., Paul Calhoun, Brian Copp, Rick Dusckas, Jeff Bannister, Bentley Aiken, Lance LaLonde, Dan Hilts, Billy Dunn, Erv Miller, Jon Dumas, Hunter Grimes, Neal Edgar
Pure Stocks: (15 laps) DAVE POPE, Dave Mannise, George Sanford*, Travis Andrews, Scott Castor*, Mark Webb, Ed Rogers, Brian Holder, Ken Hamm, Steve Gilmore, Don Scales, Billy Gardner, Joe Combs, Rob Simmons, Russ Marsden, Shane Ray, Dale Snyder, Mark Barker*, Charles Duffany, Brian Hutton, Justin Mason, John Simmons, Dana Aikin, Lyle Murphy * Penalized points and money won for post-race tech inspection infractions