Can Am Motorsports Park, Ltd. results for May 19th, 2001
LaFargeville, NY: The nicest weather of the season brought out a large crowd Saturday night to the Can Am Motorsports Park, Ltd., and the fans were treated to three new faces in victory lane out of the four divisions on Fast Lube of Watertown, Widrick Electric, Inc., Burrville Power Equipment, WWTI TV 50 and Sboro Family Restaurant night.
The first feature called out was the DIRT Sportsman. Twenty-two came out to take the green flag from Starter Steve Rickett. The winner from two weeks back, Bill Plooy, held down the early lead until the caution came out when Scott MacCue made hard contact with the homestretch wall coming out of turn four. Scott was okay. When the race resumed, it was Plooy ahead trailed by teenager Kyle Wilson, Lance Willix, Donnie Wetmore, Jr., and Andrew Howard. Willix was the one on the move as he slowly was reeling in leader Plooy until the 17th lap when Willix took over the lead and never looked back enroute to his first win of the young season. Following Willix across the line was Plooy, Howard, Wilson and Wetmore, Jr. in his best finish of the season. MacCue, in point contention, made it back out late in the race to try an pick up some valuable points.
Next it was time to see if the Pocket Rocket, Danny O’Brien, could be the first DIRT 358 pilot at Can Am to claim the newly offered Dealmaker Auto Group Back to Back Challenge bonus money of $700. It would be a difficult talk for Danny as he started deep in the pack in 18th place out of the 24-car starting field. Rookie 358 driver Ben Tucker started from the outside pole and took the lead from pole sitter Doug Fuller on the second lap. Young Frankie “Flatfoot” Caprara, trying to turn his season around, was also on the move and took over the lead on the 8th lap from Tucker. Also at this time O’Brien had worked himself up to the 6th spot by lap 10, but then an accident in turn two resulted when the Hometown Hammer Lee Gill spun in front of the field and collected the cars of O’Brien, Jason Barney, Lans Petzoldt and Dale Eggleston. All drove away except for Gill who took the long ride to the pits on the back of a wrecker. There was another car also making his way to the front, that being the 19W of Billy the Kid Wilcox who is now in the top five before the halfway mark. For the Sboro Family Restaurant and Appledale Farmers Market Halfway Challenge, the leaders were Caprara, Pierre Dagenais, Tucker, Wilcox and Barney. Caprara, running a Gor-Den Mopar , turned a lap of 19.62 on the 18th lap and stretched his lead over the field to a whole straightaway by the time the checkers fell. This also sets up an interesting situation for next week when Caprara, grandson of F.X. Caprara, a long-time auto dealer in the Watertown and surrounding area, goes for the bonus money of $900 offered by the new kid on the block in auto dealers, the Dealmaker Auto Group. That would make a pretty nice payday for Caprara of $2400 if he can win the Back to Back Challenge. Following Caprara cross the line were Wilcox, Dagenais, Barney and Tucker.
The third feature of the night belonged to the IMCA modifieds. Sixteen came out to race their feature. Rob Keller sat on the pole with Erv Miller on the outside. This was a race that Keller was not to be denied, even though pressured by long-time veteran driver and out of retirement Doug Carlyle who just couldn’t muster enough horses to overtake the 21 car of Keller. A 5th lap accident saw veteran L. D. Bezner and Ken Klinkowsky come together in turn four putting them both out of action for the evening. When racing resumed, it was all Rob Keller as the Baldwinsville driver went on to claim his first win of the 2001 season at Can Am with Carlyle coming in second and the ever impressive Mike Adderly third. Adderly came out of go-karts late last season and has really impressed with his driving skills. The winner from two weeks ago, Kevin Battelle, was fourth and Erv Miller rounded out the top five.
Finally, the Pure Stocks came out for their 15 lap feature, and a full field of 24 cars came out to play in the dirt. Central New York hotshoe Dave Mannise, making Can Am his Saturday night home this season, grabbed the lead on the third lap and was able to hold the lead for his second win of the season. Henry Chant come home a strong second followed by Kevin Duffany, Bill Gardner, Jr., with another strong run and Joe Combs rounding out the top five.
Coming up this Memorial Day weekend at Can Am Motorsports Park will be a regular show of DIRT 358 modifieds, DIRT Sportsman, IMCA modifieds and Pure Stocks sponsored by Renzi Brothers, Inc. of Watertown and Froggy 97 radio, also of Watertown. Gates open at five with racing promptly getting the green at seven p.m. There is always free parking and camping on the grounds. For further information, the track phone is 315-658-4431, or log onto the speedway website at www.can-amspeedway.com for the latest results, point standings and weather conditions.