Gus Schmidt, Danny O’Brien, Dave Surace, L.D. Bezner and Dave Mannise
Take home Can Am laurels
LAFARGEVILLE, NY: On an evening that turned out to be beautiful for racing, Can Am Motorsports Park packed a full night of racing action into its program. With two features postponed from last week and the regular show to run, a new face, Gus Schmidt, finally made it to victory lane in the DIRT 358 mods. Also seeing victory lane on Jreck Sub and Haun Welding Supply night were Danny O’Brien, Dave Surace, Larry Bezner and Dave Mannise. In the process, Mannise extended his unbeaten string to nine straight races.
The 358 mods came out first to run the second Twin 20 from last week that saw only two laps get in before the rains came. The pole sitter was the Heavy Hauler, Gus Schmidt, from the Syracuse area who was seriously injured in an industrial accident in the off-season. Gus has come back this season and is now making Can Am his regular Saturday night stop. Schmidt was able to take the early lead amidst a flurry of yellow flags in the 20 lapper as spins and slowing cars slowed the pace in the early going. Young Ryan Bartlett was giving it all in his Teo Pro Car in the battle for the lead with Danny O’Brien third and a huge battle for fourth through 12th spot going on in the process. Last week’s winner, Bill Gill, was attempting to take some of his sponsor’s money in the Dealmaker Auto Group Back to Back challenge and was making his way to the front, but just ran out of laps in the process and had to settle for a second place finish. Ryan Bartlett held on for a fine third place showing with Lee Gill and point leader Bill Wilcox rounding out the top five. The bonus would go to $2300 for the 358 feature later on in the show that Schmidt would have a shot at. The win for Schmidt was his first ever at the Can Am Motorsports Park.
The other rained out feature to be run was the Pure Stock feature, and 24 of them came out to do battle at the Saturday night battleground of speed. The Pure Stocks weekly put on some of the best racing at the fast track and this race would be no exception. The only question would be when would Dave Mannise take the lead and would he be able to hold on to it. Mannise did take the lead on the 5th lap away from Scott Castor, and try as he so mightily tried, Castor was not able to overtake Mannise and the Fulton speedster went on to record another win at Can Am, his eighth in a row. The only night he didn’t win was opening night. Since then it has been a battle for second.
It was then time for the regular show to begin and after the heat racing action, it was time for the DIRT Sportsman to take center stage. Two Canadians would pace the field as Adam Moore and Kyle Wilson brought the field to the green flag of Starter Steve Rickett. 17-year-old Ryan Phelps was challenging the two Canadian drivers and finally took the lead on the 8th lap and thought he was enroute to his first win ever. A lot of effort was put into the track during the week, and it paid off, as the track was wide and smooth allowing three and four wide racing lap after lap. Scott MacCue of Castorland had worked his way to the front and was challenging Phelps, but the checkers fell on Phelps with MacCue trailing followed by Dave Surace of Watertown, Wilson and Plooy. Then the night suddenly went from sweet to sour for Phelps and MacCue as both the first and second place cars were disqualified after coming up light on the scales. That gave the win to Watertown’s Dave Surace, who registered his second win of the season. The top five was then comprised of Surace, Wilson, Plooy, B. J. Vock and rookie Jeff Stevenson in his best run of the season.
Next out came the 358’s for their second feature of the night. There was a lot of pressure on Gus Schmidt, for if he could win this race he could take home a huge $4800 for his night of racing by winning the Back to Back Challenge worth $2300, $1500 for this feature and the $1000 he won in the 20 lapper to start the night out. Danny O’Brien, however, had a different idea. The Pocket Rocket had struggled the past couple weeks and the handicapping put him on the pole. With the excellent track conditions, another battle royal ensued trying to catch the Kingston, Ontario speedster. Rookie 358 shoe Ben Tucker has improved each week and was running a strong second to O’Brien trying to fend off the rest of the Can Am regulars in this third Battle of the Border qualifier. O’Brien was not to be denied, though, and went on to register his fourth win of the season, making him the top winner of the season. Tucker, with his strong runner-up finish, thereby got the qualifying spot in the richest 358 race ever run at Can Am. O’Brien had already secured his guaranteed spot. Rounding out the top five was the Hometown Hammer, Lee Gill, Frankie “Flatfoot” Caprara in fourth and Bill Gill, who seems to have gotten the bugs out of his Dealmaker Auto Group WWTI Channel 50 Teo.
The IMCA modifieds came out for their 20-lap feature. Neil Edgar, back after a couple of weeks off, raced to the early lead. He lost it to young Mike Adderly on the fourth lap and it became a battle of youth versus experience as the veteran L. D. Bezner was battling the young Adderly for the lead. Experience won out this week as Bezner won for the second week in a row and third time this season with Adderly finishing second, Kevin Battelle in third, Canadian driver Brian Copp fourth and Paul Calhoun running a solid race to finish in fifth.
Twenty-five Pure Stocks came out for the final feature of the evening. Henry Chant has been running strong all season, and once again was strong as he ran to the early lead over Phil Desormeau, Bill Gardner, Jr., Charles Duffany, Carl Robbins and Ricky the Rocket Paige. It took Dave Mannise eight laps this week to assume the lead, and this race it was Henry Chant’s turn to try and deny Mannise yet other win with Scott Castor also involved. It wasn’t to be. It was win number nine for Mannise with Chant second, Castor third, Ricky the Rocket fourth and Steve Gilmore fifth.
Racing resumes this Saturday night with Christmas in July sponsored by White’s Building Supplies, Log Mills Market and WWTI Channel 50. Log Mills Market usually brings a bunch of Christmas presents to be given out as door prizes, so you will want to come out and be a part of it. The pit gate opens at four, the main gate at five and racing begins promptly at 7:30. There is always plenty of free parking and camping on the grounds. Hope to see you then.