WILCOX BREAKS O'BRIEN WIN STREAK AT CAN-AM
BRITTON, BATTELLE AND ROOKEY GRAB CHECKERS
LAFARGEVILLE NY: The first holiday weekend of the season saw a great crowd and an excellent field of cars on hand this past Saturday night at the Can-Am Speedway in LaFargeville. Over (90) cars filled the pit area on Exide Batteries-Froggy 97/Z93 night, and the fans once again saw some great dirt track racing on the fast 1/2 mile clay oval. The evening ended with Billy Wilcox picking up his first 358 DIRT Modified win of the season ending Pat O'Brien's win streak at four, Scott Britton returned to the winners circle in the DIRT Sportsman, Kevin Battelle went home with his second win of 2000 at Can-Am and Steve Rookey finally cracked the winners circle in the Street Stocks.
Billy Wilcox took advantage of his terrible luck so far this season to sit on the front row with Chris Jones in the 25 lap 358 DIRT Modified feature event. Wilcox grabbed the advantage over Jones at the drop of the green and while most drivers would be hoping to stay out front for the win, Wilcox was hoping to complete the 25 lap distance without problems that have saw him watching the finish from the pits the first four events in 2000. He would open up a comfortable lead early over Jones but by lap 4 local favorite Lee Gill had worked his way up to challenge Jones for second while Danny O'Brien, Frank Caprara and Pat O'Brien found their way into the top five by the halfway point. Wilcox looked comfortable out in front but the rest of the top five would not let him out of their sight. The final caution flew on lap 16 bunching the field but Wilcox would finally have his night as he cruised to victory over Lee Gill, Danny O'Brien, Caprara and defending track champion Bill Gill.
The DIRT Sportsman continue to put on a great show and this week it was a pair of rookies on the front row for the start of the 15 lap feature. Young second generation driver Kyle Wilson and last years IMCA Hobby Stock champion Kyle Sharp brought the field of 20 cars to the green and Wilson looked like a veteran as he jumped out in front. They were using the entire race track to battle for positions but Wilson saw nothing but race track ahead of him as he continued to lead early in the event over Andrew Howard, RJ Gibbons, Scott MacCue and Anthony Fiorentino. As the leaders entered turn two the race would take a major change. Howard, while going for the lead caught a rut and made contact with Wilson sending Howard spinning, collecting Scott Schara, Curt Cartwright, Larry Lamb and Craig Collier. On the restart Scott Britton was shown as the leader over MaCue and Lance Willix. The final caution was displayed on lap 14 setting up a one lap dash to the checkers and Britton was able to hold off all challengers to pick up first win in a number of years at Can-Am, Ben Tucker made a late race charge for second with Willix, MacCue and Matt Butler completing the top five.
The IMCA Modified 15 lap feature had its largest field of the year take the green behind front row starters Doug Ada and Jim Graves. Ada was shown as the leader through lap 2 but veteran Larry Bezner shot past the rookie and into the top spot on lap 3 bringing Kevin Battelle and Kevin Buff with him. Bezner had his hands full as the two outsiders challenged the speedway regular on every lap. A number of minor yellows slowed the event but on every restart Bezner was able to hold off all challengers until lap 12 when Batelle made his move for the lead stick. A caution with just one lap to go gave everyone one last shot at the win but it was Battelle who would go on for his second win of the season at Can-Am over Buff, who made his first ever start at Can-Am. Bezner came across the line in third followed by Cory Fachini and Joe Lockorini
The 12 lap Street Stock feature was up next with Chris Taylor and Andy Wells setting the pace. The two leaders led the pack into turn one but it was Steve Rookey making his way from starting position number 4 to take the lead at the completion of lap 1. The entire distance would go caution free with Rookey show as the leader past the halfway point. Rookey had seen two wins get away from him in 2000 on the final turn of the final lap but tonight looked like his night as he came off of turn four for the checkers with 1999 point champion Bill Eisele and two time winner in 2000 Bryan Rogers looking to steal the win away. Rookey found that little bit extra he needed and picked up his first ever feature win at Can-Am, Eisele was second followed by Rogers, Laurie Handschuh and Taylor.
Ed Rogers and Kim Mallette brought the field of 23 IMCA Hobby Stocks to the green for their 10 lap event and Mallette, who has had motor problems throughout the early season grabbed the lead away on lap one. With Mallette out in front many of the top runners were making their way from the back of the field. Mallette saw her chances at a win end on lap 5 when she spun in turn two bringing out the caution and handing the lead over to Scott Webb. Webb, last weeks feature winner began to open up a slight advantage over Rogers and George Sanford at the halfway mark. One more caution flew with two laps to go and when the race resumed Webb continued as the leader. Webb would come under the checkers first but the win will remain un-official pending a rules clarification. Chris Warner continued his excellent season coming across in second with Jeff Chapin, Mark Webb and Scott Castor filling out the top five.
Next Saturday night Sherwin-Williams Paints, Peg's Painting and Renzi Brother's Old Fashioned Meat Market will sponsor the nights activities that will include a complete show of all five classes plus a special grocery kart race for the fans. The sponsors of this years Jefferson County's American Cancer Society-Relay for Life will also be on hand to promote this years Relay event. Gates will open at 5:00 with the first green flag falling at 7:00, for more information call the speedway at (315) 658-4431.
EXIDE BATTERIES-FROGGY 97/Z93
FEATURE FINISHES
358 DIRT MOFIFIED: Billy Wilcox, Lee Gill, Danny O'Brien, Frank Caprara, Bill Gill, Pat O'Brien, George McIntyre, Ryan Bartlett, Dale Eggleston, Brent Cross, Bob Bennett, Wayne Side, Rick Amo, George Horning, Scott Parliament, Steve Bilow, Chris Jones, John Ramsey, Larry Welling, Pat Sullivan DNS: Greg Meeks
DIRT SPORTSMAN: Scott Britton, Ben Tucker, Lance Willix, Scott MacCue, Matt Butler, RJ Gibbons, Andrew Howard, Adam Moore, Anthony Fiorentino, Dave Surace, Bill Bourquin, Jody Spooner, Rick McCready, Mike Watkins, Kyle Wilson, Larry Lamb, Curt Cartwright, Craig Collier, Scott Schara, Kyle Sharp
IMCA MODIFIED: Kevin Battelle, Kevin Buff, Larry Bezner, Cory Fachini, Joe Lockorini, Rick Dusckas, Doug Ada, Jim Graves, Bud Hernburg, Neal Edgar, Mark Chrzanowski, Ron O'Neil, Scott Zipprich, John Bell, Aaron Jacobs, Ken Partridge, Kevin Chant DNS: Jamie Platt
STREET STOCK: Steve Rookey, Bill Eisele, Bryan Rogers, Laurie Handschuh, Chris Taylor, Andy Wells, Clint Middlemiss, Lance Lalonde, Dan Rickard
IMCA HOBBY STOCK: (un-official) Scott Webb, Chris Warner, Jeff Chapin, Mark Webb, Scott Castor, Jason Gilmore, Rick Paige, Chris WArner II, George Sanford, Kim Mallette, Shane Ray, Keith Rabetoy, Mike Baltz, Mark Barker, Steve Gilmore, Les Sanford, Don Scales, Billy Gardner Sr., Phil Desormeau, Ed Rogers, Elmer Perry, Charles Duffany DNS: Joseph Combs