HAERS SNAGS 2ND STRAIGHT, SYRACUSE 358-MODIFIED SPOT TO WARD
by Craig McNeilly
WEEDSPORT, NY.....Justin Haers can only hope that winning is contagious, with one win begetting another, just like it did last evening at the Cayuga County Fair Speedway.
Haers rolled to his second consecutive 35-lap big-block DIRT Modified feature victory at Cayuga County, once again leading every lap to claim the $2,000 payday in his Phelps Cement Products No. 3.
“What a roller coaster we’ve been on this year,” Haers said. “It’s nice to be on the upside now. They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, so we changed a bunch of things on this race car and it looks like we found something.”
“We didn’t even decide until about midnight last night whether we were coming here or racing up at Cornwall (Speedway in Ontario, Canada). I think we made the right decision.”
The Modified feature was a non-points event, as was the sportsman main, as both classes had Super DIRT Series races being held elsewhere.
Haers won the first of two qualifying heats to share the feature race front row with Jimmy Phelps. From there he opened up a commanding lead at the drop of the initial green flag and never looked back.
Phelps remained in second for the duration aboard his J & B Installations No. 99j mount although he trailed Hears by three-quarters of a straightaway under the final checkered flag. Vic Coffey also passed on the trip to Cornwall and earned a third-place finish by staying closer to home. Coffey and Phelps battled for half the race to determine the runner-up spot.
Venerable veteran Jack Johnson finished fourth with Todd Milton completing the top-five. Bob McCreadie was sixth in the Syracuse Frame Service No. 9 with Ryan Phelps right behind in seventh. Jeff Brownell placed eighth ahead of Mike Ward, who picked up the Sunoco/Aplus 358-modified Syracuse qualifying spot as the first small-block across the line.
John Plumb assumed the point in the 20-lap Sportsman feature after race-long leader Russ Hefti misjudged a lap car with just three circuits remaining. Plumb continued on for his third career win at The Port in his first appearance of the year at CCFS. Eric Richardson finished second nipping Greg Doust at the line while Hefti settled for fourth-place ahead of Tom Juhl.
Dan Hofmann, Sr. led the distance to win the 15-lap street stock main, beating out Ronnie Hawker and Frank 'Bubba' Burnell, Jr. Hoffman has won three of the six feature races run in the full-fender division.
William Werner closed out the four-star show by winning the 25-lap Pit Stop four-cylinder Enduro. Josh Hefti continued his string of solid finishes, garnering second, while Craig Dingy came home third.
Cayuga County Fair Speedway hosts a big July 4 show on Sunday as the Patriot Sprints invade to team up with the Modifieds for a Holiday card of racing.
Tracey Road Equipment, Pick-N-Pull Auto Parts and Crews Automotive sponsor the Sunday night program that includes a big DIRT Modified/358-Modified, Sportsman, Street Stock and Pit Stop Convenience Stores Four-Cylinder Enduro program plus a gigantic fireworks finale. Qualifying heats are scheduled to start at 7 o'clock with gates swinging open at 5 p.m.
The racing action continues Monday, July 5 as the big-blocks relocate a few short miles down the road to the Rolling Wheels Raceway in Elbridge for the Advance Auto Parts Super DIRT Series. Qualifying begins at 6 p.m. for the 100-lap contest that pays $6,000 to the victor.
COLD FIRE SAFETY EQUIPMENT-HOFMANN HOTS EVENT SUMMARY
MODIFIED FEATURE(35-laps): JUSTIN HAERS, Jimmy Phelps, Vic Coffey, Jack Johnson, Todd Milton, Bob McCreadie, Ryan Phelps, Jeff Brownell,Jr., Mike Ward, Zach Aubertine, Ron Cartwright,Jr., Derrick Podsiadlo, Mike Payne, Jim Burke, Ryan Richardson, Allen Willoughby (DNS), Mike Bliss (DNS).
HEAT 1: Hears, Coffey, R.Phelps, Milton, Podsiadlo.
HEAT 2: J.Phelps, Johnson, Ward, Brownell, Payne.
CONSI: Cartwright, McCreadie, Burke, Richardson, Aubertine, Willoughby, Bliss.
SPORTSMAN FEATURE(20-laps): JOHN PLUMB, Eric Richardson, Greg Doust, Russ Hefti, Tom Juhl, Donnie Wetmore,Jr., Mike Conrow, Mike Bowman, Jim Livingston, Rob Bellinger, John Juhl II, Ron Loveless, Harvey Calkins,Jr., Henry Desormeau, John Juhl,Sr., Rob Relfe, Richard Wall.
HEAT 1: Hefti, Bowman, Livingston, Doust, Conrow.
HEAT 2: Plumb, Richardson, T.Juhl, Wetmore, Juhl,Sr.
CONSI: Loveless, Juhl II, Wall, Calkins, Desormeau, Bellinger, Relfe.
STREET STOCK FEATURE(15-laps): DAN HOFFMAN,SR., Ron Hawker, Frank Burnell,Jr., John Pietrowicz, Dave Marcuccillo, Dave Emmons, Nathan Peckham, Jim Cronin, Eric Chapman.
HEAT 1: Burnell, Hoffman, Hawker, Peckham.
FOUR-CYLINDER ENDURO FEATURE(25-laps): WILLIAM WERNER, Josh Hefti, Craig Dingy.