PAINE CONTINUES LOCK ON CANANDAIGUA VICTORY LANE

CANANDAIGUA, NY...Steve Paine picked up his fifth DIRT Modified feature victory in seven starts last Saturday at Canandaigua Speedway. Paine has been dominating the field in 2001. Justin Haers earned his first DIRT Sportsman win of the year at the track, while Jon Miller (Pro-stock) and Frank Burnell (Street Stock) picked up the full fender feature victories.

The 35-lap DIRT Modified feature came to the line with 26 cars ready to do battle. However as the field entered the second turn on lap two, Danny Johnson was helped around, sending the entire field scrambling. Both Dave Axton and Gary Tomkins were involved in the accident. Johnson would return at the back of the pack, but neither Axton nor Tomkins could make necessary repairs in time.

Ray Bliss Jr. was recorded as the leader, but Vic Coffey quickly took command of the lead. Bliss was second followed by Chuck Hebing, Dale Darling and Billy Decker. Coffey immediately built a full straight away lead.

On lap eight, Gary Farnsworth looped his number 42x machine in the fourth turn to bring out the yellow. On the restart the field sailed into the first turn where Pat Ward, running fifth, looped his Gypsum number 42P. He collected Tyke Morris and Todd Henderson in the melee. The race was again restarted on lap eight and one more lap went into the record books before Tim McCreadie's number 56 came to a stop in the third turn bringing out yet another yellow.

Coffey remained the leader followed by Decker, Steve Paine, Chuck Bower and Charlie Donk. Paine passed Decker for second on lap 14. The yellow flew again two laps later, lap 16, when Rich Swarthout came to a stop on the top of the third and fourth turn area. This time the restart saw Paine out power Coffey for the lead before the yellow flew on lap 17, when McCreadie again came to a stop in turn three.

Paine now began to build a lead over Danny Johnson, who took second from Coffey on the restart. But it was Tim McCreadie on the move from the back of the field that excited the fans. With just ten laps remaining, McCreadie entered the top six. Four laps later he was fifth. With just two laps remaining he passed Coffey for third.

At the finish line it would be Paine followed by Johnson, McCreadie, Coffey and Decker.

The 20-lap DIRT Sportsman main event Saw pole sitter Wade Czymmek grab the lead at the drop of the green. Fourth place starter, Scott Joy, moved in to challenge Czymmek. These two raced at the front of the field with Justin Haers a somewhat distant third followed by Mike Majors and Clay Parmelee.

On lap five the two leaders came together exiting the fourth turn, thus allowing Haers to pass them both and take the lead. Czymmek fell back into second followed by Ricky VanNeil and Karl Comfort. Joy fell back to fifth.

At the halfway mark the only yellow of the race flew when new comer Brian Summerville spun out in the third turn. Haers sailed home the winner followed by Comfort, VanNeil, Steve Gray and Czymmek.

Twenty-two cars answered the call in the 20-lap Pro-stock main event. Tiger Chapman quickly placed his number 272 Monte Carlo on the point, starting on the outside pole. Dave Conant ran second, some three car lengths behind Chapman. Mark Smith, Mike Cooper and Daryl Hilkert rounded out the top five.

The first of three yellow flew on lap four when Lee Burnett blew his motor entering the first turn and laid down a line of slick oil. This bunched the field together and set up a classic battle between Chapman and Dave Conant.

On lap seven, the defending track champion, Jipp Ortiz, made slight contact with the inside fourth turn wall while running sixth, slowing his efforts. Mike Cooper, in his 715 Chevrolet took over second and began a side-by-side duel with Chapman.

On lap 10 the yellow flew when Steve Pesarek looped out the All County Construction back up car in the second turn.

At the front of the field it was a battle royal between Chapman and Cooper, as Jon Miller took third from Conant on lap 13. The final yellow came on lap 16 when Phil Barone spun in the second turn. This set up a shoot out between the front three cars.

Miller took second from Cooper and took off after Chapman. With just two laps remaining Miller passed Chapman, as Jipp Ortiz took third from Cooper. At the line it was Miller followed closely by Chapman, Ortiz, Cooper and Jason Boyle.

In post race tech inspection officials found engine infractions with Chapman's car and disqualified him. This moved Chad Homan into fifth.

Twenty-six Street Stocks took the green, as just one feature was run for this division. The race started off with a red flag as a number of cars were involved in a tangle in the fourth turn which eliminated three cars from the restart.

Jim Cologgi was recorded as the leader of lap one and remained the leader until lap four when Nathan Peckham took command of the lead. The only yellow of the race flew on lap seven when Darren Phippen came to a stop in the second turn. It looked as if Peckham would win his first race, when Frank Burnell passed him going down the backstretch on the final lap to take the lead. Burnell took the 10-lap victory followed by Peckham, James Henry, Cologgi and Leroy Lewis.

LEGEND NOTES: Bob McCreadie, who has 98 feature wins at Canandaigua, returned this past Saturday after being away due to injuries suffered at another track. McCreadie dropped from the Modified feature after only eight laps were complete....Rookie modified driver Ed Monroe and returning veteran, Greg Tatich produced the scariest accident of the night during warm ups. Tatich's car came to a stop on the inside line of the front stretch. Monroe slammed into the rear of the Tatich car some seven seconds later. Neither driver was seriously injured, but both cars were done for the night....$17,210 of point fund money was distributed on the front stretch during intermission. Year 2000 Track champions were also recognized....Transponders were used in both the Modified and Sportsman divisions with great success. The Pro-stocks will also be required to run transponders once the complete inventory of units for sale and rent are made available through AMB and DIRT....Sprinkles could be felt all night long as rainy weather threatened the track. Fifteen minutes after the final checker flag flew the rains finally came.

This Saturday will be Corvettes by Turner Auto and Lozier Analytical Group night at the speedway. On tap will be a complete four star program featuring Street Stocks, Pro-stocks, Sportsman and Modifieds. It will also be ladies racing night. For more information call 315-834-6606 during the work week.

LOCAL 3298 UNITED STEEL WORKERS UNION NIGHT SUMMARY

STREET STOCKS

HEAT 1: N. Peckham, J. Cologgi, B. Smith, K. Fletcher, M. Resbeck.

HEAT 2: F. Burnell, J. Henry, P. LaVare, D. Smith, C. Cooper.

HEAT 3: R. Briggs, E. Ben, C. Bond, J. LaBarge, C. Jacobs.

HEAT 4: M. Welch, L. Lewis, J. Rutkowski, D. Phippen, K. Washburn.

FEATURE (10-laps): FRANK BURNELL, Nathan Peckham, James Henry, Jim Cologgi, Leroy Lewis, Eric Giguere, Phil LaVare, Chris Cooper, John Rutkowski, Jared LaBarge, Richard Briggs, Russell Scott, Chris Bond, Ken Washburn, Kent Fletcher, Brandon Smith, Eric Ben, Darren Phippen, Adam Depew, Brian Lloyd, Mike Resbeck, Doug Smith, Casey Wagner, Chris Jacobs, Ray Cooper, Mike Welch.

PRO-STOCKS

HEAT 1: T. Chapman, L. Burnett, S. Miller, J. McGuigan, M. Smith, P. Hobbs.

HEAT 2: J. Boyle, M. Cooper, B. Brown, D. Excell, D. Hilkert, Z. Shove.

HEAT 3: J. Ortiz, D. Conant, J. Miller, C. Homan, S. Pesarek, P. Barone.

FEATURE (20-laps): JON MILLER, Jipp Ortiz, Mike Cooper, Jason Boyle, Chad Homan, Steve Miller, Zack Shove, Dave Conant, Daryl Hilkert, Jim McGuigan, Derrick Excell, Phil Barone, Patrick Hobbs, Scott Fremouw, Billy Brown, Matt Smith, Steve Pesarek, Robin Smith, Lee Burnett, Richard Kline, Tom Jansch, DQ'ed: Tiger Chapman.

SPORTSMAN

HEAT 1: J. Haers, J. Plumb, W. Czymmek, M. Majors, S. Joy, D. Just.

HEAT 2: D. Wiesner, D. Allen, E. Payne Jr., R. VanNeil, L. Beardsley, B. Summerville.

HEAT 3: C. Parmelee, J. Beyea, K. Comfort, S. Gray, L. Lincoln, B. Englert.

FEATURE (20-laps): JUSTIN HAERS, Karl Comfort, Ricky VanNeil, Steve Gray, Wade Czymmek, John Plumb, Clay Parmelee, Joe Beyea, Scott Joy, David Allen, Kevin Wills, Eldon Payne Jr., Mike Majors, Dan Wiesner, Larry Beardsley, Loren Lincoln, Bill Englert, Keith Stell, Tony Purgarich, Dave Just, Bob Winters, Rick Miller, Brian Summerville, Walt Chyrywaty, DNS: Paul Guererri.

MODIFIED

HEAT 1: G. Tomkins, R. Bliss Jr., J. Gabriel Jr., D. Ruggles, D. Johnson, T. Fuller.

HEAT 2: C. Hebing, C. Donk, V. Coffey, R. Smoker, D. Darling, J. Ventura.

HEAT 3: C. Bower, P. Ward, S. Paine, T. McCreadie, B. Decker, Ra. Miller.

CONSI: B. McCreadie, T. Henderson, R. Swarthout, S. Ridley, V. Vitale, D. Axton, G. Farnsworth, T. Morris.

FEATURE (35-laps): STEVE PAINE, Danny Johnson, Tim McCreadie, Vic Coffey, Billy Decker, Pat Ward, Tim Fuller, Chuck Bower, Jim Gabriel Jr., Vince Vitale, Charlie Donk, Scott Ridley, Randy Miller, Tyke Morris, Dale Darling, Todd Henderson, John Ventura, Chuck Hebing, Rich Swarthout, Ray Bliss Jr., Bob McCreadie, Ron Smoker, Gary Farnsworth, Darryl Ruggles, Gary Tomkins, Dave Axton