FULLER TOPS EXCITING RUN WITH A TRIP IN THE DITCH

CANANDAIGUA, NY...Tim Fuller, from Edwards, NY, joined the starting field at Canandaigua Speedway a few years back. Saturday he won his first DIRT Modified feature at the track. Fuller tried to enter victory lane by cutting across the infield.

Unfortunately there is a three foot deep ditch there and his car found it's way into the crevasse. Fuller then jumped from his disabled car and ran to victory lane to accept the checkers. "I've been coming here a long time and I promised myself I would do something a bit different if I ever won here," stated Fuller. "I guess this was different!"

Also ending the night as divisional winners were first time winner, Eldon Payne Jr. (sportsman), Jason Boyle (pro-stocks) and Leroy Lewis and James Henry winning their respective street stock main events on Autogensis-All County Construction night. All County Construction awarded $50 to each heat winner on the night.

The evening started off with a salute to 19 year old Randy Miller II, who drowned In Canandaigua Lake after a canoeing accident during the week. Miller II, who just completed his first year at Finger Lakes Community College in Canandaigua, was the son of DIRT Modified regular Randy Miller and the nephew of Sportsman driver Rick Miller. Pit crews and officials lined the third and fourth turns for a moment of silence, the invocation and the national anthem. All race cars entering the pit area were handed out little round number 66 decals in honor of Miller.

The start of the 35-lap DIRT Modified feature saw pole sitter Darryl Ruggles dart into the lead followed by Ray Bliss Jr. and Charlie Donk. Donk moved past Bliss and charged at Ruggles. Both Ruggles and Donk then drew away from the rest of the field by five car lengths.

On lap eight the yellow flew when Gary Tomkins stopped his Honeyoe Auto Parts number 84 on the backstretch. Tomkins was unable to return. Ed Monroe used this yellow to change a flat rear tire and rejoin the action.

The restart saw Ruggles side off the end of the front straight allowing Donk to take the lead. This forced starter Tom Burton to throw the yellow. At the front of the pack now were Donk, Dave Axton, Ron Smoker, Tim Fuller and Chuck Bower. Donk led until lap 14, when Fuller, who found a fast high grove around the track, passed Donk exiting the fourth turn and sailed away, immediately building a five car advantage.

Both Danny Johnson and Steve Paine were well involved in top five battles, with both Paine and Johnson passing Axton on lap 17 to take third and fourth respectively. About this time Donk's motor started to sound sour. Paine caught Donk and took second from him on lap 26. By now Fuller held nearly a full straight away lead over Paine. Only a caution would help Paine catch the flying Fuller. But that was not to happen.

At the finish line it was Fuller by a full straight away over Paine, Johnson, Tim McCreadie and Ron Smoker was just able to inch out Donk for fifth.

In the 20-lap DIRT Sportsman feature Wade Czymmek took command of the lead at the start of the event. The first of just two yellows flew on lap three when Justin Haers slowed in the fourth turn due to contact with another car.

The restart saw Eldon Payne Jr., using the high line, pass Czymmek for the lead, only to have the race yellow flagged again one lap later when Paul Guererri came to a stop on the backstretch.

Payne was able to hook up his number 28p machine and go on to a easy victory. A scramble for the runner up position caught most fans attention, as second place runner Clay Parmelee broke a right front shock mount with just two laps remaining. Steve Gray saw the wounded Parmelee car and shot into second. Parmelee tried his best to hold the ill handling machine in line. However on the final lap both Joe Beyea and Ricky VanNeil were able to get by for third and fourth Parmelee, showing excellent control, held on

for a fifth place finish by inches over Haers and Dan Wiesner.

The 20-lap Pro-stock main event was riddled by a number of cautions. Dave Conant was the leader at the drop of the green, but Tiger Chapman caught and passed Conant on lap four before the yellow flew as Patrick Hobbs looped his Monte Carlo through the second turn infield sending up clouds of dust.

Chapman looked strong as he led Conant, Jim McGuigan, Matt Smith and Chad Homan. Smith looped his machine in the third turn on lap six to bring out the yellow. On lap nine it was Hobbs's turn again to bring out the yellow, when he looped, also in the third turn. Two laps later, lap 11, new driver Jimmy Brown looped his number 615 to the inside of the fourth turn to bring out the yellow for the fourth time. One more yellow on lap 12, when Eugene Shove looped out in the fourth turn.

This time the restart saw Chapman battling with Conant, Jason Boyle and Steve Miller. As the lead pack was midway through the fourth turn, on lap 14, Chapman made contact with the inside cement barrier, smashing the nose piece on his car. This allowed Jason Boyle to take the lead, as Dave Conant looped to miss the Chapman accident.

Boyle built up a cushion in the closing laps to claim the victory. He was followed across the finish line by Chad Homan, Steve Miller, Mike Cooper and Jipp Ortiz. Ortiz held on for fifth despite having much of his front end sheet metal come lose during the final two circuits.

There were two Street Stock features due to having 32 cars on hand. In the first 10-lap feature James Henry passed Nathan Peckham on a lap three restart to take the lead. A late race caution, lap 9, saw a dash set up for the checkers between Henry and second place Eric Giguere. Henry held on for the victory. Giguere took second and Peckham finished third.

In the second 10-lap feature a battle royal took place as Mike Welch and Leroy Lewis swapped the lead three or four times. Most of the race this duo ran side-by-side as they went around the half mile oval. Lewis was able to inch out the victory on the final lap over Welch and John Rutkowski.

The scariest accident of the night came in this final Street Stock feature when Richard Briggs made contact with Casey Wagner in the third turn. Briggs flipped over and Wagner's car came to rest on top of the Briggs machine. Rescue crews were able to get both drivers out safely without even a scratch.

This Saturday, May 26, Vision Hyundai presents the Taney Memorial in honor of Denis, Fred and Kelly Taney. Denis, a modified driver died racing at the track in 1980, Fred Taney was a long time track official who was fatally injured in an accident on the backstretch and Kelly Taney, a former scorer at the track passed away of natural causes at her work a couple of years ago.

Featured will be the Taney 50-lap Memorial for DIRT Modifieds, the first extra distance race of the year for the mighty modified division. Also a full program of DIRT Sportsman, Pro-stock and Street Stock racing will fill out the card. Race time is at 7 p.m. sharp.

AUTOGENESIS-ALL COUNTY CONSTRUCTION NIGHT SUMMARY

STREET STOCKS

HEAT 1: N. Peckham, J. Cologgi, C. Bond, R. Pierce.

HEAT 2: F. Burnell, J. Henry, E. Giguere, P. LaVare.

HEAT 3: L. Lewis, M. Welch, D. Phippen, J. Rutkowski.

HEAT 4: R. Briggs, J. LaBarge, R. Peters, N. Rizzo.

FEATURE #1(10-laps): JAMES HENRY, Eric Giguere, Nathan Peckham, Nick Rizzo, Phil LaVare, Chris Cooper, Brandon Smith, Chris Jacobs, Jim Cologgi, Chris Bond, Frank Burnell, Robert Pierce, Brian Lloyd, Doug Smith

FEATURE #2(10-laps): LEROY LEWIS, Mike Welch, John Rutkowski, Darren Phippen, Jared LaBarge, Eric Ben, Ray Cooper, Randy Peters, Gordon Withey, Mike Shaw, Mike Resbeck, Kent Fletcher, Butch Moore, Casey Wagner, Richard Briggs, Shane Yack, Adam Depew.

PRO-STOCKS

HEAT 1: J. McGuigan, B. Brown, J. Miller, J. Ortiz, M. Smith, C. Nugent.

HEAT 2: T. Chapman, C. Homan, M. Cooper, D. Conant, D. Hilkert, R. Smith.

HEAT 3: P. Hobbs, J. Boyle, S. Miller, Z. Shove, D. Excell, R. Kline.

FEATURE (20-laps): JASON BOYLE, Chad Homan, Steve Miller, Mike Cooper, Jipp Ortiz, Billy Brown, Lee Burnett, Derrick Excell, Patrick Hobbs, Jon Miller, Chad Nugent, Darryl Hilkert, Jim McGuigan, Bill Hebing, Tiger Chapman, Dave Conant, Jimmy Brown, Robert Smith, Zack Shove, Matt Smith, Tom Jansch, Vance Vanderwall, Richard Kline, DNS: Scott Fremouw.

SPORTSMAN

HEAT 1: J. Haers, C. Parmelee, S. Gray, K. Stell, D. Wiesner, T. Purgarich.

HEAT 2: W. Czymmek, L. Beardsley, J. Beyea, D. Allen, P. Guererri, B. Henry Jr.

HEAT 3: K. Comfort, E. Payne Jr., D. Just, R. VanNeil, S. Joy, B. Englert.

FEATURE (20-laps): ELDON PAYNE JR., Steve Gray, Joe Beyea, Ricky VanNeil, Clay Parmelee, Justin Haers, Dan Wiesner, Karl Comfort, John Plumb, David Allen, Bob Henry Jr., Larry Beardsley, Wade Czymmek, Tony Purgarich, Keith Stell, Loren Lincoln, Bill Englert, Scott Joy, Paul Guererri, Mike Majors, Dave Just, Walt Chyrywaty.

MODIFIED

HEAT 1: D. Ruggles, V. Coffey, J. Gabriel Jr., G. Tomkins, C. Donk, R. Bliss Jr.

HEAT 2: T. Fuller, R. Smoker, B. Decker, S. Ridley, V. Vitale, T. Morris.

HEAT 3: P. Ward, C. Bower, D. Axton, S. Paine, D. Johnson, T. McCreadie.

CONSI: T. Henderson, C. Hebing, R. Swarthout, J. Ventura, G. Farnsworth, F. Hilton, E. Monroe, D. Willmes.

FEATURE (35-laps): TIM FULLER, Steve Paine, Danny Johnson, Tim McCreadie, Ron Smoker, Charlie Donk, Vic Coffey, Pat Ward, Chuck Bower, David Axton, Jim Gabriel Jr., Chuck Hebing, Billy Decker, Vince Vitale, Todd Henderson, Darryl Ruggles, John Ventura, Gary Farnsworth, Tyke Morris, Ed Monroe, Rich Swarthout, Scott Ridley, Fran Hilton, Ray Bliss Jr., Gary Tomkins, DNS: Danny Willmes.