PAINE CONTINUES LOCK AT CANANDAIGUA; ALL THE REST WIN FOR THE FIRST TIME

CANANDAIGUA, NY...Waterloo, New York's Steve Paine continued his lock on victory lane at the "Land of Legends" winning his third race, of four races staged in 2001, last Saturday. The ESS sprint cars were on hand with Randy Years picking up his first ever Canandaigua victory. In the sportsman division it was Paul Guererri winning his first of 2001. In the full fender classes, Frank Burnell earned his first Street Stock victory, while Steve Miller topped the Pro-stock main event.

The 35-lap DIRT Modified feature saw Ray Bliss Jr. grab the lead at the drop of the green with Dave Axton, Charlie Donk and Randy Miller in pursuit. On lap six Donk was able to pass Bliss Jr. for the lead, as Jim Gabriel Jr. moved into third past Axton. On lap 11 the first yellow flew when Vic Coffey came to a stop in the third turn. On the restart Gary Tomkins, who had worked his way into second on lap 10, shot into the lead. One lap later Danny Johnson passed Donk for second. That one lap had allowed Tomkins to build nearly a five car length advantage over Johnson. Also entering the top five was Steve Paine, who had started the race in 18th spot.

Paine pulled past Gabriel for fourth on lap 15 and by Donk for third two laps later. Paine then closed the gap on Johnson and entered a "dog fight" with Johnson for second. On lap 21, Johnson bounced off the front stretch wall as the two raced side-by-side. Johnson's hit was too hard, as he slowed on the track from the damage sustained and the yellow flew.

This placed Paine right on the back bumper of Tomkins. Paine quickly took the lead on the restart, lap 22. However Tomkins would not let Paine get far in front.

One final yellow flew on lap 32 when Chuck Hebing looped his Crown Electrical number 45 in the second turn. This set up as dash to the finish line. As Paine and Tomkins raced the final lap, Tomkins was able to pull along side of Paine on the high side. Exiting the fourth turn on the final lap Paine pulled a slide job on Tomkins and took the victory. Tomkins finished second followed by Tim Fuller, Tim McCreadie and Billy Decker.

The ESS 20-lap feature saw Bill Coffey take command of the race at the drop of the green. On lap six, Randy Years took the lead from Coffey with the help of lapped traffic.

On lap seven the yellow flew. Years remained the leader on the restart with Rick Wilson taking second from Coffey. The yellow flew again, on lap 13 for debris. A final yellow, also for debris, on lap 16, set up the charge to the checkers with Years winning by ten car lengths over Lance Yonge. Yonge had passed Wilson for the spot with two laps remaining in the race. Wilson came home in third followed by Mike Woodring and Mike Stelter.

The red flag flew at the start of the 20-lap DIRT Sportsman feature as a seven car tangle blocked the front straight. Involved in the melee were Eldon Payne Jr., Bill Englert, Loren Lincoln, Jody Spooner and Mike Majors. Also involved were Justin Haers and Steve Gray. Englert was somewhat shaken and was under observation by the DIRT medical staff. Gray, Payne Jr., Majors and eventually Haers were all able to return.

The restart saw pole sitter Paul Guererri take the lead with Dave Just in second. On the second lap the yellow flew as Joe Beyea made slight contact with the inside fourth turn wall. By lap 10 the running order at the front remained the same with Guererri in command followed by Just, David Allen, Craig Terrell and Ricky VanNeil. On lap 11, Allen was able to race by Just for second.

The second yellow flag of the race came on lap 14 when Gray was sent sailing sideways down the front straight, almost digging in and flipping. Gray held control and only slide down the front chute. Also involved were John Plumb, Larry Beardsley and Scott Joy. Gray exited to the pit are as all of the rest of the cars returned to the race at the back of the field.

Guererri took the win followed by Allen. Karl Comfort made his way up to third. VanNeil finished fourth with Bob Henry Jr. coming home in fifth.

The 20-lap Pro-stock feature saw pole sitter Chad Homan take the lead at the drop of the green. On lap three the yellow flew when the right rear tire on the Daryl Hilkert car came off in the fourth turn.

The restart saw Homan being challenged by Steve Miller in second. Tiger Chapman maintained a low line around the track in third while Dave Conant and Billy Brown rounded out the front five runners.

On lap seven the yellow flew when Lee Burnett and Patrick Hobbs made contact between turns three and four, resulting in both cars facing the wrong way. One lap later the yellow flew for the third time when Scott Fremouw and Conant came together exiting the fourth turn, into the concrete front straight wall. Both cars were able to continue.

The restart saw Steve Miller make his move on Homan, taking the lead on lap 11. Miller and Homan then began to try and run away from the rest of the field. Lap 12 saw Chapman's motor go away, giving third place over to Jipp Ortiz, as Chapman pulled his number 272 Monte Carlo into the pits.

Homan made a move on Miller, retaking the lead for just one lap, lap 16, but Miller pulled back around for the front spot. At the finish line it would be Miller followed by Homan and Ortiz. Last week's winner, Mike Cooper, finished in fourth followed by Jon Miller.

The 10-lap Street Stock feature also saw the first lap yellowed as a number of machines tangled in the first turn causing a restart. Frank Burnell passed pole sitter Nathan Peckham for the lead on lap two and never looked back. Burnell took the victory followed by Peckham, Darren Phippen, Mike Welch and Jared LaBarge. Peckham was disqualified in post race inspection for a weight violation, moving Richard Briggs into fifth.

One hundred and thirty-two race cars participate in the evening activities, with race fans seeing 21 separate races throughout the night. Even with this the track crew and officials were able to complete the night's racing in just under four hours, ending at 10:48 p.m..

This Saturday will find Autogenesis and All County Construction night at the speedway featuring a full four star program of DIRT Modified, Sportsman, Pro-stock and Street Stock action. Race time will be at 7 p.m. sharp with gates opening at 5 p.m..

WILBERT'S BUICK & GM PARTS AND XMAS TREES/TRACEY ROAD EQUIPMENT NIGHT SUMMARY

EMPIRE SUPER SPRINTS

HEAT 1: M. Woodring, L. Yonge, B. Kerrick, K. Drum, B. Podolak, E. Crocker.

HEAT 2: R.C. Faigle, R. Years, R. Wilson, A. Burgeron, W. Alexson, S. Folt.

HEAT 3: B. Coffey, T. Taber, B. Dumigan, M. Stelter, S. Holcomb, T. Zimbardi.

WALT'S HOBBY DASH: Lance Yonge, T. Taber, R. Years, M. Woodring, R.C. Faigle, B. Coffey.

B MAIN (10-laps): John Karklin, D. Kaszubinski, S. Dow, D. Sharp Jr., T. Barnard.

A MAIN (20-laps): RANDY YEARS, Lance Yonge, Rick Wilson, Mike Woodring, Mike Stelter, Dan Kaszubinski, Bill Coffey, Kyle Drum, Bubby Kerrick, Scott Holcomb, Steve Dow, Brian Dumigan, Erin Crocker, Rob Dietrick, Shawn Folt, Alain Burgeron, Tim Zimbardi, Tom Taber, Tim Barnard, John Karklin Jr., Don Sharp Jr., Warren Alexson, R.C. Faigle, Bobby Podolak.

STREET STOCKS

HEAT 1: F. Burnell, D. Phippen, J. Coliggi, C. Bond, B. Lloyd, K. Fletcher.

HEAT 2: J. Henry, L. Lewis, M. Welch, R. Peters, R. Briggs, J. LaBarge.

FEATURE (10-laps): FRANK BURNELL, Darren Phippen, Mike Welch, Jared LaBarge, Richard Briggs, Leroy Lewis, John Rutkowski, Randy Peters, Dave Marcucilli, Chris Bond, Andrew Stewart, Chris Cooper, Butch Moore, Mike Resbeck, Eric Giguere, Robert Pierce, Brian Lloyd, Nick Rizzo, Phil LaVare, James Henry, Kent Fletcher, Jim Coliggi, Disq.-Nathan Peckham.

PRO-STOCK

HEAT 1: T. Chapman, D. Conant, S. Fremouw, J. Miller, B. Brown, J. Ortiz, E. Shove.

HEAT 2: C. Homan, J. McGuigan, S. Miller, L. Burnett, M. Cooper, W. Ellison, J. Boyle.

FEATURE (20-laps): STEVE MILLER, Chad Homan, Jipp Ortiz, Jason Boyle, Mike Cooper, Jon Miller, Wayne Ellison, Billy Brown, Zack Shove, Dave Conant, Phil Barone, Scott Fremouw, Patrick Hobbs, Eugene Shove, Tom Jansch, Tiger Chapman, Lee Burnett, Robin Smith, Matt Smith, Daryl Hilkert, Jim McGuigan.

SPORTSMAN

HEAT 1: P. Guererri, K. Stell, R. VanNeil, S. Gray, C. Terrell, E. Payne Jr.

HEAT 2: D. Just, K. Comfort, D. Allen, W. Czymmek, B. Henry Jr., J. Plumb.

HEAT 3: J. Beyea, J. Haers, S. Joy, L. Beardsley, B. Englert, L. Lincoln.

CONSI: C. Parmelee, D. Wiesner, J. LaRock, M. Zona, J. Spooner, M. Majors, R. Richardson, W. Chyrywaty, Ri. Miller.

FEATURE (20-laps): PAUL GUERERRI, David Allen, Karl Comfort, Ricky VanNeil, Bob Henry Jr., Dave Just, Craig Terrell, John Plumb, Clay Parmelee, Dan Wiesner, Eldon Payne Jr., Scott Joy, Wade Czymmek, Larry Beardsley, Keith Stell, Mark Zona, Ryan Richardson, Ri. Miller, Joe Beyea, Steve Gray, Mike Majors, Jim LaRock, Justin Haers, Walt Chyrywaty, Bill Englert, Loren Lincoln, Jody Spooner.

MODIFIED

HEAT 1: B. Decker, V. Coffey, R. Bliss Jr., V. Vitale, C. Donk, T. Fuller.

HEAT 2: R. Smoker, D. Johnson, T. McCreadie, J. Gabriel Jr., R. Miller, R. Swarthout.

HEAT 3: G. Tomkins, P. Ward, D. Axton, C. Hebing, S. Paine, C. Bower.

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