BOWER AND PAINE BAG BIG LOOT AT CANANDAIGUA OPENER

CANANDAIGUA, NY...Lansing, New York's Chuck Bower and Waterloo, New York's Steve Paine each took turns in the Canandaigua Speedway Victory Lane, sharing wins in the Twin 25-lap features on Canandaigua Speedway's 2001 opening night. For Bower it was his first ever trip to victory lane at Canandaigua. Paine chalked up win number 46 at the Big "C". Steve Gray picked up the 20-lap DIRT Sportsman feature win, while Pro-Stock Champion Jipp Ortiz took top honors in the 20-lap Pro-stock feature. Ransomville's Lee Zimmerman won the 10-lap Street Stock main event.

The first 25-lapper for the DIRT Modifieds saw Chuck Bower jump into the lead at the drop of the green from his outside front row starting spot. The race was barely three laps old when Danny Johnson lopped his number 27J in the first turn, then gathered it up and continued on his way. Unfortunately and number of cars stacked up in the first turn trying to avoid Johnson. Starter Tom Burton placed all of the cars involved at the rear of the field including Johnson.

Bower was still able to fend off Tim Fuller and Darryl Ruggles. On lap eight the yellow flew for the second time when Vic Coffey looped his Sweetener's Plus number 32c in the first turn. Bower now had a long green period as he charged away from the rest of the field. Billy Decker closed the gap and pulled up to the back bumper on the Bower Currier Plastics number 99B. At the finish line it would be Bower followed closely by Decker, Tim Fuller, Tim McCreadie and Gary Tomkins. The second 25-lapper saw all of the cars on the lead lap from the first race inverted to start the second race. This placed Scott Ridley and Vince Vitale on the front row. Vitale used his position to take the lead at the drop of the green. Charlie Donk quickly exited the race dropping to the inside of the front stretch on the second lap. One lap later the biggest accident of the night occurred in the third turn involving seven cars. Ridley seemed to get bogged down between to cars and another car hopped over his rear wheel sending the field scattering. Involved in the melee were Bob McCreadie, Fuller, Darryl Ruggles, Ridley, John Ventura, Randy Miller, and Gary Tomkins.

The restart saw Steve Paine, then running second pull past Vitale for the lead. Paine then began to pull out a five car lead over Coffey and Tim McCreadie. In the closing laps McCreadie began to reel in Paine. On lap 23 he passed Paine for the lead exiting the fourth turn. But by turn two Paine had been able to inch ahead when McCreadie went high in the loose gravel. Paine held on for the win by a car length over McCreadie. Decker finished in third followed by Coffey and Danny Johnson just edging out Ron Smoker for fifth.

The 20-lap Sportsman race also saw three caution periods. But Steve Gray led the entire distance starting on the pole by virtue of winning the first heat race.

On lap four the yellow flew when Jim LaRock looped hi number 58L in the first turn.

On lap eight the yellow flew again when Jeff McGinnis pulled to a stop exiting the fourth turn. The final yellow came one lap later, lap 9, when Ted Bauer and Bob Henry Jr. became entangled and slide sideways down the back stretch.

Gray took the win easily followed by Justin Haers, Karl Comfort, Joe Beyea and Eldon Payne Jr.. Haers tried to make a race out of it in the closing laps using lapped cars to cut Gray's margin.

The 20-lap Pro-stock main started off under yellow when Zack Shove spun in the third turn and Steve Miller looped his new Monte Carlo in the first turn.

Jason Boyle led the first three laps but now found himself looking Jon Miller in the eye. Miller was now second followed by Patrick Hobbs, Billy Brown and Ortiz.

On lap four the yellow was out again when Phil Barone came to a stop on the back stretch. Jon Miller took the lead on the restart, but Boyle fought back to recapture the lead on lap six. Boyle now found himself pressured by 2000 track champion Jipp Ortiz.

Ortiz passed Boyle just before the yellow flew on lap 11 when Shove spun out on the front stretch. During the yellow Mike Cooper's engine exploded going down the back stretch ended an excellent top five run all afternoon.

On last yellow flew on lap 13 when Tiger Chapman spun his new car out in the first turn.

Ortiz held on for the win followed by Boyle, Jon Miller, Hobbs and Billy Brown.

The ten lap Street Stock feature saw Lee Zimmerman pass early leader Eric Giguere on lap five for the lead. Two yellow flags slow the race. Zimmerman took the win followed by Richard Briggs, who nearly passed Zimmerman twice on the last lap. Giguere, Jared LaBarge and Steve Welsh rounded out the top five. This Saturday will see a regular four start show on tap at Canandaigua. It will be Payne Building & Contracting/Payne Tilt Bed Service night at the speedway. The sportsman cars will be vying for a guaranteed starting spot at the Syracuse Firecracker race on July 3. Race time on Saturday will be at 7 p.m., with gates opening at 5 p.m.

BIG DOG COUNTRY 103.5 FM RADIO/HEP/LIMEROCK SPEEDWAY/AUTO-TRADER NIGHT SUMMARY

STREET STOCKS

HEAT 1: L. Zimmerman, E. Giguere, P. LaVare, J. LaBarge, R. Briggs.

HEAT 2: L. Lewis, F. Burnell, J. Cologgi, M. Resbeck, D. Phippen.

HEAT 3: J. Henry, J. Rutkowski, E. Ben, B. Smith, C. Jacobs.

FEATURE (10-laps): LEE ZIMMERMAN, Richard Briggs, Eric Giguere, Jared LaBarge, Mike Welsh, Leroy Lewis, Phil LaVare, John Rutkowski, Eric Ben, James Henry, Nick Rizzo, Brandon Smith, Darren Phippen, Chris Jacobs, Jim Cologgi, Vance Vanderwall, Mike Resbeck, Brian Lloyd, Doug Smith, Frank Burnell, Chris Bond, Shane Yack.

PRO-STOCK

HEAT 1: J. Miller, B. Brown, M. Cooper, S. Fremouw, S. Miller, L. Burnett, T. Chapman.

HEAT 2: J. Boyle, P. Hobbs, D. Conant, J. Ortiz, C. Nugent, J. McGuigan, M. Smith.

FEATURE (20-laps): JIPP ORTIZ, Jason Boyle, Jon Miller, Patrick Hobbs, Billy Brown, Steve Miller, Chad Homan, Wayne Ellison, Chad Nugent, Lee Burnett, Scott Fremouw, Jim McGuigan, Darrell Hilkert, Zack Shove, Matt Smith, Dave Conant, Tiger Chapman, Mike Cooper, Tom Jasch, Phil Barone.

SPORTSMAN

HEAT 1: J. Beyea, E. Payne Jr., C. Terrell, S. Joy, E. Jensen, D. Wiesner.

HEAT 2: S. Gray, J. Plumb, T. Bauer, L. Beardsley, J. McGinnis, J. LaRock.

HEAT 3: J. Haers, K. Comfort, R. VanNeil, B. Henry Jr., C. Parmelee, W. Czymmek.

FEATURE (20-laps): STEVE GRAY, Justin Haers, Karl Comfort, Joe Beyea, Eldon Payne Jr., John Plumb, Ricky VanNeil, Scott Joy, Clay Parmelee, Bob Henry Jr., Larry Beardsley, Craig Terrell, Wade Czymmek, Jeff McGinnis, Dan Wiesner, Dave Just, Jim LaRock, Tony Tripodi, Keith Stell, David Yehl, David Allen, Ted Bauer, Eldon Jensen, Rick Miller.

MODIFIED

HEAT 1: D. Ruggles, T. Fuller, P. Ward, B. Decker, G. Tomkins.

HEAT 2: C. Bower, V. Coffey, D. Johnson, R. Swarthout, T. Henderson, J. Ventura.

HEAT 3: R. Smoker, T. McCreadie, T. Burley, D. Axton, C. Donk, C. Hebing.

CONSI: J. Gabriel Jr., B. McCreadie, S. Ridley, V. Vitale, S. Paine, R. Miller, R. Bliss Jr., F. Hilton, T. Morris, S. Lead.

FEATURE (25-laps): CHUCK BOWER, Billy Decker, Tim Fuller, Tim McCreadie, Gary Tomkins, Ron Smoker, Darryl Ruggles, Danny Johnson, Pat Ward, Steve Paine, Bob McCreadie, Todd Burley, Charlie Donk, Vic Coffey, Todd Henderson, Jim Gabriel Jr., Rich Swarthout, Vince Vitale, Scott Ridley, Ray Bliss Jr., Randy Miller, John Ventura, Dave Axton, Fran Hilton, Tyke Morris, Steve Lead, Chuck Hebing.

FEATURE (25-laps): STEVE PAINE, Tim McCreadie, Billy Decker, Vic Coffey, Danny Johnson, Ron Smoker, Pat Ward, Vince Vitale, Gary Tomkins, Chuck Bower, Todd Burley, Jim Gabriel Jr., Todd Henderson, Chuck Hebing, Rich Swarthout, Fran Hilton, Tyke Morris, Steve Lead, Dave Axton, Scott Ridley, Darryl Ruggles, Tim Fuller, Bob McCreadie, John Ventura, Ray Bliss Jr., Randy Miller, Charlie Donk.