LEGENDS CONVERGE ON CANANDAIGUA, WARD WINS 35-LAP DIRT MODIFIED MAIN

CANANDAIGUA, NY...It was a night for "Racing Legends" at Canandaigua Speedway last Saturday, as drivers from the past were honored in front of a huge crowd. Geonoa's Pat Ward picked up the 35-lap DIRT Modified main event and Steve Gray powered his new TEO sportsman car to a full straightaway victory. In the full fender classes, Canandaigua's own Mike Cooper repeated in victory lane and Eric Giguere picked up the Street Stock victory. Also on hand were the Mid-State Vintage racers. Phil Chaussen (1960's)won the 50's/60's feature, with Jeff Ackerman being the highest placed 1950's car (finishing second). In the 70's feature Ally Amell took the win. Last September Amell had flipped his car in the fourth turn. His victory made up for his previous bad luck at the speedway.

The 35-lap Modified feature saw Ray Bliss Jr. take the lead at the drop of the green flag. Bliss was able to power out to a five car advantage before contact between Charlie Donk and Jeff Brownell forced a yellow flag on lap four. Also involved in the incident were Billy Decker, Steve Paine and Chuck Bower. All of the cars were able to return to the race except Bower and Brownell.

Vince Vitale was able to pass Bliss for the lead on the restart. But moving up quickly through the pack was Pat Ward. Ward chased down Vitale and took the lead on lap seven. The yellow flew once more on lap ten when Tim McCreadie came to a stop on the back stretch. he exited the race to the pits and did not return to the track.

Ward held on to his lead and began to stretch out his advantage over Bliss, Gary Tomkins and Danny Johnson. Tomkins was able to pass Bliss for second and take off after Ward, but Ward had built a ten car advantage and was not going to give it up, even in lapped traffic. On lap 13 the yellow flew when track points leader, Steve Paine suffered a flat tire. He reported to the pits and began to charge from the rear of the field.

Ward held on for the victory. He was followed across the finish line by Tomkins, Danny Johnson, Donk and Tim Fuller.

In the 20-lap Sportsman feature Eldon Payne took off into the lead from his pole starting spot. Payne built up a seven car lead. Karl Comfort and Steve Gray were able to chase Payne down.

On lap nine, Gray passed Comfort for second and took off again after Payne. Lap eleven saw Gray go high in the third turn, completing his pass for the lead. From that point on Gray began to build an almost insurmountable lead. A short yellow, on lap 14, when Bill Englert made contact with the outside backstretch wall didn't even slow Gray's advantage.

Gray took the victory by a full straight away over Payne, John Plumb, Comfort and multi-time winner Matt Sheppard. The Pro-stock division saw 25 cars take the green flag.

Tommy Barron led the charge with Patrick Hobbs in second. Brian Michels ran a strong third with Bobby Lutz in fourth. Chad Homan did have any luck on the night as he hurt his car during his heat race and then borrowed a street stocker for the feature. On lap two he flipped that car while entering the first turn to bring out the yellow. Homan was uninjured, but Fred Srock's number 22x suffered major damage.

Barron continued to be the class of the field. On lap 14, Mike Cooper, running in third, ducked under both Barron and second place Michels and took the lead. Cooper then powered away from the competition to claim the victory. Barron finished second followed by Michels, Hobbs and Jipp Ortiz.

The street stock 10-lap main event saw three different leaders throughout the event; Tim Burnell, laps 1-2, Brad Steinruck, laps 3-5 and Eric Giguere, laps 6-10. The only yellow of the race flew on lap two when Beetle Peters unloaded an engine on the front chute.

Giguere took the victory while Burnell and James Henry finished almost in a dead heat for second. The starter was consulted, ad second place went to Burnell. Finishing fourth was Mike Welch. Steinruck rounded out the top five.

The two 10-lap Mid-State Vintage feature races ran almost without incident. In the 50's/60's main event Phil Claussen lead from green-to-checkers driving his 1960's version 1935 Plymouth Coupe. Second place went to Jeff Ackerman, the first 1950's car across the finish line. The heat win in the 50's/60's division was won by Tom Traynor in his 1935 Chevy Coupe.

The 70's feature saw only one yellow, lap seven when Chris Brougham spun in the first turn.. Alley Amell took the lead from John McNamee on lap four and cruised home the winner. The 70's heat race was won by Erin "Doc" Smith. The Mid-State Vintage racers return to Canandaigua on September 16, for their portion of the "Top Gun One Shoot-out".

On hand in victory lane were a number of past stars from the Canandaigua Speedway, nick-named "The Land of Legends". Milt Johnson, Merv Treichler, Elmer Musclow, Ron Narducci, Chuck Boos, Dick Emerson, Willie Allan and a host of other driving greats were present.

This Saturday finds a regular four star program on tap featuring DIRT Modified, Sportsman, Pro-Stock and Street Stocks action. Race time will be at 7 p.m. sharp.

ACTION AUTO PARTS/HONEOYE AUTO PARTS/WHELEHAN INSURANCE NIGHT OF

THE LEGENDS NIGHT SUMMARY

MIDSTATE VINTAGE STOCK CARS

50/60 HEAT: T. Traynor, J. Hilimire, D. Ackerman, L. Litzenburger, J. Ackerman.

50/60 FEATURE (10-laps): PHIL CLAUSSEN (60), JEFF ACKERMAN (50), James L. Hilmire, Dick Ackerman, Pat Sonnenberg, Tom Traynor, Dennis Bouthillier, Brad Litzenburger, Gordie Wood, John Mason, Leon Litzenburger, Jeff McKeown.

70 HEAT: D. Smith, J. McNamee, C. Brougham, A. Amell, R. Taggert.

70 FEATURE (10-laps): ALLY AMELL, Doc Smith, John McNamee, Joel Grimaldi, Chris Brougham, John Powers, Bob Williams Sr., Scott Gates, Richard Taggert, Mark Reardon, Sam Gates.

STREET STOCKS

HEAT 1: Tim Burnell, B. Steinruck, V. Vanderwall, T. Hampton, B. Moore, S. Yack.

HEAT 2: E. Giguere, M. Welch, M. Ferens, J. LaBarge, J. Henry, F. Srock.

HEAT 3: J. Rutkowski, D. Eaton, B. Peters, M.A. Minutlo, R. Briggs.K. Washburn.

FEATURE (10-laps): ERIC GIGUERE, Tim Burnell, James Henry, Mike Welch, Brad Steinruck, Jared LaBarge, Ken Washburn, John Rutkowski, Fred Srock, Mike Ferens, Nathan Peckham, Jim Cologgi, Glen Peters, Vance Vanderwall, Leroy Lewis, Richard Briggs, Butch Moore, MaryAnne Minutlo, Shane Yack, Trisha Hampton, Beetle Peters.

PRO-STOCK

HEAT 1: P. Hobbs, S. Fremouw, D. Weisner, J. Miller, Ri. Miller, Z. Shove.

HEAT 2: T. Barron, J. Ortiz, C. Homan, B. Brown, L. Burnett, M. Minutlo.

HEAT 3: B. Michels, M. Cooper, S. Miller, B. Lutz, J. Burba, K. Smith.

FEATURE (20-laps): MIKE COOPER, Tommy Barron, Brian Michels,

Patrick Hobbs, Jipp Ortiz, Scott Fremouw, Rick Miller, Kevin

Smith, Bobby Lutz, Dan Weisner, Lee Burnett, Steve Miller, Jon

Miller, Mike Minutlo, Jim Burba, John Unaman Jr., Zack Shove,

Phil Barone, Carl Reynolds II, Tom Jansch, John Howard, Billy

Brown, Chad Nugent, Chris Sweeney, Chad Homan.

SPORTSMAN

HEAT 1: E. Payne, L. Dusett, C. Parmelee, D. Darling, W. Czymmek, L. Beardsley.

HEAT 2: K. Comfort, J. Plumb, B. Englert, R. Swarthout, B. Henry Jr., J. Pfeffer.

HEAT 3: D. Allen, P. Guererri, M. Sheppard, S. Gray, J. Haers, R. VanNeil.

FEATURE (20-laps): STEVE GRAY, Eldon Payne, John Plumb, Karl Comfort, Matt Sheppard, Dale Darling, Justin Haers, Paul Guererri, Clay Parmelee, Lance Dusett, Bob Henry Jr., Jim Rufiange, Rich Swarthout, Wade Czymmek, Larry Beardsley, David Allen, John Pfeffer, Rick VanNeil, Ed Monroe, Dan St. Dennis, Bill Englert.

MODIFIED

HEAT 1: T. Fuller, V. Vitale, T. McCreadie, C. Donk, B. Decker, D. Johnson.

HEAT 2: C. Bower, S. Paine, C. Hebing, J. Brownell, R. Bliss Jr., J. Gabriel Jr.

HEAT 3: P. Ward, G. Tomkins, D. Axton, B. McCreadie, V. Coffey, R. Miller.

FEATURE (35-laps): PAT WARD, Gary Tomkins, Danny Johnson, Charlie Donk, Tim Fuller, Ray Bliss Jr., Steve Paine, Vic Coffey, Randy Miller, Billy Decker, Chuck Hebing, Bob McCreadie, Scott Ridley, Jim Gabriel Jr., Dave Axton, Vince Vitale, Tim Cornell, Darryl Ruggles, Ron White, Tim McCreadie, Jon Kuleso, Jeff Brownell, Chuck Bower.