FIRST TIME WINNERS ON TANEY MEMORIAL NIGHT; RUGGLES & COOPER
CANANDAIGUA, NY...Two of the four divisions competing last Saturday saw new faces in victory lane at Canandaigua Speedway on the Taney Memorial event. Darryl Ruggles power his new TEO car to victory in the DIRT Modifieds 50-lap feature event, his first ever DIRT Modified feature win. Justin Haers was the top runner in the DIRT Sportsman division. Mike Cooper, who lives across the street from the speedway, won the Pro-stock race, his first ever win at Canandaigua. James Henry took top honors in the street stock feature. Henry won his second feature win in a row at Canandaigua.
The new machine The start of the 50-lap DIRT Modified feature saw Darryl Ruggles, from Hopewell, starting on the outside pole along side of Scott Ridley. Ruggles immediately charged into the lead, as Ridley faded back to fourth behind Ray Bliss Jr. and Chuck Bower. Pat Ward joined the "party" at the front of the field, passing Bliss for third on lap six and taking off after Ruggles and Bower.
Ruggles, aboard his TEO, was able to pull out a five car advantage over Bower and Ward. On lap 20, Tim Burnett, present at the speedway in honor of his late father Fred Taney, pulled off the track and into the pit area.
Ruggles now stretched out a ten car lead over Bower. On lap 26 Ward tuck under Bower for second. Coming on strong now were Tim McCreadie and track points leader Steve Paine. On lap 35 McCreadie passed Bower for third. Six laps later Bower found himself in fifth as Paine took fourth.
Darryl Ruggles With the 50-laps going green-to-checkers, Ruggles flew across the finish line to record his first big block DIRT Modified feature win. Ward finished a close second, as he had been able to close the gap and was making a charge under Ruggles out of the fourth turn on the final lap. McCreadie, Paine and Danny Johnson rounded out the top five. Bower lost a number of positions in the closing five laps to finish seventh.
"This is a dream come true," yelled an elated Ruggles and he stepped down off the roof of his new car after a victory dance. "We really have to thank Steve Paine and his crew for all of their help in preparing this car. I want to dedicate this win to him."
The DIRT Sportsman 20-lap feature proved to be a marathon again for the second straight week. With Bill Englert leading the pack at the drop of the green, Matt Sheppard lost a wheel off his number 9s in the second turn to cause the first of five yellow flag periods in the race.
Englert was able to lead only for the first two laps, as David Allen passed Englert on the restart for the lead. Allen started to pull out a gap over Englert when Eldon Payne's car threw off a wheel in the second turn also, causing the second yellow on lap five.
Allen lead until the third caution, on lap eight, when John Plumb, running fifth, looped in the first turn collecting Karl Comfort, John Pfeffer and Larry Beardsley. All but Pfeffer were able to continue.
Justin Haers On the restart Allen lost the lead to the second place runner, Justin Haers. Haers race was then immediately halted as Wade Czymmek and Paul Guererri, the third and fourth place cars became hooked together in the second turn. After unlocking these two the green again flew with Haers able to stretch out a lead.
The final yellow came on lap 18, when early leader Englert lost his steering and flew into the outside wall in the first turn. He exited safely and the race continued. Haers took the win, followed by Allen, Steve Gray, Joe Beyea and Karl Comfort, minus a side body panel.
The 25-lap Pro-stock feature also had it's problems getting started, as two yellows in the first two laps slowed the race. Early leader Lee Burnett, lost the lead to Tom Barron on the second lap just before 17 year old Chad Homan slide sideways down the back chute and flipped his Monte Carlo through the chain link fence, out of the park. Homan was uninjured, but it took track officials some ten minutes to free his car from the fencing.
Barron found himself challenged by Dave Weisner, after a long green flag period of some 13 laps. A yellow flag had to be thrown when Lee Burnett lost a tire on the back stretch on lap 16. The restart saw contact between Barron and Weisner, resulting in Barron looping in the third turn and both cars being sent to the rear of the field. This left Mike Cooper as the leader followed by Rick Miller, Scott Fremouw and Jipp Ortiz, who had spun on the first lap and restarted his charge to the from the rear of the field.
Mike Cooper With Rick Miller charging, Cooper was able to hold him off for his first win at Canandaigua. Miller finished a very close second followed by Ortiz, Fremouw and Zack Shove.
"We found the car working well on the bottom during our heat race," commented Cooper. "We then were able to work out the problems we had with the high side during hot laps. This car was just perfect for the feature."
James Henry The 10-lap Street Stock feature saw Frank Burnell take the lead at the drop of the green from his fourth place starting position. Burnell's car was strong but found itself in the pits on the second lap, as it slowed exiting the third turn on lap two, allowing John Ratkowski to take the lead. Burnell made quick repairs and returned at the back of the field. But his repairs were not enough and he exited the race one lap later under a caution caused when Les Hoke lost a wheel in the second turn.
James Henry, who started sixth, was able to pass Rathowski at the halfway point and take the lead. Henry then cruised home for his second win in a row at the track. Richards Briggs, Mike Ferens and Fred Srock were all able to pass Ratkowski for second, third and fourth.
Special "Taney Memorial Dashes" were run for the Pro-stocks, Sportsman and Modified divisions, with the Taney family posting $250 for each dash; $100, $75, $50 and $25. Dash wins went to Jipp Ortiz (pro-stock), Karl Comfort (sportsman) and Steve Paine (modified).
This Saturday will see the running of the rain postponed "Silver Anniversary" program from two weeks ago. The DIRT Modifieds will be running Twin-25's, as the sportsman and Pro- stocks both run 25 lap features also. Race time will be at 7 p.m., with gates opening at 4:30 p.m.. Canandaigua Speedway is located at the Ontario County Fairgrounds just east of the village of Canandaigua, NY.
DeCAROLIS HEAVY DUTY PARTS-K-TOOLS-VISION HYUNDAI TANEY MEMORIAL NIGHT SUMMARY
STREET STOCKS
FEATURE (10-laps): JAMES HENRY, Richards Briggs, Mike Ferens, Fred Srock, John Ratkowski, Jared LaBarge, Tim Burnell, Nathan Peckham, Darrin Phippen, Mike Welch, Leroy Lewis, Mike Shaw, Marty Young, Shane Yack, Trisha Hampton, Les Piemo, Eric Giguere, Les Hoke, Frank Burnell.
PRO-STOCKS
HEAT 1: L. Burnett, J. Miller, C. Homan, P. Hobbs, Ri. Miller.
HEAT 2: J. Ortiz, B. Lutz, S. Miller, Z. Shove, C. Reynolds II.
HEAT 3: D. Weisner, M. Cooper, D. Conant Jr., T. Barron, B. Michels.
TANEY MEMORIAL DASH: J. Ortiz, C. Homan, L. Burnett, D. Weisner.
FEATURE (25-laps): MIKE COOPER, Rick Miller, Jipp Ortiz, Scott Fremouw, Zack Shove, Bobby Lutz, Mike Minutlo, Patrick Hobbs, Tom Barron, Brian Michels, Steve Miller, Dave Weisner, Billy Brown, Jon Miller, Carl Reynolds II, Tom Jansch, John Unaman Jr., Lee Burnett, Todd Hanagan, Jim McGuigan, Betty Fremouw, Chad Homan.
SPORTSMAN
HEAT 1: D. Allen, K. Comfort, J. Haers, S. Gray, R. VanNeil, K. Stell.
HEAT 2: J. Plumb, P. Guererri, B. Englert, J. Beyea, J. Pfeffer, W. Czymmek.
TANEY MEMORIAL DASH: K. Comfort, J. Plumb, J. Haers, D. Allen.
FEATURE (20-laps): JUSTIN HAERS, Dave Allen, Steve Gray, Joe Beyea, Karl Comfort, Clay Parmelee, John Plumb, Dave Just, Wade Czymmek, Jim Rufiange, Rick VanNeil, Paul Guererri, Larry Beardsley, Ed Monroe, Keith Stell, Bill Englert, Eldon Payne, John Pfeffer, Greg Walters, Matt Sheppard.
MODIFIEDS
HEAT 1: B. McCreadie,R. Bliss Jr., S. Ridley, C. Donk, T. McCreadie.
HEAT 2: J. Gabriel Jr., D. Ruggles, B. Decker, V. Vitale, D. Johnson.
HEAT 3: P. Ward, S. Paine, C. Bower, V. Coffey, T. Fuller.
TANEY MEMORIAL DASH: S. Paine, P. Ward, J. Gabriel Jr., B. McCreadie.
FEATURE (50-laps): DARRYL RUGGLES, Pat Ward, Tim McCreadie, Steve Paine, Danny Johnson, Charlie Donk, Chuck Bower, Vic Coffey, Bob McCreadie, Tim Fuller, Ray Bliss Jr., Gary Tomkins, Billy Decker, Jim Gabriel Jr., Vince Vitale, Scott Ridley, Jeff Brownell, Alex Hoag, Randy Miller, Ron White, Chuck Hebing, Dave Axton, Tim Burnett