CANANDAIGUA DIRT MODS TO JOHNSON, SPORTSMAN FEATURE PROTESTED

CANANDAIGUA, NY...Last Saturday Canandaigua Speedway general manager Gary Montgomery would not give in to "Mother Nature", as rains pounded Central New York. He waited out a passing cold front, complete with a late day rain shower, and had his track crew at the ready to run the complete night's racing events.

Danny Johnson, from Phelps, NY, was able to end Steve Paine's feature win streak at three, as Johnson pocketed the $2,000 first place prize. Matt Sheppard won the accident strewn Sportsman feature, cut short by three laps due to the lateness of the hour and the number of yellow flags. In a post race protest of Sheppard's motor, a "no contest" response was presented by the team and they forfeited the win. This moved second place finisher Karl Comfort, Stanley, NY, into the win.

In Pro-stock action, Ransomville's Jip Ortiz picked up his first Canandaigua win of the year in the now 20-lap feature event. "We needed to cut down some on the accidents in the division caused by drivers charging towards the front in a 15-lap feature," stated Montgomery. "So we will be running 20-lap Pro- stock features for the remainder of the season."

Lance Yonge won the ESS Sprint show. James Henry picked up the victory in the Street Stocks.

Tim McCreadie was able to move from his fourth place starting spot into the lead at the start of the 35-lap DIRT Modified feature. McCreadie would lead when the yellow flew on lap eight for Gary Tomkins who stopped in the fourth turn with tire problems.

The restart saw McCreadie battle with second place Chuck Hebing for the lead. On lap 10, Hebing was able to pass McCreadie exiting the second turn to grab the lead. Hebing's lead was short lived as Danny Johnson, who had been running third, used the opening created by Hebing to also pass McCreadie. Johnson then set up Hebing exiting the fourth turn on lap 11 to take the lead for himself. Johnson then proceeded to pull away from Hebing, as three time winner Steve Paine was about to make his charge. Paine passed both McCreadie and Hebing by lap 23 and set sail to close the gap Johnson had created.

By lap 27, Paine was able to close up to Johnson's rear bumper. He pulled along side of Johnson on lap 28, but a lapped car prevented Paine from completing the pass. Three laps later Paine was recorded as the leader, by a nose, as the front two cars cross the start-finish line with just four laps remaining. As this pair entered the second turn a number of lapped cars forced them to separate into single file, with Johnson using a lapped car as a pick to take the lead.

Johnson held off a last lap charge by Paine to claim his first win of the year at Canandaigua. Paine finished a close second. Tim McCreadie came home a distant third followed by Vic Coffey and Hebing to round out the top five.

The 20-lap sportsman feature was plagued with yellow flags. Pole sitter, Bill Englert was the early leader after a first lap accident involving four cars. By lap four Karl Comfort had worked his way passed Englert for the lead, but a yellow flag bunched the field together again. Matt Sheppard used his new car's Ford power to take the lead on lap six. Sheppard would led the rest of the race with Comfort trying to make up the ten car gap created by Sheppard. Justin Haers raced to a strong third place finish followed by Eldon Payne, Englert, and Rick VanNeil.

Following the race a protest on Sheppard's engine resulted in Comfort being declared the winner.

During the race a number of cars were penalized for not slowing under the yellow and for jumping restarts. Efforts were made by officials to straighten out line ups on the track, resulting in some post race fisticuffs in the pits.

The Lance Dusett team's physical actions resulted in one of the stiffest penalties handed down at Canandaigua in years. The team is suspended from competition at Canandaigua for the remainder of the year, with possible fines and suspensions being sought through DIRT Headquarters this week. Track officials will be working with DIRT to resolve this matter.

Jip Ortiz ran a masterful Pro-stock race, taking the lead on lap seven from Dave Conant Jr.. Ortiz, Conant, Chad Homan, Jon Miller and John Unaman Jr., proceeded to put on a great show at the front of the field, racing under a blanket. Three major caution periods slowed this event. Ortiz was able to hand on for his first victory at Canandaigua. Conant finished a close second. Homan, Miller and Unaman rounded out the top five.

In Street stock action James Henry took command of the 10- lap feature on the second lap and never looked back. Henry took the victory followed by John Rutkowski, last week's winner Mike Ferens in third, Jared LaBarge and Richard Briggs.

In ESS Sprint action, thirty cars were on hand for the first ESS show of the season at Canandaigua. Heat wins went to Rick Wilson, Rob Dietrick and Mike Woodring. Wilson won the Walt's Hobby Dash, while Dick Nash won the "B" Main. Lance Yonge passed Wilson on a lap 12 restart to take the lead and the victory. Wilson finished second followed by Woodring, Dietrick and Dan Kaszubinski.

This Saturday will find the DIRT Modifieds celebrating the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of DIRT by running Twin 25's. Joining in on the modified action that evening will be past four time Syracuse 200 winner Gary Balough aboard one of Jim Beachy's Modifieds. Both the DIRT Sportsman and Pro-stock features have also been extended to 25 laps, making for a big night of racing. Gates open at 4:30 p.m., with heat race action scheduled to start at 7 p.m. sharp. Canandaigua Speedway is located at the Ontario County Fairgrounds just east of the village of Canandaigua, on County Road 10.

FERNWOOD AUTO PARTS/VICTOR GASKETS-WILBERT'S BUICK & GM PARTS NIGHT SUMMARY

STREET STOCKS

FEATURE (10-laps): JAMES HENRY, John Rutkowski, Mike Ferens, Jared LaBarge, Richard Briggs, Leroy Lewis, Nathan Peckham, Brad Steinruck, Fred Siock, Doug Smith, Frank Burnett, Mike Welch, Darren Phippen, Vance Vanderwall, Dave Manisse.

PRO-STOCKS

HEAT 1: S. Fremouw, S. Miller, J. McGuigan, Z. Shove, P. Barone.

HEAT 2: T. Barron, L. Burnett, J. Unaman Jr., P. Hobbs, S. Gillam.

HEAT 3: J. Miller, D. Conant Jr., J. Ortiz, Ri. Miller, C. Homan.

FEATURE (20-laps): JIPPER ORTIZ, Dave Conant Jr., Chad Homan, Jon Miller, John Unaman Jr., Mike Minutlo, Scott Fremouw, Jim McGuigan, Phil Barone, Billy Brown, Lee Burnett, Steve Miller, Tom Barron, Ricky Miller, Jim Burba, Dave Weisner, Stacy Gillam, Bobby Lutz, Zack Shove, Mike Cooper, Wayne Ellison, Todd Hanagan, Patrick Hobbs.

SPORTSMAN

HEAT 1: K. Comfort, M. Sheppard, B. Englert, E. Payne, R. VanNeil.

HEAT 2: D. Allen, W. Czymmek, T. Morris, C. Parmelee, T. Johnson.

HEAT 3: J. Plumb, L. Dusett, J. Haers, R. Swarthout, K. Stell.

FEATURE (17-laps): KARL COMFORT, Justin Haers, Eldon Payne, Bill Englert, Rick VanNeil, John Plumb, Clay Parmelee, Steve Gray, Tom Juhl, John Juhl, Ed Monroe, Tyke Morris, John Pfeffer, Lance Dusett, Greg Walters, Rich Swarthout, Wade Czymmek, Jim Rufiange, Larry Beardsley, Tim Johnson, Paul Guererri, Keith Stell, Dave Allen.

MODIFIED

HEAT 1: D. Johnson, V. Coffey, V. Vitale, C. Hebing, S. Paine.

HEAT 2: B. McCreadie, T. McCreadie, G. Tomkins, J. Gabriel Jr., S. Ridley.

HEAT 3: P. Ward, T. Fuller, C. Bower, C. Donk, R. White.

FEATURE (35-laps): DANNY JOHNSON, Steve Paine, Tim McCreadie, Vic Coffey, Chuck Hebing, Tim Fuller, Charlie Donk, Pat Ward, Chuck Bower, Vince Vitale, Jim Gabriel Jr., Alex Hoag, Scott Ridley, Bob McCreadie, Darryl Ruggles, Steve Babicek, Ron White, Ray Bliss Jr., Randy Miller, Dave Axton, Gary Tomkins, Joe Kulueso