PAINE DOUBLES IN SEASON OPENER

CANANDAIGUA, NY...Waterloo's Steve Paine pronounced loud and clear that he was a strong candidate to win the 2000 Canandaigua Speedway DIRT Modified title after winning both legs of the twin 25-lap features on opening night last Saturday.

Joining Paine in the victory circle on the evening were Lance Dusett in the DIRT Sportsman division, 63 year old Bobby Lutz in the Pro-stock class and Dave Mannise in the Street Stock division.

"This track was just great," stated Paine in victory lane after the first twin-25. "This is the best it has been in years." Paine's comments can be attributed to the hard work Gary Montgomery, the new general manager, and his track crew have put into the speedway.

The first Twin-25 took to the speedway with heat winners Danny Johnson, Billy Decker and Steve Paine in the front three spots. At the drop of Ben Vitale's green flag Danny Johnson charged his Sweetner's Plus Troyer into the lead. Paine was able to take the lead from Johnson with an inside move through turns three and four to lead lap two.

The first of five yellows flew on lap four, when Chuck Hebing and rookie Alex Hoag came together in the first turn. One lap later the yellow was flying again when another rookie, Jeff Brownell, spun in the first turn.

Through all of this Paine held on to the lead with Johnson in tow. On lap 11, the fifth place runner, Gary Tomkins, pulled his Pennzoil sponsored mount into the pit area with mechanical woes.

The challenge up front was for second as Billy Decker took that position on lap 12. Paine would cruise home the winner followed by Decker, Johnson, Charlie Donk and Pat Ward.

In the second Twin-25, the top eighteen from the first feature were inverted for the start. This allowed Vic Coffey to take the lead at the drop of the green. For a long time it looked as if this feature would run green-to-checkers, however on lap 20 the yellow flew when Hoag and Vince Vitale tangled in the third turn.

The restart saw Paine, who had steadily worked his way from the eighteenth starting position, pass Coffey for the lead. Paine then stretched out his lead for his second win on the night. Charlie Donk passed Coffey in the closing laps for second. Coffey came home third followed by Danny Johnson and Pat Ward. That made for two fifth place finishes for Ward. Ward commented that he had never seen the speedway in such good condition on opening night.

In the 20-lap sportsman main the yellow flag flew early when rookie John Plumb made contact with the second turn wall on lap two. Leader Matt Sheppard brought the field around but then his car faltered and he stopped near the fourth turn allowing second place Justin Haers to take the lead under caution. Haers's car looked good in the long runs, as the race stayed green until lap 15, when Keith Stell spun out in the third turn. On the restart Haers was challenged by Lance Dusett. Dusett pulled along side of Haers for two laps on the front chute. Then on lap 17, Dusett made his pass for the lead stick. Dusett won the feature followed by Haers, Steve Gray, last year's track champion Karl Comfort and Paul Guererri.

Dusett said," I just love my new Troyer", in victory lane. The Pro-stock division looked strong on the night with 25 cars on hand. A number of accidents during the heat races, including one in the third heat that saw Bob Bruno having to be transported to nearby Thompson Hospital with leg injuries, slimmed out the feature starting field to just 18 cars. Bruno was expected to be released that evening.

Scott Fremouw took his new Chevrolet Monte Carlo to the lead with Tommy Barron running second. On lap four Barron was able to duck underneath Fremouw to take the lead.

The first of just two yellows flew on lap seven when Chad Homan spun in turn four. The restart saw a number of cars pile up in the fourth turn, with the 22 of Zack Shove and the 5 of Todd Haragan becoming locked together on the main straight away.

On the restart Bobby Lutz began to challenge both Barron and second place Fremouw on the outside. Lutz made his outside move stick, taking the lead on lap 12 to win the season opening Pro- stock event. Jon Unaman Jr. made a late race bid to take second. Unaman Jr. had been involved in a fire earlier in the night when his gas line broke in the car. His crew worked hard to get his number 13 back on track for the feature. Scott Fremouw, Jim McGuigan, and Billy Brown rounded out the top five finishers.

In the 10-lap street stock feature, Dave Mannise took the lead at the drop of the green and never looked back. Mannise took the win followed by Mike Fereno, Dave Stolzenberg, Leroy Lewis, and Richard Briggs.

This Saturday will be Xerox night at the speedway along with WACK-WNNR Radio night. On tap will be a complete four star program featuring DIRT Modifieds, Sportsman, Pro-stock and street Stock racing. The 20-lap sportsman race will be both a Syracuse July 3 qualifier and a Rolling Wheels World Series qualifier.

Race time on Saturday will be at 7 p.m. sharp. Gates open at 4:30 p.m. in the afternoon.

LIME ROCK SPEEDWAY-AUTO TRADER-COMPUTER EXCELLENCE-TROYER

RACE CARS & PARTS NIGHT SUMMARY

STREET STOCKS FEATURE (10-laps): DAVE MANNISE, Mike Fereno, Dave Stolzenberg, Leroy Lewis, Richard Briggs, Brad Steinruck, Beetle Peters, Frank Burnell, Mike Shaw, Mike Welsh, Car 22, Jared LaBarge, Tim Burnell, Eric Giguere, Glen Peters, Darren Pippen, Butch Moore, John Rutkowski, Nathan Peckham, Les Hoke, Casey Wagner, Vance Vanderwall, Dave Marcucciler.

PRO-STOCK

HEAT 1: T. Barron, J. Miller, B. Brown, J. Nichols, J. Burba.

HEAT 2: S. Fremouw, J. McGuigan, P. Hobbs, M. Minutolo, C. Homan.

HEAT 3: J. Aortas, Ri. Miller, B. Lutz, D. Conant Jr., Z. Shove.

FEATURE (15-laps): BOBBY LUTZ, John Unaman Jr., Scott Fremouw, Jim McGuigan, Billy Brown, Jipp Aortas, Steve Miller, Patrick Hobbs, Jon Miller, Chad Homan, Tommy Barron, Zack Shove, Todd Haragan, Rick Miller, Mike Minutolo, Dave Conant Jr., Tom Jansch, Dave Weisner.

SPORTSMAN

HEAT 1: S. Gray, L. Dusett, K. Comfort, P. Guererri, J. Plumb, E. Payne.

HEAT 2: M. Sheppard, J. Hears, D. Allen, R. VanNeil, B. Englert, K. Stell.

FEATURE (20-laps): LANCE DUSETT, Justin Haers, Steve Gray, Karl Comfort, Paul Guererri, Dave Allen, Ricky VanNeil, Eldon Payne, Larry Beardsley, Bill Englert, Clay Parmelee, Keith Stell, Ed Monroe, Matt Sheppard, John Plumb.

MODIFIED

HEAT 1: D. Johnson, G. Tomkins, C. Bower, T. McCreadie, B. Swartzlander.

HEAT 2: B. Decker, V. Coffey, D. Planck, C. Donk, J. Brownell.

HEAT 3: S. Paine, R. Bliss Jr., P. Ward, S. Ridley, D. Ruggles. CONSI: B. McCreadie, B. Turner, V. Vitale, R. White, C. Hebing, A. Hoag, D. Axton, G. Farnsworth, R. Miller.

FEATURE (25-laps): STEVE PAINE, Billy Decker, Danny Johnson, Charlie Donk, Pat Ward, Bob McCreadie, Tim McCreadie, Vince Vitale, Brian Swartzlander, Bryon Turner, Scott Ridley, Alex Hoag, Ron White, Vic Coffey, Ray Bliss Jr., Jeff Brownell, Randy Miller, Chuck Hebing, Chuck Bower, Dale Planck, Gary Tomkins, Darryl Ruggles, Dave Axton, Gary Farnsworth.

FEATURE (25-laps): STEVE PAINE, Charlie Donk, Vic Coffey, Danny Johnson, Pat Ward, Billy Decker, Bob McCreadie, Gary Tomkins, Chuck Bower, Chuck Hebing, Ron White, Brian Swartzlander, Vince Vitale, Scott Ridley, Alex Hoag, Ray Bliss Jr., Darryl Ruggles, Dale Planck, Tim McCreadie, Bryon Turner, Dave Axton, Gary Farnsworth, Jeff Brownell