DONK BREAKS SIX YEAR DRAUGHT AT CANANDAIGUA SPEEDWAY, LANCE YONGE TOPS RETURN OF ESS

CANANDAIGUA, NY...Charlie Donk has work his way through a number of trials and tribulations since he last saw victory lane at the Canandaigua Speedway on May 1, 1993. Last Saturday he returned to win his third Canandaigua Speedway DIRT Modified feature in front of a packed grandstands on Sweeteners Plus night.

Sportsman rookie Matt Sheppard won his third sportsman feature win of the season at Canandaigua, while Dan Weisner picked up his first Canandaigua Pro-stock feature of the year. Also on hand were the ESS Sprinters, making up a rained out program from July 3. Former Canandaigua modified regular, Lance Yonge, from Penn Yan, NY, won the ESS A-Main.

Lance YongeIt would take two red flags and a yellow flag to get the ESS main event underway. The original start saw Ray Preston flip wildly down the back stretch and enter into the modified pit area off the fourth turn. Parts from the Preston car injured the leg of one pit worker. Both Preston and the injured pit man were transported to Thompson Hospital, Preston with possible internal injuries and the pit personnel for a possible broken leg after being hit by a wheel off the Preston car. The race had to be red flagged at that time.

The next attempt to start the main event found Tom Taber upside down on the back stretch. off the second turn. Taber was uninjured, but the race was again under red.

It looked as if the next try would be the charm, except that Dan DeCracker looped his mount in the first turn. Finally the fourth attempt to start the race would see Scott Holcomb take the lead followed by Lance Yonge and Mike VanDusen. Holcomb tried to pull out an advantage, but Lance worked every lap to narrow the margin and finally caught Holcomb on lap 16 in lapped traffic. Lance was able to pass for the lead and the victory on lap 17. Holcomb finished second followed by Rick Wilson, Mike Woodring and Bill Coffey.

Thirty-six sprint cars were on hand for the night's events which saw Woodring, Taber and VanDusen win heat races. Lance Yonge won the dash and Dan Kaszubinski took top honors in the 8- lap B-Main.

The DIRT Modified feature saw Scott Schrader jump out front at the drop of the green, only to lose the lead to Vic Coffey three laps later. Coffey then stretched out a half straight away lead over Schrader, Donk and Billy Decker. Donk passed Schrader for second on lap 10 and set sail to try and narrow the lead built up by Coffey.

The yellow flew for the only time during the race on lap 12, when Chuck Bower, Danny Johnson and Bob McCreadie came together in the third turn resulting in Johnson looping his car and McCreadie taking evasive action, but also spinning out. Both McCreadie and Bower turned their cars to the pits, while Johnson continued to race.

Charlie DonkThe restart saw Donk pull along side-by-side with Coffey. Coffey maintained his lead until lap 18, when Donk was able to complete his pass for the lead. It was now Donk's turn to stretch out the lead. The race for the runner up position saw Tim McCreadie, Coffey, Decker and Steve Paine in a dog fight. Finally on lap 26 young Tim McCreadie broke lose and took a solid second place. He then began to reel in Donk. McCreadie made it to the rear bumper of the Donk car with three laps remaining. Donk held his strong line around the track, never allowing Mccreadie the opening he would need to take the lead and the victory. Donk took the win followed very closely by McCreadie. Decker finished a distant third, with Coffey and Paine rounding out the top five. "We had a really good race car tonight," stated Donk. "With all the commotion in the pits, we all had our problems. We just really had a good car."

The sportsman feature would go green-to-checkers, as Matt Sheppard took the lead from pole sitter Jerry Haers Jr. on the second lap and never looked back.

Matt SheppardIn the closing laps Todd Henderson caught Sheppard, but Sheppard's car seemed much faster through the third and fourth turns. Sheppard held on for the win followed by Henderson. Karl Comfort finished third followed by Lance Dusett and Rich Swarthout in his new Bicknell Chassis.

The 15-lap Pro-stock feature was riddled with cautions as spins and accidents were common place. Brian Michaels would lead the race for nine circuits until a lap 10 restart when Dan Weisner would pass him for the lead. Michaels at one time held a seven car advantage over the field, but lost this lead on every caution.

Dan WeisnerRandy Miller finished only a car length back in second followed by Chad Homan, John Unaman and Rick Miller. Division points leader Jon Miller suffered a flat left front tire on lap 12 and turned his mount pitside as not to ruin the racing. Les Whyte's sixth place finish placed him on top of the division points going into this Saturday.

This Saturday will see the running of the Ontario County Fair Championships, featuring a full card of Modified, Sportsman, Pro-stock and Pure stock racing. It will be OCALS night in the VIP tower. Race time will be at 7:30 p.m. sharp. Come early and enjoy the 156th annual Ontario County Fair.

SWEETENERS PLUS NIGHT SUMMARY

PRO-STOCKS

HEAT 1: J. Miller, T. Chapman, Ra. Miller, D. Conant, J. Sullivan.

HEAT 2: Ri. Miller, S. Fremouw, C. Homan, K. Smith, P. Barone.

HEAT 3: J. Unaman, D. Weisner, L. Whyte, B. Michaels, B. Thompson.

FEATURE (15-laps): DAN WEISNER, Randy Miller, Chad Homan, John Unaman, Rick Miller, Les Whyte, Kevin Smith, Tiger Chapman, Billy Brown, Jerry Sullivan, Curran Brown, Brian Michaels, Brian Thompson, Mike Murphy, Brian Wilkinson, Scott Fremouw, Jon Miller, Dave Conant, Zach Shove, Betty Fremouw, Rob White, Phil Barone, Jim Burba.

SPORTSMAN

HEAT 1: M. Sheppard, J. Haers Jr., W. Czymmek, S. Gray, B. Englert.

HEAT 2: L. Dusett, D. Allen, C. Parmelee, J. Haers, G. Hotelling.

HEAT 3: P. Guererri, T. Henderson, K. Comfort, V. Vitale, R. Swarthout.

FEATURE (20-laps): MATT SHEPPARD, Todd Henderson, Karl Comfort, Lance Dusett, Rich Swarthout, Justin Haers, Jerry Haers Jr., Vince Vitale, Clay Parmelee, Wade Czymmek, David Allen, Keith Stell, Bill Englert, Gary Hotelling, John Pfeffer, Paul Guererri, Steve Gray.

MODIFIEDS

HEAT 1: T. McCreadie, S. Schrader, J. Hoff, T. Fuller, B. McCreadie.

HEAT 2: C. Hebing, V. Coffey, B. Hoff, C. Donk, C. Bower.

HEAT 3: S. Paine, B. Decker, P. Ward, G. Tomkins.

FEATURE (35-laps): CHARLIE DONK, Tim McCreadie, Billy Decker, Vic Coffey, Steve Paine, Pat Ward, Danny Johnson, Gary Tomkins, Scott Schrader, Chuck Hebing, Jeff Hoff, Scott Boudinot, Bill Hoff, Darryl Ruggles, Jim Burke, Tim Fuller, Ray Bliss Jr., Chuck Bower, Bob McCreadie, Bobby Podolak.

ESS SPRINT CARS

HEAT 1: M. Woodring, G. Pottorff, M. Lauterborn, D. DeCracker, S. Holcomb, K. Dow.

HEAT 2: T. Taber, C. Keel, R. Dietrick, T. Kelly, C. Shuttleworth, P. Mott.

HEAT 3: M. VanDusen, L. Yonge, R. Preston, L. Sanders, B. Coffey, R. Wilson.

DASH: L. Yonge, M. VanDusen, R. Dietrick, M. Woodring, T. Taber, G. Pottorff.

B-MAIN: D. Kaszubinski, B. Kerrick, B. Parrow, S. Dow, L. Sanders, T. Zimbardi.

A-MAIN (20-laps): LANCE YONGE, Scott Holcomb, Rick Wilson, Mike Woodring, Bill Coffey, Mike Lauterborn, Kris Dow, Bubby Kerrick, Dan Kaszubinski, Lee Sanders, Tim Kelly, Mike VanDusen, Rob Dietrick, Phil Mott, Bobby Parrow, Steve Dow, Dan DeCracker, Mikey Castner, Gregg Pottorff, Chris Shuttleworth, Craig Keel, Tom Taber, Ray Preston, Bobby Podolak.