DECKER TOPS CANANDAIGUA MOD MAIN
CANANDAIGUA, NY...Billy Decker, from Unadilla, NY, took home his third Canandaigua Speedway DIRT Modified feature win of the 1999 season last Saturday on Fransworth Chevrolet and Geo night. Rookie Justin Haers earned the DIRT Sportsman 20-lap feature victory, while Les Whyte picked up his third Canandaigua Pro- stock feature of the year. Mike Minutolo, who has dominated the Pure Stock class, won for the seventh different week.
The 35-lap DIRT Modified feature saw the first attempt to start the race aborted after Jeff Hoff, who started fourth, looped his number 3 modified going into the first turn, collecting Bob McCreadie, Gary Tomkins and Jim Burke. Pat Ward also had incidental contact and turned to the pits for repairs. He would return, but be off his normal pace for the remainder of the race.
The second attempt to start the race saw Ray Bliss Jr. take the lead from Scott Schrader, just as the yellow fell for Tomkins, who had returned, but looped his mount in the third turn. The restart saw yet a third yellow when Chuck Hebing and Bill Hoff came together in the first turn.
Charlie Donk took over the lead on lap three and seemed to be able to hold the rest of the field at bay. That is, except Billy Decker! Decker, who had started twelfth was able to take second by lap six and start charging after Donk.
Billy and crewOn lap 12 Decker caught Donk and pulled alongside, on the outside of the front stretch. Decker completed the pass going through the second turn and took the lead on lap 13. From this point on Decker set sail leaving a seven to fifteen car gap between himself and Donk for the remainder of the race. Donk held off a late race charge by Tim McCreadie to take second using lapped cars as picks. Young McCreadie finish third followed by the Sweetners Plus teammates, Danny Johnson and Vic Coffey.
Justin and Ms. CanandaiguaIn the 20-lap Sportsman feature Loren Lincoln seemed to have solved his recent motor problems and pulled out a lead over rookie Justin Haers. These two then pulled away from the rest of the pack, with Haers grabbing the lead on lap four. Lincoln began to slide backwards. On lap six he made contact with the outside wall in the second turn and slide back across the track. He was collected by Mike Button, who had no place to go. Both cars were badly damaged and out of the race. Neither driver was injured.
Haers held Todd Henderson back on the restart and remained the leader. Henderson, the current track divisional points leader, tried every trick he could muster but could not pass Haers for the win. A last lap yellow flew after rookie Matt Sheppard came to a stop in the third turn. This set up a dash to the finish. Henderson held on for second followed by Rich Swarthout in his borrowed Bicknell car. Fourth went to Paul Guererri and fifth to Karl Comfort.
Les and friendsLes Whyte took the lead from Chad Homan on the tenth lap during the 15-lap Pro-stock feature. Homan finished in second followed by Randy Miller, Jon Miller and Lee Burnett.
Two yellows slowed this feature event. The first came on lap five when Jon Unaman, Dave VanArsdale and Brian Michaels came together in the fourth turn. The second yellow flew on lap eight for debris on the back stretch.
Mike and his wifeMike Minutolo won his seventh Pure Stock feature of the year at Canandaigua, beating out the veteran Fred Salsburg. Steve Miller, who held the lead at one point in the race finished third. Rounding out the top five were Tom Juhl and Mike Shaw.
This Saturday the Empire Super Sprints return to make up their rained out Independence Day Weekend event at Canandaigua. On July 3, there were 32 sprinters on hand. That many or more are expected this Saturday.
Joining the sprint cars will be the mighty DIRT Modifieds, Sportsman and Pro-stocks. The Pure stocks will have the night off to make room in the program for the ESS cars. Race time at Canandaigua Speedway will be at 7 p.m. sharp.
FARNSWORTH CHEVROLET-GEO NIGHT SUMMARY
PURE STOCK
FEATURE (10-laps): MIKE MINUTOLO, Fred Salsburg, Steve Miller, Tom Juhl, Mike Shaw, Mike Archer, Richard Briggs, Ralph Priest, Leroy Lewis, Jim VanArsdale.
PRO-STOCK
HEAT 1: Ra. Miller, D. Weisner, J. Miller, D. VanArsdale, R. Miller, D. Conant.
HEAT 2: C. Homan, L. Burnett, L. Whyte, J. Unaman, S. Fremouw, B. Brown.
FEATURE (15-laps): LES WHYTE, Chad Homan, Randy Miller, Jon Miller, Lee Burnett, Rick Miller, Scott Fremouw, Dan Weisner, John Unaman, Dave VanArsdale, Dave Conant, Jody Herriven, Phil Barone, Jerry Sullivan, Roger Bailey, Billy Brown, Brian Michaels, Jim Burba, Zack Shove, Rob White.
SPORTSMAN
HEAT 1: L. Lincoln, W. Czymmek, M. Button, T. Henderson, S. Gray.
HEAT 2: J. Haers, R. Swarthout, K. Comfort, D. Allen, J. Pfeffer.
HEAT 3: L. Dusett, M. Sheppard, P. Guererri, C. Parmelee, G. Walters.
FEATURE (20-laps): JUSTIN HAERS, Todd Henderson, Rich Swarthout, Paul Guererri, Karl Comfort, Lance Dusett, David Allen, Vince Vitale, Clay Parmelee, Wade Czymmek, John Pfeffer, Matt Sheppard, Andy Vargo, Steve Gray, Loren Lincoln, Mike Button, Keith Stell, Greg Walters.
MODIFIED
HEAT 1: V. Coffey, C. Bower, D. Johnson, R. Bliss Jr., J. Hoff.
HEAT 2: T. Fuller, B. Decker, C. Hebing, B. McCreadie, S. Schrader.
HEAT 3: C. Donk, P. Ward, D. Ruggles, B. Hoff, S. Paine.
FEATURE (35-laps): BILLY DECKER, Charlie Donk, Tim McCreadie, Danny Johnson, Vic Coffey, Chuck Bower, Gary Tomkins, Steve Paine, Pat Ward, Steve Glover, Ray Bliss Jr., Scott Boudinot, Darryl Ruggles, Bill Hoff, Scott Schrader, Tim Fuller, Chuck Hebing, Jeff Hoff, Bob McCreadie, Jim Burke.