BILLY DECKER TOPS CANANDAIGUA
CANANDAIGUA, NY...Billy Decker, from Franklin, NY, topped the 35 lap DIRT Modified feature last Saturday at the Canandaigua Speedway. Two new feature winners were also celebrated that evening as teenager Chad Homan won his first ever Pro Stock main event and Rich Swarthout, who's father use to race at Canandaigua, picked up the feature win in the DIRT Sportsman main event. Mike Minutolo maintains his hold on the Pure Stock division, winning for the 3rd time at Canandaigua in 1999.
Troubles plagued the 35-lap DIRT Modified feature early in the going. Six caution periods slowed the race, all coming before the halfway marker. Four of the first three laps were completed under yellow, with first Ray Bliss Jr. recorded as the leader, then Vic Coffey in his Sweeteners Plus sponsored mount.
The worst accident came on lap nine when five cars tangled in the first turn; Bryon Turner, Dave Axton, Scott Boudinot, Jim Burke and Jeff Hoff. All, but Turner were able to continue.
Coffey found himself guarding the inside line with Billy Decker charging around the outside grove. On lap 12, Coffey attempted to switch to the higher grove allowing Decker to sneak by for the lead. Back in the pack Bob McCreadie was in a battle of his own with Danny Johnson for fifth, running side-by-side.
Tim Fuller, having one of his better nights was able to pass Coffey for second on lap 17 and charge hard after Decker. Fuller would just run out of time. McCreadie, however was working hard, finally passing Danny and starting to challenge fourth place Gary Tomkins. On lap 28 the door opened for McCreadie as Tomkins was mired in lapped traffic.
At the finish line it was Decker followed four car lengths back by Fuller. McCreadie, Tomkins and Tim McCreadie rounded out the top five.
The 20-lap sportsman feature started out looking like it too would be a caution-fest as Paul Guererri looped around in front of traffic as the pack exited the fourth turn on the first lap. The only car gathered up in the incident was Loren Lincoln, thanks to the great driving by the sportsman drivers. Ron Cartwright, aboard the old Scott Boudinot Bicknell, was recorded as the leader of that first lap. The restart saw Todd Henderson come from his fourth starting position to take the lead. Henderson would lead until lap six when Rich Swarthout took over command of the front spot. Swarthout then proceeded to secure his position by pulling away from the rest of the field. Only a caution on lap nine, when Cartwright exploded a right rear tire, bunched up the pack.
Swarthout continued his dominance over the field. A four way battle involving Henderson, Vince Vitale, track points leader Karl Comfort and Lance Dusett for the runner up spot kept the race interesting. At the line it would be Swarthout by almost a full straight followed by Comfort and Henderson in a close battle. A smooth running Matt Sheppard and Dusett rounded out the top five.
Chad HomanThe 15-lap Street Stock main was a crash fest. A massive pile up in the first turn on lap one involved over half of the starting line up. By the time the smoke had cleared the front of the starting line up was in the rear and the back of the starting line up was now up front. Surprisingly enough only five cars were unable to make the restarting call.
Teenager Chad Homan took over the lead on lap two with a very hard charging John Unaman on his heels. Unfortunately for Unaman, engine problems again raised their nasty head as he exploded a motor on lap five as the yellow flew. The restart saw a tangle on the front stretch involving Dave VanArsdale and Les Whyte. VanArsdale tagged the wall coming out of the fourth turn, riding and scrapping along the front stretch. Whyte, in a effort to avoid contact tried to pass close on the inside of VanArsdale. As VanArsdale came off the wall he made contact with Whyte, sending Whyte spinning into the infield.
Homan continued his lead with Scott Fremouw running in second. Homan took his first ever feature win by five car lengths over John Miller, who was able to pass Fremouw on the last lap. Fremouw finished third followed by Billy Brown and Kevin Smith.
Mike MinutoloThe 10 lap Pure Stock feature saw multi-feature winner Mike Minutolo wait until lap six to take the lead for his third win of the 1999 season. Thirteen cars started the feature.
This Saturday night will feature the annual running of the 50-lap Taney Memorial for DIRT Modifieds, honoring former driver Denis Taney and life long track official Fred Taney. This will be the first extra distance and double point race of the season at Canandaigua. Regular distance events in the Sportsman, Pro-Stock and Pure Stock divisions will also feature double points. Race time will be at 7 p.m. sharp.
PETER KOCH CHRYSLER DODGE JEEP NIGHT SUMMARY
PURE STOCKS
FEATURE (10-laps): MIKE MINUTOLO, Tim Hettis, Leroy Lewis, Beetle Peters, Steve Miller, Mike Archer, Ron Hawker, Brad Steinruck, Tim Burnell, Car 31, Ralph Priest, Mike Shaw, Glen Peters.
PRO STOCKS
HEAT 1: S. Fremouw, L. Burnett, D. VanArsdale, L. Whyte, D. Conant.
HEAT 2: B. Brown, Ri. Miller, B. Thompson, Ra. Miller, J. Sullivan.
HEAT 3: T. Chapman, C. Homan, J. Miller, P. Barone, J. Burba.
FEATURE (15-laps): CHAD HOMAN, John Miller, Scott Fremouw, Billy Brown, Kevin Smith, Rick Miller, Dave VanArsdale, Bobby Lutz, Jerry Sullivan, Phil Barone, Les Whyte, Jim Burba, Randy Miller, Kevin Pollack, Tiger Chapman, John Unaman, Dave Conant, Lee Burnett, Tom Barron, Wayne Ellison, Brian Thompson.
SPORTSMAN
HEAT 1: R. Cartwright, P. Guererri, V. Vitale, M. Button, L. Dusett.
HEAT 2: D. Allen, T. Henderson, M. Sheppard, C. Parmelee, R. VanNeil.
HEAT 3: R. Swarthout, K. Stell, J. Haers Jr., B. Englert, K. Comfort.
FEATURE (20-laps): RICH SWARTHOUT, Karl Comfort, Todd Henderson, Matt Sheppard, Lance Dusett, Steve Gray, Vince Vitale, Paul Guererri, Mike Button, Justin Haers, Dave Allen, Chris Ridsdale, Jerry Haers Jr., Ricky VanNeil, Clay Parmelee, Keith Stell, Bill Englert, John Pfeffer, Scott Updike, Ron Cartwright, Dave McQuay, Loren Lincoln.
MODIFIED
HEAT 1: T. Fuller, P. Ward, T. McCreadie, B. Decker, R. Bliss Jr., T. Milton.
HEAT 2: B. Turner, C. Donk, B. McCreadie, D. Johnson, S. Boudinot, S. Schultz.
HEAT 3: V. Coffey, G. Tomkins, D. Ruggles, S. Paine, J. Hoff, S. Glover.
FEATURE (35-laps): BILLY DECKER, Tim Fuller, Bob McCreadie, Gary Tomkins, Tim McCreadie, Vic Coffey, Danny Johnson, Pat Ward, John Moravec, Charlie Donk, Steve Glover, Scott Boudinot, Steve Schultz, Ray Bliss Jr., Bill Hoff, Dave Axton, Todd Milton, Jim Burke, Jeff Hoff, Bryon Turner, Steve Paine, Darryl Ruggles, Scott Schrader.