SEVEN DIFFERENT WINNERS AT CANANDAIGUA, THREE ON THE FINAL LAP
CANANDAIGUA, NY...A full night of DIRT stock car racing was on hand last Saturday at the Canandaigua Speedway as double modified and sportsman features were on hand. Danny Johnson and Bob McCreadie picked up the DIRT Modified pay checks of $1,700, while Mike Button and Karl Comfort both earned DIRT Sportsman feature wins. Les Whyte took top honors in a controversial Pro- stock feature and Tim Hettis earned the 10-lap Pure stock victory. Susan Saunders repeated her 1997 victory in the ladies one-on-one spectator races, all of Wilbert Buick and GM Parts night.
In the rain delayed DIRT Modified main event Ray Bliss Jr. took the lead at the drop of Tom Burton's green flag only to be the driver to cause the first yellow as he slowed on lap two with a broken right front shock mount. This allowed Bryon Turner to take the lead. The restart saw Charlie Donk pass Turner for the front position. By lap 11, Donk found himself swapping the front spot with Billy Decker several times. Finally on lap 15, the 1998 track champion, Decker, powered into the lead. Both Steve Paine and Danny Johnson were in hot pursuit of the leaders, passing Donk on lap 22 and flying after Decker. In a daring move, Johnson passed Decker on lap 31. Danny then proceeded to pull away from the others to take the 35-lap victory. Decker, Paine, Tim Fuller and Donk rounded out the top five.
In the regularly scheduled 35-lap DIRT Modified feature things got off to a rocky start as John Moravec hopped a wheel of the Scott Boudinot car and flipped through the very end of the chain link fence in turn one. No one was injured, however Moravec was transported for observation at Thompson Memorial Hospital. The restart after this red flag saw Darryl Ruggles and Ray Bliss Jr. battling for the lead. First Ruggles and then Bliss were listed as leaders, Finally Ruggles regained the front spot from Bliss on lap four. But it would be Pat Ward who would take command of the race just four laps later. Ward held off all of advances of his competition until Bob McCreadie, with the help of a lapped car, pulled a high grove pass in the fourth turn on lap 17 to take the lead. Ward immediately retook the lead on the next lap. However McCreadie was running just too strong and pulled away from Ward on lap 19. The real battle now was being run for fourth through sixth, as Gary Tomkins held down a fairly strong third. A late race caution, on lap 31, saw Steve Paine break the front end suspension on his car and drop from the race while running in the top ten. McCreadie cruised home the winner followed by Ward, Tomkins, Decker and Donk.
In the rain delayed 20-lap Sportsman feature David Allen took the lead at the drop of the green, only to repeat Bliss's move from the other rain delayed event, dropping into the pits with a smoking engine on lap five and handing the lead over to Dale Darling. Allen may have chosen the best possible time to exit the race as Steve Gray coasted to a stop on the back stretch two laps later. The pack of cars coming out of the second turn, seeing the stalled car of Gray, over corrected and caused a massive pile up in which Wade Czymmek flipped his number 16. Included in this accident was two time feature winner, and current points leader, Karl Comfort. The race had to be red flagged. The restart saw Lance Dusett take the lead and seem to pull away from the rest of the competition. But a low side dive in the final turn on the final lap, by Mike Button, earned him the victory by less then a car length. Dusett finished second followed by Vince Vitale, Rich Swarthout and Todd Henderson rounding out the top five.
In regular Sportsman action the back stretch was again the scene of carnage. On a second lap restart, with Clay Parmelee in the lead, Jerry Haers Jr. pulled ahead of his position by a full row. This caused contact with Todd Henderson, sending Henderson's car sideways into the back stretch wall, and tearing a wheel off his car. Hears was black flagged from the race, but refused to go to the pits. He was then disqualified by race officials. Justin Haers took the lead on the restart only to loss that position two laps later to Steve Gray. A number of yellow flags kept the field tight, with the ow repaired Comfort car closing the gap between second and first. On the final lap Comfort drove high and raced side-by-side with Gray for the victory. Comfort was declared the victor by mere inches at the finish line. Gray earned second followed by Darling, Dusett and Justin Haers.
The 15-lap Pro-stock main event proved to be a demolition derby as five yellows slowed the event. Up front the battle seemed to be between John Unaman and Scott Fremouw as each driver held the lead at least twice and for a total of fourteen of the fifteen laps. On the final lap, Unaman exploded a tire in the second turn allowing Les Whyte to take a checkered/yellow finish line victory. John Miller finished second while Wayne Ellison, Fremouw and Lee Burnett rounded out the top five.
The 10-lap Pure stock event was also not without it's share of yellows. Tim Hettis took the lead with just two laps remaining from Leroy Lewis. Lewis inherited the lead from multi-time feature winner Mike Mioutolo, who turned into the pits on lap seven. Lewis finished third behind Hettis and Mike Archer. Brad Steinruck and Tim Burnell rounded out the top five.
Racing returns this Saturday with a regular program as the race teams prepare for the Denis Taney Memorial in two weeks, Memorial Day weekend. This Saturday will be Peter Koch Chrysler- Dodge-Jeep night. Racing will begin at 7 p.m. sharp.
WILBERT'S BUICK AND GM PARTS NIGHT SUMMARY
PURE STOCKS
FEATURE (10-laps): TIM HETTIS, Mike Archer, Leroy Lewis, Brad Steinruck, Tim Burnell, Beetle Peters, Steve Miller, Mike Mioutolo, Dave Marcuccilli, Glen Peters, John Gilmore Jr., Jim VanArsdale, Mike Shaw, Ralph Priest, Richard Buggs, Paul Caldwell.
PRO STOCKS
HEAT 1: C. Homan, Ra. Miller, T. Barron, L. Burnett, P. Barone, B. Thompson.
HEAT 2: S. Fremouw, D. Ebersole, B. Brown, W. Ellison, B. Lutz, L. Whyte.
HEAT 3: J. Unaman, J. Miller, Ri. Miller, F. Ignizio, J. Burba, D. Weisner.
FEATURE (15-laps): LES WHYTE, John Miller, Wayne Ellison, Scott Fremouw, Lee Burnett, Randy Miller, Billy Brown, Tiger Chapman, Brian Thompson, Chad Homan, Frank Ignizio, Phil Barone, Rick Miller, Jim Burba, Jerry Sullivan, John Unaman, Bobby Lutz, Darrel Ebersole, Dan Weisner, Tommy Barron, Frank Burnell, Kevin Pollack, Dave Conant.
SPORTSMAN
HEAT 1: R. Swarthout, Ju. Haers, R. VanNeil, L. Dusett, M. Sheppard.
HEAT 2: P. Guererri, J. Haers Jr., T. Henderson, L. Lincoln, K. Stell.
HEAT 3: S. Gray, D. Darling, C. Parmelee, V. Vitale, M. Button.
FEATURE (20-laps): KARL COMFORT, Steve Gray, Dale Darling, Lance Dusett, Justin Haers, Rich Swarthout, Matt Sheppard, Paul Guererri, Loren Lincoln, Vince Vitale, Clay Parmelee, Keith Stell, Bill Englert, John Pfeffer, Rick VanNeil, Dave McQuay, David Allen, Mike Button, Todd Henderson, DQ: Jerry Haers Jr.
RAIN DELAYED FEATURE (20-laps): MIKE BUTTON, Lance Dusett, Vince Vitale, Rich Swarthout, Todd Henderson, Jerry Haers Jr., Loren Lincoln, Matt Sheppard, Dale Darling, Justin Haers, Rick VanNeil, Keith Stell, Bill Englert, John Pfeffer, Paul Guererri, Steve Gray, Wade Czymmek, Karl Comfort, Ron Cartwright, David Allen, Clay Parmelee.
MODIFIED
HEAT 1: B. Decker, D. Johnson, B. Turner, C. Hebing, R. Bliss Jr., J. Moravec.
HEAT 2: G. Tomkins, C. Donk, V. Coffey, S. Paine, D. Ruggles, S. Lead.
HEAT 3: B. McCreadie, P. Ward, T. Fuller, C. Bower, S. Boudinot, J. Hoff.
FEATURE (35-laps): BOB McCREADIE, Pat Ward, Gary Tomkins, Billy Decker, Charlie Donk, Tim Fuller, Chuck Bower, Vic Coffey, Darryl Ruggles, Danny Johnson, Bryon Turner, Dave Axton, Chuck Hebing, Steve Lead, Jeff Hoff, Steve Schultz, Bill Hoff, Bob Barron, Steve Paine, Scott Schrader, Ray Bliss Jr., Gary Farnsworth, Ron White, Tim McCreadie, Scott Boudinot, John Moravec.
RAIN DELAYED FEATURE (35-laps): DANNY JOHNSON, Billy Decker, Steve Paine, Tim Fuller, Charlie Donk, Vic Coffey, Bryon Turner, Gary Tomkins, Pat Ward, Chuck Hebing, Chuck Bower, Steve Schultz, Darryl Ruggles, Scott Boudinot, Jeff Hoff, Ron White, Dave Axton, Steve Lead, Lee Horn Jr., Tim McCreadie, Bob McCreadie, Ray Bliss Jr., Bill Hoff.