COFFEY, BARRON AND CLEMONS ALL TRIUMPH AT THE WHEELS

ELBRIDGE, NY...Vic Coffey, from Leister, NY and Tommy Barron from Ontario, NY, visited the Rolling Wheels Raceway victory lane for the first time in their racing careers last Sunday. Coffey picked up the Phelps Cement-Pour Lances 50-lap DIRT Modified feature, while Barron topped some 40 entries in the first round of the Empire Sports Network DIRT Pro-Stock Tour.

Also making the top grade on Sunday was Tim Clemons in the DIRT Sportsman ranks. Clemons now has five Rolling Wheels features to his credit.

The 50-lap DIRT Modified feature saw heat winners Karl Comfort and Jimmy Phelps pace the field to the green. Phelps immediately took command of the race as the yellow flag flew when Alex Hoag and Ryan Phelps were put into the wall by another overly aggressive driver.

An attempt to restart saw Justin haers, fresh off a victory at Fulton Speedway the night before, slow to a stop in the fourth turn. He attempted to refire his machine but to no avail and pitted.

Phelps lead a parade of Vic Coffey, Comfort, Brett Hearn, Danny Johnson and Darryl Ruggles. Hearn shot by the field to capture third on lap four. Coffey attempted to dive low on the leader Phelps, but came up short at each attempt.

On lap 19 the yellow flew again when Dave Axton came to a stop in the fourth turn following a excursion off the backstretch and through the weeds.

The restart saw Coffey take command of the race, with Hearn in second followed by Alan Johnson and Phelps, who fell back badly at the start.

Vince Vitale also suffered a back stretch excursion, bringing out the yellow on lap 23.

Gary Tomkins looked extremely strong during the second half of the race, taking second from Hearn on lap 28. He then caught Coffey and following numerous attempts at shooting low down the back stretch settled in for second.

On lap 35 the yellow came out again. This time Ryan Bartlett slowed on the backstretch. The final yellow of the race came on lap 41, when Bobby Varin looped his number 93 in the first turn.

The closing laps saw Tomkins try the low side again, but Coffey would eventually prevail. At the finish line it was Coffey followed by Tomkins, Alan Johnson, Hearn and Tim Fuller.

"I actually was getting pretty tired of seeing Gary down low," commented Coffey. "I was real nervous near the end."

The 20-lap Sportsman feature saw Russ Hefti lead the most laps. Hefti, who started on the pole. Up front Hefti held a seven car lead over Tim Sears. Tim Clemons, Bob Henry Jr. and Eldon Payne Jr. rounded out the top runners at the halfway mark in the race.

Following a number of cautions for minor spins, Clemons was able to pass Hefti for the lead on lap 14. A final yellow for a spin by Brian Donath on lap 17, set up a three lap dash to the finish. At the wire it was Clemons followed by Hefti, Tim Sears, Bob Henry Jr. and Jason Potter.

The 20-lap DIRT Pro-Stock main was the first round in the 2003 Empire Sports Network DIRT Pro-Stock Tour. This event was billed as a "Combined" race featuring the cars and stars from both the Eastern and Western Tours.

Dave Schulz took the early lead as the first few laps were caution plagued. On a lap three restart, Schulz let Tommy Barron get the best of him. Barron took the lead with Schulz in second.

Two additional yellows flew late in the 20-lap race. Barron held on for the win, his first at Rolling Wheels Raceway. Pete Stefanski, Phil Reiter, Schulz and Jipp Ortiz rounded out the top ten at the wire.

ROLLING WHEELS CHATTER: Bob McCreadie was on hand with his new Bicknell chassis. Bob has recently had laser surgery done to his eyes. Dust from the first heat race caused Bob extreme discomfort...41 Pro-Stocks, 26 Sportsman and 43 Modifieds made for just over 100 cars in the pit area.

This Wednesday evening, May 28, will see the O'Reilley World of Outlaws return to the "Fast Track" along with a complete DIRT Modified show. Race time begins on that Wednesday at 7 p.m. sharp. Pre-sale tickets, with reserved seats ticket are available through DIRT HQ at 315-834-6606 through out the work week.

PHELPS CEMENT/POUR LANCE's COFFEE & WATER NIGHT SUMMARY

DIRT PRO-STOCK

HEAT 1: T. Barron, P. Stefanski, M. Therrien, S. DeVos, S. Miller.

HEAT 2: D. Schulz, J. Clark, J. Henry, M. Williams, J. Koeppen.

HEAT 3: P. Reiter, J. Lazore, M. Jock, C. Morris, A. Cheny III

HEAT 4: D. Mayer, T. Kuck, R. Chrysler, B. Henke, J. Panattori

CONSI 1: J. Ladouceur, J. Ortiz, J. Swamp, L. Burnett, B. Kotarski.

CONSI 2: Ji. Johnson, B. Sheard, B. Beldon, P.J. Peters, J. Terrell.

EMPIRE SPORTS NETWORK FEATURE (20-laps): Tommy Barron, Pete Stefanski, Phil Reiter, Dave Schulz, Jipp Ortiz, James Henry, Chris Morris, Alan Cheney III, Jeremy Clark, Dan Mayer, Joey Ladouceur, Lee Burnett, John Lazore, Steve DeVos, Mitch Jock, Patrick Hobbs, John Koeppen, Brett Beldon, Roger Chrysler, Jody Swamp, Brian Kotarski, Steve Miller, Brian Sheard, Mike Williams, P.J. Peters, John Punitory, Tom Kick, Jack Terrell, Jim Johnson, Buddy Hence, Marc Therein

DIRT SPORTSMAN

HEAT 1: R. Hefti, T. Clemons, M. Potter, C. Phelps, E. Haenelt.

HEAT 2: B. Henry Jr., J. Potter, D. Wiesner, B. Madsen.

HEAT 3: Ti. Sears, E. Payne Jr., B. Tucker, R. Loveless, T. Juhl.

CONSI: S. Reakes IV, T. Perrego, D. Wetmore Jr., K. Wills, G.

Doust, J. Pfeffer, S. Donath, B. Donath, D. Burke, R. Bussey.

FEATURE (20-laps): Tim Clemons, Russ Hefti, Tim Sears, Bob Henry Jr., Jason Potter, Greg Doust, Eldon Payne Jr., Bryan Madsen, Mark Potter, John Pfeffer, Ben Tucker, Eddie Haenelt, Sammy Reakes IV, Kevin Wills, Ron Loveless, Chad Phelps, Tom Perrego, Shawn Donath, Don Burke, Donnie Wetmore Jr., Rob Bussey, Dan

Wiesner, Shane Donath, Tom Juhl

DIRT MODIFIED

HEAT 1: K. Comfort, J. Haers, B. Tittle, T. Fuller, F. Cozze.

HEAT 2: J. Phelps, R. Bartlett, A. Hoag, D. Johnson, J. Beyea.

HEAT 3: Ry. Phelps, T. Sears Jr., D. Ruggles, C. McKee, D. Hoffman.

HEAT 4: V. Coffey, B. Hearn, A. Johnson, G. Tomkins, D. Axton

CONSI 1: B. Decker, V. Vitale, T. McCreadie, A.J. Romano, S. Hulsizer, B. Varin.

CONSI 2: C. Bower, J. Barney, K. Tremont, P. Ward, S. Paine, J. Higbie.

FEATURE (50-laps): Vic Coffey, Gary Tomkins, Alan Johnson, Brett Hearn, Tim Fuller, Billy Decker, Jimmy Phelps, Doug Hoffman, Pat Ward, Darryl Ruggles, Steve Hulsizer, Chuck McKee, Steve Paine, Butch Tittle, Bobby Varin, Joe Beyea, Jason Barney, A.J. Romano, Karl Comfort, Kenny Tremont, Dave Axton, Tim McCreadie, Ryan Bartlett, Frank Cozze, Chuck Bower, Vince Vitale, Danny Johnson, Jerry Higbie, Justin Haers, Tom Sears, Jr., Ryan Phelps, Alex Hoag