DANNY JOHNSON COPS MOD VICTORY; ORTIZ WINS FIRST EMPIRE SPORTS NETWORK WESTERN REGION MAIN

WEEDSPORT, NY...Danny Johnson, from Rochester, NY, took the 35-lap DIRT Modified main event at the Cayuga County Fair Speedway last Sunday evening.

Jipp Ortiz rocketed home with the first ever Western Region Empire Sports Network Pro-Stock 25-lap feature. This year the Pro-Stock series is divided into two regions, with Regional Bonus Points issued along with Track Bonus Points and points earned at Combined Championship events to determine the overall Pro-Stock Champion.

Ron Loveless revisited victory lane, having last won on August 11, 2002 at Cayuga County. Don Alford took top honors in the 4-Cylinder main event.

The 35-lap feature saw Steve Hulsizer grab the lead from his pole starting position. Hulsizer barely nipped Jim LaRock at the line for the honor of leading the first lap.

Hulsizer was able to draw away from the pack gaining a good eight car advantage over LaRock by lap five. Ryan Phelps, Joe Beyea and Jeremie Corcoran completed the top five by lap 10. Danny Johnson sat just outside of the top five, gaining seven spots in the last five laps.

On lap 13 the yellow flag flew when LaRock slowed in the first turn with a flat tire, ending a great run at the front of the field. More important to the rest of the field was that the yellow helped to bunch the field together, eliminating Hulsizer's sizable lead.

Hulsizer in the mean time thought nothing of the closeness of the field and again drew away to a ten car advantage over Beyea. On lap 16, Gary Tomkins came to a stop at the top of the fourth turn to bring out the yellow again.

On the restart Danny Johnson blew by Beyea to take second. He then began a campaign to reel in Hulsizer. By lap 21, Johnson was within striking distance, ducking low entering the fourth turn and cutting into Hulsizer's lead.

Lap-after-lap Johnson tried the low grove through the third and fourth turns. Each time Hulsizer was able to hold him back. On lap 28, Johnson seemed to have the pass completed as he performed a "slide job" on Hulsizer exiting the fourth turn. Hulsizer just ducked low and regained the lead. Two laps later Johnson completed the pass exiting the second turn, down the back stretch.

The fastest car on the speedway during the closing laps seemed to be Tim Fuller. Johnson held on for the victory, with Tim Fuller just nudging ahead of Hulsizer, who finished in third. Alan Johnson held on for fourth with a sour engine and a fairly used up right rear tire. Beyea came home in fifth.

The 20-lap Sportsman feature saw Brian Donath lead the first lap in a side-by-side duel with Sammy Reakes IV. But it would Eric Richardson who would pass them both to lead the second lap. Richardson saw his lead evaporate when a five car accident occurred in the first turn on lap seven. Involved in the accident were Loren Lincoln, Eldon payne Jr., Rob Relfe, Lance Willix and Mike Bowman.

The restart saw yet another yellow when Bob Henry Jr. made contact with the front stretch wall , sending Russ Hefti sliding into the inside first turn barrier. Both cars returned to the race.

Richardson held onto his lead until lap 15 when Ron Loveless, using the high line around the track, completed a pass for the lead. Richardson then slowed over the last five laps with a flat front tire. This allowed Greg Doust to scoot by for second. John Juhl and Jim Bowman rounded out the top five finishers.

In the Pro-Stock main event it was a heads up start off the heat results. Heat wins went to Tommy Barron, Dave Schulz and Jipp Ortiz. Barron started on the pole but never lead a lap as Schulz took command of the race as 28 cars took the green.

The first yellow flew on lap 12 when Fred Dennis came to a stop in the first turn. At the front of the field Ortiz had just passed Stefanski for the lead down the front stretch.

Ortiz was then able to lead the remainder of the race with Stefanski about seven cars back. Ortiz took the checkers some 2.4 seconds ahead of Stefanski. Dave Schulz came home a solid third after bobbling early in the race and falling back from second to fifth. Lee Burnett ran a consistent race to finish fourth with James Henry coming home in fifth.

A special exhibition by the FMX East Extreme Motocross bikes took place during the intermission.

This Sunday will see the DIRT Sportsman on hand to run their first Sunoco Combined Championship event. They too will be running the same format at the Pro-Stocks with a East and West Region. The 30-lap Sportsman Combined Championship on Sunday should see a host of new drivers descent on the "Falg-ship" track in the DIRT Motorsports Empire.

Also on tap will be a complete program of DIRT Modified, Pro-Stock and 4-Cylinder competition. Race time will begin at 7 p.m. sharp.

EMPIRE SPORTS NETWORK NIGHT SUMMARY

4 CYLINDER

FEATURE (Top 3): DON ALFORD, Greg DeChick, Jay Werner.

PRO-STOCK

HEAT 1: T. Barron, J. Henry, L. Burnett, R. Breed, F. Dennis, S. DeVos.

HEAT 2: D. Schulz, P. Stefanski, M. Williams, R. Maloney, J. Panattoni, J. Lazore.

HEAT 3: J. Ortiz, D. Mayer, J. Johnson, J. Clark, P. Hobbs, F. Guererri Jr.

CONSI: B. Hallett, S. Miller, B. Kotarski, W. Ellison, J. Langenback, J. Underwood, R. Chrysler, J. Updyke, B. Thompson.

WESTERN REGION FEATURE (25-laps): JIPP ORTIZ, Pete Stefanski, Dave Schulz, Lee Burnett, James Henry, Mike Williams, Frank Guererri Jr., Jeremy Clark, Patrick Hobbs, Dan Mayer, Bill Hallett, Ray Maloney, John Panattoni, Brian Kotarski, Steve DeVos, John Lazore, Jim Langenback, Roger Chrysler, Jim Bieber, Jimmy Johnson, Steve Miller, Ricky Breed, John Underwood, Wayne Ellison, Fred Dennis, Jesse Updyke, Brian Thompson, Tommy Barron.

SPORTSMAN

HEAT 1: G. Doust, B. Donath, J. Yannone, E. Richardson, L. Willix

HEAT 2: J. Pfeffer, D. Wetmore Jr., R. Richardson, W. Chyrywaty, R. Loveless.

HEAT 3: B. Henry Jr., S. Donath, J. Juhl, J. Pitcher, S. Reakes IV.

CONSI: J. Bowman, R. Hefti, L. Lincoln, E. Payne Jr., M. Bowman, M. Conrow, J. Bennett, A. Garno.

FEATURE (20-laps): RON LOVELESS, Greg Doust, Eric Richardson, John Juhl, Jim Bowman, Shane Donath, Brian Donath, Jeremy Pitcher, John Pfeffer, Ryan Richardson, Russ Hefti, Lance Willix, Bob Henry Jr., Mike Conrow, Walt Chyrywaty, Jordan Bennett, Donnie Wetmore Jr., Eldon Payne Jr., Sammy Reakes IV, Amanda Garno, Rob Relfe, Jamie Yannone, Mike Bowman, Loren Lincoln, Don Burke.

MODIFIED

HEAT 1: B. McCreadie, R. Phelps, B. Decker, B. Tittle, T. Fuller.

HEAT 2: S. Hulsizer, J. Phelps, T. McCreadie, D. Johnson, S. Prentice.

HEAT 3: V. Vitale, G. Tomkins, J. LaRock, A. Johnson, D. Ruggles.

HEAT 4: J. Beyea, J. Haers, C. Bower, J. Corcoran, P. Ward.

CONSI: R. Chrysler, R. Bliss, F. Caprara Jr., M. Ward, T. Juhl.

FEATURE (35-laps): DANNY JOHNSON, Tim Fuller, Steve Hulsizer, Alan Johnson, Joe Beyea, Tim McCreadie, Billy Decker, Jeremie Corcoran, Justin Haers, Randy Chrysler, Ryan Phelps, Vic Coffey, Vince Vitale, Jim LaRock, Pat Ward, Ray Bliss, Darryl Ruggles, Chuck Bower, Mike Ward, Butch Tittle, Jimmy Phelps, Scott Prentice, Bob McCreadie, Gary Tomkins, Rich Swarthout, Frank Caprara Jr., Tom Juhl.