PRENTICE GRABS GREEN-TO-CHECKERS VICTORY AT CAYUGA COUNTY
WEEDSPORT, NY...Scott Prentice, from Central Square, NY, made his second trip to Cayuga County eventful after non-qualifying back on April 22. Prentice took his first feature win of the 2001 season last Sunday evening. Tim Sears looked to be the Sportsman feature winner, however his victory party may have to wait until mid-week after DIRT Officials review the Chevrolet block in his number 83. Tony Buffa won the 15 lap ESDCA Dwarf car feature and Don Potts claimed the victory in the Pits Stop Convenience Stores enduro.
By virtue of handicapping Scott Prentice started on the pole for the 35-lap Brewster Cleaners 35. Prentice used his luck and drove hard into the lead at the drop of Dave Farney's green flag. Jim Gabriel Jr. came from his sixth starting berth and claimed second at the line followed by rookie sensation Matt Sheppard, who started in eighth place.
Prentice drove away from the rest of the field, leading by some five car lengths. Both Gabriel Jr. and Sheppard however were closing the gap at a steady pace. The first car to drop out of the race was Scott Ridley on lap seven.
As the cars entered lapped traffic on lap eight, the front end bunched together. At one time it looked as if Gabriel Jr. was about to use a pick on Prentice. But Prentice responded with "big block" power and maintained the lead. On lap nine Alan Johnson dropped from the race in his own 14j machine. Outside pole sitter Dave Axton was the next driver to drop from the race, on lap 22. On lap 20, Sheppard caught Gabriel Jr. napping and passed him for second. Sheppard then closed in on Prentice as it became a two man duel for the lead. With Prentice in the high grove and Sheppard down low the pair charged to the finish line. Prentice nosed out the victory by .383 seconds, averaging 67.725 mph in his efforts. Sheppard came home in second aboard his 358-Modified machine. Tim McCreadie passed Gabriel Jr. on the last lap to claim third followed by Gabriel Jr. and Pat Ward.
In the 20-lap DIRT Sportsman feature Tim Sears started on the pole and shot out to a full straight away advantage before three laps were recorded. On lap four the yellow flew when contact on the front chute caused a rear nerf bar bumper off the Greg Doust machine to go flying into the air. All of the teams missed the debris except for newcomer Gary Morrissette who did not damage his new 15m after contact with the large metal piece. Only Doust was not able to continue.
Again Sears blew out into a commanding lead on the restart with John Juhl's number 2p in second followed by Jim Spano and Bob Henry Jr.. On lap nine the yellow flew again when John Plumb looped his number 31B in the fourth turn.
The race would remain green until the end with Sears winning by nearly half a lap over Steve Gray in second, Joe Beyea in third, Juhl in fourth and Tom Juhl fifth. A post race inspection turned up the suspicious block. DIRT Officials are holding Sears's money until confirmation of the fact that an infraction did not occur. They should be able to hear the results by mid-week.
The 15-lap ESDCA Dwarf main saw Tony Buffa start on the pole and lead every laps. Barry Virts ran most of the race on Buffa's rear bumper only to nearly spin on lap 14 and lose the runner up spot to Dan Boyce.
Two yellow flags slowed the race. The first came on lap four when Ed Lawton looped his number 17 in between turns three and four. The final yellow came on lap 10 when Ken Gamlin spun in the second turn.
Of record, two women started the ESDCA Dwarf car event. Racing concluded around 4:30 p.m. to allow the teams to head to Utica-Rome Speedway if they so desired.
The next race at Cayuga County will be on Sunday, May 27, when that 10th Annual DIRT Motorsports Hall of Fame inducts three new members during afternoon ceremonies. That evening, starting at 6 p.m. will be an Advance Auto Parts Super DIRT Series featuring the Watertown Ford-National Parts Peddler 100. Also on tap will be a full card of DIRT Sportsman races.
BREWSTER CLEANERS-WIXT-TV 9 NIGHT SUMMARY
ENDURO (TOP 5): DON POTTS, Greg Dechick, Joe Reeves, Mike Potts, Eric Chapman.
ESDCA DWARF CARS
HEAT 1: T. Buffa, D. Boyce, B. Garafolos, K. Gamlin, S. Hart, S. Nash, E. Lawton, K. Younglove
HEAT 2: B. Virts. W. Younglove, D. Forbes, B. Teliska, L. Zehr, B. Rice, K. Skinner
FEATURE (15-laps): TONY BUFFA, Dan Boyce, Barry Virts, Wayne Younglove, Bob Garafolos, Scott Nash, Bill Teliska, Ken Gamlin, Ed Lawton, Lowell Zehr, Kelly Skinner, Brenda Rice, Shaun Hart,
Darren Forbes
SPORTSMAN
HEAT 1: J. Spano, T. Sears, T. Juhl, M. LaVarnway
HEAT 2: J. Plumb, G. Doust, J. Beyea, J. Juhl
FEATURE (20-laps): TIM SEARS (pending), Steve Gray, Joe Beyea, John Juhl, Tom Juhl, Justin Haers, Jim Bowman, Jim LaRock, Jim Spano, Mike LaVarnway, Dan Wiesner, Russ Hefti, John Plumb, Bob Henry, Jr., Chris Ostrowsky, Ryan Richardson, Gary Gallerie, Gary Morrisette, Greg Doust
MODIFIED
HEAT 1: S. Prentice, M. Sheppard, R. Bliss, Jr., T. McCreadie, V. Vitale, A. Johnson
HEAT 2: J. Gabriel, B. Decker, J. Phelps, T. Sears. T. Fuller, B. Wilcox
HEAT 3: P. Ward, G. Tomkins, D. Ruggles, D. Johnson, D. Axton, C. Bower
CONSI: S. Paine, S. Ridley, B. Tittle, T. Vincent, M. Ward, R. Bartlett
FEATURE (35-laps): SCOTT PRENTICE, Matt Sheppard, Tim McCreadie, Jim Gabriel, Pat Ward, Billy Decker, Tom Sears, Tim Fuller, Gary Tomkins, Danny Johnson, Darryl Ruggles, Jimmy Phelps, Steve Paine, Chuck Bower, Ray Bliss, Jr., Mike Ward, Butch Tittle, Ryan Bartlett, Bentley Meade, Tim Vincent, Dave Axton, Alan Johnson, Scott Ridley