Steve Paine Returns To Victory Lane At Canandaigua

CANANDAIGUA, NY...Steve Paine returned to the Canandaigua

Speedway for his fourth visit this season, last Saturday. His

victory marked his 40th feature win at the "Land of Legends".

John Plumb, from Macedon, NY, won his first ever DIRT Sportsman

feature aborad his ALPCO Recycling sponsored car. Tom Barron took

top honors in the 20-lap Pro Stock feature, while Mike Welch

claimed his first Street Stock main event.

The 35-lap DIRT Modified feature saw Vince Viatle and Chuck

hebing bring the strong field of cars down for the green flag.

Vitale, a NYAAD Rookie of the Year candidate, was quick to jump

into the lead. Tim Fuller, aboard the B&F General Machine number

M1, challenged Vitale, passing for the front position on lap

four. A strong battle for the runner up spot saw five drivers

vying for the position; Vitale, Chuck Bower, Danny Johnson, Bob

McCreadie and Steve Paine. Lap-after-lap these five drivers would

switch back and forth for position, some times three wide in the

second turn.

By lap 10, Fuller had built up a comfortable four car

advantage over the pack. Bower, however, was able to break free

and begin to close the gap as the battle for second through sixth

began to string out. Bower, using the high lane, caught Fuller.

Danny Johnson joined Bower on the high side of the speedway.

Together they passed Fuller for the lead and second on lap 17.

Johnson was now going to work on Bower. However he wasn't able to

predict the power that Steve Paine unleashed. Paine passed

Johnson for the runner up position on lap 22. Two laps later

Paine was in the lead, after Bower's right rear tire had become

worn out. Bower had to pull pitside with a slowly deflating tire.

Up front the running order had smooth out now to Paine,

Johnson, Fuller, Tim McCreadie and his father Bob McCreadie. The

remaining ten laps saw this order of competition remain the same,

with Paine taking the victory.

Note: The DIRT Modifieds have now completed 162 laps of

caution free feature racing at Canandaigua Speedway. The last

caution to appear in a feature came on May 13, lap 8, when Gary

Tomkins had a flat tire.

The 20-lap sportsman feature also remained somewhat caution

free as 19 cars took the green. Paul Guererri was the first

leader of record, followed closely by Larry Beardsley, John

Plumb, Rick VanNeil and Wade Czymmek. Steve Gray joined the front

pack, after a lap three restart. The caution had flown when David

Allen looped his car to the inside of the first turn.

Guererri held the lead but was now pressured by Plumb,

Beardsley and Gray. On lap six, Beardsley pulled to the high lane

and powered by Guererri for the lead. Seeing this move, Plumb

also moved to the high lane and took second from Guererri.

Plumb then moved to the low side of the speedway, passing

Beardsley for the lead through turn four on lap 10. The last half

of the race saw Plumb pull away to nearly a full straight away

lead. Beardsley was holding a multi-car challenge for second at

bay. Nipping at his heels were Karl Comfort, Matt Sheppard,

Guererri and Gray.

On the final lap, in the final turn, Comfort was able to

stick the nose of his car into second. Beardsley finished third,

followed by Sheppard and Guererri.

"We were just hoping to get some luck," commented Plumb in

reference to his finishes this year to date.

The 20-lap Pro Stock feature saw 25 cars answer the green

flag. with Lee Burnett taking the lead right off the bat. Burnett

was able to build a slight lead over Patrick Hobbs, Steve Miller,

Mike Minutlo and Jon Unaman Jr.. On lap six, Unaman lost a rear

wheel exiting the fourth turn. The errant wheel wandered into the

racing lane, where unluckily Billy Brown's car vaulted over it,

ending the race for both cars.

Burnett was able to handle the restart but now multi-time

winner Tommy Barron was on his rear bumper. Barron was able to

complete his pass for the front spot, on lap 10, just before the

yellow flew for a multi-car tangle which saw Brian Michel's car

become hooked with Jon Miller's car. Michel's right front tire

was caught in the driver's side window of the Miller car. After a

great effort by track personnel, the cars were freed up, with

Miller rejoining the battle.

Barron was able to power to a victory over Burnett, Jim

McGuigan, two time feature winner Mike Cooper and Hobbs.

"it's been a while," stated Barron in victory lane. "We have

been working little things on last year's car to make it perform

better. We hit on it tonight."

The 10-lap Street stock feature saw Leroy lewis lead almost

the entire distance, caution free. Then on lap nine Eric Giguere

made contact with the inside of the fourth turn wall, sending his

car in a slow roll, back into the racing groove. He collected a

number of cars, including rolling onto the front end of the James

Henry machine.

The restart saw second place Mike Welch out power Lewis's

car to take the lead. Welch took the win followed by Lewis, Brad

Steinruck, Tim Burnell and Mike Shaw.

This Saturday will be Canandaigua Motors night at the

speedway, featuring on the track a regular program of DIRT

Modified, Sportsman, Pro Stock and Street Stock racing. Race time

will be at 7 p.m., with gates opening at 5 p.m. sharp.

CREATIVE CONFECTIONS-R.P. LeFROIS BUILDERS NIGHT SUMMARY

STREET STOCKS

FEATURE (10-laps): MIKE WELCH, Leroy Lewis, Brad Steinruck, Tim

Burnell, Richard Briggs, Mike Shaw, Mike Ferens, Nathan Pickham,

Darren Phippen, Fred Srock, Glen Peters, John Rutkowski, Trisha

Hampton, Eric Giguere, James Henry, Jarad LaBarge, Les Hoke, Doug

Smith, Shane Yack.

PRO STOCKS

HEAT 1: Z. Shove, J. McGuigan, J. Miller, C. Homan, M. Minutlo,

J. Nichols.

HEAT 2: T. Barron, L. Burnett, S. Miller, Ri. Miller, M. Cooper,

P. McCoy.

HEAT 3: P. Hobbs, B. Lutz, J. Ortiz, J. Unaman Jr., D. Weisner,

B. Michels.

CONSI:

FEATURE (20-laps): TOMMY BARRON, Lee Burnett, Jim McGuigan, Mike

Cooper, Patrick Hobbs, Jipp Ortiz, Carl Cleveland, Chad Homan,

Rick Miller, Mike Minutlo, Jim Burba, Dan Weisner, Steve Miller,

Zack Shove, Bobby Lutz, Jon Miller, Scott Fremouw, Josh Nichols,

Dave Conant, Mike Walters, Brian Michels, Todd Hanagan, Jon

Unaman Jr., Billy Brown, Tom Jansch.

SPORTSMAN

HEAT 1: K. Comfort, P. Guererri, S. Gray, M. Sheppard, C.

Parmelee, D. Allen.

HEAT 2: J. Plumb, L. Beardsley, R. VanNeil, W. Czymmek, E. Payne,

J. Haers.

FEATURE (20-laps): JOHN PLUMB, Karl Comfort, Larry Beardsley,

Matt Sheppard, Paul Guererri, Steve Gray, Justin Haers, Joe

Beyea, Wade Czymmek, Clay Parmelee, Rick VanNeil, Greg Hixson,

Bill Englert, Eldon Payne, John Pfeffer, David Allen, Keith

Stell, John Kuleszo, Ed Monroe.

MODIFIED

HEAT 1: V. Vitale, T. Fuller, C. Donk, B. McCreadie, J. Gabriel

Jr.

HEAT 2: C. Hebing, D. Johnson, T. McCreadie, P. Ward, R. Bliss

Jr.

HEAT 3: C. Bower, S. Paine, G. Tomkins, R. Miller, D. Ruggles.

FEATURE (35-laps): STEVE PAINE, Danny Johnson, Tim Fuller, Tim

McCreadie, Bob McCreadie, Pat Ward, Darryl Ruggles, Gary Tomkins,

Charlie Donk, Vic Coffey, Chuck Hebing, Vince Vitale, Jim Gabriel

Jr., Jeff Brownell, Randy Miller, Ray Bliss Jr., Alex Hoag, Gary

Farnsworth, Chuck Bower, Ron White, Bob Simmons Jr., Scott

Ridley.