TIM FULLER PICKS UP CAN-AM SPEEDWAY WIN, O'BRIEN LOCKS UP CHAMPIONSHIP, DOUBLE FEATURES NEXT WEEK FOR IMCA MODIFIEDS AND LATE MODELS

LAFARGEVILLE NY: Race fans were treated to a little of everything this

past Saturday night at the Can-Am Speedway. A rain delay, a point

champion crowned, rained out features, disqualifications, a protest,

changes in point leaders and great race action. It was Hannaford Super

Stores, Red Dog Beer, WLKC Radio and Carvel Ice Cream night, a large

crowd was on hand and 98 race cars filled the pit area in the 6

divisions.

The 358 DIRT Modified feature saw a full field of 24 cars called out

with Bucky Hayes and Dave Bartlett in the front row. A quick caution on

lap one sent point leaders Pat O'Brien and Tim McCreadie to the rear of

the pack along with Jeff Sykes after the three tangled in turn one. When

racing got underway Bartlett was shown as the leader. He held the lead

until lap 5 when Tim Fuller moved from his 7th starting position to take

over. Rick Wilson would put the pressure on and grab the top spot on lap

7 only to lose it back to Fuller on lap 8. While the two leaders battled

for the number one spot O'Brien, McCreadie and Sykes were charging to the

front. McCreadies night ended on lap 13 when he was caught up in a crash

in turn four. Fuller remained the leader with Wilson, Sykes, Lee Gill

and Bartlett the top five. Gill appeared to be the fastest car on the

track as he moved past Sykes on lap 18 and then past Wilson for the

second spot on lap 19. Gill began to chase down Fuller but laps ran out

and Fuller went on to claim his second win of the season at Can-Am.

Gill, Wilson, O'Brien and Sykes completed the top five. With O'Briens

forth place finish and McCreadies DNF the 1997 point championship will go

to O'Brien who has a 141 point lead with only two point races left.

McCreadie stays in second with Dale Eggleston, Sykes and Steve Roberts

the rest of the top five in points.

The point battle in the DIRT Sportsman class going into the night

was the closest at the speedway with George McIntyre and Mike Clark tied

for the top spot. A great field of 20 cars came to the green with Scott

Britton taking the lead on lap one. Steve Hall sat third in points

coming into the night and knew that his only chance at repeating a track

championship was to win the final two races. Hall charged into the lead

on lap 5 but McIntyre and Clark came to the front with him. McIntyre was

giving Hall all the pressure he could take while Clark sat in third

waiting for a mistake. McIntyre first tried Hall on the inside and then

the outside but could not find the move to get by. Hall picked up the

win with McIntyre second, Clark third, Billy Caprara and Rich Hall forth

and fifth. McIntyre will go into the final point night with a four point

lead over Clark, Steve Hall, Caprara and Todd Stewart.

Andy Wells and Laurie Handschuh had the front row in the 12 lap

Street Stock feature and it was Handschuh the early leader. Will Glass

sat in second but Handschuh was having a great run holding down the

number one spot. Bill Eisele made his way past Glass on lap 6 and took

the lead away one lap later. Al Pitts moved to the second position on

lap 8 and took advantage of a mistake by Eisele in turns three and four

to take the lead on lap 9. Pitts went on for his 11th win of the season

with Eisele, Handschuh, Nick Makuch and Glass filling out the top five.

A protest was made on the winners car with everything checking out ok.

Pitts will go into next week 32 points ahead of Makuch with Steve Rookey

and Glass third and forth, Steve Halladay and Handschuh are tied for the

fifth position.

Randy Allen moved from starting position number 4 to take the lead

on lap one of the 10 lap Economy Stock feature. A caution for debris

bunched the field back up and Roger Bushey grabbed the lead on the

restart. Bushey, Allen, John Eiss and Rick Dusckas would begin a four

car battle for the lead on lap three that had the fans cheering for there

favorite. Eiss managed to power into the lead on lap 8 with Kyle Sharp

making his way into the fight for the lead. Eiss and Dusckas came across

the line first and second but both were later disqualified at a post race

inspection giving the win and the point lead to Bushey. Sharp was

credited with second with Allen, Erv Miller and Mark Baltz the rest of

the top five. Bushey will take the point lead into the final night with

a 8 point advantage over Dusckas, Baltz, Allen and Craig Collier being

the rest of the top five in points.

The IMCA Modified and Late Model feature were rained out and will be

made up next Saturday at the beginning of the nights program. Tom

Horning will go into the final point night with a 16 point lead over Ron

O'Neil while Ben Tucker has just a 2 point lead over Ronnie McConnell in

the Late Models.

Next Saturday night will be the final point races in all divisions,

Fastlube of Watertown is the evening sponsor. Gate will open at 5pm with

racing getting the green flag at 7pm sharp. For more information call

the speedway at (315) 658-4431.

PEPSI-COLA/MT.DEW

358 DIRT MODIFIED FINSIH: Tim Fuller, Lee Gill, Rick Wilson, Pat

O'Brien, Jeff Sykes, Steve Roberts, Dave Bartlett, Dale Eggleston,

Lansing Petzoldt, Rob Winters, Bill Cook, Delbert LaGrow, Jeff Hoff, Bob

Bennett, Jim Narrow, Jeff Fullerton, Sandy Roberts, Bucky Hayes, Tim

McCreadie, Bob Melone, Joe August, Dave Heaslip, Doug Crews DNS: Paul

Moreland, Steve Bilow, Rich Amo

FASTLUBE OF WATERTOWN

DIRT SPORTSMAN FINISH: Steve Hall, George McIntyre, Mike Clark, Billy

Caprara, Rich Hall, Bill Mazurowski, RJ Gibbons, Todd Stewart, Rob

Galloway, Dave Surace, Chris Herbison, Larry Lamb, Dave O'Conner, Scott

Britton, Jeff Narrow, Matt Butler DNS: Joe Cook, Todd VanTassel, Buddy

Rogers, Bill Hoff

APPLEDALE FARMERS MARKET

STREET STOCK FINISH: Al Pitts, Bill Eisele, Laurie Handschuh, Nick

Nakuch, Will Glass, Steve Rookey, Steve Lanning, Steve Halladay, Scott

Kocher, Brian Salisbury, Andy Wells, Dave Fetterly, Richard Day, Kevin

Slate, Lance Lalonde DNS: Rich Murtaugh

ECONOMY STOCK FINISH: Roger Bushey, Kyle Sharp, Randy Allen, Erv Miller,

Mark Baltz, Craig Collier, Peter Backus, Tim Guild, Clint Middlemiss,

Mike Baxter, Charles Duffany, Ken Partridge, Les Sanford, Hunter Grimes,

Kevin Duffany DSQ: John Eiss, Rick Dusckas

BERNHEISEL RACE CARS

STARTING LINE-UP: Debbie Stevenson, Tom Horning, Tim Collette, Glen

Erwin, Jim Graves, Eddie O'Neil, Mark Kelly, Ron O'Neil

LATE MODEL

STARTING LINE-UP: Scott Kelsey, Ben Tucker, Tim Busler, Walt VanTassel,

Ronnie McConnell, Pete Papin, Luke Gibeau, Tom Cormier, Ryan Rarick,

Denny Gauvreau, Eric Gauvreau