PAINE WINS LAPCO SPECIAL AT CAN-AM
LAFARGEVILLE, NY...Steve Paine led 74 of the 97-laps at the F.X. Caprara Car Company's Summer Sizzler at the Can-Am International Speedway last Thursday on the live television program "Rush Hour on DIRT". Paine picked up $6,000 plus contingency money for his victory, the third such at a LAPCO promoted event.
Paine took the lead at the drop of the green flag from his outside pole starting position. But just after the first lap went into the record books, Jack Johnson, the pole sitter, dove under Paine and took the lead. Jack and a number of other top runners were all debating tire compounds before the feature. At all Skoal Bandit Racing SM Super DIRT Series events, unless advised otherwise by the local track officials, teams have the right to chose either DIRT Hard or DIRT Soft tires. One rule however is that all four tires must be of the same compound. Paine was on Softs and was backing off to save wear on his tires.
Johnson lead a star studded field around the fast half mile oval, entering lapped traffic by lap 13. On lap 21 the yellow flew when Jeff Heotzler, running in seventh, spun in between the third and fourth turns. At this time pre-race favorite, and local hero, Bob McCreadie was forced to pit with a broken rear hub. His race was over for the evening.
The restart saw Johnson hold on to first with Paine second followed by Jimmy Horton, Alan Johnson, Tim McCreadie and Danny Johnson. Paine began to power up his "Tweety-bird" yellow charger, passing Jack for the lead on lap 25. Younger Johnson brother, Danny, has been a hot streak and began his assault on the top five. He powered past young Tim McCreadie, using traffic, on lap 44 and took older brother Alan a lap later. He then began to draw the two leaders closer each lap. On lap 50 the yellow flew for only the second time when debris had to be removed from the third turn area.
Paine dominated the second half of the race, with Jack Johnson and Danny Johnson hot on his tail. A battle for fourth was developing between local runner Tim Fuller and Alan Johnson. On lap 92 Fuller was able to pass A.J. for fourth. The final laps remained the same, with Paine taking the victory.
Fuller's fine fourth place finish earned him the guaranteed starting spot for the Syracuse 300 presented by Fay's Drug Stores come October at the New York State Fairground's mile. Danny, Jack and Paine already held guarantees for this event.
LAPCO Notes: A fine crowd was on hand for the LAPCO promotion, one of their best at Can-Am...Jack Johnson was the last driver to redraw for feature starting positions. He had only one pill left, the pole...Bob Thurston and company helped to prepare a super racing surface for the DIRT Modifieds...The special spec car six lap main event was won by Steve Hall, the current sportsman points leader at Can-Am...Past David Wells eulogized the late Kevin Fleming before the start of the main event. Fleming was killed in a racing accident at the New York State Fairgrounds on July 2. He was also a regular runner at the Can-Am Speedway...Other local racers did not have the best of evenings either, as Pat O'Brien was the first driver to drop out of the race...Danny Johnson took the Skoal Bandit Racing sm Super DIRT Series point lead with his third place finish.
F.X. CAPRARA CAR COMPANY presents the SKOAL BANDIT RACING sm SUPER DIRT SERIES NIGHT SUMMARY
MODIFIED
HEAT 1: J. Horton, A. Boisvert, D. Hoffman, T. Fuller, P. Ward.
HEAT 2: A. Johnson, T. McCreadie, B. Hearn, J. Heotzler, B. Wilcox.
HEAT 3: D. Johnson, S. Paine, B. Varin, P. O'Brien, J. Johnson.
CONSI: B. Decker, F. Cozze, B. Gill, V. Coffey, J. Sykes, K. Tremont, D. Camara, S. Roberts, J. Narrow, T. Dwyer.
FEATURE (97-laps): STEVE PAINE, Jack Johnson, Danny Johnson, Tim Fuller, Alan Johnson, Tim McCreadie, Dave Camara, Brett Hearn, Doug Hoffman, Pat Ward, Jeff Heotzler, Frank Cozze, Jimmy Horton, Billy Wilcox, Bobby Varin, Kenny Tremont, Billy Decker, Jeff Sykes, Steve Roberts, Vic Coffey, Alain Boisvert, Jim Narrow, Bill Gill, Tim Dwyer, Bob McCreadie, Pat O'Brien.