PLAZEK TOPS CANANDAIGUA MODS, WHILE DARLING TAKES FIRST SPORTSMAN

OF THE YEAR

CANANDAIGUA, NY...Joe Plazek found the Canandaigua Speedway

Victory Lane for the third time in 1997, winning the 35-lap main

event last Saturday. Dale Darling earned his first Sportsman

victory of the early season at Canandaigua. Topping the full

fender madness action, Frank Guererri picked up his third

Canandaigua victory in the street stock division and Dave Conant

won the shortened enduro event.

Rough track conditions, due partially to the very high

humidity, caused a number of yellow flags to fly on this night.

The start of the 35-lap DIRT Modified feature saw Bryon Turner

grab the front spot and run away from the rest of the field. But

it was not going to be Turner's night, as on lap 8 he left the

track, while leading, to repair a broken shock mount. Fortunately

the yellow flew allowing Turner the time to return to the track

without loosing at lap.

Joe Plazek inherited the lead, with Pat Ward running a close

second. Alan Johnson had progressed up to third, with Bob

McCreadie and Scott Schrader rounding out the top five runners at

this point in the race. On lap 15 the yellow flew for debris on

the track. Alan Johnson used this opportunity to pass Ward on the

restart and take second. But Plazek was just too strong on this

evening as he had pulled out a twenty car advantage.

Bobby Varin's mount broke on lap 20, in the second turn to

bring out the yellow. On lap 28 second place Alan Johnson headed

into the infield, out of the race. The final yellow of the race

came on lap 30 when Ted Bauer make contact with the steel barrier

just outside of the first turn.

The final top five at the finish line were Plazek McCreadie,

Ward, Tomkins and Coffey.

in the sportsman division the yellow fever continued. Seven

yellow flag periods slowed the 20-lap race. Darling took the lead

from Steve Gray on the third lap and never had to look back. He

did have to perform a number of close restarts, but Darling

seemed up to the challenge.

Lap 12 saw three top runners all eliminated, each in a

different turn. Vince Vitale broke and axle on the front stretch,

while Scott Joy coasted to a stop in the second turn. Karl

Comfort also came to a stop, after a swerving in the fourth turn.

The most hair raising incident came on lap 14, when rookie

runner Chris Ridsdale launched a wheel into the pit area sending

crews scrambling. That is until the final lap incident which saw

cars crossing the finish line in all directions. Mike Button,

running in third began to slow exiting the third turn. This

caused a back up in the outside lane as the drivers charged to

the finish line. In the end Darling took the victory with Scott

Ridley crossing the finish line in second. Rich Swarthout took

advantage of a looping Lance Lauffenburger, to take third.

Lauffenburger came across the finish line backwards for fourth.

Finishing fifth was Randy Holden.

In street stock action Tom Barron had the field covered on

this rough track. But on lap nine he exited into the pits and

left the lead to Dean DeMallie. DeMallie found himself surrounded

in the closing laps as a late race caution bunched much of the

field together. On the final lap Frank Guererri inched ahead of

DeMallie. Les Whyte rocketed home in third followed by Rick

Miller and Steve Pesarek.

The 20-lap enduro race was shortened to 18-laps when Keith

Kever flipped five times in the third turn, catching fire on

landing the final time. Emergency crews were sent to the scene.

Kever had to be transported to the local hospital complaining of

a hurt shoulder and back. This gave the victory to Dave Conant.

This Saturday will find a full card of modified, sportsman,

street stock and enduro races going to the line. General manager

Bill McNabb has pledged he will do everything in his power to

straighten out the track surface by this Saturday. Also present

for the evening will be the Atlantic Old Timers Association with

nostalgia events. Race time will be at 7 p.m. sharp.

AMY'S CHECKERED FLAG NIGHT SUMMARY

ENDURO

FEATURE (18-LAPS): DAVE CONANT, John Juhl, Ron Strickland, Tom

Juhl, Dave Stoddard, Dave Allen, Leroy Lewis, Scott Knapp, Keith

Kever, Dan Mettler, Walt Bond, Jamie Eldridge, Fred Salsberg,

Bill Juhl, Ron Hawker, Brad Steinruck, Randy Munch, Jim Gagne,

Leonard Boor, Mike Archer, Beatle Peters, Mike Minutolo.

STREET STOCKS

HEAT 1: S. Pesarek, D. DeMallie, L. Whyte, F. Hughes, F.

Guererri, C. Ferguson.

HEAT 2: T. Barron, B. Lutz, B. Fremouw, C. Reynolds II, Ri.

Miller, J. McGuigan.

FEATURE (15-laps): FRANK GUERERRI, Dean DeMallie, Les Whyte, Rick

Miller, Steve Pesarek, Foster Hughes, Carl Reynolds II, Tim

Smith, Randy Miller, Dave McQuay, Chris Ferguson, Betty Fremouw,

Dave Aurand, Jim Burba, Dave VanArsdale, Scott Trotter, Tom

Barron, Jim McGuigan, Billy Brown, Bobby Lutz.

SPORTSMAN

HEAT 1: L. Dusett, M. Button, B. Hoff, K. Stell, C. Ridsdale, J.

Kuluszo.

HEAT 2: D. Darling, P. Guererri, T. Henderson, R. Swarthout, L.

Lincoln, S. Gray.

HEAT 3: L. Lauffenburger, S. Ridley, R. Holden, C. Graham, S.

Joy, M. Potter.

FEATURE (20-laps): DALE DARLING, Scott Ridley, Rich Swarthout,

Lance Lauffenburger, Randy Holden, Chuck Graham, Mike Button,

Gary Farnsworth, Bill Hoff, Paul Guererri, Keith Stell, Lance

Dusett, Todd Henderson, Steve Gray, Loren Lincoln, Chris

Ridsdale, Karl Comfort, Scott Joy, Vince Vitale, Jerry Haers, Jon

Kuluszo, Mark Potter.

MODIFIED

HEAT 1: B. McCreadie, A. Johnson, R. Bliss Jr., S. Schrader,C.

Donk, S. Boudinot.

HEAT 2: D. Ruggles, J. Moravec, G. Tomkins, B. Turner, P. Ward,

B. Varin.

HEAT 3: V. Coffey, J. Plazek, S. Schultz, T. Griffin, T. Burnett,

G. Tegg Jr.

FEATURE (35-laps): JOE PLAZEK, Bob McCreadie, Pat Ward, Gary

Tomkins, Vic Coffey, Charlie Donk, John Moravec, Troy Griffin,

Ray Bliss Jr., Bryon Turner, Ted Bauer, Alan Johnson, Mike Ward,

Scott Schrader, Bobby Varin, Scott Boudinot, Gil Tegg Jr., Tim

Burnett, Steve Schultz, Chuck Hebing, Greg Tatich.