JEFF SYKES PICKES UP FIRST CAN- AM SPEEDWAY FEATURE WIN

LAFARGEVILLE, NY...It was another exciting night of racing at the fast 1/2 mile clay oval in LaFargeville, NY this past Saturday, on Primestar Satellite Services, McDonald's Restaurants and Hayler,

Freyer, and Coon Insurance Agency night at the Can-Am Speedway. In the 358 DIRT Modified feature, Edwards, NY resident Jeff Sykes and BJ Vock brought the field of top 358 competitors to the green flag. This race was to be all Jeff Sykes though as he took the lead going into turn one and never look back to pick up his first feature win at the Can-Am Speedway. Greg Meeks took over the number two spot from Vock on lap 4 and it appeared that he may have been able to challenge the 23] of Sykes early in the 25 lap event, but as the race went on until the caution flew on lap 12 it was beginning to look like a run away for Sykes. The caution on lap 12 was for the 27D of Doug Crews, who went hard off the first turn and had his car suffer sever damage. On the restart, Sykes again pulled away to a comfortable lead over Meeks, Tim McCreadie, Lee Gill, and Bill Gill. Starter Chip Burdick displayed the yellow again just one lap later as second place point man Billy Wilcox suffered a broken rear suspen- sion entering turn one and was forced to retire, hurting his chances of closing in on point leader Pat O'Brien who was having an off night running back in position number 12 at the time of the caution. Sykes held on through two more minor caution periods to pick up a well earned win at the 1/2 mile Can-Am Speedway in his Fuller Insurance sponsored 23J. Meeks, McCreadie, Lee Gill, and Bill Gill completed the top 5. The 15 lap DIRT Sportsman feature saw R.J. Gibbins and Rich Hall on the front row. Gibbons was the leader as they com- pleted the first lap of competition but it was Brockville Ontario racer Rich Hall moving to the lead by lap two and opening up a sizeable lead over the 18 car field. Gibbons was having a great run in his number 621 holding onto the second spot until lap 8 when the 112 of Steve Dwyer would take the runner up position and try to run down the 117 of Hall. Halls huge lead would disappear on lap 10 when the caution flew for the 25 of George McIntyre, who had his steering break and took a hard ride into the field off of turns one and two. Rich Hall bought the DIRT Sportsman back to the green, but it was point leader Steve Hall who had charged from the 14th starting spot to take the lead away on lap II and go onto his third win in a row at Can-Am in the Jefferson Concrete sponsored num- ber 61, giving him a large point lead going into the month of August. Rich Hall held onto the second spot with Dwyer, Billy Donovan, and Todd Stewart filling out the top 5. Stan Parker was the

early race leader in the Late Model event, but the 83 of Jeff Papin was on the move early and took over the lead on lap 3. Papin, who is the winningest driver in the late Models this season at Can-Am was trying to close in on the point leader Walt Van Tassel by picking up another 15 lap victory. A number of minor cautions slowed the event and by lap 10 it was Papin followed by Ben Tucker, Parker, Sonny Mandigo, and Tim Busler. The top 5 drivers would stay the same over the last 5 laps, but the positions would change as Papin, in the FX Caprara number 83 went onto his second win in a row. Parker came by the checkered second with Mandigo, Busler, and Tucker the remainder of the top 5.Al Pitts, the current point leader, was on the move right from the drop of the green in the 12 lap Stret Stock event. Pitts took the lead on lap I moving past front row starters Bob Fuller and Jim Wells. Bill Eisele took chase of Pitts early but as green flag laps went by, Pitts would open up a sizeable lead.

The only caution of the race came on lap 5 when the 61 of Steve Holliday slowed on the back stretch and had to be pushed to the pit area. Eisele remained in second on the restart followed by Dave Keefer, Steve Woodward, and Darwin Keefer. Pitts ran away on the restart to go onto another feature win in his Barstow Motors num- ber 88 and add to his point lead. Woodward made a late race charge to claim second, Eisele came in with his best finish of the year in third followed by Darwin and Dave Keefer. The Economy Stocks were brought to the green by Mark Baltz and Earl Simmons. Simmons was the leader of lap one followed by Kyle Sharp. Co-point leader Scott MacCue wasted no time coming from his tenth starting spot to take the lead on lap two with Wayne Side following him to the front. The first caution flew on lap 3 with MacCue, Side, Sharp, Rick Dusckas, and Steve Cote in the top five positions. MacCue held his line over the last 7 laps and even though Side tried everything to get by, he would have to settle for second. Sharp held for an excellent third place finish with Cote and Steve Denner the remainder of the top 5. Next week will be the annual Picture and Autograph session at Can-Am. Many of the drivers will have their cars on display in the Go-Kart area from 4 to 6 and fans are welcome to come early and take pictures of their favorite drivers and get all the drivers auto- graphs. Racing will be sponsored by Neighborhood Markets, Lipton Brisk, WLCK 100.7FM and Carvel Ice Cream. Racing begins at 7:00 pm with general admission to the grandstand just $8.00. For more information on racing in the 1000 Islands and at the Can-Am Speed-

way call (315) 658-4431.358 DIRT MODIFIED FEATURE: SYKES, Meeks, McCreadie, L. Gill, B. Gill, P. O'Brien, D. O'Brien, Fuller, Vock, Jones, Kerr, Welling, Roberts, Eggleston, LaFave, Wilcox, Crews, Crylser, Wilson, Narrow, Martin DIRT SPORTSMAN FEATURE: S. HALL, R. Hall, Dwyer,

Donovan, Stewart, Clark, Petzoldt, Fleming, Caprara, Gib-

bons, VanBrocklin, Littler, Britton, Greenfield, Cook, McIntyre, Bevins, Galloway DNS LATE MODELS: PAPIN, Parker, Mandigo, Busler, Tucker, N. Busler, Dennee, Schroy, McConnell, Hudson, Raabe, W.

Vantassel, Cormier STREET STOCKS: PITTS, Woodward, Eisele, Darwin Keefer, Dave Keefer, Slate, Wells, Salisbury, Handschuh, Miller, Murphy, Ludlow, Patchin, Fuller, Rookey, Holliday ECONOMY STOCKS: MACCUE, Side, Sharp, Cote, Denner, Baltz, Bushey, Van Tassel, Howard, Simmons, Miller, Miller, Cardinal, Dusckas