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JOHNSON SWEEPS FIRECRACKER TWO DAY SPECIAL AT THE WHEELS




ELBRIDGE, NY...Alan Johnson completely dominated the Advance Auto Parts Super DIRT Series 100 at Rolling Wheels Raceway on Thursday, July 3. Johnson, who started in the tenth position, took home $6,000, to add to the $3,000 he won the night before in the Turning Stone Casino Resorts 100 for small-block modifieds.

In other action at Rolling Wheels Mark Potter, from Ransomville, won the 20-lap Sportsman feature and Trevor Komanechy took the top honors in the 15-lap 4-Cylinder Enduro.

The 100-lapper started off with Butch Tittle and Chuck Bower on the front row. Bower immediately took the lead with Tim McCreadie, Tittle and Brett Hearn in tow. McCreadie made his move on lap two to take the lead from Bower. McCreadie then began to pull away from the rest of the field using a higher line around the speedway. On lap seven, McCreadie lost his advantage when the yellow flew as Darryl Ruggles spun out in the first turn.

The restart saw McCreadie hold off Bower, as Alan Johnson passed Hearn for third. The field, from first to last, was spaced out over just 13 seconds. On lap 10, Johnson passed Bower for second.

A yellow on lap 12 would prove a key point in the race when Joe Beyea looped his modified in the first turn. The restart saw Johnson pass McCreadie on the high side in the second turn. Johnson then began to pull away from the rest of the field. McCreadie, Hearn, Danny Johnson and Gary Tomkins now established themselves in the top five positions.

Johnson was able to open up a 6.4 second lead over McCreadie by the halfway mark of the race. Johnson did not stop there as he continued to set new records on every lap. Ten laps later, lap 60, Johnson held a full straight away lead over McCreadie as the long green flag run continued. On lap 65, Danny Johnson passed Hearn to grab third in traffic.

With just 25 laps remaining only nine cars remained on the lead lap. Johnson now held a full half track lead over McCreadie. On lap 89 Johnson almost saw his efforts go down the drain, when Matt Sheppard slowed on the front straight right in front of Johnson and the lapped car of Steve Gray. Johnson made contact with the rear of Sheppard's machine sending Alan sideways down the front chute. He never lost control as he slide through the infield grass and back out on the track still in the lead. The yellow was now out and Johnson lost his half track advantage on McCreadie.

Johnson was able to still pull away on the restart. One more yellow flew on lap 97 when Vince Vitale looped around in the third turn. This set up a green-white-checkered finish and a two lap dash to the victory. Johnson held on for the $6,000 victory. McCreadie finished second followed by Danny Johnson, Hearn and Tomkins.

Johnson continues to the points leader in the Advance Auto Parts Super DIRT Series followed by Billy Decker, Tomkins, Hearn and Tim Fuller.

The 20-lap Sportsman main saw 26 cars take the green. Mark Potter, who started on pole by virtue of winning the first heat race immediately took the lead over Rob Bussey, Greg Doust, Tom Perrego and Eldon Payne Jr..

The first of only two yellows came on lap three when Brian Murphy went off the backstretch and into the grass. The restart saw Potter continue to lead and even begin the stretch out an advantage over Bussey. By lap 10, that lead was a full 20 car lengths.

On lap 12, Tom Perrego dove low on the front stretch to pass Bussey for second. Perrego looked to be closing the gap some on Potter, but Potter's car was still very fast.

On lap 19, the yellow flew when John Pfeffer spun in the first turn. This set up a one lap dash to the checkers. Potter took the win followed by Perrego, Tim Clemons, Doust, who ducked low on the final lap in the first turn to pass Bussey for the position. Bussey came home in fifth.

The 15-lap 4-Cylinder Enduro saw only nine cars take the green. Trevor Komanechy passed Andy Butless on lap two to take the lead. Komanechy went on to claim the victory in a race that went green-to-checkers.

PIT NOTES: Much sorrow was felt when word passed around the pit area that A.J. Romano's wife lost their baby in child birth. Romano has been a top driver at Rolling Wheels and much liked individual around the DIRT circuit...The speedway seemed to slick over from the night before due to the amount of racing. This helped to cause slower speeds on the second night of the two day special...A huge fireworks display followed the DIRT Modified feature in celebration of the holiday.

The next race at Rolling Wheels Raceway will be on Labor Day evening when the 33rd Robert N. Petrocci Memorial 100 goes to the wire. This race is also an Advance Auto Parts Super DIRT Series event. Filling out the evening will be a complete show of DIRT Sportsman and 4-Cylinder Enduros. Race time will be at 6 p.m., earlier then in the past as the New York State Fairgrounds will not be running stock car races on Labor Day.

ADVANCE AUTO PARTS SUPER DIRT SERIES/VITALE-ROBINSON CONCRETE/H&L FORD INC of AUBURN/GENESEE VALLEY LAND SURVEYORS ASSOCIATION/ADVANTAGE AUTO presents the 32ND FIRECRACKER NIGHT SUMMARY

4-CYLINDER ENDURO

FEATURE (15-laps): TREVOR KOMANECHY, James Werner, Bill Werner, Andy Butless, Donnie Mack, Scott Peters, Devon Davis, Jeff Fleming, Car 11.

SPORTSMAN

HEAT 1: M. Potter, G. Doust, E. Payne Jr., D. Wiesner, B. Murphy, B. Donath.
HEAT 2: R. Bussey, T. Sears, T. Clemons, S. Binns, R. Loveless, J. Potter.
HEAT 3: T. Perrego, R. Hefti, S. Reakes IV, J. Pfeffer, C. Phelps, M. Conrow.
CONSI: B. Madsen, D. Just, G. Hurlburt, P. LaVare, J. Juhl, Pt. Vigneri, D. Creeden, T. Knobloch, D. Burke.

FEATURE (20-laps): MARK POTTER, Tom Perrego, Tim Clemons, Greg Doust, Rob Bussey, Russ Hefti, Eldon Payne Jr., Tim Sears, Jason Potter, Chad Phelps, Bryan Madsen, Scott Binns, Gus Hurlburt, Dave Just, Phil LaVare, Ron Loveless, Mike Conrow, Terry Knobloch, Don Burke, Dan Creeden, John Pfeffer, Brian Donath, John Juhl, Dan Wiesner, Sammy Reakes IV, Brian Murphy.

MODIFIED

TIME TRIALS: Gary Tomkins 23.717 (94.869 MPH), Tim McCreadie 23.909, Alan Johnson 24.046, Danny Johnson 24.050, Billy Decker 24.088, Brett Hearn 24.108, Butch Tittle 24.162, Tim Fuller 24.209, Bob McCreadie 24.257, Vic Coffey 24.351, Bobby Varin 24.352, Darryl Ruggles 24.434, Jeff Trombley 24.498, Jack Johnson 24.525, Steve Paine 24.572, Pat Ward 24.659, Chuck Bower 24.678, Jimmy Phelps 24.692, Mike Bliss 24.714, Frank Cozze 24.765, Dave Axton 24.815, Tom Sears Jr. 24.870, Steve Gray 24.882, Chris Shultz 24.895, Jerry Higbie 24.903, Phil Vigneri 24.917, Vince Vitale 24.933, Joe Beyea 24.992, Matt Sheppard 25.026, Steve Hulsizer 25.048, Ryan Phelps 25.059, Ray Jashembowski 25.062, Jason Barney 25.075, Jeff Heotzler 25.139, Ray Bliss 25.182, Alan Shiffler 25.319, Jeff Isabell 25.53, Ron Holmes 25.559, Mike Adderley 25.706, Brian Michaels 25.750, Dave Baranowski 26.630

HEAT 1: A. Johnson, B. Varin, B. Tittle, S. Paine, S. Gray.
HEAT 2: D. Johnson, T. Fuller, P. Ward, F. Cozze, D. Ruggles.
HEAT 3: B. Decker, J. Trombley, C. Bower, B. McCreadie, Kenny Tremont Jr.
HEAT 4: B. Hearn, J. Johnson, V. Coffey, J. Phelps, S. Hulsizer.
CONSI 1: J. Beyea, R. Bliss, M. Adderley, V. Vitale.
CONSI 2: T. Sears Jr., J. Heotzler, M. Sheppard, J. Barney.

FEATURE (101-laps): ALAN JOHNSON, Tim McCreadie, Danny Johnson, Brett Hearn, Gary Tomkins, Bob McCreadie, Bobby Varin, Steve Hulsizer, Tim Fuller, Chuck Bower, Jeff Trombley, Steve Paine, Billy Decker, Frank Cozze, Butch Tittle, Jeff Heotzler, Kenny Tremont Jr., Darryl Ruggles, Vic Coffey, Pat Ward, Steve Gray, Vince Vitale, Jason Barney, Matt Sheppard, Mike Adderley, Tom Sears Jr., Jimmy Phelps, Joe Beyea, Ray Bliss, Jack Johnson, Jerry Higbie.