Steve Paine Scores at Canandaigua Speedway and Wins 10th Track Championship
Weedsport, NY – August 31, 2008 – By Dan Kapuscinski, Canandaigua Speedway PR Coordinator
All Steve Paine needed to do Saturday night was finish 9th or better in the 35-lap DIRTcar Big-Block Modified feature event at Canandaigua Speedway to secure his 10th track title and 9th in a row at the ‘Land of Legends.’ Paine did just that and more, passing Matt Sheppard on lap-25 to win his 3rd feature event of 2008 on Paine Motorsports Night of Champions presented by Huff Equipment.
Paine was appreciative of the $1,500 pay-day in victory lane after losing to Gary Tomkins the week before on the final lap.
“This means a lot after last weekend,” said Paine. “I was pretty disappointed last Saturday, I made a mistake. Tonight though the car was running really good, and we knew what we had to do. I don’t think I would have got Sheppard without the restart, he was good tonight.”
Sheppard held on for second Saturday and also came home second in the overall point standings. Charlie Donk, Dave Rauscher, and Chuck Bower completed the top five finishers.
Eric Giguere (Sportsman), Mike Welch (Street Stock), and Marc Minutolo (PureStox) were the other race winners on the evening which also featured Kid’s Fun Laps around the Speedway. Kevin Ridley took the Championship in the Sportsman ranks, while Welch and Bryan Faulkner are the 2008 track champions in the Street Stock and PureStox divisions.
Eldon Payne Jr. and Paul Guererri started the 35-lap Big-Block Modified main from row number one, and it was Payne looking very good from the start out front. Driving the no. 28p, Payne built over a four second lead on the rest of the field in the early going.
Championship contenders Paine, Sheppard, and Tomkins started deep in the field and began a race of their own to the front. Sheppard and Paine led the way, as Sheppard came into the final race of the year just 21-points out of the top spot. By lap-11 Sheppard had worked into the 4th spot, two positions ahead of Paine in the no. 7x.
Lap-12 saw the first caution of the night, which also erased the four second lead for Eldon Payne. Chad Homan in the no. 91 slowed down the front straightaway to bring out the caution and bunch up the field one more time. At the restart Payne led a great running Dave Rauscher, Sheppard, Derrick Podsaidlo, and Chuck Bower.
When the field went back to green, Payne managed to hold off Sheppard for seven more laps before the no. 9s pulled low down the back chute and took the lead to complete lap-20. With that, Sheppard had successfully done what he needed to do to try and secure the Championship. Unfortunately for the Advanced Lubrication Specialties team, ‘The Hurricane’ was on the charge and into the top three by lap-16.
Paine knew he needed to finish 9th or better to win the title, but he had other things on his mind after failing to win the week before. The no. 7x moved into the runner-up position on lap-24 making the move on Eldon Payne, and then set his sights on Sheppard out front. Sheppard though held a stellar lead until Championship contender Gary Tomkins slowed to a stop in the fourth turn bringing out the night’s second caution on lap-24.
Tomkins came into the night only 25-points behind Paine in the Championship hunt, but Tomkins ran into issues after hopping the cushion in turn three all but ending his big for the title. Tomkins re-entered the event, finishing 6th on the night.
Sheppard now had a rear bumper full of Paine on the restart with Payne Jr., Rauscher, and Charlie Donk filling the top five on the restart. As the field came to green Sheppard elected to take the high side of the racetrack giving Paine the bottom.
The no. 9s got a good jump going into turn three for the start, but Paine was too tough on the bottom pulling underneath Sheppard before they got back to the finish line. Paine would be scored as the race leader on lap-25, and by the 31st circuit had a full straightaway advantage on his way to the win.
Charlie Donk and Dave Rauscher had a good battle throughout the night for the third position. Donk eventually took advantage on lap-33 pulling in behind Sheppard for a podium position.
Paine was very matter of fact after pulling down his unprecedented 9th straight Champions, and 82nd career Canandaigua Speedway win.
“Winning a Championship here means a lot as always,” said Paine. “You’re running against some of the best here every night, so you really have to be on. I have to thank all of the guys and sponsors. We’re getting geared up for the rest of the season now, we’d like to get the series win here in a couple of weeks.”
Sheppard, Donk, Rauscher, Bower, Tomkins, Justin Haers, Homan, Vinnie Vitale, and Payne Jr. finished up the top ten runners.
The 25-lap Sportsman Modified main featured Loren Lincoln and Eric Giguere in row one, and it was heat winner Giguere taking the early advantage. Giguere had already won two main events in 2008, and was looking for his third triumph of the 2008 season.
A multi-car accident slowed the field on lap-1 coming out of turn four. Several cars including Daryl Hilkert, AJ Lewis, Anthony Rizzardo, Todd Henderson, and Greg Cool all came together. Last week’s winner, Rizzardo, was the only car able to continue after the melee. All drivers were okay.
The field would come back to green before another incident occurred this time in turn one. Fourth place running Rob Bussey in the no. 76 spun around entering the corner. Bussey was able to continue, and ending up being the show of the night working back through the field.
All Kevin Ridley had to do Saturday night was start the Sportsman feature and he would be the 2008 track champion. After doing so, Ridley was on a march to the front to try and pick up his first win of 2008. By lap-6 Ridley had charged into second passed Loren Lincoln and began to run down Giguere in the lead.
Giguere had built a sizeable lead, but a caution for a Steve Gray spin and debris in turn two on lap-15 allowed Ridley to close one more time. Giguere led Ridley and Tim Currier to the restart with Bussey now back up into the top five after spinning on the second circuit.
The race would go the final 10-laps caution free, and Giguere proved that he was too tough for much of the field. Everyone turned their eyes away from the no. 67g to the no. 76 of Bussey. Bussey worked by Currier on lap-19 for third, and then got Ridley the next lap for second. He seemed to be the only car capable of closing on the leader.
Bussey tried for 5-laps to reel in Giguere but it wasn’t meant to be. Bussey’s dramatic charge to the front ended one position short of the win. Championship runner-up Dan Wiesner also had a tremendous drive coming from the rear of the field to finish 3rd ahead of Currier and Jipper Ortiz in the top five.
Track Champion Ridley blew a radiator hose with 2-laps to go and finished 15th.
“I am so glad that this season is over,” said Giguere in victory lane. “This has been the worst year ever, even though we have won three races. We have crashed a lot of stuff this season, and I have to thank all my guys for helping us to keep bringing it back every week. I’ll take the wins as always, and it is good to start up front, but I can’t wait for next year.”
Ridley wanted nothing more than to pick up a win at Canandaigua Speedway in 2008, but he’ll take the Championship.
“I don’t know what it is here, I just couldn’t get one,” said Ridley. “We’ve got two over at Cayuga County, but we just couldn’t do it here. The Championship means a lot though; we really had a great overall season. Hopefully we can keep it going Sunday night, were just three points away from the title there at Weedsport.”
The 2008 season has now drawn to a close with Steve Paine, Kevin Ridley, Mike Welch, and Bryan Faulkner as the 2008 Canandaigua Speedway Track Champions. The ‘Land of Legends’ will be quiet on Saturday, September 6th and Saturday, September 13th.
Racing will return on Friday and Saturday September 19th and 20th for the LaBatt Blue RaceFest Weekend. The Mr. DIRTcar 358-Modified Series will highlight Friday’s racing action with the Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series returning on Saturday night with a 100-lapper.
DIRTcar Sportsman Modifieds Feature (25-laps): 1) 67g- ERIC GIGUERE, 2) 76- Rob Bussey, 3) 66- Dan Wiesner, 4) 10- Tim Currier, 5) 0- Jipp Ortiz, 6) 99$- Anthony Rizzardo, 7) 2L- Loren Lincoln, 8) 25g- Nick Guererri, 9) 11- Ben Wheeler, 10) 88- Kyle LaVare, 11) 29g- Steve Gray, 12) 44- Gary Hoteling, 13) 3- Fran Hilton, 14) 74- Mike DeMallie, 15) 20x- Kevin Ridley, 16) 17- Marcus Dinkins, 17) 24a- AJ Lewis, 18) 4- Daryl Hilkert, 19) 22- Greg Cool, 20) 18h- Todd Henderson
2008 Sportsman Track Champion: Kevin Ridley
DIRTcar Big Block Modifieds Feature (35-laps): 1) 7x- STEVE PAINE, 2) 9s- Matt Sheppard, 3) 99- Charlie Donk, 4) 48T- Dave Rauscher, 5) 99b- Chuck Bower, 6) 84- Gary Tomkins, 7) 3- Justin Haers, 8) 91- Chad Homan, 9) 56- Vinnie Vitale, 10) 28p- Eldon Payne Jr, 11) 44- Shannon Whaley, 12) 7- Paul Guererri, 13) 4- Ed Monroe, 14) 21- Derrick Podsiadlo, 15) 2b- Ron Cartwright Jr., 16) 16- Billy Brown, 17) 74- Eric Fisher, 18) 50- Don Slover
2008 Big Block Modified Track Champion: Steve Paine