McCREADIE IN-TIMMY-DATES CAN AM SDS FIELD
LAFARGEVILLE, NY ... I would think the people in Watertown heard the thunderous ovation Timmy McCreadie received Saturday night in victory lane at Caprara’s Can Am Motorsports Park after a convincing win in the 100 lap Advance Auto Parts Super DIRT Series race sponsored by Pepsi Cola and Castle Hi Tech. The crowd by many long-time observers was deemed to be the largest in Can Am’s 30-year history, as evidenced by the 50-50 pay out of $1954. Also seeing victory lane were Ben Tucker in Sportsman, Paul Calhoun in IMCA and Mark Barker in Pure Stocks.
With a strong 43-car modified field taking to the track for time trials, Brett Hearn and newly crowed 2003 Can Am big block champion Lee Gill lead the field with the two fastest time trials. At the redraw, Alan AJ Slideways John drew the pole with Bobby Varin drawing the outside pole in his Troyer Experimental chassis car to lead the 32-car starting field to the green flag from Starter Steve Rickett. Timmy started in the fourth starting slot, and by lap four the Sweeteners Plus car was at the front of the pack with AJ second, Gary Tomkins third, Frankie Caprara fourth and Chuck Hebing. With Timmy Mac starting to draw away, the battle centered on Johnson and Tomkins for second spot. On the move was the Budweiser 3 Teo Pro Car of Brett Hearn who made his way to fourth place on the 19th lap. Also moving up was the Franklin Flyer, Billy Decker, who had his car up to 6th when he made contact with a car coming out of turn two sending the Decker mount into a 180. Timmy Mac and the front of the field made a classy move by slowing down and letting Decker get re-fired and on his way thus not putting him a lap down. At the quarter point of the race, the lead pack was McCreadie, Johnson, Tomkins, Hearn, Caprara, Lee Gill, Hebing and Vic Coffey. Jumpin Jack Johnson took his ride to the pits on the 27th lap relegating him to the rear of the field as he re-entered the race. By the 44th lap, Decker had worked himself from the rear all the way back to 7th place and coming on. Frankie "Flatfoot" Caprara had also worked his way around Hearn as his Bedell powered Teo was hooking up to the track. As the crossed flags were waved signaling the halfway point, I was McCreadie, Johnson, Caprara, Hearn, Gill, Tomkins, Decker, Danny Johnson, Pat Ward and Kenny Tremont at the front of the field.
Things remained pretty much the same as there were not many caution flags to this point in the race.. The caution came out again on lap 65 for a brief yellow period. As the green was waved again, it was the Hometown Hammer, Lee Gill, making his way into fourth spot on lap 73. The final yellow came out on the 85th lap for Jack Johnson as his car came to a stop in turn two and had to be assisted back to the pits. When the green lights came back on, it was Timmy McCreadie going on for a two-peat of this race, having won a year ago in the Finch 56 ride, with Alan Johnson coming home second, Brett Hearn third, Lee Gill getting the Syracuse guaranteed spot with a fine fourth place fish, Billy Decker coming all the way back to fifth with Frankie Caprara sixth. The margin ov victory for Timmy Mac was 2.007 seconds with the race run in a time of 48 minutes and 41 seconds. Fifteen cars finished on the lead lap.
The Sportsman division has had the highest car counts all season, and since the Caprara brothers have upped the purse, it has become even stronger with 33 Sportsman signed in and racing. Their 20-lap feature saw all 33 cars start. As Charlie Caprara told the drivers in the drivers’ meeting, "If you’ve come here to race, you’re going to race." Ben Tucker, from nearby Redwood, looks to be ending the season the way he started out, strong. He used his outside pole starting position to take the lead and never look back with the battle being for second for all intents and purposes. Jessica Zemken was making a rare Can Am appearance. She is clearly a crowd favorite at Can Am and was running in second spot with Shawn Donath in third, Jason Potter fourth and Scott Webb in fifth. Invading hot shoe Tim Clemons easily won his heat and was running up front when problems beset the Jake Spraker 1J forcing Tim to the pits much to early on the 7th lap. At the halfway point, it was Ben Tucker on cruise control, Punkin Zemken, Potter, Donath, Webb and Timmy Van Brocklin as the leaders. 26 cars were still running after 17 laps, and as the double checkers were waved it was Ben Tucker winning followed by Jessica, Mark Potter, Shawn Donath and Tim Van Brocklin.
The IMCA mods were down in numbers for one of the few times this season, but still managed to have 20 cars take the green with track champion Paul Calhoun taking an immediate early lead with Chris Taylor, Larry Bezner, Jon Dumas and Rich Keller in hot pursuit. Former regular Steve Bidwell had his 111 in contention, but then was forced out on the 13th lap with problems. There was a battle being waged at the front of the field between five cars, Calhoun, Bezner, Taylor, Dumas and Keller, and it continued that way throughout the remaining laps with two and three wide racing being the norm as all five were looking for the win. In the end, it was Calhoun prevailing for another win trailed across the line by Larry Bezner, Chris Taylor, Jon Dumas and Rich Keller.
The Pure Stock feature sent 18 cars track side for their 15-laps of exciting racing. Mark Barker put his 100.7 car out front early and was trying to hold off Fran Briant, Dion Oaks, Travis Andrews and Steve Gilmore. Barker and Briant were putting on an awesome race at the front of the pack by racing side by side lap after lap until newcomer Oakes raced passed both cars to take the lead as the Akwesasne driver found himself leading for the first time ever at Can Am. Although Oakes received the checkered flag, he will not get credit for the win as his car was found to have an illegal part in post-race tech and was disqualified thus giving the win to Barker with Briant second, Travis Andrews third, Dana Aikins got fourth and Zeke McKeown credited for fifth as Andy Wells also received a DQ after tech inspection.
Also given away by the Caprara family were two $1500 motor scooters, with a driver receiving one in the pit meeting and a fan receiving one through the 50-50 drawing.
This Saturday night will conclude the 2003 racing season at Can Am in a big way with the Third Annual Battle at the Border featuring a Turning Stone Casino 358 modified Super DIRT Series 100 lap race, as well as a special Sportsman race paying $1,000 to win, the IMCA feature paying $500 to win and a Pure Stock feature paying $400 to win which will also be a Victoria qualifier for them.. Gates will open at noon with hot laps and time trials at four p.m. and heats right after that. It will be sponsored by Stadium International.
MODIFIED: (100L) TIM MCCREADIE, Alan Johnson, Brett Hearn, Lee Gill, Billy Decker, Frankie Caprara, Danny Johnson, Steve Poirier, Gary Tomkins, Pat Ward, Steve Paine, Vic Coffey, Steve Hulsizer, Kenny Tremont, Jerry Higbie, Bobby Varin, Butch Tittle, Chuck Bower, Ryan Phelps, Rick Wilson, Danny O’Brien, Anthony Fiorentino, Todd Stewart, Mike Adderley, Jack Johnson, Ted Lamb, Jr., Ryan Odasz, Chuck Hebing, Bob McCreadie, Bill Gill, Ryan Bartlett, Jason Barney
SPORTSMAN: (20L) BEN TUCKER, Jessica Zemken, Jason Potter, Shawn Donath, Tim Van Brocklin, Clayton Brewer, Jim Vock, Matt Butler, Scott Webb, Andy Howard, Jack Meeks, Mike Teachout, Bill Eisele, Rick Amo, Rick McCreadie, Steve Roberts, Shane Donath, Scott MacCue, Scott Goodrich, Jeff Stevenson, Rob Bellinger, Josh Plooy, Pete Schroy, Tom Schroy, Terry Merchant, Kyle Dingwall, Lance Willix, Brian Donath, Tim Clemons, Jordan Bennett, Ed Fenton, Mike Youngs, Jason Riddell
IMCA: (20L) PAUL CALHOUN, Larry Bezner, Chris Taylor, Jon Dumas, Rich Keller, Rick Reed, Dale Caswell, Erv Miller, Mark Webb, Chris Thurston, Rick Dusckas, John Mason, Justin Mason, Jeff Bannister, Dan Hilts, Jerry Fobare, Darryl Paul, Brian Copp, Jeff Shannon, Steve Bidwell
PURE STOCK: (15L) MARK BARKER, Fran Briant, Travis Andrews, Dana Aikins, Zeke McKeown, Shane Ray, Ed Rogers, Ken Hamm, Brian Holder, Steve Gilmore, OJ White, Jason Rarrick, Charles Duffary, Ryan Rarrick, Les Sanford DQ: Dion Oaks & Andy Wells